The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-12-13

not to send Goals to New Castle and buy
gifts for her city friends" she explained.
Instead she selected brown jugs of cider,
basket Of rosy checked apples, a jar
of some tempting conserve, bag of but.
ternuts and other goodies that city peo-,
pie can't get. To each was given a Christ
mas dress of a bow Of red ribbon and a
branch of holly and If all of them were
as much appreciated as the jar of apple
butter, old fashioned apple butter, which
came to us and made my husband relive
the days of his boyhood, she couldn't have
chosen more wisely. Everybody has such
quantities of all sorts of things that was
glad to borrow her suggestion Of a char
acteristic gift
Men like nice things as well as women,
and it is a shame the way they have been
imposed on and made the recipients of
ties and handkerchief and smoking jack
cts all these years. One Of the novelties
of the season is especially for men and Is
a long rosewood rod tipped with silver
and hung with a broad ribbon. 1t is for
neckties, because a man, for some reason
known only to himself prefers to keep his
ties over the gas bracket instead of in
case, no matter how ornate the case is.
For the man as we'll as the woman are tho
smart leather card cases and bill books of
hand carved leather which are shown in
some of the shops. They have quaint de-
signs and are made up in simple fashion
orateness of some of the leather goods.
Leather is too rich in itself to need much
decoration. +
It takes more time to shop when one
has to consider the likes and dislikes of
those for whom one is buying, but the re-
suit more than repays for the extra time.
There are more forced smiles on Christ
mas morning than at any other time of
the year, and all because some one would
buy the Japanese print for which his soul
longed to give to Mary, who didn't care
anything about Japan or prints, and if
she could have chosen a picture would
nave taken one OF the gay English scenes.
Buying pictures is even a little more
dangerous than buying books. If one en-
joys Kfpling one instinctively wants all
OF ones friends to share the enjoyment
and consequently poems and novels are
requisitioned for Christmas duty and they
very likely find their way to some one
who would have read Mrs Wigs of the
Cabbage Patch" over and over again while
the Kipling will never be taken from the
bookcase. Nearly all Of the modern writ
ers are represented in the holiday books
and. if one only remembers that Joseph
does not like poetry and that Elvira will
not read prose, instead of buying the other
way round, the smile with which Elyira
and Joseph receive their Christmas books
will be sincere. 3 5et&
1t Is, after all, a spirit of unselfishness
that rules the Christmas shopping, for one
buys what one would like for ones self
and the giving of it to another is often a
real wrench. 1t doesn't make its loss
any easier to realize, as one always does,
that the gift was not appreciated. as if
would have been if it had been something
that one did not care fig for. So in
buying for Mary, try and look at the ar
ray In the shops with Mary's eyes and
follow the same plan for JOHN No mat
ter how simple a gift is, one likes to feel
that 1t is what the recipient wished for,