The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-01-21
ideas for uMomen

presents. Our very virtues lead IN tnat di-
r~ection: the very eoncientiousness OF the
Puritan inheritance. its punctiliousness IN
discharging to the uttermost whatever
presents itself as a duty. Nay, this is a
case where new duties are created; when
the list of home presents is fairly made
out, and the total duly undertaken, then
there are the cousins next door to be
provided for. and other cousins next to all
other doors; and there are the prosperous
friends who have given us presents. and
the unprosperous ones who were unable
to give us any, and the strange within
our gates. and-endless of them-an are
to be remembered. The children of the
nearest orphan asylum are to be provided
with a Christmas tree, even though 1t be
sandwiched with difficulty between an
other tree which they are to attend at
their church, and another prepared, ex-
pressly for them at a ~neighboring hail.
The rich must give presents because they
are rich, and the poor must make up IN
ingenuity what they want in wealth.
Then, after all the gifts are bought and
sent home. they must be refolded and re-
packed, and tied and ribboned. and ad-
dressed and forwarded, without a mistake
in just the right succession of time. ae-
cording as the gift is to be dispatched to
Main street or to Alaska: and all this up
TO the latest moment of Christmas eve.
And then when the work is done, and the
tree garnished and stripped, if tree there
be-then, as weary nature atNlast seeks
repose, begins the new toll of sending let
tiers of thanks for ones own presents. ten,
twenty. or a hundred; and before these
are are all despatched there arrive the in
evitable headache and the languor, and
that sudden fash of neuralgia pain in the
back of the neck. swift as the sabre OF
Saladin, which says to the most needless,
.sThus far and no farther"
-
VIII should we do it all? No other ma
tion does it. The German Christmas tree
is loaded with all sorts of gifts, nc matter
how simple, for every one within the
house; hut no German undertakes to
make the distribution of prizes include all
his a-equaintanees outside. Fol these he
has a printed or engraved greeting. which
costs little trouble to distribute, and which
like Ophelia's rosemary. for re-
membrance. The whole fashion of
Christmas. cards in England had the same
origin; and~even this, when transplanted
among ourselves, was soon carried to ex-
cess. and became itself a burden. But it
was better than the habit of profuse and
exaggerated giving-exaggerated IN
quantity if not in value-on which we
have fallen back. in its decline. 1t is a
common thing to encounter at Christmas
tinne women of moderate income who nave
personally put up n distributed sixty,
seventy or a hundred presents. For this
Is a duty which. like all other, falls most
severely ON the ENTHUSIASTICALLY
vemen-who not merely bear one an
others burdens. but choose and distribute
and pack one mothers gifts. The pres
ents pear various names of givers, but it
is tipon the mother or the sister or the
maiden aunt that the whole responsibility
comes.
In spite of the rapid strides Japan has
been taking toward civilization, her wom-
en- are still in a very different position
from those in Christian countries, says the
Philadelphia Star" An. example of the
lack of advancement among japanese
women may be found in the following
recitation from an article in a recent is
nj of the Church in Japan, a magazine
III. blished in Toxic by the Episcopal mis-
ID L.
"a che family of the Public Prosecutor in
no a are C-hristians-or. more correctly,
d G two eldest daughters are. and the
" her want to be. There are no sons.
2 girls went to st. Agnes School,
.saka. and were baptized there. They
have nor been confirmed as vet. The
mother wants to be baptized. but Mr.. |
Nfshimura, while he does not object to a
moderate attendance at church, or to her
believing Christianity and following its
teachings. will not give his consent to her
being baptized. AS a public official he
considers It right to keep himself and his
family entirely separate from any parties
among the people. He has no objections
to urge against Christianity. 1t is with
him only a matter of policy. He has Civ
his consent to the older daughter con-
tinuing to attend church. but has positive
~ forbidden the younger to do so. The
grounds for this are as follows: The elder
is the heir of the house, and as I,
such on her marriage will not change her
name. but her husband will be adopted
into her family and AXE her name. This
being the case, she will not be under her
husbands rule, as will be the case with
the younge sister, who will become a
of her husbands family; and, !
therefore, the elder sister can be a Chris |
il she likes, and if her husband
doesn't like it, he can lump it.
/