CHRISTMAS CROWDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17041, 24 December 1918, Page 9

CHRISTMAS CROWDS.

'scenes in queen street. BRIGHT PAGE IN LIFE'S BOOK. |if|fpThe Christmas crowds in Queen Street ■iorm an interesting pageant to one whose fiilf^ or k lies at a desk near an office window. JlpThere is life, and colour, and unending " 'variety in the spectacle; in one cljort *$f$ ■loor all sorts and conditions of men rub ?£';■-shoulders in the thronging crowd that ||! 'drifts up and down." It ia the Book of H Life opened at a bright and interesting &?' page, though woven in the text are the |B dark threads of the stories of lives overshadowed and broken. ';••••- - First oi all, in tho bright sunshine of jFs; the morning comes the host' of the ; ",;\. workers, men, women and girls, crowding ; ' . out of trams, and steamers, and trains, hurrying and laughing as they pass to i; office, and shop, and factory. Even before them, however, come the nowupaper men, who take up their stand and with tireless lungs proclaim the news of the day. . An aged bootblack settles - himself on his little box at a street corner, and sets out his brushes and polishes; these are harvest days, and tho times have been very lean. He carefully unfolds a morning paper, and keeps in touch with the affairs of the Empire with the aid of a large Magnifying glnss, looking up every now and then with a watchful -eye for patrons. ■ Presently he stows the paper carefully away in" the box on which he is fitting and falls into .1 speculative mood, watching tho hurrying crowd, mumbling softly to himself, and nodding es the sunshine strikes full in his eyes. All this hustle and hurry seem very unnecessary ; he has seen these crowds so many, many Christmastides in the past, just as eager, just as full of self-import-ance, as they hurry on their way! Asking so much of life and happiness"! When, as the boot-black knows, the thresh of life can be sustained on so very little h

Li'itle Ones' " Day of Days." But the tide sweeps on, and laughing . girls and glad children tako the place of "tho hurrying workers, visitors from distant farmlands, and far places by the sea, . '.. ia whom the roar of traffic, swelling babel • »of voices, and ceaseless shuffle of feet bring confusion and unaccustomed nervousness. , —Now a woman passes with four or' five . little children, all exclaiming "and running -■- -h to" shop windows, heedless ol'- maternal .-■>'• warnings and appeals. Queen Street is a ....:: worrying place for the mothers in Christ- • pias week- fit .; -.■■ •• Conspicuous in the crowd is a happy little group, a tall soldier, . with a bandaged arm; a beaming,'- glad-faced girl walking beside him] and a robust small boy holding his hand, prattling happily as they pass on their; way. Another small lad, clad in khaki, waves a tiny flag, and salutes the soldier as he passes. The. child-life of Queen Street is ,h one of-its most conspicuous -and "pleasant features these days. There is no weariness where »«.«;.- beautiful shop windows gleam and beckon, - . where Father Christmas hi' his . scarlet .'i'i-;,.-.-robe waits for". the' whispered conference Wk\"<& all good children If It is something to ;.'"H . be young,' and able to j visit ) Queen Street ; ';'t"',.* in Christmas week! And in all the crowd ■none -are lighter-hearted ti-day than the .^-.|.litJe > bare-footed street rftchins" who come 3 running down from the byways into the :,highway, unwashed, unkempt, but glad of heart. With shrill cries they* dart from v to window, drafting after them 'f^^^fetle'boxes on wheels, in which they will jiresently go caVeering madly off down.the ""-J street again. Queen Street embodies' their ..' "V Land of Enchantment; there' : will be but ... ..little of Christmas in many of the homes •> --in the byways, but always there is the • r ,;;. u glitter ; of the shop, windows, and the thrill ": '. f of mingling with the Christmas crowd. E '"^STv-.-V. Sqmbi»jTints: Also. 4f $.&s*■ ':"• ..•-' At mid-day the workers come thronging .: from the business houses of the' city and. l-r* swell the crowds in '.the-'streets.':":? The |||p* bright sunshine picks out all thirrainbem ' • tints of colouring in the ; summer dresais. of ; y . the women the gay medley, the blue skies V and clear air-" j;iva .the scene a touch of ■ .^^almost Continents!'^colouring.;-But"there : are sombre tints also; the black robes of P P mourning S are conspicuous in the s mass of : /;! light,.. bright colouring, and through the % V;; laughter and spirit of rejoicing one senses ' - . the voice of sorrow, mothers and** wives

*• weeping over -gone ? tragedies ; and biitterj loss. ... The dark-robed women pass, .; 5 ;/'; and with light voices and happy faces, a | y group of merry girls and boys come troop- ] \ing across; the street. A couple of firemen,' ■ arm-in-arm, march somewhat unsteadily, I abreast of a gaitered /,'. dignitary ~of -, the : . -.. Church; an old lady wjth a bulging shopp- - : -ing kit, r ' jostles a solemn-faced Chinaman ■V'\ " and nervously apologises. A cripple in a ;" [ .wheel-chair steers .Himself dexterously \ ( : ' v ?: down the crowded pavement,, and a »';--.-f wounded soldier, still unaccustomed to his ;••. - cruicbes, \ eyes" him with unconscious envy'..; | V ] ':.V. A very'gaily-dressed I lady, with a heavy : ' . fur over her light drees, draws her, skirts j - >/M. instinctively . away--from • an'unkempt, -un-fc..'.-i-3 shorn-old .waif of; the streets, who eyes '-'' "the contents of ', a ' fashionable ' millinery ~f: i" window-; with dim, watery eyes. Pulling -; .7f_ out a pair of large, horn-rimmed spectacles, ■jj\i'i* he proceeds to closer examination, and, I&&SJ apparently, /reads -'aloud. the Jticketed vvs prices, .with ; knowing":/ nods' and - 66ft >~-t'\ -chuckles. An unconscious, unconquerable |*| humorist, he ! Turning from the windowhe drifts to the r edge of the pavement, ■ und carefully inspects, the contents of ,a :ivf2 refuse can, then sits down on it,, and surveys the parsing * crowd/ Street curs dart in and out among the feet of the /:■' pedestrians, and barking noisily, bring - tense moments to cyclists and motorists ;.i. speeding down the street. *>. *■■ ' :''""; i;-.'. Glories of Fading Day. ?: '".i .1 ... As'the afternoon wears on, bundles and -. , ; baskets .and kits of every shape and size , ; ,. - ; become more and 'more in evidence ; some v." of the Christmas shoppers have left things, : \>:/". as usual, to the last day, and now overU>.. .. loaded, hot and tired, "are reaping the ','•. fruits' of procrastination. The rush for the j."- cars sets in early the crowds are just as . . /anxious now. to get. out of the city as they r.'.'i. were to get into it, and the desire appears to have seized them all at 'the same mo- ;•* ment. The cars fill up, ajid • dash by, leaving 'weary, disappointed groups at every stop. ' ~ i ' j. ' . ;•*'. The last rays of. the setting sun light • with golden flame the windows of the tallest buildings;. over in the west the sky is burnished with a wonderful glow .... 'of red and gold, but Queen Street falls • into shadow. Duj>k falls, a dark, soft ..T blue haze in which the high buildings • stand strangely taller, and seem to crowd ■. - closer together, transforming the street . into a long canyon with high walls, strung . with points of. glittering light. The big •; arc-lamps flash and frleamf'a myriad liehta burn suddenly in the blue dusk. With "vening the streets swiftly fill again, and tho procession of the day gives place to - that of evening.. Crowds of pfomenaders take the place of the shoppers, and they pasfi and repass all tho evening through. light of heart, forgetting all that may hold of uncertainty or sorrow in .the glad . spirit of the day. remembering only that war is ended, victory won, and that " Peace " Christmas will be born on a glorious morrow.

* , : '•''•'. In Great Britain- only about fiv.i bodies yearly are exhumed, and only one death, is traced to crime. Hence risk of poisoning infinitesimal.—Advt. , • -;'