The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-19
YUI ,ETIDE FACTS. FANCIES,
LAWS AND OPPORTUNITIES
One More Week in Which Santa
Claus Must Complete His
Task.
WORKS IN MANY DISCUSSES
Old Chap Dealing Heavily This
Year in Types OF
Aeroplancs.

| There are six more days to shop
| lust week more for santa Claus 10
fiji his sack and be ready for the DIE
night when he must leave present,
| large or small. expensive or cheap, IN
something like 10000 gaping stock
lings in Richmond Throughout the
city, from the lowly little shop on the
East Side to the big department stores
on Broad street, he has been, ana sun
| is, busy laying his stock. Despite the
oft repeated admonition to shop early,
he doubtless will be found late Satur-
day night bearing excess baggage. FOR
the good old saint Is procrastlhatoi'
and, being the busiest man in the "hoie
world for the time. there Is an excuse
for him. He has way of filing every
one with the spirit of the season. ana
even the tired shop girls seem willing
to serve him with a smile, though he
really ought to have been ready to
start the night before.
He can get what he wants; there is
no doubt about that. The shopkeepers
have seen to 1t. and one can buy in
one place or another anything from
10-cent doll to a miniature flying ma
chine. Neither are they particular
about the price. You can get COM
plicatcd mechanical toy and pay $500
for It, and also you may buy for little
or nothing the cheap, simple little
toys. mostly wood and paint, that de-
lighted the children twenty or more
years ago.
In Various Roles.
He appears in many guises. One
time you will see him roll up before a
great department store In a throbbing
| motor car that in itself represents
small fortune. Then all manner of
wonderful things will be bought and
ordered sent around by the wagonload
! and hung on large, tinsel-covered cedar
trees, all fixed to order. Then he is poor
or maybe ragged, and takes his few
little bundles under his arm. The
spirit, though, is the same, and Christ
mas is Christmas to the rich and the
poor
Broad Street and the shopping part
of Main are thronged from early in the
morning until the stores close their
doors. The eager crowd pushes along
from one counter to the other, looking
and buying such things as strike it's
fancy or fit its pocketbook. 1t is a
Ihewildering array of contrvances that
can be selected from. Some things are
so old that the memory of man runs
not to the contrary. and some are so
new that they must be explained by a
demonstrators, who is glad to do 1t and
smiles as your money disappears in the
cash register.
All May Aviate.
| In this age, when men are gliding
/ about In the air in all parts of the
| world, the youthful mind naturally
| bankers after flying machines The toy
| man. with his usual enterprise, has
anticipated this and is prepared to
1 xl,l. =,
sire in the way of mechanical bird.
! If you are prone to lighter than-air
! machine. he has it for you--an exact
| replica of the Zeppelin, that will sail
around the room, gaining Its motive
power from a small propeller run by
(. some ingenious mechanical device.
Then there are heavier than-air ma
chimes that are really wonderful and
actually fly like birds for quite dis
lance. If you want one, just ask the
man and he Will with great nom
chalance inquire If you prefer a
| Bleriot, a Wright biplane or some other
model. AS a matter of fact. YOU can
have miniature aviation meet in your
and no loss of life. OF course, you
cannot break any records. but then you
Will not be bored with discussions as
to whether or. not the Paragraphs are
| correct and the only purse to put up
Is the one you give the toy man.
Selling Trees.
The farmers are busy, too, bringing
into the city hundreds of holly and
/ cedar trees that they deposit. often
very surreptiously, in back yards and
cellars. Also they haul in huge loads
i of cedar boughs and running cedar that
they sell for decorative purposes and
hand out with pitchforks as they would
hay.
some enterprising person with a
, taste for figures andcertain convictions
on the subject of conservation of the
forests, has doped 1t out that in the
United States there are sacrificed every
year about 100000 promising young
evergreen trees. The dealers need
more than that number and, without
going into the economical phase OF
the question, are getting out an artt:
4 fetal tree that looks almost as goot
and serves the purpose better thar
the one the farmer brings In on HI;
4 wagon,
thing has been accomplished that goe
long way towards placing the artifi
cial tree first in public favor. That !
that it is practically flreproof. TIL
original, which very generally has bee
cedar burns like finder, and its deaf
rate is almost worthy Of being place
/ in the Fourth of July class. Then, too
these manufactured trees are Yer
durable They may be folded UP
a small space and II care is take1
may no used for several wears. u