The record-union., 1897-12-28

Especial Correspondence of Record-Union.s
NEW YORK, Dec. 20-Well, the
Christmas holidays are here once more,
and what an obvious and widespread
effect this fact has upon the city! The
only ones not jubilant over the ap-
proach of Christmas, 1897. are the sick
and the penniless, and even these feel
jolly in spit of their condition, if they
have the good fortune to be good ram
manyites. They may not receive a
single Christmas token, and yet what
care they? Won't New Years bring
as big a present as anybody might wish
for? Surely, the greater city of New
York makes a present which even
Tammany man considers great.
But Christmas is the subject now,
and not Tammany The streets are
thronged with wagons carrying sup
plies. for the celebration Of next Sat
urday and these supplies present
strange variety as to their respective
natures. Toys, first and foremost; then
Christmas trees from the piney WOODS;
crates Of oranges and crates of noisy
merchandise in the way of live turkeys
and geese Wagons and trucks go
rumbling through the streets in one
long procession, hour after hour, day
after day; and watching them one re-
alizes family what Christmas means
to a big village like this. But to ap-
preciate this fact more fully one must
needs go to the shopping districts; so
with the crowds through the falzir-
besprinkled streets, and into those hu-
man craters known as department
stores. These latter keep open late
evenings at this time, and they are
crowded with Christmas shoppers and
sight-seers (about evenly divided), who,
from early morning till near midnight,
jostle, shove, tread on one another's s
toes, annihilate one another's clothes,
and buy occasionally. Withal pre-
serving a remarkable eQuanimity Of
temper to the end.
Fourteenth. Twenty-third and other
shopping streets are, as I write,
ablaze with vari-colored light and alive
with surging humanity. There is a
crowd i'm front of every picture shop;
one in front Of every shoe shop; one,
in fact, in front of every shop that
makes any pretense at a holiday dis
play, and there are few that do not.
The daylight crowd is different from
that Of the night time, inasmuch as it
is apparently inspired with a deep
sense of hustle, whereas the latter is
not. In the day time an observer pass
ing-I mean, who is being passed
through the department stores before
mentioned is most impressed by the
evident advantage possessed by the
new woman" over her old fashioned
sister. This advantage is one derived
a of s1ni, ~,
popular institution, the feminine gym
nasium, and surely it's power is no.
where so well tested as in a metropol-
itan department store during the "holi-
day rush.
The spirit Of feminine disregard for
equal rights is displayed on this oc-
caslon in manner which: evinced by
a man under similar circumstances,
would be termed rowdyism, for it is
no unusual sight to see women, well
dressed and Of generous proportions
enact feats of tslugging" that would
call forth a well-merited protest upon
the football field. However, the spirit
of good nature which distinguishes the
Christmas shopping crowd sort of
atones for individual shortcomings of
this character, and the victims thereof
seem to forget all about it in the ex-
citement Of buying presents for some
body else.
In the evening one sees in the crowds
clerks, stenographers, saleswonnen.
factory hands, etc. People who are
employed during the day and who
have to obtain their more or less mod
est presents after supper. The major
ity, however, are apparently out to see
the sights" rather than to purchase,
and these are taken in a spirit which
seems to indicate a total lack of ap-
probation Of the value of time.
To obtain a good idea of the mean
ing Of a cosmopolitan town and its sew
era1 modes Of celebrating Christmas.
however, one must visit Grand street
and the Bowery, and compare the
character Of the crowds here with those
or up town In the latter case the
Saxon is the rule, while down town he
is the exception Instead one finds
himself in a decidedly foreign com
munity, among people of unfamiliar
tongue and aspect. Here many Of the
women carry baskets or children and
wear shawls, but all wear smiles. The
noise is intensified and the number or
street faldrs is larger than up town.
and generally they are more success
fuL Here one meets the Oriental the
Pole Italian, Greek and the predom-
lnant and ambiguous Yeddish. They
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