The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-21

He was dressed all in furs from his
head to foot,
And his clothes were all furnished
with ashes and SCOT.
A stubb of a pipe he held fast in his
teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head
like a wreath.
His eyes, how they twinkled; his dim
pies, how merry;
His cheeks were like roses and his lips
like a cherry.
He had a red nose and a round little
belly
Which shook when ne laughed like a
bowlful of Jelly.
The Night Before Christmas.
The real American Santa Claus OF
to-day is quite a different fellow from
tleman of our childhood. For one thing
he hasn't a round little belly" that
shakes when he laughs like a bowl
full of jelly" AS a type he is as
straight as an arrow, fiat as a board,
muscular and 1.-the. His features are
as clear cut as a cameo. his eyes snap
with the strenuous energy of which his
whole body Is a breathing exponent;
and often a reckless, devil-may- care
spirit is fascinatingly combined with
an unshakable great sense of duty.
This twentieth century st. Nicholas
is found In many places, and he wears
many costumes. Sometimes he sits in
the locomotive cab and his hands and
face, peaked cap and Jumper" suit
are grimy with the contents of his oil
..As h.
rides back of the locomotive in the
first cars. and, as the train plunges
through the country, white with snow
or leaden under dour skies, in his shirt
sleeves he works miracles with bag
after bag of Christmas messages and
packages. He is the nimble- handed
railway mail clerk; and his twin is the
express messenger who, in neighbor-
ing car, bearing the company's name,
as does his blue cap, sometimes ham
dies as many as 5000 paroles at this
time of the year in a single run.
Again he is that picturesque relic of
the great Vests most picturesque days
the stage coach driver. Still again
he is the man who goes down into the
deep with the fleet-footed liners. And,
yet again he is the gray CARRIED letter
carrier, the express wagon man, the
department store delivery man, the
man who makes out and clears the
foreign money orders sent to fathers
and mothers and sweethearts in Europe
by Anton Szacz, miners helpers in the
anthracite coal region; Pietro Bobetti,
resident of little Italy; Bridget O'Brien,
charwonan in a skyscraper, and John
Dobbins, carpet weaver, transplanted
from the right little, tight little ISL
and"
The Messenger Boy q Santa Claus.
Last, but not least, he is the blue
clad messenger boy, although, strictly
speaking, ne is not representative
type of the real American Kris Krin-
gle.
1t is at this season Of the year that
| the messenger boys troubles are
| thickest, for now his work Is hardest.
For a week before the holiday, and
| from dawn until far into the night, he
is loaded down with piles of packages
which hide all of his body except
hands and legs from view. 1t is not
an uncommon thing for one boy to
deliver 800 or 400 packages day at
half as many houses And to do II
he has to work all the way from ten
to twenty hours a day, according to
circumstances.
But they all work hard, do the real
American Santas. During the two
weeks preceding the dawn of Christ
mas 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 off between
runs, for when the amount of busi-
| ness increases over rs per cent. al
most in the twinkling of an eye no
time can be wasted If the great Amer
| lean public is to receive its gifts on
| Christmas morn.
| AS the mail clerks task is phenom-
| enally multiplied, so is the work of
| the letter carrier. In a skyscraper,
where he usually delivers $4,000 let
| tiers a day to 5000 tenants, beginning
at the twenty fifth story and distrip-
uting as he walks earthward, he scat
| tiers among the occupants 10000 mes
| sages and packages. In the residen-
| tial sections he not only appears with
| two bullying bags suspended from each
| shoulder and one in his hands, he is
accompanied by two or three assis-
| tants-often messenger boys-pushing
hand carts loaded heaping full with
| holiday remembrances. On the day
before a recent Christmas a Philadel-
| phia carrier was obliged to employ a
| horse and delivery wagon.
santa Claus Substitutes.
| Even though the letter carrier thus
| makes a grooming beast of burden OF
| himself, he would not be able to play
| his role of Santa Claus to the entire
| satisfaction of his people, were 1t not
| for the substitutes provided for just
| such an emergency. IT is a strictly en-
| forced rule of the Postoffice Depart
ment that a letter carrier must not
work a minute over eight hours day
| If he does and his superiors find it out
| he is brought before postal court and
| fined a days pay. Eight hours work
| would scarcely permit carrier TO get
| rid Of the mail brought In by one
| through train for the people along his
route; therefore. Of necessity, he falls
| back on the substitute, and often he
has five and six helping him. Even In
the outlying districts of a big city
where the population thins out almos,
/ to village density, the carrier frequent
| ly has a substitute.
Closely akin in their line Of work
| to the mail clerk and the letter car
rier, the express messenger and the ex-
| pressman can boast OF no time for
salad. The number of packages han
| died increases all the way from 100
| to $50 and 400 per cent. This means
| putting scores Of more express cars
| into service, using all sorts of wagons
obtainable for delivering, and employ.
| ing hundreds OF extra men. But lei
regulars and extras work as hard as
they can, Christmas day WIFI 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. Similar condI.
tions prevail among the delivery mer