, 1890-12-14
stead. 1t is everywhere more or lsa

ings, gloves, collars and cuffs, hAndker-
chiefs, etc, all of better quality than
the servants were likely to buy for them
selves. Happening to oyerhear part ota
conversation too loudly earnest not to
escspe through an open door and up the
back stairs one holiday morning, when
the presents had been carried down by
the seemingly satisfied THO, l learned n
lasting lesson in human nature and
gained new light upon the responsible
ties of employers.
From the animated interchange of
views in the kitchen cabinet it RAJ
ptred that the ''quaahty nowadays
mostly gives money to gurrels put at
service, and never less nor five dollars
apiece-ginera1ly in gUwid. You see,
thin, she can't get the best of us by
putting off chape things, she's loikely
got at \ bairgin, or my be at AT cotton,
upon us poor people, an a gurrel can
choose her own colors or, il she loikee,
jewelry, If she doesn't car to put the
money in the bank. There's nothin' SO
DOWNRIGHT gintAle as money!
All this while feeling and commenting
upon the texture OF fabrics worth 80
much more han the DOWNRIGHT gin
tale" half eagle prescribed that 1 have
gladly ever since followed in the foot
steps of the "quaalty," and left the dis
position of the golden gratuity to the
''gurrels' taste.
Donations in these and similar cases
are not contingent upon good behavior.
To make a distinction in the value OF
the presents at Christmas time between
faithful and unfaithful domestics or
work people of any grade would raise
= storm of structures and jealousies. All
must share alike according to the code
to which we slavishly submit. AS GER
tain, if less demonstrative, would be the
feeling aroused by the failure OF a man
ufacturer to remember" his operatives
at this season by the gift Of a turkey to
every married man and q stated sum OF
money to each bachelor.
These tokens-no longer of good will
and of approval, but of obedience on the
part Of the so called strong to the un-
written exactions of the so called weak
must be offered, or the employer knows
what to expect in open disaffection and
waning popularity. He has no option
any more thar has the house mistress.
1t would be folly to imagine that the
said tokens will bind by so much as q
| BDcEAulcE NlAItt0 tAHAOge hOAo AAoSIAg
to the giver. On the other hand, the like
hhood of changes directly after the holi-
days is as well understood as the habit
common to household servAnts and mis-
sion school children of holding on to 3
situation until the annual distribution
of gifts is over. A new conner is not
eligible to the ranks Of the claimants;
therefore keep a place If possible until
after Christmas.
People smile, some patiently, some
amusedly, at the notorious filing up of
Sunday schools in the week preceding
the holidays. Since it must be let it be.
The "chance of doing" the yenal little
arabs "some good" is set down and reck-
oned against the certainty hat the no
madic horde is encouraged in greed, by
pocrisy and impertinent vanity by the
trucking of worthy Christians to this
ratification of the gigantic system of
holiday blackmail If we do not have
festival and Christmas tree sleds, jack
knives, dolls, drums, cheap trinkets and
goodies" for them they will attend"
st. Jonah's around the corner, where
there is to be q live Santa Claus in a real
sleigh and a silver dime in the bottom
of each lace and ribbon stocking, corpu-
lent with candies. All this may be
pious policy, a touch of serpentine wis
dom, but it is also Dissertation of the day
and violence done to its meaning.
Rising higher in the social, moral and
intellectual scale, we again confront my
Respondent girl visitor, and her forty
seven mustbes with their more refined
game of tit-for-tat. Had she not been
scared away by the haunting apparition
Of lAbors yet undone, she could have
given US some c~uriously interesting
points as to the rules by which her ire
membranes" are graded in worth and
imperativeness. The law of giving to
him that hath holds hard. if not good,
here. Rich friends who need nothing,
and who deny themselves nothing in
making costly presents, must not be in
suited by cheap elegance, and cannot be
cheated into rating at six dollars a snowy
trife that cost but one. You may be
positive that the bedside slippers and
baby sacques are not for those who wear
purple and fine linen, nor the smoking
caps for the heirs of opulent men, unless
they are of embroidered velvet, with
dainty distinctive touches in the way of
monograms or college colors and in
sigma.
1t would be safe to take odds in favor
of the superstition that most of the arti-
cles yet to be fashioned are for rural re-
~lations, who expect something from
each member of the family" Rich re-
cipients-probably among these the four
girls for which our frank protestant
does not care q pinch of rappee-were
looked after first of all. Duty and pride
would see to it that the mortgaged al
lowance was sliced literally to provide
things barely decent in the sight of the
af1uent.
Were love the handspring of giving
or the desire to give there would be no
thought of obligation, much less of com
~pensation, on either side. Whereas the
force brought into action in thousands
of cases is the compulsion of custom.
the blackmail of expectation.
Southern negroes interpret the shrill
sweetness of the Baltimore ORIOLES cry
into 'If you give me something I will
pay you for itr'
To the sensitive imagination the hum
Of mart and household, and the very
bells of Yuletide separate themselves
into the reiteratiye syllables of this song:
'If you give me something / will pay
you for it,"
"lf ! give you something you must
pay me for it,"
The babble of eager voices planning
Christmas ~frolics, the chink of coin. the