The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-01
LITTLE CHAMPAGNE
 LEFT TO CHRISTEN THE NEWBORN 1915

Poor little 1915! It's debut will be
 far from joyous in those countries | ravaged by war, and even in neutral l or distant lands the grim shadow of l conflict will put 8. damper to the mer- l rfment which is usually the accom- | panfrnent of the birth of new year. In the great capitals of Europe, in l London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna, the 1 popping of corl1s and the clinking of glasses and the voices of nerrymakers
 will be all but silenced, for Europe is l in no mood for such revelTy.
 Of all the great cities of the earth, 1 however, New York has long held the l dubious leadership in the celebration | of New Years Eve. The New Yorke 1 simply casts reserve and decorum and 1 convention to the winds and turns 1 himself loose to welcome the arrival 1 night feasting and drinking-especial- l 1y the latter is not peculiar to the 1 American metropolis. but it is there l that it is most general and enthusias- tio. A stern critic might describe New l York's welcome new year as 8 4'drun- ! ken debauch,'' and still be within the bounds Of truth.
 While New York and other Ameri- can cities will not abandon their GUS | tomary festivities, the revelry will be l somewhat slbdued. The shortage of | champagne will in part be responsible l for the Iessening of New Year ardor. In the past the great restaurants of New York have decreed that nothing 1 but champagne be served to their pa irons at the midnight feast. but the | ravaging of the champagne district by war, and the consumption of vast quantities of wine by the Germans, 1 has made the sparkling 'tjoy water | not only very expensive, but decidedly limited in quantity. Tn past years 1t
 has been estimated that New Workers
 
 1 buying champagne on each New 1 Years; eve, but tontght's indulgence l will be considerably reduced. Many 1 who have heretofore disdained any | thing but wine will tonight condescend l to consume beer, and many other Americans of usually conv1viaI spirits will manifest their sympathy for stricken Europe by refra1ning from following the customs of the peaceful past. The suggestion tIlaf the money ordinarily spent in celebrating the oc- casion be devoted to the relief of the 1 homeless and the suffering at home and abroad has met with 9 wide re- | sponse.
 Boston Common and Undergraduates Square in Philade1ph hia have New Years celebration quite different in character from the riotous cere1n onies of Broadway, and many other Ameri- ! can cities have sought, with more or less success to give a s'safe and sane
 aspect to the nights popular jubila- ton.
 The celebration in Paris and Lon l don a year ago were almost as vocif-
 erous as New York's, but tonight will l witness al great change in the spirit of the French and English people. AL l though the people may cEare the sol | dter's jubdIant nagation of the ques- 1 ton, Are we downlaearted? ?'', they are not in the mood for such nerri- ment as made the entrance Of 1914 ! memorable. Then the London streets of the West End and around St. Faults were a pandemoniun, with jewellers, wearing paper caps and false noses, paradfng up and down and blowing 1 horns. Parisians crowded the Roule-
 wards by hundreds of thousands, and l the restaurants were filled to over flowing. Berlin and Vienna. also had notable celebrations a. year ago. but l the exuberance of the average Ger
 man on such occasions does not ap- proach that of%Americans, Frenchmen 1 or Eng1fshmen.
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