New-York daily tribune., 1865-12-21
WHAT re @wY F@R A mOEHhAS
P&EsENy.


A rreat n,apy of rs sober old people, WILD
ylite or whitening or nesitatine mars VIC W..
asked what question seems to as the most -
all the unanswered ones to-day woa'd ooupueSS i0p'
I'd ,h. o,rselves very wise 10 boot: How TO recon
stmo, onr blessed countI wnlcii we snouu pi'""
~, 10 ,ero,ded by a universal hee.haw from the per-
verse and irrevcrent younger generation For doesn't
,,,ryobid in ,he land--aye and every man and woman
se,ide-tbs. has sixpence TO spend. know that Inc o"y
auestion Is, for a week 10 come and has been for
weeks past. What sioH bny for a 'hrlstmas
Iresents'
It lisa beautiful and touching trait in this much
abused humon nature of that regularly year
the whole Caucasian raeo-the only that has any
Jsal human nature you know--shonld be profoundly
sgitated In settling so unselfsh problem For, of
course it is pure unselfshness Everybody is eagerly
stekilg what give of course without the slightest
snspoon ha. he is receive anything in reurn, and
without even the wish TO receive anything Here is
our grandchild Tom for instance How profuse he is
in his inquiries rs to what papa would Ike to have;
Row overpowerng his offers spend bis whole hoard
sf pennies purchasing expensive uxnres for which
Ne has overheard that extravagant person express
hntemperate wishes and how preiy his generous i'm
pulses tend toward the very gifts for his papa which, If
1t should once enter his mind TO wish for anything,
would be the very thing that would al once suggest
themselves TO his fancy How carelessly. how free
from all taint Of fishing" as II is rudcy and uDgen
rroysly called does be throw out illusions skates
md sleds and knives and balls and sets OF tools With
what winsOme innocent delight in anotbers joy does
he inform everybody in the house several times day,
that Charley Schumann has real stable with horses in
it that have real tails, and real in their troughs
And how surprised he would be, if any one should
tssey conclude that he enyied Charley and should 90
and get Just such another for bim
But il is true without doubt that everybody is ask
i,g this question, and thai il is puzzling one to
answer So we who have the same difficulty that
every one else has and know than our neigh
bo7 what 70 give brother sister to uncle or aunt
Isopose throw out few hints 10 the whole circle oi
TEDUSE readers, 10 how they may spend their
money, fthey have any and wish spend it. And if
anybody thinks we had better make own purchases
first and then let people know what We have bought,
we object that, O chronic impecuDolsness has really
taken away appetite for Christmas gifts altogether
and that for long series OF yers we have taken our
Christmas ont in studying shop.windows and wishing
and as very few persons have everything We con-
sider that we, who can have everything at this
rdicu]opsly cheap rate, quite as much 10 be
ervied as or more apparently prosperous neghbors
imagine ourselves to have been by ilconditoned
reader, who thinks that giving advice IN mat
ter we know nothing about will in order to satisfy
hun tell him what we have bought for our Christmas
riits or mean 20 buy. when ship comes home!
And in the first place, we say nothing about the
things We have ordered home-always standing outside
the shop window with the Black your boosf and the
"Pleeese sir POOR girl penny" and the other ntelii
gentyonng people who will faten their noses against the
glass and waste their uDOecupied time III selecting the
very prettest things in the sbopwe say nothing were
neat about the things have ordered home for the chill
reD because everybody knows what they must be- Only
let nobody think that children absurdy
brought MP to like any but the good old fashioned
real toys that can be played with That Tom, we spoke
U shall have tops and balls sleds skates knives, tools
fshng.rods and gun but he shall not have single
French gimcrack, anything philosophical nor any
Thing that winds up nor anything that is instructive
not dssected map Of our dssected country. The
only concession have made is with regard to magic
lantern, and before sending that home
quested M Pike take all the pictures that were
not funny.
We also while we were bent spending money, de.
fermned TO reft our stock of family games which by
years steady had really come TO look dsrepnta-
Ole We object to saying it ourselves yet there
10 chance OF any fsayng it for us, yet have
fine young family consisting, beside that irrepressbl
Tom. Of two pretty daughters and two handsom,
boys as Queen Victoria herself can boast which is say
ing as little as we could possibly say. Now, we hav
always encouraged these young people to play ogethe
hs much as possible, ana make.their evenings merrl
whenever they could get up sufficient flow of spirits
and it is surprising how very little difficulty there ha
heen in managing that part Of their education On
point. our four feet-we mean our we's two and ON
awo-hsve been put down and planted inexorablyi
you might well try, as Cesar said
"t0 lift up Olympus" TO make bulge
We viii have no lessons studied in the evening We
are determined win have the evening for domestic
enjoyment and We wish the reader 10 know that get
il When are not visiiing-and for the most part
20 in q troop; or singing or bearing Angelica and
Medora play Chose are not their real names but they
might have been if We had had more tase or sitting
eniety reading-we are playing games and as our
playing is very often boisterous-w though bred
is joIy--the games do get out and 50 this year
We haze ordered home a new stock. billiard-table
We can't afford--f we could. we'd have one; but we
have fne bagatee board instead which is very good
fun its way and we have battledore and shutecock,
which is as pretty game as ever played, when
two sueh fue girls playingi It. They struck
abe shuttle between them, the other evening. eight
hundred times and Besarius Tompkins said-but
never mind what he said CSaTy. Tom insists upon
calling him. is sweet upon Angelica, and says great
many things that would sonnd very silly ii he wasn't
"Graces used TO be favorte game with our
ch.cks, aud recommended by Dr. Croaker
good thing for the girls chests, and
shey played it good deal until the hoops eviuced
tte most singular pertinacity in lighting our head
snd our wfes alternately and with such precision that
we could hardly have believed accidental had not the
pYs assured US tlat they couldn't what had got into