Los Angeles herald., 1891-02-15
HLEssepMess oE GIVING.
Philosophy of Making Gifts and VIII.
Doing So Gives One Pleasure.


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-
perience SO much pleasure in giving;
there must be something very bad in
human nature or more people would try
the experiment of giving. Those who
do try it become enamored Of it and get
their chief pleasure in life out OF it; and
80 evident is this that there is some basis
for 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 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
givers 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
gift received as out of one given. It
pleases him for the moment, and, it is
useful, for long time; he turns it over
and admires it; he may value it as a
token of affection, and it natters his self
esteem that he is the object of it. But
it is transient feeling compared with
that he has when he has made gift.
That substantially ministers to his self
esteem. He follows the gift; he dwells
upon the delight of the receiver; his
imagination plays about it; it viii never
wear out or become stale; having parted
with it, it is for him lasting possession.
1t is an investment as lasting as that
in the debt of England. Like good
deed, it grows, and is continually salts
factory. 1t is something to think of
when he first wakes in the morning-a
time when most people are badly put to
it for want of something pleasant to
think of. This fact about giving is SO
incontestably true that it is wonder
that enlightened people do not more
freely indulge in giving for their own
comfort. 1t is, above all else, amazing
that SO many imagine they are going to
get any satisfaction out of what they
leave by will. They may be in state
where they will enjoy it if the will is
not fought over; but it is shocking how
little gratitude there is accorded to de-
parted giver compared to living giver.
He couldn't take the property with him,
it is said; he was obliged to leave it to
somebody.
BY this thought his generosity is al
ways reduced to a minimum. He may
build monument to himself in some in
stitution, but we do not know enough of
the world to which he has gone to know
whether q 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.