Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-24
CHRIST MAS SCENE S
The Day Before in Stores and on the
Streets.
Hurrying Up the Holiday Shopping
Lively Tfmes-The Weather
Most Too Warm.

"Hereyar, gold and silver tinsel fer trim
min Christmas trees; two packages fer
red ripe balloons for the little ones, only
h'-sweet lav-nlistletoe, lady, finest in town.
with big white berries only-these little mice
run along so easily and no one can guess
the mechanism that operates them. War
ranted to scare any old-holly berries, lady,
fine and red. Just from the country. Sell
'em to yer cEe-buy a jack-in-t he-box for
the baby. Warranted to give him countless
hours of the purest and truest delight. Who
says that happiness is unknown when these
can be had for but five cents. a single nickel
Only few more of them left"
1t Is the glad Christmas season. The
Christmas waits have never held forth in
Washington to any large extent, but their
place is taken by the street fakirs. They
are class unto themselves. Where they
come from and where they keep themselves
during the other eleven months of the year
is a question too deep for the average mind
to deal with. But they are omnipresent just
new. They are not much for music. The
waits used to stand about under the Win
dows Of the big houses on Christmas eve and
chant the glad Christmas carols. In this
prosaic land and age we must content our
selves with small boys armed with large
tin horns. They make up in volume what
their music lacks in quality, though in point
of fact the horn nuisance seems to be less
in evidence this year than for several years
past.
Heavy Shoppers.
The crowds in Washington's business
streets the past few days have been some
thing tremendous. Yesterday and today it
has been almost impossible to navigate
through the masses Of people along It'll
street, F street and the avenue. The heavy
rain last Saturday interfered with shopping
to very considerable extent, with the re-
suit that thousands of people found them
a hinh oi.h
up the countless odds and ends that must
be done just before Christmas, try hard
may to do all of ones shopping weeks
in advance. The closing of the departments
and the District offices at an earlier hour
than usual this afternoon did the rest, and
the streets and shops never presented a
buster appearance than they do today. The
shops have all been crowded almost to the
point of suffocation, and the poor, over
driven clerks. with tired eyes and weary
limbs, are looking forward eagerly to their
hour of release, which will not come until
well on toward midnight How they will
enjoy Christmas! Such of them do not
have to work at least part of the day.
Tomorrow morning! Well, is there any JOY
in the world that can be compared to the
feeling of exquisite bliss that takes posses
sion of a child at the first sight of a man
moth tree, blazing with lights and loaded
down with bags Of candy, and mysterious
boxes full of infinite possibilities for happi-
ness, while underneath may be a bicycle, a
sled, dolls house. and all sorts Of toys too
large to hang on even the biggest tree.
God bless the children Christmas day.
The festival marks the birth of a child, and
SO long time endures and parents love
their little ones the day will be sacred to
the happiness of children. God bless their
happy, sunny souls!
If any criticism could be passed on this
particular Christmas tide. it is that the
weather is rot all it should be. This has
been more like a day in early spring than
late December. and Christmas to be quite
perfect, should be ushered in to the sound
Of sleigh bells. so that small boys may try
their new sleds and pull their little sisters
over to grandfather's house, where every
rightly constituted family should unite for
dinner Christmas day
But even the absence of Christmas weather
has its compensating advantages. 1t makes
life much more bearable for the very poor
and materially lessons their sufferings at
time when all the rest of the world makes
merry.