St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-12-25
OUR BOSTON LETTER
Streets of the Hub During the
Holiday Season.

Holiday Season.
Gas and Electricity Well Applied Gives
Wideawake Appearance 49, Substantial
Christmas Gifts Are In Order-NO
Recount of License Vote License by
Wards Proposed 49, Father Kneipps
Cure to BE Introduced Trustv
Employer Gone Wrong Notes of the
Stage.
The holiday season Is again with us,
and to it's influence people of all condi-
tons bend, and both heavy and light
purses are opened. He is poor child in
deed that receives no token of love and
esteem on the gladstone Christmas morn,
and miserable enough the family that on
this one day at least does not sit down to
& table we'll laden with appetizing food.
The poor We have with you always" is a
truth too often forgotten, but generally
recalled at this season of good will to
IIcIl, i he CuSJOlll vi llldhllIS III SSclllS
on Christmas has yearly grown in New
England, and is the rule now where once
1t was the exception. With the increase
has come greater preparation for the an
Lual season until on Boston's streets
during the present week trade Of other
kinds is practically suspended The
Christmas shopper has the call every
where.
But unlike the conditions of few
years ago the notion shops, jewelers. and
dealers in fancy articles generally, no
longer have a monopoly of the Christ
mas trade. They get, of course, share
of the patronage, but they have ceased
to gather the entire harvest. People
have become more practical and less
sentimental in dealing with Christmas
presents as times have grown harder
year by year, and luxuries have been
abandoned to a greater extent than for
merly The time was when the gift of a
ton of coal, barrel of flour or a suit of
clothes would not have been considered
good form but that time has now passed.
You may give what another needs and
run little risk of giving offense. So 1t hap
pens that the holiday trade has gradually
extended to all lines of business and
peace on earth good will to men" has a
substantial meaning to the grocer as
well as to the toy vender.
The effect Of this is to give holiday
appearance to all stores in the retail dis
trict and to keep them lighted and cheer
full during the evenings of the present
week. Crowds of shoppers therefore fill
the streets and make Boston what it is
at no other season of the year, a lively
place at night. Gas and electricity are
of course expensive, but when well ap-
piled they do more to brighten up and
make gay a city than any other thing
that has yet been devised. 4 throng
of promenading, bargain hunters go a
long way to convince a stranger that he
has struck a wideawake municipality.
/ A gentleman from the west not long ago
said to me: where do all Bostonans
disappear to at night? Why. your
streets are deserted after o'clock in the
evening" lie had cause to ask the
question then, but If he We're here this
week he might wonder where all the
people came from and where they get
the money to buy all the parcels they
carry.
/ 1t Is a cause for cOngratulation that
the holidays bring us this year COM
| parative quiet from the turmoil of recent
political events in the nation and in the
city. 1t generally takes a long time to
settle an election in Boston, so many
people wish a recount of the votes cast
at the polls. This year there is a SQUAD
| bic over the street commissionership and
some talk OF fraud, but we have been
spared the greatr veXation Of a recount
of the license vote that was at first pro-
Jected. Any one would suppose that a
majority of 1000 was enough to settle
any election question here in the north
where a free vote and a fair count are
among the things we boast, but the fact
that 1900 We're the figures came very
near getting up revival of the question
Blanks for a petition for a recount
were obtained and primary steps taken
and all because the figures L., 900 were
regarded as suspicious by some one and
card to the New England temperance
bureau, calling attention to the fact that
the license" workers had prophesied
that they would carry the city by IL, 900
votes, and suggested that a recount
would show that the attainment of the
exact figures prophesied was a suspi-
ciouS circumstances. In one or two pre-
cincts where canvass of the vote has
been made, moreover, the "no-license"
men find that the vote was widely differ
ent from the canvass in favor of III
cense," and this was also regarded as
worth investigating. Buy matured de-
liberation on the part of the anti-saloon
people resulted in a decision not to use
the petition blanks.
Speaking of the license vote reminds
me that Representative futile of Dor
chester has drafted bill providing for
ward option in Boston in the matter OF
liquor licenses and the document is re-
garded with considerable favor by the
ministers and others who are interested
In securing mo license" in Dorchester
and in other residence sections of the
city The bill, which 1t is said, will 20
to the Legislature, provides that there
shall be printed on the municipal ballot
the question, Shall license for the sale
of intoxicating liquor be granted in this
ward?" and upon the result of the vote
in each ward will depend the granting OF
refusal of license in such ward, provid-
2 ing the city, as whole, votes for license
? This is a kind of installment plan legis-