Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-04
As USUAL, THEY'RE
SAYING CHRISTMAS
TREES ARE SCARCE
And Hist! This Is Another Sc
cret-They're Going to Be
More Expensive Than
Ever
suopPING TIME SHRINKS
ou,, Eighteen Days Left in Which
TO Complete Your Gift
Buying
trcIrding today. there are only 10 shop-
..,n days before Christmas.

tr.irding today. there are only 10 S""p-
.,an days before Christmas.
This is secret-dont tell anyone IL
..,r,t discourage the growing spirit Oh
,-hristmas in the air, butch, dear!-
christmas trees arc scarce. They never
,sro So scarce as they are this year ana
,,6v,re going to be expensive, ever so
.,,b rrore extensive than ever before, so
arobably there won't be enough money to
huv one for that new baby and he will
,.ya to be cheated into believing De-
ccmber 25, 1916 is his first Christmas and
,hot this one coming three weeks from
,odav ,s not his first Christmas at all.
who is this crepehanger that prowls
obou, every year Just about this time
rylth hard luck stories about the Maine
woods and the dearth of eligible Christ
mas trees? Isn't 1t about time to muir
Jer him in his bed? He emerged into
potoriety about December I. 1882, and he
is still talking gloom.
THE PERENNIAL CROUCH.
He is the man that says mean things
like this: that he'd like to have every
dav in the year Christmas day and he
can't see why one day should be more
worthy of honor than any other; or that
Christmas trees shed little green things
all over the carpet and make an awful
iot of work for somebody who has to go
around sweeping them up; or that candy
Il very bad for children and does nobody
any good but the dentists who patch up
the chdrcn's candy-torn teeth and roll
In honest mems gold when the Christ
mas season is overland n good thing
when It is over, says this crepehanger,
who always says Christmas trees are
scarce this year and are going to be
expensive.
or course the trees are scarce, as all
valuable things are. There were only
@SOO of them in the As carloads which
have arrived in the freight yards at 10Th
street and Allegheny avenue. There were
60 carloads in the yards last year and in
1918 there were nearly 100 on this date in
December. All right: who cares?
SHOPS ARE LOOKING UP.
In spite of the treeless prospect, there
Is evidently a plentiful supply of presents
to hang on the trees, as the shop windows
bear witness. There are quite n number
OF fine things 20 buy. The most inter-
esting are those a man buys for his girl;
they are flowers, books. candy. furs brace
lets, rings, silver jingling things to hang
on a chain, watches, very tiny ones that
stop going on December 26, but are all
right when they are fixed up at the
jewelers. and then keep perfect time
forever after (the only reason they stop
the day after Christmas is because they
get mauled too much Christmas Day),
and small dogs, and many other things
But of course in some of these cases
the girl has to be married to the man
before she can accept this or that pres
ent, but one never knows just which Is
which, Vases are all right, but are risky
unless you have good taste, which Is no
reflection on you; but it takes a lot of
training for some people to acquire good
taste.
And all these things ought to be pur-
chased before December 10 II possible on
account of this "Do-your-shopping-
crusade; and if they are not remember
there are only IS shopping days before
Christmas