Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-22
CHRISTMAS HOLLY
AND TREE TRIMMINGS
MUST BE THOUGHT OF
Mistletoe, Too, Though It's Ex-
pensive-Final Storming of
the Shops by Shoppers
Is On
HOW TO P A CK GIFTS
Including today, there nrc only three more
shopping days before Christmas,

Christmas holly Is making Its appear
ance In windows all over town, especially
! in the windows Of those who say they
! don't believe in what Christmas stands
! for. Christmas trees are being sold, bu'
the great rush to buy these does not come
until the last moment. They also are used
! to deck the rooms Of the unbeicvers.
A learned agnostic always reads Dickens
| "Christmas Carow on Christmas Eve
| These people give one excuse or another
! for having a good time now; they say the
festival Is a pagan survival or that every
nation has to have Mt least one big blow
| out a year. and that 1t just happens we
call our Christmas: and many other
| clever excuses for being clever Instead
of right, but something or other tricks
| them In out of the cold OF their logic to
sit before the great roaring logs oil INC tno
| Christmas hearth. And the little needles
| of the shedding christmas trees fall ahKe
upon the Just and on the unjust.
Nistlctoo is very expensive; almost as
valuable as pearls: almost as Naluuolo
as It's results. We often wonder What tnt
mistletoc men tuy, "one-half so precious
said modcrns how much of the old oois-
ferrous Christmas rcvelry they are miss
ing by being born too late.
In Mcrrie England Of old 1t didn't mean
n thing TO kiss people, in or out OF
mistlctoc season Samuel Pepys tells us
of kissing actresses right before his wire.
who didn't mind that Il bit, although
she was a very Jealous woman. How tne
rnmpinr spirit can be brought back TO
the world In safety is hard to say; pos
slbly by lowering tho price OF mistletoe'
possibly by lowering the price of every
thing. Puritanism and its over-diEnlty
is pretty closely linked to commercialism
and its handmaid. poverty
The Christmas trees are now on sale.
most prominently on the east plaza OF
city nall, where they look very cold, tall
and skinny. That's because the branches
are tied up. but when YOU cut the ropes
those branches will tlop out. with an out
pouring OF fragrance and they VIII bcnd
stllI more under the burden of tinsel and
metallic kniclt-knacks.
a small forest of them has appeared III
one of the bends Of picturesque DOCK
street. and they are to be had near all
the railroad terminals and ferries. The
prices are between 20 cents and 81, but
they usually 20 for about 81 or Sl.5O be-
cause most people leave the buying OF
them to the last minute.
Tho final agony is on. The shoppers
took the trenches of the counters by storm
Yesterday and to day they are making the
lyirls prisoners i'm their thousands. Go easy
don't push. take your time. 1t means
this. this late shopping. that you can't
be so nncky you've got to make up
your mind in n hurry and maybe that's
the best way TO pick II present after all.
It is a good thing to have list. Put
down I'm black and white exactly what
you have to buy. Then calmly set 10
work to get each thing done. one AT a
time, This madhousc business of putting
n distracted hand TO n distracted brow
and standing still to block the ingress
and cgrcgs Of shoppers at department
store doorways is very bad form II
isn't done,
IT will soon be time to dig down into
that deep cupboard, where repoSes
throughout the long year. waiting, the
box Of ancestral trimmings for the tree.
Lucky the family that does not have to
buy the wondrous balls of gold and sill
yer. the angels Of was tie waNcn biruS
and metal stars of bethlehem" for the
older these things are the Detter tHeS
are.
There is at least one great five-pointed
star that has been placed on the top
most branch of n Christmas tree in Phil
adelphia every year for the last half
century. Three generations OF children
have looked up at II, scintillating and
gligtcning there in the lamplight. next the
ceilinE-ncNt the sky.
OF course some families are new brand
new experiments, and they have to lay
i'm a store OF tree trimmings. They should
get good and beautiful ones of the pat
tern softcned to old use and old mem
cries These things are the symbols of
traditions dcarer than any present adj
vantage of price or passing fashion The
fashion in stars and angels was fixed