The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-12-22

( CNflS tRlaS S.It, as we are lot tile SIM
! p.est thing that comes 10 US az other
/ times. You can't EXPECT Aunt Susan
I ma, who leads the w. Q. T. u, TO
/ enthuse over a bottle of good Scotch
/ whisky; or Uncle Tom. who has never
I slnelt salt water, 10 properly value a
/ yachting cap: or Cholly Addlepate TO
/ sit up nights over even the nandsom-
/ est bound volume Of Bakers Saints
/ Everlasting Rest" yet every one of
/ US every Christmas receive gifts that
/ are approximately as caviare TO our
tastes.
Then there IS the fool Christmas gift
! that invariably wants 20 make you go
1 out and swat the giVer over the head
| With it. Nothing In life Is so exas-
| perating as 20 have somebody present
! you with a cellulo!d monstrosity that
/ goes to pieces while you look at it, or
/ Christmas card that costs SO or 81.
/ or lot of lace or satin ribbon and
/ tinsel fummery, whose very name and
/ purpose are conundrums when there
/ are books you are dying TO have, pho
/ tographic copies Of pictures that would
! be a JOY forever ard wouldn't cost a
1 cent more, And handkerchiefs and
/ gloves that are an ever present neces-
/ sity. Probably there Is not one Of US
/ who doesn't, after the holidays gather
| up the trash that has been presented
! TO us in the guse of Christmas gifts,
| and sit down and wonder whether the
| givers were idiots or whether they
| thought we were.
| Just to go through the stores and see
the utterly useless things offered for
| sale is enough to make one shed tears
| over the pathetic waste of good money.
! The golden rule for making a Christ
! mas present is to try to give a person
| something that will, in some way, add
| to the pleasure and the comfort of
! their lives. Unless we are willing 10
/ take the trouble to think that out. the
GIT really becomes an insult instead
! OF compliment ana is a token not
of our love. but Of our Indifference.
know woman whose great heart
| gives her an intuition that amounts al
/ most to clairvoyance, who says she
| always gives poor people Injuries and
/ rich ones necessities.
ITS rubbing things in she says,
| to give housemaid another apron or
| a silver-handled busting brush, or
| cook new set of saucepans, or to pre-
sent tired and worn little seamstress
with a pair of scissors. They may
need all OF these things, but they will
| get them, and they aren't going to en-
| JOY having their daily drudgery
| brought to their notice as a Christmas
! treat. l am going to give my cook
| pair OF long Wrlsted pale gray suede
/ gloves, and my housemaid a silver
manicure set, because 1 have seen
| them looking longingly at mine, and 1
am going to send my little seamstress
some theater tickets. She will go to the
play ana sit through a couple of hours
! rapture, and she'll think and talk and
| dream of it for the next six weeks.
! Il am going to give pretty shop
| girl one of the new rose taffeta boas
| that she has been selling to other girls
and coveting with all her heart, and
surmise that when the.h head bookkeep-
| er, who has been paying her atten-
ton, sees how pretty she looks in it,
he will come to the point and pop the
question, and she'll get two Christmas
Esglfts instead of one. l am going to
send big box Of the best candy to a.
Childish old lady in the alfnshouse. and
! nave spent the morning picking out a
lot of high tiUwn romantic novels=4the
Kind that makes your nerves crisp
ana | am going to present them to a
lonely and Woodworking little old maid
l know up in the country. When night
comes she viii shut her door, and light
her lamp, and for a while, at least, |
VIII nave given her pass key into
paradise
For my rich old friend, Mrs. Cou-
pom, L am making pincushion, a real
pineushion you can stick pins in with
out using a sledgehammer not the ada
mantine kind you buy. 1t is years and
years since anybody thought of making
her anything with their own hands,
ana she viii value 1t more than if /
| had added an0ther to her big collection
Of diamonds, for she will know that in
every stitch went thought of love"
Some people have seen fit to deride
| the practical Christmas gift, but. as a
| matter of fact, most of us would rather
| have something that we can get some
solid comfort out of than any amount
Of poeticaf and picturesque jincrackery.
There are plenty of times when a good
Kitchen chair would be a more accepta-
bic gift than plaster cast of the we
nus de Milo.'
christmas is pre- eminently the chill
dren's season and the coolest heart on
earth must warm to the little ones and
long to make them happy but after
| Santa Claus has been provided for
don't give yourself paress trying 10
find something that the modern. over
supplied child hasn't already got. and
would like. Children have the queerest
| fancles, and the most appreciated and
successful present you can possibly
make a child is the money Then he
has two pleasures. He has the fun of
going and buying the article, and the
certainty of getting what he wants.
|
Gloria in Excelsis.-
Christ is born, this happy morn.
Oh, lift the dropping headi
| No longer shall we be forlorn.
In Bethlehem there is bread.
For every starving human life,
Is food his want to fill,
There's quietness to follow strife
For man there's Gods good will
Christ is born, this joyful morn,
The Star is in the East
The star that quenches hate and scorn.
Behold it, king and priest.
In every lonesome prison CELL
In every home obscure;
Where want and pain and sorrow
dwell,
Which sadly men endure;
There wakes a CLEAN of joyful hope.
For lol the Christ is born.
| Again the gates of glory ope
| And angels bring the morn.
Margaret e. Sangster, In December
Every Where.
There are funny incidents in the life
Of photographer. A man came in the
other day, says the Edinburgh Scots
| man. and looked over all the samples,
asking the price of each.
do you want a sitting?" l asked.
II don't see nothin' like what I
want" he replied.
L told him. if he would indicate what