<THE DAILY atvine year: of 1825, 1f = you-take up a dally paper of December 5th, you may possiblyssee a dis- i patehifrom the city of "Nowhere," ! reading somewhat like-tine:-- : |: (Canadian. Associatedy Press Dis- ' pateb.) + Nowhere, Dec. 24th, -- Leaping to the 's seat at last t, Santa Claus the throttle of the big and the huge train dusted itself ute the 3 wight carrying t Joy an Christmas spiritito the people 'wide<wosld over. Weassy possibly yourmay see a dis- patch like the above, but of course theredis also a possibility that you in the first case it is } ¢ dikely that after using fthenufor sosmany years, Santa won't Swant to.giveup "the big sleigh and Fhe eight tiny reindeer," and in the heccondionse, it fo just possible that "with the big traffic over the rail- suclhawery important personage as WHanta Claus, couldn't command a bapecial train. Natumily Christmas 1s just about tthe busiest 'season with a big rail- way. Not only is there a big freight sand expréss moviment bug the pas- wenger traffic jumps into big fig- wres. Bverybody has a desire to visit the old hameé at least once a (year, and at Christmas, when the: 1amows on the ground and the spir- jit. of doing and giving is in the alr, ithe desire takes root, grows and fi- mally materializes. There is a wild Packing of suitcases, a hurried scur- ryingtomake the "last purchases," and then there is a rush for the "| umti] thie last sad obsequles are sald | over the dead body of the old year iraflway station officials and sleep ! are only on the faintest of speaking n Long special trains "puff, {Pid™ thelr way out of the big sta- : The. colored porters go oft the run, the transfer men " gvertime crowding = Christ- parcels into the Express cars thelr costs roll wp 'and soft with twee " apedd. The iran tunch, the station muster likewise and then as the December 25th draw. men In the post office off made up-and dispatched within an hour and the station officlals get their boots half soled and work harder and later than before. Everybody" is going "home." The station is filled with a conglome- rate assembly. Over there the fair Co-ed and the Varsity Captain of class "14 scan the pages of the time-table. They are going home to spend the holiday in Cushion- viile. To the right is the small shop girl who lives at Yorktown, just twenty miles out. She got off an hour earlier than usual to catch the train. On the left a fat man puffs a big cigar and coldly glances at the raging multitude. He wants you to think that he Is not at all excited at the idea of getting home. He appears disinterested, but all the same the chances are ten to one that he'is thinking of that rocking horse with the real mame that he shipped home to his grandson yes- terday. Over there, touching ef- bows with a matron: of sixty, is the young dry goods clerk going back to father and mother on the farm... On all sides are school marms, students, clergy, laborers, clerks, college ;rofessors, young maidens, maiden aunts---all with beaming faces and prominent par- cels, and all waiting for the grind- | ing of the and the clang of the bell, t will announce that they are off on thelr Christmas Journey. The freight and express traffic on a great railway at Christmas time is enormous. . There was a time when the greater part of the C. P. R's freight and express traffic was from East to West, but with recent years has steadily increased. This is ow- - dng to the great influx of new set- tlers into Western Canada. The great majority of thees hew settlers, of course, came from Britain, and at Christwas time they send home to their relatives and. friends numerous presents. During the days preced- ing the sailing of the last Christmas boats the freight and express mat- ter is forwarded from the West to Quebec and St. Jobm in. a jperfect flood, and of a varied and in - ing nature are the presents sent to friends across fhe Atlantic. Talk 1 Canadian rallway mén aud they «iil tell you that the presents, Eich dre perhaps the most popular © the pew settlers ard the sou- venlis of life in Canada, ~miniatune sriowshoes, t een ne a are transported! m na - thousands at Christmas time. But-ft is not the increased pas- senger and froight traffic nione that / emages the hustle and hustle in rail. way circles at Chajsimas Hime On' Ta R big railway there are thousands s of Christmas dinners to serve, 'and there are all sorts of Christmas celebrations to prepare for. At Christmas time we happen to know that the C.P.R. orders the turkeys end plum puddings, ete. for its Christmas dinners by the thousands. When the morning of the 24th this year comes into vie all of the company's eixty-seven steamships will not be in commission, but there will be a sufficient number of them vut on the broad bosom of the ocean to render necessary the preparation of enough meals to make the figures look" pretty large. Then there are the guests at the C.P.R.'s seventeen hotels to feed and the passengers in the dining cars, and altogether the - figures are startling. Christmas is always a festive oc- casion on the Company's steamships. Over night Santa Claus and his jn? visible minions work wonderful changes in the boats. When the morning of the twenty-fifth dawns, great streamers float in the breezes from the mast heads. Gay flap," from ers look quite gin their holiday clothes. he day on and con LC Day would not » he complete without a tree, so the passengers in the first and second cabins elud together, and give the 'émaller: children in the third cabifd the tfme of their lives. The big tree droopy under the load of presents. erybody contrifutes something. toys, Bundles of all s1mes and shapes. There are dolls with real hair, and that apen and close thelr eves. There are toy robber elephants that squegk fn the most "goslephantic" fashion . E 8 nme WBHOR JOE CrarEas and toy balloons, and occasionally, too, some big, rial passenger from the firs EO! abi will "dress up," and pi Santa Claus Not until the presents are all in 'thelr places and the preparat ed, are the small chi third cabin allowed into the nce of the tree, Then wh 3 are thrown back and the dist ie gling and romp some of them it is their first real Christmas. A couple of years ago on board one of the Empresses there was coming out from Liver } mother gnd r children. Life had been s in England, and the family its way to Canada to make a new stapt. One of the small 'children wah a small girl six years old, who, owing to an' infirmity, was unable to join in the play of the other third cabin children. It was lonesime sit- ting there all alone&ll day long, and while the littlé mald did her bést to ¢ 8 | g when poked In"the right spot. There Wye Tay Serdplanes, fof automobiles, 5 hide that fact, she fa not-succeed altogether. I on Christmas morning I was handed to her a: great big life-sige contributed by 'a frst of passenger That marked INOW epoch in the little girls' life. After that it did not mattter that she could not build wonderful mud pies in the sand with the other chil- dren, or pl le hoard. . It 'was her first dell, was perfectly 1a ppy Up in the first and second cabins thereare equally stirring scenes. Un f the day there ding of the can There are ga At dinner time in all der the influende is a general disre ins the tables groan under urkeys, and plum € , nuts and can- hich they are loaded g. there is a big concert arkable the amount talent that is pres ent at Yt 8 § ti s--getors travelling v e two con- tinents, profes- sional planists, entertai ¢ ally small e¢ players. Qutsl! top at blowing a small gale, but inside the. £hip, there is warmth, gaiéty, and the true Christmas spirit. At the biz railway hotels life on Christmas Day is just as gay as on the steamships. At the Chateau EO the Bobs to te. Agathe ous. Fromena at Quebe Viger, at Montr Alexandras at Ictorin 1 runs hig Perhaps there hotel on the ¢o nents that as renowned, f« which pervades | 1s the | Bob Sleigh § ace Xma Day goes ing the to take eds travel ot an ® mile a minute Mornt ng See Agathe Que. He bells on the cutters ' a giadsoms song. In the ng there is more fun. . There big dance In the ball room. . Eig from the Chateal mix ? their triends from the city. The wall ia orated with. thousands of flags ode occasion, the big grate fites semd up the open ohimneys of sparks from the Yule Sogn 2 orcheston pliys dance mu- mas Day. hearty "Merry Christmas (4 yu' sult" When vou enter the dining ears you will find there a special mena for the ococasion. and the car is micely decorated with evergreens and bunting That's the way it js throughout the whole C.P.R. system .% big raliway, but if is not too Big to enter Tully into the spirit of Chrivie -