The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-20
City'S Trade Shows Large
 Increase.
AUTOMOBILES AS XMAS GIFTS
They Will Go to '.200" or More
 Stockings. '
Light is Turned on the Ignorenee of New York school chndren- Marriage Is Declining i'm
 New York Society.
BY LOuGAcRE.

AV'A' OcC 4S-Ino nr8t sio0.OOO.ooo Christmas in the history of the country. so far as any single city Is concerned, will be New York.s record next Friday. When Father kniekerbocker sits down the day after to figure up the cost of his celebra- ton he is likely to find 1t in excess Of this figure. Reports from stores of 'ail kinds show that at least S75,000 900 will have been spent on presents. ana incidentals. such as dinners. entertaln- ments and charities will easily raise the total above the hundred million mark. Outside of actual presents them- selves, the biggest item In this record breaking Christmas bill will be for food. Not less than 100000 oysters will be consumed and the estimated total of various other items which will be used In Christmas dinners is as follows: 600,000 pounds of butter. 100000 pounds of turkey, 5000 roast pigs. 100000 pounds of beef, 7g,OO0 eggs. i5.000 Holsters. 5000 game birds, 10000 pounds of chestnuts. ssU.0a0 pounds of potatoes, 500.000 quarts Of milk, and 2,5OO, ,OOo quarts of wines and liquors. These are only the major items of the record breaking Christmas dinner. On presents 1t is estimated that New Workers will spend SBo000 900 and out of town people who do their Christmas shopping here 25,009, GOO more. The most expensive single pur- chase yet recorded was for ieweiry, amounting to S30s.00O. More than two hundred automobiles 1t Is reported. will be given as Christmas presents. and stockings in all parts of the city will bulge with gifts of a costly nature. After the lean Christmas last year, as result of the panic, Father Knicker- booker is apparently anxious to make up for lost time, with the result that this years Christmas will be the most expensive ever known.
 Children'a Tgnormnce.
 Two years ago Q written test ais- closed the fact that not a single chiid in the public schools of this city knew the words of the star SpangIed Ban ner," Az very few adults know them either, the discovery did not cause as much of 8 sensation as those who made 1t evidently anticipated. The whole theory of public school educa- ton now promises however, to come in for severe investigation. Margaret Doolittle. a teacher here, has eonl- piled series of answers to examina- ton questions of which some of the most astonishing appear in Appleton'a magazine. While the answers are ludi- erous the problem which they present Is serious. The Idea of a vertebrn which the New York child gains in school is suggested by answers to the question asking a description of it which include such statements as the following: "A vertebra Is a chain of little bones running all around the body. It is considered very dangerous" Another answer to the same question states that "a vertebra is the spinal column and its function is so we won't squeak when we bend over" Other answers showing the general ignor- ance of the human frame which now prevails in the public school include the following: "rhe kidney hasn't any definite position; 1t is said to noat." "The large intestine is a tube hve feet in diameter leading out of the thorax." The strangest answer to the question as to why a tadpole cannot croak took the form of ths following statement: "because it has no legs" One pupil in answer to a question as to the best way of caring for the eyes said Never look at optical tilu- sfons" Tuberculosis seemed to be an unknown quantity, one pupil writing In answer to the demand for simple rules to prevent it, "Tubsrcuiosis fs consumption germ which spread very easily. If the handkerchief is dry they float If 1t Is wet they remain where they are. They should not expectorats in company, neither from nose or mouth" Altogether the juvenile idea of the human body, its functions ana diseases, as shown by these school ax- amInatlons. is remarkable in many ways