Life — December 25, 1902 — page 38: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TSS Christmas. (peniscmas is coming. Shopping districts are being cons gested. Bargain counters are being besieged. Spirits and stockings are beginning to go up. Minds are ubiquitously working over the problem of what to give. Salesladies are hourly growing more tired and more irritable. Salesgentlemen are in the same boat with the salesladies. Christmas is in the air. Tt is on the newsstands, in the clouds, in the horsescars, andin every childish eye. Gold pieces are waiting expectantly in banks to be sent on messages of good cheer. Fat turkeys are strutting aimlessly, unconscious of martyrdom. Qornucopias are looking up, and candy men are growing ambitious. Christmas is coming! Churches are being trimmed. Fir trees are spreading their branches for coming burs dens, Small chubby hands are being clasped in joyous expectation. Round, full, little hearts are beating high. Secrets are being kept—and broken. Santa Claus is working overtime. There is agitation supreme in all toy windows. Steam cars are beginning to puff up with pride. Hobby: horses are feeling their oats. Tables are preparing to groan, and as for Cupid, he is just as warm as ever in a furslined overcoat. Jack Frost is also at work at the same old painter’s trade. Fingers are being surreptitiously measured. Mysterious packages are being smuggled in through back doors. Significant smiles are being exchanged. Bills are coming in, and who cares? For @hristmas is coming! comicbooks.com