The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-12-14
.D|LATORY NICHOLAS
HAS MENOEO WAYS
. OEL|GHT|NG CLERKS
Christmas Preparations F urther
Advanced Than Formerly at
This Season of Year---People
Shopping Early.
Stores. Postofice and Express
Companies Make Same Re-
port. Rush Comes Days
Before Usual Season. Parcel
Post Business Grows.

Post Business Grows.
Santa Claus has reformed. The
dtlatory old gentleman has renowned
forever the thief OF time and all his
works and In the lexicon ON his parior
table in his home in the frozen Attic
there Is no such word as procrastina>-
ton He hasn't shed his whiskers and
his hair Is stall white. BY no magic
has he been able by subtracttng TO de-
crease the number OF his years. but in
some way he has acquired q wonder
ful oil with which he has annointsd
his joints until they are as supple az
youths. and the formerly staid old
gentleman, whose eyes and telly-like
|avoirdupois alone expressed his good
nature, now gives expression to his
merrirnent with hop and jump. and
can cover more ground with his re-
junvenated legs than ever his reindeer
could.
All of which means In plain. every
day English. that folks are shopping
IearIy, mailing early and receiving
early. and that Christmas prepare
items are further advanced this year
than ever before.
All Are Early Birds.
Etraxgiers on Broad street grew to
proportions OF crowds earlier than
usual; the stores were filled with
shoppers many days before the rush
usually begins: the parcels for the
country cousins sent by express and
Uncle Sans new parcel post began
their various journeys days and even
weeks ago shop Early has been
the slogan of more people than ever,
and those wcrds Inscribed on meta
F phorical banners have led thousands
on 10 an early assault upon Rich
mnnd's stores
Broad strse.. of course. has been
|crowded and the stores, az course,
have been damned, hut not quite to
TIL. usual extent. for the work OF shop
ping has been spread over soore time
and. If last week is an indication. the
climax will be reached early this week
Instead OF a few days before Christmas,
ms formerly.
Parcels Increase In Eumbera.
A noticeable increase In the number
. OF packages going through the mails.
both incoming and outgoing. over the
number a year age shows that the
advice of the postofface department is
being needed by the people. Already.
nearly two weeks before Christmas.
The Christmas mailing rush has begun.
and the Richmond postoffice already
+ has added TO its force and wagon
delivery service to meet the increased
. demand,
!, In addition to the four wagons pre-
y4ously used for the delivery of parcel
most matter, larger than can con-
veniantiy he delivered by regular foot
carriers. the postoffioe put on wagon
about two weeks ago. Tomorrow
second additional wagon Will be put
on. making six wagons In service.
Between now and Christmas day
there will be total Of seventeen
wagons making daily delivery for at
least SIX days, the Richmond office
having secured an appropriation to
cover cost Of operation OF twelve extra
wagons for six days.
Tonight an extra man. known as
''router," will he added TO the post
ONCE force and other reuters Will be
nut to work a. the business Increases
/ Every step has been taken 10 facili-
. tate the handling OF the Christmas
business and a high degree of eff
cheney will be maintained. Postmas-
ter Allan. Assistant Postmaster South
ward and Mails Superintendent Laud-
or. hold daily conferences with divl-
sion heads, and no detail of the in
creased work put onto the office by
the Christmas business will be handled
without delay.
More Than Year Ago.
During the week Just ended the
+ daily average OF incoming PACKAGES
! was close to 2,ooo. and outgoing,
nearly 3.00e, The number has daily
| increased during the week. and the
next two weeks will see large In
crease in the number, while the big
gest days business will probably be
done on the day before Christmas,
.xf. AZ nff3rn In
the country Is to mail early That
that advice has been taken here ~
shown by the fact there ia an excess
OF nearly n thousand a day outgoing
over incoming This condition Will
probably be reversed during the next
few days, and the incoming volume
f he greater than outgoing. The aver
age weight of the packages, both ar
irving and being dispatched. is about
one and one-haf pounds,
The stamp sales during the hrst
/ two weeks Of December have been
much larger than a year ago, the
patrons of the postoffice having
| bought stamps early as they had been
advised to do. This fact win con-
tribute largely TO the efficiency at
tanned by the postoffice force In
handling the rush The clogging up
F Of the paths before stamp windows
| will be greatly reduced ana mucfi
time viii be saved 70 the patrons be-
cause they have bought stamps early
Express Companies Busy.
with Christmas less than two
weeks off. every train entering Rich
mond brings a large number of ex-
press packages for deiiverance In this
city The express clerks and mes
sengers have already become aware
that the holiday season is drawing
near, and from present indications
more Christmas presents will be de-
1lvered by express in Richmond this
year than ever before, despite the
parcel post facilities,
Although number OF small pack
ages will be sent by parcels post the
MANAGEMENT Of the Southern Express