The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-12-13
THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
EXEWPLTFIED IN THE HOLIDAY
 LIFE or 4 BIG STORE.

A Tour Through the Realms of s'sant,
 Claus" in Ewem McIntyre's-Gifts fol
 Young and Old im BewiIdering Abun'
 dance-HiMts ns to Acceptable Present.
 With Christmas less than two weeks
 off, the one thought uppermost in the
 minds of young and old is of Santa
 Claus. That jolly old fellow seems to
 gain in popularity with each succeed
 ing year and to command respect
 whether he comes in his sleigh drawn
 by reindeer, on a bicycle or in an auto-
 mobile after the most approved and up-
 to-date fashion. His presence seems
 vertically to fill the air; it's effect on all
 is magical. Everyone seems to have a
 kindly regard for his neighbor, every chart seems filled to overflowing with heart seems filled to overaowing with charity
 Not the least part of the Christmas pleasure Is the shopping. From morn- ing to night the stores are now thronged with eager expectant purchasers. With out the vast moving, restless crowd that seems to walk along mechanically and without object, is in reality but the constant flow from one store to another. The little ones gaze with longing eyes upon the beautiful toys in the window and then enter for the unalloyed pleas ure of a closer inspection. Women, the very picture of health, are seen in every department of the store. To them the shopping Is the greatest pleasure of all. Even the father of the family seems to feel the spirit of the season and moves from one place to another in the big store, with his arms filled with bun- dies, entirely at his ease, for he sees many other men in the same boat as himself. And truly the experience of shopping is a novel one. You go from one store to another, purchasing here and there, continually discovering some beautiful and appropriate gift, not once stoppng to think of the time, and not Lonce pausing until your purse calls a halt You return home fleeing that pos sibly you may have been injudcious in some of your purchases, that you may not have in every case got just what you wanted for your money, but your heart thrills at the spirit of it all, your mind feelS a satisfaction entirely new, and the next day you are at it again. It is mania which nearly all are liable to be stricken with at any time. And the beauty of it all is that it cannot go beyond certain bounds.
 Enter any of the big dry goods stores of an afternoon or evening during the Christmas season and you at once get the shopping fever. Take the immense establishment of Ewen Mcintyre & Co., for instance As soon as the doors of this big building close behind you, you find yourself irr an entirely new and un- discovered region. The vastness the immensity of it all at once strikes you, and it is not unlike the feeling you are conscious of on entering a strange city. The whole is as light as day and pre- sents a more beautiful appearance, the hum and buzz of the cash system sounds in your ears like the bustle of the city's traffic; the crowd of people, the great stock of wares displayed, all give the one idea. The Christmas pur- chaser on entering this store finds him. self in the actual realm of Santa Claus. Everything that the mind can conceive of in the dry goods line can here be found in abundance, and the very inn mensfty of the stock seems to control the remarkably low prices with which all goods are marked. Preparation has here been made for the largest Christ mas business the firm has ever catered to, and in spite of the rise in price of manufactured goods, large and judi cious purchasers have secured goods at even cheaper prices than before. Each one of the forty y-fivesdepartments of the huge establishment is overf1owing with Christmas novelties, and the whole l store may truly be said to be possessed of the Christmas spirit.
 To attempt to describe the different | departments of such store, even in | brief. would be burdensome task. So | much can be said of the beauties of the | goods and the lowness of the prices that | it seems futile to deal other than in | eeneralities. But brief account of the | departments containing distinctively | holiday goods may be interesting. Let | us start in at the new section of the store. the one fronting on Church street. As you open the door you find yourself | in the midst of the jewelry department. The glaring electric lights shine upon cut glass, silverware and jewelry of all sorts and descriptions A more accept able present for Christmas than some thing in this line it would be hard to find. and here a wilderness of choice is afforded that is very desirable. Sterling silver articles for the desk and toilet, imported ebony hair brushes, cut glass; ware fancy dishes and novelties of all the latest designs are open to inspection in bewildering array. A remarkable feature of the jewelry trade for Christ mas is the reduction in the price of ster- ling silver articles. They can be pur chased this year for one-third of what they cost last year. Leaving the jewelry department, as you pass an through this branch of the store you catch a glimpse of counter on which medallions are exposed to view. Nearly all the subjects portray ed are classical, noticeable among them being the "Three Fates," the "Madon- ma" and the Presidents" Another counter contains hand-painted opal ware designed into pretty smoking