Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30

celebrating the day have gone, too, the
rough-and-tumble parades that filled the
streets and frequently ended in brawlS and
fights, to say nothing of occasional muir
derS.
In New York the ward associations, when
they go in for the thing at all, now limit
their masqueradng revels to Thanksgiving
day. Practically the only New Year parade
of any consequence now Is held In Pnlla-
delpha, and even there the Mummers 90
not show themselves in as great numbers
and under the same circumstances as in the
reputed good old days.
Then each association paraded and cut
up high jinks where it listed. and If 1t won
any prize money, usually put up by small
merchants and ward politicians went on a
protracted spree that terrorzed its particu-
lar neighborhood. 1t was disorgant zed
revel and subject to all the evils of such.
Finally the city--it dearly loves to perpet-
uate old things, even though they may be
bad-stepped in and offered prizes from the
treasury to be awarded to those associa-
tons making the best showing in an or
ganized parade along Broad street. Thus,
while the spectacle of itself is far more i'm
posing than formerly, since it IS concen-
trated, rowdyism has vanished and the
thoroughfares are no longer used by maud
lin Mummers. Except for a brief two or
three hours the picturesque has also de-
parted from Philadelphia's New Year cele-
bration.
To Make Noise.
But If rowdyism and drunkenness and
all the attendant evils are no longer IN evil
dence on New Year day. the crowds on
the streets are greater than ever before
and the noises louder, wilder. more varied.
With the custom of celebrating the day
apparently dead among the grown-ups, the
young people seem to have come to the
front as the chief celebrants. Theirs is in
nOCent celebra ton, wholly. What Is there
I'm ma
the streets blowing horns, teasing all sorts
of noises out of Tattles, shooting off toy
pistols, tickling ones neighbors with minia-
ture feather busters constructed for the
purpose. and throwing confetti recklessly
and hilariously about on all sides? Noise,
and yet more noise, seems to be the watch
word of the modern New Year celebrants,
and from the time the chimes begin to
peal out on the stroke of u midnight until
long into the following night 1t is well nigh
impossible to get away from New. Year
noises in a big city.
Noise has been a feature of New Year
day for long time. The memory of man
does not run back to the New Year day
when enthusiastic Quaker city jewellers did
not assemble in front of Independence Hall
and, as long as the bell solemnly b0omed
out the number of years of Independence,
vent their feelings by shooting holes in the
circumambent heaven" So with the horn
blowing around Trinity Church, New YORK.
when the famous chimes peal forth. But
the NOIuIQe Oh ratchet iid'ic even lNt NSehlS
ago seems tame when compared with the
pandemonium that IS now let loose. Not
only do the crowds grow continually larger,
but each person seems to take particular
delight in trying to make more noise than
ever before in his or her life.
& Growing Demand.
The men who manufacture the noise
making instruments are authority for the
statement that the demand for their prod
ucts Is greater with each succeeding New
Year. Formerly what horns and rattles
and such like were left over from the
Christmas trade We're sufficient to supply
the New Year trade. Nowadays special
stocks have to be manufactured for New
Year day consumption. since the young
people who blow horns and rattle rattles on
the first day of the year are not the ones