Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1892-01-07
CHRISTMAS IN GOTHAM.
New YoRK, Dec, p, 1891.

New York in Christmas week This IS
A spectacle unique in itself Not so much
a SPECTACLE as a vast spectacular play
whose focal point is in the great shopping
tloroughfares of Broadway, l4th and Esd
streets, and whose side scenes are en-
acted in all the lesser streets. The
broad farce OF swelldom has fatal way
Of creeping bv degrees from humof into
pathos, and from pathos into the deepest
tragedy in those DINNER, dirty side
streets where ''no one gees" Those
streets where the tiny newsboy, whose ba-
by dimples are fading into aged wrinkles.
stands with his nose flsttened, and, for
once, white against the dingy pane OF the
toy store. Most of the treasures, behind
the glass, the objects of his desire, could
be bought for coin too small to ever have
place in our western currency.
All sorts and conditions OF men have a
place in the endless stream that poufs
along the great thoroughfares- The swell
girl from the pages of Life" straight and
bouyaDt in the assurance OF her youth
and good clo' hes, or should it be good
clothes and youth, takes a smaller share
Of the thronged walks than her neigl'bor.
the stunted, hump-backed woman, whose
woman's joys and sorrows are lived below
the level of our eyes, and on plane with
children's curious gaze and the crueler
gaiety of childish unsympathy. But
tight in the nervous, long-ingared hand
is clasped "A branch of scarlet berried
holly, and by looking down We see the
pain-aged face is smiling. But here, as
everywhere, the holiday OF the child
Christ is the children's festival. What
joyous strings of laughing, bright-haiied
girls dam the progress of the stream by
locking arms and walking into the ad-
vancing crowd in utter Inconsistencies az
they listen to the emphatic soprano Of
the Gaintily dressed incipient belle who
has twisted herself half out Of line to
harangue them the better upon some
theme Of which Christmas is the text.
Were there ever such exquisitely
dressed, exquisitely kept children any
where as in our q eat metropolis? And yet
and yet-whose heart does not 60 back
to some gingham aproned darling, who
does not know the difference between a
gold and silver coin Of equal size, who
would love you quite as we'll ifyour bon
net were out Of date? These New York
children ale wonderfully worldly-wise,
yet the spark of unquenchable innocence,
that tine alone dims, burns beneath the
Kate Greenaway coats and charming.
but artificial curls. :.
The streets that are always bad at this
season of the year are better than usual
now, because of the trained dresses that
soak up and sweep away SO much Of
the filth. 1t is no uncommon thing to
see beautifully dressed woman with
daintily kidded finger tips lift into car
after her mud-gummed rag that would
disgrace the dirtiest woodshed in the
country. There are not one or ten OF
these mud-bordered gowns but hundreds
to he seen in a mornings shopping. The
only conceivable good that such FASH
ion serves is that it is convenient and
self-instituted brand of the female fool
The long coat and long bodice fashion is
much more universal on the street thantbe
trained skirts. Every woman Of appar-
emily any pretensions to style wears
either high-shouldered, liigh-collared
cape reaching far down the skirt, or a
coat built on the same general lines !;
the dress waists are some times even
longer than the coats and appear below
them. The woman whose tight fitting
basque reaches her knee finds it hard to
cover it with any but coat made
especially for that purpose.