Evening star., 1915-12-26
bALMY AIR MARKS
CHRISTMAS, 1915
Sky Merely Hazed Over With a
Light Film of
Clouds.
BUSINESS OF THE CITY
is HALTED FOR THE DAY
Mail Carriers. However, Confronted
by Unusually Heavy Burdens.
Post Office Makes Record.

| More like one of those balmy. even
sultry, days in March than the regu-
lar winter article was Christmas 1915.
| From early morning until after sunset
the air was warm, the skies were
merely hazed over with light film of
clouds, and for those who took advan-
| tage of the day for a country ramble
| the footing was soft. 1t wasn't like
Christmas. Even the kiddies of Wash
| ington knew that and spoke about it.
No snow. no nipping wind, no chance to
give Christmas sleds a tryout or to
compare Christmas overcoats with
! those of other oungsters'-nothing like
that at all. More like a Sunday in
early-very early-spring was the day.
| in spite of the Christmas greens.
Christmas trees and Christmas wreaths
| everywhere.
! With all of the government depart
ments closed since Friday noon, most
of the employees of Uncle Sam took ad-
vantage of the full two days and
half for more or less extended trips.
| The big government buildings were
Ideserted-none but few indispensable
clerks and assistant secretaries SHOW
ing up yesterday morning.
Business Practically Suspended.
| OF course all the stores were closed
for the day-that is. all but a very few
of the smaller establishments that re-
manned open to cater to the wants of
those absent-minded individuals who
forgot somebody and failed to remem-
ber until the postman brought a token
on the single delivery yesterday morn
ing. Salespeople and proprietors alike
took a deep breath of mingled retoic-
ing and relief at closing time Friday
evening-the former because the
Christmas rush was over, with two
days in which to rest up, and the lat
ter because the holiday trade had been
better by broad margin than that
of the last two or three Christmases.
| The city post office made. only one
delivery yesterday, early in the morn
i ing. But that was certainly some de-
| livery. Bigger by far than any Christ
mas-day delivery in the history of the
| Office was the accumulation of mail
matter that went out of the big white
building over by the Union station
more than ten times as big, according
to a statement of Postmaster Chance.
yesterday And at that much mail was
| left to be delivered Monday morning,
because even with all the regular. car
| riers working, with nearly 100 extra
carriers on the-job, with a big force
Of extra clerks to help out the regular
| force, and with the assistance of more
than ninety vehicles, it simply wasn't
possible to handle all of the mail that
E! cluttered up the benches in the closing
hours Of the final grand rush.
| Postmaster's Big Figures.
The Washington post Office handled
far more frst-class mail this Christmas
| than it has ever had to distribute be-
| fore since Washington was first laid
out" said Postmaster Chance last night
| Letter and card mail, as well as thou-
| DO n<h how md no nj
class mail. made a volume of business
so greatly in excess of that of a year
ago that it will be impossible utnil to-
morrow to say just how big the in
| Much of the belated mail necessarily
was left over for the first delivery Mon
day morning. Much of this was of local
origin: that is, mail dropped in boxes
or left at substations or contract sta
tions late Friday afternoon by last
minute shoppers. However, the guam
tity of this mail is smaller than it was
a year or two years ago. But that
| Christmas morning delivery was GER
tainly wonder. and were all glad the
big rush is over
! night that they had had a gratifying
volume of parcels to handle this year
and that all had been handled expe-
| ditiously, practically none being left
! over for Monday delivery.
| Special musical programs at many
| Of the churches of the city attracted
| the usual large Christmas congrega-
tions. though the fact that number
| of the Protestant churches are to hold
| their special services today served to
| cut down, to an appreciable extent. the
number of churchgoers; Services at
| Christmas dinners served there drew
| the usual numbers.
Celebrations in Homes.
| A large majority of Washingtonians
who remained at home over the holi-
day. however celebrated the day in
their homes. The downtown streets had
a deserted appearance; street cars ran
on holiday schedules and carried COM
lparatively few passengers at that, and
the day as a whole was one of those
quiet. uneventful ones such as some
times turns this otherwise busy capital
into a humdrum, drowsy sort of place
where even the dash of the fire engines
would fail to drNw crowd to the
streets.
And then about o'clock last night it
began to rain and turn colder. The wind,
from having blown all day from the
southeast as warm as many April
breezes. switched around to the north
west The rain. coming at first in few
scattering drops. gathered force until
within a few minutes it was pelting down
in a good imitation of real storm, and
pedestrians scurried for shelter. The rain
came lust IN time 10 eaten the tneater
crowds on their way to the various places
of amusement. and within ten minutes the
only persons to be seen on the downtown
streets were the policemen, in their
glistening slickers, and few unfort-
unates who dashed along behind UNI
brellas held low, hurrying to get in
out of the wet.
So went Christmas. 1915-ushered in
with springlike SreeZes, blue skies aad,
out in the country. the calls of birds that
really ought to have gone south several
weeks ago; and brought to close with
sudden downpour Of rain, winds fast
growing chill, and the promise of evil
weather for the rest of the night and for
today.
Hearts of 200 Children Are
Made Glad by Entertainment
In the Central Union Mission
The hearts of 200 or more children
were made happy last night. when the
Central Union Mission. 622 Louisiana
avenue northwest. held its annual
i Christmas entertainment for the little
ones.
i Yesterday afternoon the management