The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1890-12-24
eLEssEDNEs9 OF GIVING
Philosophy of Making Gifts and VIII

PHILOSOPHY of Making Gifts and WHY
Doing So Gives One Pleasure.
There must be something very good in
human nature or people would not ex-
per1ence SO much pleasure in giving:
there must be something very bad in
human nature or more people would trv
the experiment of giving. Those who
do try 1t become enamored of it and get
their chief pleasure in life out of it; and
SO evident is this that there is some basis
Tor the idea that it is ignorance rather
than badness which keeps so many peo-
pie from being generous. Of course it
may become sort of dissipation, or
more than that, devastation. as many
men who have what are called good
wives" have reason to know, in the grad
ual disappearance of their wardrobe if
they chance to lay aside any of it tenn
porarily.
The amount that a good woman can
give away is only measured by her op-
portunity. Her mind becomes so trained
In the mystery of this pleasure that she
experiences no thrill of delight in giving
away only the things her husband does
not want. Her Office in life is to teach
him the joy of self sacrifice She and
all other habitual and irreclaimable
sivers soon find out that there is next to
no pleasure in a gift unless it involves
some self denial
Let one consider seriously whether he
ever gets as much satisfaction out of a
gilt received as ont Of one given. If
pleases him for the moment. and. if is
tlsetul, for a long time; he turns it over
aud adinires it: he may value it rs a
token Of affection, and it flatters his self
esteem that be is the object Of it. But
1t Is transient feeling compared with
that he hos when he has made rift
That subs au;ially ministers to lis self
esteem Re follows The Gift: he dwells
Epon the delight Of the receiver; his
imagination plays about it: it will never
Wea.' OFT or become stale: having parted
with it, il is fer lin q lasting possession.
1t IS an investment rs lasting as that
IN the debt Of England. Like a good
deed. 1t grows, and is continually salts
factory. It is something to think of
when he first wake5 il the rnorning-a
time when most people are badly put to
Il for wAat cf something pleasant to
think Of This fact about giving is so
incontestably t1'ae that it is wonder
that enlightened people do not more
freely indalgc in giving for their own
comfort. It is. above all else. amazing
that 50 many imagine they are going to
set any satisfaction ont Of what they
leave by win. They may be in state
where they win enjoy it if the will is
not fought over: but it is shocking how
little gratitude there is accorded to a de-
parted isiyer compared to living giver.
He couldn't take the property with him,
it Is said: lie was obliged to leave it to
somebody
By this thought his generosity is al
ways reduced to a minimum. He may
build a monument to himself in some in
stitution, but we do not know enough of
the world to which he has gone to know
whether a tiny monument on this earth
Is any satisfaction to a person who is
free of the universe. Whereas every
giving or deed of real humanity done
while he was living would have entered
into his character. and would be of last
ing service to him-that is, in any future
which we can conceive.-Charles Dudley
Warner in Harper's.