The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1880-01-08
MY e1fRIsTMAs GIFT.

Being q bachelor, in independent cir
cumstances, and able to return such ci-
Whites, in kind, l have usually been so
fortunate rs to-receiye a large number of
Christmas presents, the response to
whiehlhas cost me so much mental and
pecuniary wear and tear at different
times, that | freely confess that / would,
ut any period, have been willing to come
to an understanding with my friends,
and agreed to stop both giving and tax
ing, if such proposition could have
been ventured by civilized man in the
nineteenth century. And upon my word
/ think l should have had the best of it
for the numbers of useless and trouble
some articles which have accumulated
in my chambers at each successive re-
turn of the Christmas season have, l
fear, put many a nail into the coffin of
my patient servant, and added several
wrinkles to the brow of a certain gentle
man who rather prides himself upon
his youthful appearance in spite of his
thirty-two years.
With this preamble 1 come to the
point. l was seated in my comfortable
sitting-roOm one Christmas Eve, mostly
smothered beneath the rolls of tissue pa
per that | had been resignedly removing
from the various little mementoes, la
beled with the sender's name and in
seribed with appropriate sentiments,
when another parcel was brought in. It
had a thin paper over it, and felt cold
and hard. ''GOod heavensi" l men
tally calculated, 'not another paper
weight!' for l was already the happy
possessor of sixteen; but my apprehen-
sion had proved correct, and l beheld
on opening the parcel a duplicate of
laat oh. oAn
apartments, being one of those heavy
glass ones with picture slipped in the
bottom. l read the card enclosed
'slIrom your loving little niece,' and
was laying it down on the table near by,
without having had the spirit to exam
inc ii carefully, when l became con-
scious that through the crystal glass in
my hand the bonniest little face
/ had ever beheld was looking
straight into my eyes. l hastily slipped
the photograph out and looked on the
back The picture had been done in
Naples, and was little rubbed at the
corners, and had the appearance of be-
ing old. Who, in the name of all that
was delicious, could this little darling
beP Possibly n fancy sketch-but not
probably. She looked too real to me
for that, and as l stood entranced at the
sweetness of the infantine- cheeks, and
lips, the rumpled blonde hair, the tiny
ears and big ear-drops, the bewildering
great eyes and the piquant little nose,
/ forgot that had half a score of press
ing matters TO attend to that night, and
rushed off to the home of the little
niece who had given the paper-weight to
me, to inquire about the original of the
picture it contained. But a keen disap-
pointment awaited me, for the child
could give me no satisfaction whatever.
The photograph had been given her a
year ago by a guest who was staying in
the house, and who was now travelling
somewhere beyond their knowledge,
and so she could not be communicated
with Little Bessie informed me, how
ever, that she had meant to have heI
own photograph done for the paper.
weight, but she had been too i'll to &C
out in the cold, and so thought she'd
Just put this one in, though it had been
in her playhouse for year, and was
not very fresh, and she promised me,
by-and-by, to have hers done for me
and | could then take that out. / an
proud to say, l managed TO answer the
child civilly, but at the same time | reg
istered vow that if necessary l would
present Bessie with an original Vandyke
if IL cost one-half / was worth, sooner
than part with my little treasure. Well
got good many pretty things thai
Christmas, but not the very handsomeSi
among them gave me half the pleasure
I got from this little picture. l was
positively in love with it, and l thanked
my lucky stars that had never married
as long rs the world contained such {
cherub as this. You will say all this i:
very silly of me, and if it's any comfor
TO you to know it, l assure you that
entirely agree with you.
A year rolled by; the anniversary o
my making the acquaintance of my pic
ture came around, and in the meantim,
l had been altogether loyal and wa
more enamOred of my little charme
than | had been Mt the first; but sh
had come to be little less real to me
and | had about made up my mind tina
] should have to be content with tn
counterfeit presentment, and to despai
of finding the original. In calm mo
ments it seemed prodigiously unlikei
that | would ever meet her. l had
cousin, Lucy Moore, who lived in
country place near New York, an
who was good enough to take goo
deal of notice of me, and to listen to m
pressing on many subjects, and / ha
coniided TO her my passion for the littl
picture, through she had never seen il
The fact was l was rather a donke
about showing it. / did not like t
share it with any one; but l was goin
10 Iucy's home for the Christmas, an