The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-20
BINTs ron THE CHRISTMAS TAKE.
The Newest Thing in Decoration.
How TO AdOrn IL IneXpensiveIy.


How to AdOrR 1t InexpensiveIy.
From the New York Sun.
rs the Christmas tree as popular as
ever2' the Sun reporter asked a man who
knows as much about Christmas as old
Santa Claus himself. He looked as If some
one had asked him If Christmas had gone
out of fashion.
"of courser' he said. and that settled
it,
well, is there anything new in decora-
tions?'
Yes, new in detail; perhaps not new
in the general idea. The main thing in
Christmas tree decorations is to get any
thing that will shine. For that reason tin
sci in different forms is the popular thing"
But that's old"
If old friends happen to be best peo-
pie will stick TO them Tinsel comes in
new shapes this year, but it's tinsel Just
the same. Here is something new and
good, these lanterns. The safe lighting
OF the tree is always a problem so these
lanterns ought to take. They have red
ana green mica sides; there is a sponge
IN TINS tin cup at the bottom and a wick
Aou saturate the sponge with kerosene
At1hN NAiS WIN. 4HGN make q DfGIty
Illumination and burn some time"
But have You no original ideas for trim
ming?"
mere are some. but not many. You
can load the boughs with artificial snow.
hahg them with these glass icicles. nut
these Esquimau dolls here and there and
make wintry tree of it, That has heen
done and is wonderfully beautifuI Or
you can fill it with this cobwebby tinsel
ana nang wlll-o' -the-wisp lights on the
branches, and put these fairies among
them That makes a fairy-land tree which
sets the children wild. or you can hang
II with several dozen of these diminutive
japanese lanterns and have the little Japs
walking around under these tiny parasols.
Thats another type. Or you can have
Brownie tree, In that case, Won must
nave the od-fashioned popcorn and cram
perry strings, because the Brownies Fnust
have something to eat.
a splendid Idea for a tree. and one
Whlch nave never seen carried out is
70 make a Swiss Family Robinson tree
Cut out some of the branches half way
up the trunk, but not too high for the
little folks to see in. Be sure, too. to set
your tree on the floor and not on a table
MAKE platform there and build a stair
case around the trunk reaching uD to- II
Put in your partitions of pieces of wood
or pasteboard, which you can prepare
sSNASNAAs AASh dbQ tue furniture and the
dolls. These can be of the cheapest
Hang the tree with lanterns; make look
outs here and there; arrange a rope and
pulley Tor raising and lowering things
from the ground. There That is the idea
in the rough. I'll wager 1t would turn
the little folks crazy with delight, and
especially would please older children who
are spast the tinsel and gewgaw age.
almost everybody tries now and then
to devise something different from the
traditional tree. They do not desert the
tree, but they want a change for one year.
at least / know of one woman who got
up an ingenious substitute, which was so
satisfactory that she threatened to make
1t regular thing. Instead of putting up
tree, she had a carpenter construct the
skeleton of a wigwam, and this she set
up In the corner of the room. 1t was five
feet from the floor to the peak and was
almost as much In diameter. She covered
outside with white muslin and this, In
turn, she covered with white cotton. which
she tackled to the muslin In the first
place, though, she covered the floor in
that corner of the room with white can
vas. over her cotton wigwam she sprin-
killed. spangles until it shone like snow
cleaning in the sunlight or the moon
light.
THE three poles crossed at the top, and
from these she hung icicles and colored
lanterns. On the center she perched a
snow maiden, and she had small Esqu-
maux toboggannng down the Sides In
side of the tent she put all of the presents
for her two children, both Of whom were
girls. Christmas morning she led them
into the room and showed them the tent.
whose flap was then down. She said that
it was a mysterious wigwam which she
thought Santa Claus must have set up.
Sure enough, there were the stockings
they had hung up the night before in the
sitting ROOM They had disappeared dur
ing the night and were now hanging by
a string which was apparently fastened
to one of the poles, but In reality only went
over Il. She got them to reach up and
pull their stockings down. This lifted the
flap In front and disclosed the contents Of
the wigwam.
There was plenty Of room for two or
three children to play inside, and the tent
was so popular with the little people who
came to the house that II was kept I'm its
corner for fully month after Christmas
another woman, whom know, got up
a regular estate one year instead of hav-
ing a tree. She had a platform about
three feet high and 3x6 feet on the sur
face. Here she had the house, barn. sta
bles; the clothes lines, the vegetable and
flower gardens, walks, shrubbery, trees,
and a fence. The nurse was wheeling the
baby carriage on the front walk ;the coach
man was driving out of the barn; the
maid was hanging out the clothes; every
thing was complete, and by doing the
greater part of the arrangement Of the
things herself, having bought them sepa-
rately, 1t was not so expensive as one
would think.
zone of the most beautiful and conven-
lent trees have ever seen was lighted by
incandescent electric lights Of different
colors. They were strung through the
tree and IL needed but a twist of the
screw to turn them all on or off. I'm
questionably the Christmas tree OF the fu-
ture will be lighted by electricity, but at
present that method Is only for the fav-
ored few.
"A unique Christmas tree would be one
tenanted by animals alone; everybody that
understands children at all will know how
they would like 1t. planned such a tres
one time. but have never carried it out.
OF course, one would have TO add sinners
to the scheme in order to make 1t SNOWY,
but that Is easy.
what Is the cheapest way of making
an effective tree?"
"Tinsel and assorted balls. Buy the
loose tinsel that comes In envelopes. Cob
web the tree with 1t and hang red and
green and yellow balls here and there.
There La no BRIGHTER tree or a less ex-