The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-10
The Question Of Gifts Aa.7- oari:%.. 7.ia

| looked sidewise at the youngest woman.)
And / wonder If / do not know precisely
the feeling that stirred in the heart Of the
fox as he sat underneath the vine licking
his chops, when L see Julia there, going
down town with her fat pocketbook before
a gift anniversary"
The young woman referred 10 spoke up
promptly in answer 10 this. settling as she
spoke a handsomely embroidered collar be-
meath her pretty chin.
Anna forgets when she speaks OF my
earnings what they must cover; a very
small proportion, when II comes>.t, tsfrt--
Since the family troubles came into the
question OF living. kindergartening isn't
a question of inclination. Ny gift money
Is exactly on par with yours, Anna, so
small that ii is insignificant, but thank
goodness / have cultivated good genie OF
my own, ten OF them IN Iact
When ] was girl i picked up the rudi-
ments of embroidery going through the
successive stages OF cross-stitch, crazy
cushion. pincushiOn. doilies, till landed az
a degree Of perfection that gives me no
broidery-hoop around with me I'm those
days in the came way that our grandmoth-
ers did their samplers. logged the foot
stitches till that girls knowledge was mine.
And l find now, that the wealth laid up
then is source OF profit TO me as well as
friendship in kind. Using merely my SeS spare
moments. BY picking up odds and ends at
the ribbon and bargain counters l can turn
them into something that il is a real delight
/ had paid their cost over three times in
buying them ready-made."
THAT is like grandma's mittens," put in
a newcomer, laughingly, displaying a pair
Of eXqusitely knit gloves she spoke.
Grandma knits all the year round for her
'gift-box,' as she calls IL. We girls bring
she knits them all out IN her easy chair.
And there's not one OF US who IS not de-
lighted with his or her present from grand
mas 'gfft-box,' from father with his bath
slippers, TO baby with her little snowy
Angora wool cap that is like bit Of furry
silk. Everything that comes out OF IL Is
The third visitor, the young woman IN
the extensively tailored suit. who had late
ly developed a fad for keeping books, here
spoke up. How L do envy you girls who
can do things. l took up aircraft work
once, with indefinite idea I'm my noddie
OF putting IL 20 some use or the kind, but
/ found IL had very much the same effect
on my mind that Annas teaching had on
hers. IL sat heavily on my conscience. L
did manage TO do a TennysOn's In Memoir
lam straight through-with the help of a
patient instructor-from Illuminating TO
tOoling, but with all the days and weeks OF
unnagging work that went into that book
1 have never had the heart 10 part with 4.
wouldn't IL be awful 10 have 10 support
ones self by making handmade booksy
las / have no good genie at my bidding.
you see am reduced TO buying my presents
out and out, from aunt Mary down 10 the
washwoman, and you girls who have made
and given yours away can know nothing
OF particular Irl&lS. IneN rise from .
natural genius on my part 70 select the
wrong thing. / SIT at home and know per-
fectly what is appropriate; then 1 go up
town and get something else.
Birthdays run In cycles In our family.
This month three came within five days;
naturally my head got muddled- What aid
l do? Well began by jotting down a pair
OF symbolic links for Jack. a Morris chair
for grandma aud "A set of Swim burne for
aunt Mary. What / really invested in was
a smoking jacket that made Jack turn pale.
and that he lost, poor boy. taking 10 his
rooms up town. a love OF an escritoire for
grandmamma, who doesn't write one let
ter a year. and a collection OF fancy neck
wear for aunt Mary. who abh0rs whas
she calls fussiness Sometime / think II
would be lovely 20 just settle the question
OF gifts by enclosing a bill in an envelope,
but think how shOckingly unpoeticali My
dears. II had your genius for making ex-
quisite and appropriate things. 1 believe I
could work out my gift salvation"
The girl whose embroidery h like a
delicate suggestion OF the Orient sighed;
the girl who paints stems with a skill that
makes the owner OF one OF then the envy
Of her friends, wiped the last brush care
fully on her apron until IL was supple
throughout its brown camelhair length.
thrUsting II, handle down. in the stone jug
she caught the eve OF the girl who en-
broiders, And stin we like grapes" she
said. +.