The Press., 1911-12-20

having bronchitis, Is convaleac1ng.
 Mrs. Mabel Rogers of Rockville il
 assisting at the Howard store during
 the holiday rush.
 George Frazier has completed a new garage near his residence He has constructed 1t large enough so that he can use it for a paint shop for auto mobiles, thus avoiding the heavy grade leading to the second story of
 his paint shop at his place of business.
 Mineral Springs lodge, Knights of Pythias, elected the following ficers at the annual meeting, held in Pythian
 hall Friday evening: Chancellor oom- mander, E. E Warren; vice cHaucel-
 Tor commander, Robert Quinley; pre- late, A. W. Kingsbury; master of work, Adnah French; master at arms, Jacib Wagner; guardian, Daniel French; secretary, Leonard Wheeler ; trustee, John T. Melbourne; delegate, John T. Melbourne.
 A new law relative to public billiard and pool tables has been enacted
 Under the new regulations application must be made to the warden of. 8 borough or the chairman of the board of selecsmen of a town for a license. The applic tion must state the name of the proprietor, location and nun bsr of tables A fee of ten dollars is charged for each room, and the license may be revcksd for cause. The local author ties ate now ready to issue licenses under the new act.
 A subscription paper is being passed under the auspices of the Stafford Progressive Federation for the purpose of raising money for an all night ser vice of electric lights on all the streets for a trial period of three months. Fl csrio lights burn all night on Main street at present and the new plan is to include the Whols tric company shows a disp ,sition to meet the ne sd in this direct oD, and will run the lights all night the rest of the we, k without charge. Should suf ffi- cient amount ba raissd for the trial period, Mir. Lewis will run the lights free until Jan. 1st. and then three months from that data for the money raised for the purpose.
 If the petition of she New England Investment and Securities Go. to the Massachusett its legislature, which was filed last week. for permission of closer relations between the Be. kshire street railway system and the Worcester and Springfield systems Is granted, the elsotrio road from here may bs ex- tended. Among she proposed i'm provements and extensions named Is to build a "cut-cff' from Fiskdale through Charlton City, to reduce the distance from Worcester to Springfield by eight miles Another line is plan ned from East Brimf1 Id through the town of Wales to Stafford Springs, where Innection may be made with the trolley line to Hartford. This will put Wales in direct communioa- tion with the outside world and will give 8 direct route from Worcester to Hartford, reducing the distance be- tween those two points by at least 20 miles.
 Christmas trade, which has not been very brisk thus far, began in real earnest Saturday, and the indications are that before the stores close next Saturday night the holiday trade will be fully up to the average. On &C., count of the buyers holding back so long there will be an unusually busy time for clerks. Not many people are doing their Christmas shopping out of town this year, which Is not only mplimentary to local merchants, but also shows the good sense of those who have purchases to make. Stafford merchants have long since realized that if they are to retain the trade they must make their stores attractive, as we'll as compete in prices with out oftown stores. They therefore spare no pains in bringing in to town large quantities of merchandise from the larger oenters, which In turn can be conveniently bought of local buyers. The stores are handsomely decorated and many of them would be a credit to towns much larger than Stafford. The home-buying spirit is very com- More money for local mel chants means more money for taxes. It means a larger grand list A larger grand list means lower tax rates and lower tax rates mean lower rents. The home buyer Is not only saving time and money by doing his trading in town, but Is benef1ting himself, his family and his town when he patronizes home merchants. Republican.
 Grace Church Notes: There will be a meeting of the Woman's Guild at the guild room of the church at 3 p ID. Thursday. A full attendance is desired to prepare the decorations for the church. On Friday, at the same place and hour, those who have recita. tions for the Christmas festival are asked to come for rehearsal of their parts. The meetings of the c. F. s. and the Jr. candidates will be omitted this week, but the Knights of King Arthur will meet on Thursday even ing for the semi-annual elections and degree work. Next Sunday the ser- vices will be as usual, with the ex- ception of Evensong, which will be at 5 o'clock, instead of 2. This will be the Christmas festival service for the Sunday school, and will be followed