Wichita eagle., 1888-03-11
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.
Hints Concerning Holiday Presents-Mi
takes We Make.

takes We Make.
This is the time of year when every body
runs about saying: II wonder what Susan,
and Mary, and George, and Harry would
like for Christmasl What shall buy for
fathers don't know what in the world to
buy for mother! 1t is so hard to choose
Christmas presents" etc, etc.
Perhaps December weather adde's heads,
for general softening of the brain appears
to set in with Christmas shopping. Memory
goes first, the faculty Of calculation follows,
and temporary idiocy results.
1t would be good plan to make Christmas
memoranda in midsummer. Some provi-
dent women begin their Christmas presents
then, and they are the women who do not
ruin themselves financially and break their
foolish hearts with disappointment over tho
holiday. We have more sense when our
brains are boiling than when the Christmas
paralysis strikes us. In midsummer we
kaow we do not want to buy big plush covered
gift, books and silly brass things, and piles
of useless trash for our friends. In Christ
mas week we 60 like droves Of sheep and
are shoo'd about by shopkeepers just as
they please; our indicisiOn is directed, our
money melts in our hands with its anxiety
to run over counters; and only after our
presents are presented does reason and
clear vision return to US, showing US what
we might have done to the purpose, and
how wide Of the mark we have spattered
our offerings in nearly every case.
You knew last summer that Susan was
actually longing for larger assortment of
oil colors. But now you forget it, or it
seems too trivial to bring to her hand what
she actually wants. So you buy her-at
twice the costa gorgeously-p published
poem at which she will never look the sec
Dnd time.
Mary loves etchings; so You choose her
folding chair. (She can sit on the fold
ing-chalr and think about etchings.)
George and Harry are suffering for
d" Froissarts Chronicles and roller-skates
So you buy them paper weights and collar
buttons. They will, eventually throw the
paper-weights at each other, and lose the
collar buttons; but, to your idIotIc Christ
mas mind, these seem eminently the gifts
for George and Harry.
Poor mother! She always knows you are
going to get mother nice pair of slippers,
which she can not wear. She sees them
coming, as Christmas rises above the rim
Of the world. They vary in pattern and in
degrees of niceness; but you mast get
mother nice pair of slippers at Christ
mas, 10 add to the pile she has already laid
away.
And a handsome book for father. Father
will always appreciate books. The print
may be SO fine that he can bring none Of
his eyeglasses to bear on it, as he places
himself in various tantalizing positions at
the lghteSt window. And when he does
got nip at it, its line Of philosophy may
pat him out and stir up his wellsettled
prcIudices. Still, you must give father
handsome book Ut Christmas time. Hew
TO the old line in your present mailing, let
the chips fall on whose venerable head
they will.
And be sure to dover Bridget with some
muDlficent bonanza which you can not af-
ford, in order TO swell her opinion Of your
wealth and generosity.
And then the mob OF friends who rise like
that army from the valley Of dry bOnes-the
people To whom you mus send something:
who sent you something last year; whom
you have known so long: or who are nice
beloved, here are five hundred more OPP
porJunities for financial and social blunGer
ing End stumbling headlong into the
Chris mas ditch.
1t does seem as if our heads got sub
merged in the alcohol which burns Christ
mas snap dragon, and we all go bobbing
about in blue, unnatural light until the
fire burns out.
Yes. this is the time of year when the af-
fectionate wife is secretly making the dress
ing gown for her husband, which he will
be ashamed to harness himself in after the
tcsJal moon; or when she is sweetly buying
him a load If the vile cigars he can not
smoke; or selecting some article of furniture
She has long desired to have in the house.
that she may present it to him as Christ
mas gift.
This is the time Of year when the az
fectiOnaJe husband, regardless of expense,
buys his wife a diamond ring to wear with
that same Old cloak she had four winters ago.
Still, it is better to have ilI-sorJed presents
than no presents at all. 1t is better to give
lmiss than to withhold the hand from Civ
ng. SO let US go ahead, humping around
-he counters against each other, and re-
tcrating the Old formula:
Il wonder what Susan, &c, would like
FOR Christmas! What shall get father? l
iOnt know what in the world to get for
mother. 1t is so hard TO choose Christmas |
presents
MARY HARTWELL CATEERwooD,