The sun., 1902-12-21
AMERICAS REAL SANTA CLAUS.
HE HAS MANY SHAPES AND rs
MIGHTY BlSY ~ THESE DAYS.
Has TO Work Overtime In Order That PeO.
pie May Have Their Christmas Presents
Not . Bit Like the Old santa lIaus
In LO0ks--Dansers He Is Exposed To.

And his clothes were all taruished With ashes and
SCOT.
stub Of pipe he held fas, In this teeth
And the smoke II encircled his head like a wreath.
His eyes. how they twnklcd; his dlmpcs how
merry.
His checks we're like and his lips Ike cherry
He had red nose and round little belly
Which shook when he laughed like a bOwlfui OF
jcny.-7he Nf0h R.iorc Christmas.
The real American Santa Claus Of to-day
is quite different fellow from the little
gentleman Of our childhood. For one
thing he hasn't -round little belly" tina,
shakes when he laughs like a bowlful of
jelly" As a type he is AZ straight ~ an
arrow, fiat as board, muscular and 1.-THE
His features are as clear cut as a cameo,
his eyes snap with energy.
This twentieth century st. Nicholas is
found in many places, and he wear. many
costumes. Sometimes he sits In the loco
motive cab and his hands and face. peaked
cap and jumper suit are grimy with the
contents OF his oil can and coal dust.
Sometimes he rides b ick of the loco
motive Ia the first cars, and, as the train
plunges through the country white with
snow or leaden under dour skies, he works
miracles with bag after bag of Christmas
messages and packages. IIe is he nimble-
handed railway mail clerk; and his twin is
the express messenger, who. ia a neiChbor-
ing car, sometimes handles as many a.
1000 parcels at this tire Of the year in
single run.
Again he Is that picturesque relic of the
great Vests most picturesque days-the
stagecoach driver. Still again lie il the
man who goes to sea with the fec' linors
And yet again he Is the gray-garbed letter
carrier, the express wagon man. the depart
ment store delivery man. the man who
makes out and clears the foreign money
orders sent to fathers and mot hers and
sweethearts in Europe by Anton Szacz,
miners he lper in the anthracite coal region;
Pietro Bobe''i. resident of little Italy;
Bridget O'Brien, charwoman in sky
scrapcr. and John Dobbins, carpet weaver,
transplantcd from the right little, tight
little island"
Last but not least, he is the blue-clad
messenger boy, although strictly speak
ing. the messenger boy is not repre-
sentative type of the real American Kris
Kringle
1t is at this season of the year that the
messenger boys troubles are thickest. for
now his work is hardest. For a week be-
fore the holiday, and from dawn until far
into the night he Is loaded down with
packages which hide all his body except
hands and legs from view
1t is not an uncommon thing for one boy
to deliver 800 to 400 packages day at half
as many houses. And to do it he has TO
work all the way from ten to twenty hours
a day.
But they all work hard. do the real Amcri-
can Santa Clauses. During the two weeks
preceding Christmas the railway mail
clerks scarcely have time to eat and snatch
a little sleep. Every one Of the 10000 in
the United States works feverishly AT ever
increasing mountains Of mail.
Not one gets his usual lay-oif between
runs, Tor when the amount OF b,teirrtsss in
creases over Is per cent. almost in the
twlnkling OF an eye no time can be wasted
II the great American public is to receive
Its gifts on Christmas morn.
As the mail clerks task is phenomcnally
multiplied, 50 is the work of the letter
carrier. In skyscraper, where he usually
delivers 5000 letters "A day to 5000 tenants.
beginning at the twenty-ffth story and dis
tributing as he walks earthward, he scat
terss among the occupants 80 900 messages
and packages
In the residential districts he arrears
not only with two bulging bags suspended
from each shoulder and one in his hands,
os III 'He shyScfdpeT, IN aUUluOn, ne II
accompanied by two or three assistants
often messenger boys-pushing hand
carts loaded heaping full with holiday
remembrances. On the day before a re-
cent Christmas Philadelphia carrier was
obliged TO employ a horse and delivery
wagon.
Closely akin in their line of work to the
mail clerk and the letter carrier, the ex-
press messenger and the eNpressman can
boast OF no time for salad. The number
nf I'M oh hn, Il m l.
from 100 to $50 and 400 per cent.
This means putting scores more Of ex-
press cars into service, using all sorts of
wagons obtainable for delivering, and
employing hundreds Of extra men. But
let regulars and extras work as hard as
they can. Christmas Day will find them
still handing packages in through front
doors. and still strangers To rest and sleep
that they have not INDUCED in for forty
eight hours
delivery men Of the department stores
Generally distributing a few hundred
packages a day, they now are compelled
TO scatter a thousand and more.
The 800 men In the foreign money order
department Of the New York Post Office
seasons. Through this Post Office are
cleared all the money orders sent from this
country to Europe, and practically all other
parts OF the world, except the extreme
orders begin coming In by the thousands
Last year the holiday business was rs per
cent. above the average and so far this
year the amount Of money sent abroad
shows about a 10 per cent, increase over
last Christmas
On only four Closes" or sailings, last
December. l58, ,457 advices. or orders, calling
for 81 ,s06. col .3s, were sent to- Europe. OF
this amount $9l5,3S3.4 went to si.92i
persons In Great Britain. and 80 900 Germans
received S29s ,59o07 as gifts from their
American relatives.
In his task Of bringing Christmas cheer
to hundred million people. the real Ameri-
can Santa Claus places himself In the way
OF manifold dangers. He fearlessly plunges
through the storm-swept Atlantic. He is
wrecked by frozen railroad switches failing
to work. He and the stage coach are
caught in mountain blizzards He fights
against the blood-freezing blasts of the
Arctic circle In order to get remembr ances
from the States to the miners imprisoned
in Alaskan camps and trading posts.
And even within the limits Of city many
a mail carrier has taken his life in his hands
In his effort To perform his full duty by de-
livering his Christmas mail. For example,
take John Henderson, attached to the New
York Port Office
He has Il route that includes several Of
the small islands adjacent to City island
To get to one Of these islands he il com
piled to row in an open boat for n half hour
in fair weat her, and when the winter season