Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-21
SANTA MAKES THEM HURRY
5~ElsspeOpls Say These Are Strenuous Days
at the Stores.
WEATHER HOLDS DOWN SATURDAY TOTAL
Result VIII he . Double Rush During
Three Remaining ~Days-shop-
psrs Are Buying Higher
Priced Goods.

"
Il is next Wednesday evening that the
Christian world hangs the foot end Of the
family washing along the mantle and goes
upstairs barefooted in the hope that a
certain corpulent and lavishly- inclined old
gentleman by the name Of K. Kringle will
slip In by the chimney route and bulge
the aforesaid family wash from its toe up
TO It's garter line.
He has been doing II for some several
hundred years, and there seems no very
good reason to suppose that he will permit
any general disappointment this year. In
deed. his purchasing agents have been
caught trying to corner the market The last
few days. Moreover, the sources OF supply
have a presentiment that these agents will
be doing still more Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday, and are preparing for a mighty
rush.
Saturday Records.
Last year the big day for Christmas shop
ping was the last Saturday prior to X.
Kringle's coming. II was a record breaker.
II sent merchants home feeling like Pier
pont Morgans and 1t sent their employees
home feeling like dray horses. Store stocks
looked like the morning
and night ~jsnitors hung out the distress
sign.
Yesterday. the corresponding Saturday,
was not so bad-or good. But then there
we're reasons. To begin with, Christmas
was not so near by a day, and shoppers
didn't feel so pressed for time In making
their selections. Women, who do most OF
the shopping at Christmas time, for the
same reason that they do all the shopping
at all other times, never like to definitely
decide until the last possible minute. They
may have determined September 20 what
the gift was to be; decided October 20
what shape Il was to be, and decided No
vember 20 what its color was to be, but
it's never earlier than December 20 that
they take the money with them and really
buy.
Yesterday Disadvantages.
This year, December 20 was a very bad
day-and that is the other reason why their
buying didn't come up to last years
standard. The mercury stood several de-
grees above the freezing point from dawn
until closing time, and, to make matters
worse, rain fell. The melting snow became
the wettest kind of slush and every cross
ing was an point. Some women
who hadn't any golf skirts never got be-
yond the first exclamation point. Others
did, but their own apparel was all they
cared to carry, and what they couldn't have
delivered they left 20 be bought on a fairer
day.
Still, the merchants and shopkeepers are
not complaining. They had all they could
comfortably do and their establishments
all looked like the floor OF a convention
hall Just before the nominating committee
reports. The old man and the elevator boy
ate in the same kind OF a hurry at the
nearest restaurant and went home with the
same amount OF lead in their shoes. The
young woman who dispensed notions and
knick -knacks was, like the hoorwalker who
dispensed smiles and general directions,
plentifully occupied. The cash register
chimes played a Christmas carol to gallop
time and everybody was two-stepping to
keep their shoes OF other peoples feet.
Report of the Trade.
Abbreviated. the report of the trading up
to this time is that the demand for staples
IN up to standard and the demand for lux
uries ahead Of previous years. The people
of the realm have the coin of the realm
and are letting loose Of It very generously.
They appear to be in a position to "go a lit
tie sleeper" this year than they have pre-
viously. They buy more ~jewelry-that kind
Of jewelry that has the price marked in
Greek signs that the customer cannot in
terpret until he has gotten inside tho store
and been choloroformed. They buy smok-
Sng jackets that cost as much as the tull
niits they used to give. They buy hall
trees and whatnots where they used to buy
jardiniere stands and ornamental waste
baskets. They have RELOCATED the erstwhile
s-much-as-possib -for-the-money idea and
adopted the plan OF it-must-b be something
e-this- year.
How the Stocks Compare.
And very truly may II be said that they
have had no d~ihiculty In finding articles to
meet this requirement. Stocks are larger,
Of uniformly better grade and better as
sorted than ever before. Merchants knew
what was coming and prepared themselves.
Clothing for the man is all up-to-date. and
clothing for the woman is all up TO dates
yet to come. In counter goods there is no
distinct novelty, but the old dainties are In
new form and more elaborate than ever.
The dolls have real eyelashes now and the
toilet sets are in solid goods.
The toy departments, most important OF
all at Christmas time, are yeTitable wonder
lands. Children this year will receive such
things as their grandparents supposed never
could be made. There are miniature flying
machines, there are miniature automobiles
there are gravity trains that whlzE a hun
dred feet on the level and climb grades
there are engines. hosting machines and g
hundred other diminutive products OF rea,
mechanical ingenuity.
For the little misses Germany has beer