Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1910-12-22
NEVER BEFORE
 DID OLD SANTA Have Such Wonderful Var ieties of Christmas
 Pickings.
BIG CHANGE TO SHOP
Next Saturday is Christmas Eve and Stores Will Be Open at Night to
 Accommodate Crowds.


 distracting than this year and shop. pers find it extremely difficult tt resist the lure of the many desira, ble and temptingly beautiful thing. displayed in the shop windows ant on the counters.
 It is not an uncommon thing for a shopper to start with the intention to purchase certain things marked down on his or her shopping list, and to come home with an empty purse without having purchased any of the articles mentioned on the list, sm- ply because there were so many oth- CT things more alluring to the taste of the buyer.
 Those who have been in the habit of making the rounds of the shops about Christmas time, year after year, are delighted with this years displays. To them, who had follow ed the manifold changes in the char acter of holiday goods, corresponding
 
 and refinement in this country. th s years magnificent display does not come as a surprise. They had watched the gradual evolution from cheap and crude toys to marvels of mechanical perfectioln, from equally cheap and guady tinsel to useful and ornamental articles of unquestionable artistic merit.
 Less careful and systematic observ- CTS, however, who make the rounds Of the shops at tn IS time, will be greatly surprised at Ithef wonderful changes in the character of holiday goods compared with the displays of rive or ten years ago. Santa Claus is nothing if not up-to-date Modern ism crops and bulges out everywhere --it s the most striking feature of this years hol day market. Nowhere is this tendency more apparent than in the toy displays.
 Tin soldiers, miniature ctrcuses, drums, horns, and other noise-produc- Ing instruments of torture, and the hundreds of other rather primitive toys which used to delight the hearts or the boys ten or more years ago are no longer conspicuous in the | shop windows. They are still in the market, and may be purchased, principally at the smaller shops. but they have outlived their attractive ness, and have been relegated to the more obscure shelves and corn CTS.
 In the windows the latest and most up-to-date goods are displayed. The place of honor is given to flying ma chimes, airships, gliders, and other toys reflecting the wonderful modern of man in the con- quer'ng of the air. There are small models of every known make of aero planes, Bleriots, Wrights, Curtiss and other American and fore gn models: dlrigibles Ia Zeppelin, down to com- mon county fair balloons with para { chute jumpers attached. Many of the models are quite large and the higher priced ones capable of taking flights of considerable length and height The most expensive mod els of monoplanes and biplanes derive the power for their propellers from twisted rubber bands, while the ( cheaper models have steel springs and cloclSworks. These instructive toys particularly the larger ones. are Tn every respect, excepting the motive power, exact reproductions of the machines used by the aviators. They can only be operated with safety irf the open air, as they can reach an alt tude Of 90 to 100 feet. and can < cover a distance of 100 to 200 feet. They range in price from s150 up, I The smaller and cheaper models al- so fly, but only when suspended from the cell ng. in which case they cir , Gle around the air like real flying machines In the same category be- long the mechanical birds, which can ny in circle, and the new styles , of kites butt in accordance with the latest theories of aircraft. Next Saturday evening will be , Christmas eve. and this week is your last opportunity to purchase Christ mas gifts. The merchants are ex- pecting an unparalleled business. and arrangements have been made by the different stores to accommodate the crowds and they will keep open til abcut 10 o'clock D. m, to allow those to dc their shopping who cannot come out during the dey