El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-15

For the Better Half
Written for the HERALD

graphs, some good novel. lamp, or mag
azine subscription.
For the pater: cigars, slippers, gloves
handkerchiefs. card case. bill book, ash
tray. books, lamp, photograph, ink
stand, or smoking jacket.
For the young lady daughter: any
pet vanity. silver articles for her dress
ing case, or writing desk, blouses of
flannel or silk, SILK petticoats, silk
stockings, cravats, gloves. handker-
chiefs, books, pictures, stick pins. shirt
waist sets, belt clasps. or hat pins.
For the son: much the same that the
father wants, including pipe, golf
sticks, military brushes.
For the small boy: Kipling's books,
Tartarin de Tarascon, Don Quixote,
Mark Twain or any of the classical
books of the sea, travel, adventure and
fun, a subscription to some outing
magazine. marbles. tops. kites. gloves.
electric batteries, military brushes,
handkerchiefs- he will loathe
for Christmas gifts because they are
useful-guns, football or base ball toy
gerry, and perhaps game which he will
probably regard beneath his dignity
though he is always willing to play
with his sisters games.
For the small girl there are the good
old fashioned games Of anagrams, jack
straws, checkers, and parchesi, and of
course there are dolls, toy animals, pa
per dolls, boxes of beads for her to
string into necklaces and jewelry and
decorations of all sorts. soap bubble
pipes, the Louisa Alcott books, or a
child's magazine.
Christmas is not Christmas in Ell
Paso as compared with other cities
where misletoe is scarce and only seen
during the Christmas festivities. Here
where the misletoe hangs in every
tree the girls stand and walk under it
every day in the year. and are accus
toned to the risk. 1t has the monoto-
ny of year of Sundays.
Mrs. Ii Hung Chang is said to be
me richest lady IN China and one of
the most luxurious on earth. it being
her habit to battle twice a day in an
extract of orange and acacia flowers,
and to have thousand servants at her
beck and call and two thousand coats
and twelve hundred trousers or bloom
ers with which to enhance her good
looks.
In the Pan-American beauty contest
Maude Coleman Woods, a young Vir-
ginian woman of Charlottesville, was
chosen to represent the blonde type,
and Maxine Elliot, the actress, the
brunette. Their faces are to be used in
the graceful design of the two CONT
nents wherein the North american and
South American maps are deity rep
resented by two beautiful and graceful
maidens in swirling draperies. The
design is exquisite. The Virginia girl
with her blonde beauty will represent
the northern continent and Maxine Ell
lott will represent the southern. The
design will be the emblem of the Pan
American Exposition to be held at Buff
falo in 1901 and the two faces will be
seen everywhere that any knowledge
of the great exposition goes. Both wo-
men have acknowledged the honor
simple and gracefully.
The news from London is that black
satin petticoats are now the correct
thing there and that they are more
durable and retain their tidiness and
beauty much longer than taffeta petit
coats ever do. For light petticoats
white bengaline is the material most
in vogue. The ruff1es are not pinked in
either the satin or bengaline but are
trimmed with ribbons and bands.
The doom of the pompadour has been
pronounced.
The Better Half acknowledges a
slight error of a decade or so in the
statement concerning Sarah Bern
hardt's age, but withdraws no jot or
title of the moralizings thereupon. The
Divine Sarah is in fact approaching
her three score mile post, but the
phrase three score and ten slipped out
uncOnsciously. Everyone is more or
less victim of phrases and unless the
tongue or pen be carefully watched it
will constantly trip into the easy paths
of quotation of phrases worn smooth
and comfortable by Time. Besides the
Better Half makes no pretensions at
mathematics, and is proud of the ten
dency to be quite impressionistic in
putting in figures. Whenever numbers
occur they must be considered as SO
much color or atmosphere rather than
as to be limited by the laws of addi-
ton and subtraction. Sarah Bern
hardt is in fact a grandmother and is
in fact old enough to settle down to
rheumatism, wrinkles, boredom, and
easy chairs, yet she is younger than
many women of half her age who have
not the fires of genius or impetus Of
well loved work to keep their nerves
in balance, their eyes and figures
young and their minds keen and alert
I ne moral is the same-the only foun-
tain of perpetual youth is an active
mind
Elsie McElroy Slater