Evening journal., 1922-12-26


Miss Helen Hudson, Messrs. John
Walton and Edgar d. Peoples.
The annual Christmas play under
the direction of the Community Ser
vice will be presented tomorrow and
Thursday afternoons at 2.30 o'clock
in the Playhouse.
Impressive services marked Christ
mas Day in all the Catholic churches
Of the city. At o'clock yesterday
morning the Rt. Rev. John j. Mona
CHAN, Bishop OF the Diocese. cele-
brated solemn pontihcal mass in the
st. Peters Cathedral. Sixth and West
streets In the afternoon Bishop
Monaghan oficiated at solemn YES
pers.
The services at st. Paufs r. c.
Church, Fourth and Jackson streets.
at a. m. drew a large throng OF
worshippers. Solemn high mass was
sung by the Rev. Thomas +. Wal
dron, assisted by the Rev. Joseph
Butler as deacon and Charles
Dougherty as sub-deacon.
The edifice, one of the most beau
tiful in the diocese. was resplen-
uNHL Will HtdEOAldUAt ANNtA tANaNAAe-s
Palms and cut flowers banked the
main altar while hundreds of can
dies added TO the beauty OF the
scene. Ferns and greens were strung
about the pillars Of the church.
The musical program during the
mass was as follows:
Professional Stausbach's orches-
ira and organ: Mercandante's Third
Mass in G minor: offertory. Adeste
Fidells. by Novello. o, Holy Night.
solo and chorus. by Adam; With
Glory Lit. solo and chorus, by Diehl-
man; professional. orchestra and
organ, Miss Mary T. Murphy, organ
ist. Joseph f. McCullin, director.
With solemn high mass at
o'clock and full choir. accompanied
by Albert's orchestra, the service at
st. Thomas r. G. Church, Fourth
street and Grant avenue, was unus-
ually impressive. The Rev. John J.
Connolly was celebrant. Special
services marked the observance in
all other churches of the diocese.
That the 1922 Christmas sales ex-
ceeded those OF Christmas 1921 by
from 30 TO so per cent. appearsto be
the concensus OF opinion among
merchants Of the city. Not only were
sales greater in number, but the
value OF the articles bought aver
aged higher.
Banking institutions report large
Increase in savings fund deposits
withdrawn for Christmas shopping.
A year ago six or seven thousand
men and women were out of work.
This year practically all are en-
ployed.
Many merchants, who a year ago
had large stocks left over, were
obliged to draw upon their window
displays, and in some instances the
display windows were stripped. One
merchant, whose stock was extern
sive. sold out of toys early Friday
night. At least one candy dealer
was practically sold out early Satur-
day night. Candy sales, ii was re
ported, were larger than they have
been since before the war.
Jewelry stores reported large sales
Of the more expensive presents,
watches being particularly in de-
mand. Several jewellers were oblig-
ed 70 replenish their stocks late in
the week.
Piano sales were better than last
Christmas. Photographs also occu-
pied a prominent place on the
Christmas shopping lists. Furniture
dealers also reported increased sales
over last year. There was heavy
buying IN women's suits and furs
In spite of additional supplies OF
Friday afternoon and Saturday
morning the market closed Satur-
day night with prices ruling at from
rs to So cents a pound, although
earlier in the day some dealers were
asking from so to co cents a pound.
Christmas trees dropped rapidly
in price on Saturday night and BY
10 o'clock 1t was possible to buy al
most any tree as low as 25 cents.
These included trees OF the size
which had been selling for S5.
Some dealers when they learned
that they were going to have a num- /
ed up poor people who were unable |
to buy a tree and presented them
with "A tree without cost.
one dealer. J. f. O'Neal, who sold .
trees at Fourth and Madison streets, /
gave away so trees to that many |
poor families who were unable to pay |
for a tree. While Mr. O'Neal, Of
course was out the price he paid for /
the so trees, nevertheless he had the /
satisfaction o. knowing that he made
so families happy their Christmas
being made brighter through his lib
erality.
The price of holly. wreaths and |
mistletoe advanced during the eve
ming on account of the supply not
being as great as the demand. in fact.
there were very little holly and
wreaths in the market in the eve
ming.
Passenger service over the Penn
sylvania Railroad during the Christ
mas holiday season shows an in
crease, averaging from IS to 20
per cent higher for the past week
than that during the same period
last year. Handling OF express busi-
ness shows a similar increase.
Last Friday and Saturday traffic
on the Maryland and Delaware di-
visions was so heavy that it was
to add additional cars to
all the scheduled trains.
During these two days, returns
showed that approximately 1OO,s90
were carried over the
division. Yesterdays
travel Mas light compared with the