The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-12-25
Modern Christmas as a Matter
of Commerce.
ORIGINAL IDEA PRESENTED
BY George Parsons LathrOp Simple
Gifts of Remembrance Are Better
Than Expensive Presents.


Of life, and from very opposite points OF
view:
AS II the dawn and sunset watched each
other
Like and unlike as children of one mother
The first one who spoke-the one who
had asked the question-was a girl of a.
The second-who had answered twas a
lady Of 20.
"Yes, yes" said the young fairy of H.
continuing the conversation from her end
of life; "a pleasant Christmas, of course
But has 1t been profitable? Mine has
been profitable, very"
But how do you mean?" asked the
elder child Of 20, still too young and fresh
in her unsophisticated feelings to under
| stand the girl of Il.
'How?" repeated the commercial mind
ed little syph. "Why, / came out
ahead; ever so much ahead l suppose
l got twenty-five dollars worth more
than I gave, in presents"
"Oh" exclaimed the elder child Of TO-
with sudden comprehension; and a great
| light and a great darkness seemed td
/ break in simultaneously upon her mird.
| The light was the light of the newest
! generation and its blandly sordid IDEAS
And the darkness was that of a terrible
disappointment to- think that the true
| left so far behind. Or, rather, that tho
latest generation fancied It had brought
that spirit along with it, but had some
! how got monstroslty in its place.
To the gentle 7O-year-old child 1t seemed
that the aged person of IA, instead OF
plavng with the genuine Oh ist~nas dol
of lovely countenance and guileless mien,
had been imposed upon by an ugly
| changeling, and that the Christmas spirit
which the girl fostered was actually a
shriveled and hldeous little gobelin.
Yes" continued the unconscious young
mercenary. shaking the small. curly
frzzes on her forehead, with a vigorous
nod you see, it's good deal of n
oar'hle." CThe 7O-vear-old eyes of her
listener thrilled and shone with mid hor-
ror) you can't tell how it's coming
out beforehand There were nineteen
people I was Obliged to give thinos to,
besides papa and mamma and the tots
in our family. Only fancy, for a girl OF
my age! / don't know what 1t will be
like when I grow up to be a married
woman. with family of my own But
then, you know" she added with a frank
smile, all charm and innocence, "T guess
1t will he better not to have a large fam
lily. There will be so mPnv other people
to attend to. My general visiting liet, of
NOhiotf Sldll bt dDlt " fh - at Cll' ISL
mas but the people | want to have help
me along in society and give special in
vitations will expect presents, of course,
and"
Good heavens, chlldi" exclaimed the
'adv of 20. do stop and wait till you
get there"
put" objected the shrewd maiden OF
II summers, "how am l to get there If
stop and waltz"
And the lady of 20 suffered a momentary
paralysis of thought for having made
such bull.
In the pause that intervened this frag-
ment of conversation became the prelude
to revery in my own mind on the Christ
mas spirit and some of the distortions
1t has latterly undergone. whether the
little girl and the elderly child spoke
further l could not tell. They dieap-
peared from sight and ken, and a white
fog of meditation seemed to close in
around me, through which many we'll
known forms and faces and familiar
scenes loomed strange and queer
Relatives, friends; acQuairtances, int-
o'ates-there they all We're, iostlng each
other In the fog. / couldn't tell exactly
what they were doing, but they appeared
somehow TO he celebrating Christmas, or
trying to celebrate 1t. And yet thov had
IL 'HIluuSiy ulStIHCleu ana worried look,
They smiled and congratulated, shook
hands, gave each other mysterious, be-
ribbonod packages. raised glasses OIL
sparkling wine to their lips with mutual
good wishes and seemed to be exchanging
merry remarks. Still as I say, they
had that air of being troubled, worried,
haunted by care and anxiety of some sort
Now and then one or another of them
the men as well as the women. but per-
haps the women more especially-would
turn aside and consult a small pocket
account book.
1t was cruelty funny to observe the |
different effect which this process had
upon different individuals There was my
old crony Bob Tryor, for example-gay
bachelor of the clubs-handsome stalwalt
ana Just devil-may-care enough to mako
him attractive without offending good
taste I'm the midst of a lively tete-a-
tete with May Klngsland, whose beauty
snd Vivacity seemed wholly to absorb
him, he was apparently annoyed by a
slight coufh but improved the nppor-
tunlty TO avert his face and glance rapid
ly at the tiny book which he drew from
his waiscoat pocket.
His altered look showed in az '~otant
that the balance was against him, but
recovered himself quickly and assumed a
orandum back into its hiding place and
returned to Miss Kings'and with a pretty
speech about her appearance at Mrs
Tatham's last dance.
ON the other hand, noticed that Miss
Kingsland, who had also consulted her
book during this momentary interval.
grew visihly more animated. An express.
sion of entire self-satisfaction "mantled''
as the poets and romancers used to saw
her delicately tinted checks; and she was
evidently at peace with all the world-be-
cause the account was in her favor.
Sharp was the contrast between her
and Mrs Nettlehorst-that hlgh-spirited
young natron, with golden hair and
sparkling eyes, whom we all admire and
slightly fear. She had Just finished n
song at piano, and stood there aglow with
he applause and compliments which fol-
lowed; but. before the last ripple of ad-
died away. she had cast a g'arce
at her account book, under cover of the
ere handkerchief she held. Her face
for q moment she grew pale,
and CONSERVATION puckered her eye
brows
Then the spasm passed, and she was
her conventional social self again
Almost in the next instant caught my
distinguished friend Morris Remsen in
the act of examining his little book, also;
and, this time, | saw on its smooth ma
oon leather cover the words. in letters
cf gold-Christmas Account.
Why was it that all these acquaint-
anees aud comrades Of mine did not
know the state OF their accounts without
examining their miniature ledgers so fire.
luently l could not understand, They
made no entries In them, and Of course
'ould not do so while surrounded by other
,eople and while carrying On their social
functions. Therefore. one would suppose
hey must know Just what the last bal
lnce was. and that they need not con-
iult the pages necessarily TO find out
he figures
Tho only way could explain Il to my
Ell was that these accounts-which
l....l.. ....lo.l h..n n. ..nn .o.....l