The record-union., 1893-11-23
CHRISTMAS GIVING.
Young America Demands Handsom
PreSants EYarY Year.

! Presents Every ear.
Liberality and charity are especially
beautiful in the Christmas time. says
| Ellen Wycoff in the HoUSekeeper, when
every earnest heart is full OF gratitude
| toward the Great Giyer. But we are a
practical people, and in danger of losing
! sight OF the spirit, while we keep to the
| letter. We remember that we must give,
! but there is hardly time to understand
! why, and there is such disposition to
keep up appearances" do things sin
| STYLE" that present-giving has got to be
! little more than an expensive fashion.
Young America demands handsome
presents every year, and manufacturers
vie with each other in the production of
holiday goods" Merchants line their
stores and shops with everything attract
| i've and beautiful, and because they are
! to be had, because others buy them and
! because our friends expect them, we spend
money for trif1es, forgetting to save
enough for needtul expenses, and the
/ Christmas time becomes dreadful fes-
| tival and present-making an actual bur-
/ den.
| All the blessedness of giving is lost in
the terrible strain of finding something
TO give, and the gift carries with it pain
Ottener than pleasure; disappointment,
II it be simple and inexpensive: cbagrin
and modification if it be handsomer than
y,
| something better than the recipient has
| been able to secure for dear ones.
! foolish men and women strive to excel
| each other; and the merchant laughs and
! grows fat, while every Christmas adds
new lines and wrinkles to the faces Of
| his customers. Is this peace on Earth?"
| Even while the beautiful anthem rolls
/ through the solemn church, even while
the minister talks to his people about
the spirit of Christmas. hearts are burn
/ ing with shame and envy and jealousy,
/ or swelling with pride, all about the
! Christmas giving!
| The pretty little Christmas cards that
used to carry so many messages Of
/ thoughtful love are displaced by the hor-
rid satin and plush creations, that look
much more like pillows and chair cush-
ions than Christmas cards" There
never was anything uglier or more en-
tIrely useless, for unless one could con-
vert the arrangement into pin-cushion,
it is only in the way of better things; and
| people buy them, for they are the fash
! ion. Young men with few dollars and
less brains empty their pocket books to
! secure one OF the pln-Satin things for q
! girl whose best dress only cost half as
much, and then he is penniless for a
month catching up!"
! All this kind Of thing is wrong; one
needs only to think of it to see it clearly.
! The money spent for useless, senseless
/ even unwelcome presents, would do won
ders il 1t could be properly used. The
! one thought seems to be to buy q costly
present, and one that others are buying.
| OF course the etiquette which torbids the
| giving OF needtul things has much to do
with this where young people are con-
| cerned, but here again is the spirit lost
| sight of for the letter.
! With some people the duty of giving is
great weight. These buy anything and
! everything and scatter presents with no
thought or reason, no sense of the ''eter-
| nal fitness Of things" and rest peacefully
afterwards while they enumerate the
! presents and count the dollars spent for
| them, blissfully unconscious of the fact
that every single present is lying some
where because it must, not because it is
wanted, and for the reason that it is in
the wrong place.
| 1t is thought. not money, that makes a
| present valuable. If it is expected to find
It's way to heart, there awakening graft
tude and appreciation, it must come from
a heart that is alive with real. thoughtful
painstaking love.
Let the present be simple and suitable.
Study your friends and learn their needs
and tastes, then put your knowledge
and love and money together, and YOU
! will be able to make an acceptable pres
| ent.
| Let me speak word to those who have
great desire to give something to dear
relatives or valued friends, and have
nothing to give. The desire may be ever
so laudable and worthy. You may be
sure if it springs from good motive it
will make itself felt in some way. trust to
this, and do not cheaper your regard in
/ the eyes of your friends by allowing 1t to
/ be represented by something that you
ought not to give.
Flowers are always in fashion. and
everybody with q heart capable of one
throb of Christmas gladness loves the
pretty things. Choose these and be care
ful that they express some sentiment,
some loving thought. Don't send a
| grief-stricken friend a great bunch of
| scarlet geraniums, but rather let it be a
cream rosebud set in a wreath of purple
violets, or a cluster of white jasmine
/ backed by spray OF dark heliotrope
! You wouldn't send orange blossoms to
your men friends, but sprig Of migno-
nette on q scented Leaf, and to your sweet
! heart spray OF forget-me-nots lying on a
fresh piece of arbor vitae ready for the
''buttonhole." Common sense, real feel
ing and thoughtfulness are what you
want-and money, very little of which
will go a long way with sensible mind
to guide it and a loving heart to stop it
now and then in just the right places.