The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-13
Buying Presents For
 The Country Cousin "

would not read them. Sermons were never much in his line. and the poor old gentleman's eyes are Stoo bad now to allow him to use them much. When he can read he would rather have something a little more lively than those sermons.
 The next item is for Cousin Ella. don't wonder you wish to pass by without notice. .Framed picture" looks very we'll but do you recoilect the picture? It was chromo litho- graph. and not a good one at that. grant that Cousin Ella doesn't know much about art. but Is that any reason why you should infifct upon her such a confusion of giaring colors as were confounded in that picture? Why didn't you give her a good photograph. simply framed, if you had to give her pictureg There's nothing in which there's a bigger risk than in the buying of pictures for others. When you buy one for a person whose tastes are not well known to you. get something nonaggressive, at least--something you would not object to having on your own parlor or sitting-room walls
 There, after all, is the keynote to the choice of Christmas gifts for the country cousins Don't send them something to which yourself would hardly give houseroom. Even though their tastes may very possibly differ from yours. even if you are not sure of their preferences in most lines, select something which would please you, and you may be pretty sure to please them.
 This principle is good one to start with but there Is more than that. even, in the gifts for the country cousins. Try to study their individual needs little, and consider these in choosing your presents. More than that, give them what they want. as we'll as what they need. All of us have a touch of the feeling ex- pressed by the woman who said that necessities of life if she could only have the iuxuries. The country cousin is probably like the rest of us. So, if you make her a gift which you think will supply a necessity add to 1t flavor of luxury which will raise the present above the level of the commonplace.
 For example: You know that she Is likely to need ! towels. We'll, towels. are acceptable to me in any circumstances. and doubtless to any
 
 added grace in receiving them when they are adorned with an embroider- ed letter, which shows that some thought of me went into the gift beyond the mere business of purchas- ing it. Don't you believe that country cousin would feel that grace, too? Or. suppose that you give her dish towels "a homely present; but very well come to most of us. Mark these. too. rrrf4t lAf nar in heavy red marking cotton. It will take little time to do them, and the handiwork will impart to the gift the personal touch which trebles its value to the recipient
 Follow the same principle with the rest of the gifts you send the country cousins. Never make them a dumping heap for last years un- welcome gifts. What you don't want yourself because 1t is useless or un- attractive or unsuitable Is an outrage on the spirit of Christmas to bestow upon some one else.
 Go farther than this. Don't leave to the random impulse or the last hurried moment the choice of gifts for the country cousin. Don't say. even in your thoughts, ''Oh. they live away off, and don't see anything new. and will never know if this is not Tn BOOu taste. lOu Chu Ll po positive on the taste question, and even if you were. is that quite the spirit which should go with the choice of Christmas gift?
 Try to reconstruct your mental at- titude toward the country cousins and the gifts you choose for them. In the first place. fill yourself full of the real spirit of Christmas, the spirit of great gift bestowed with great love. That is the ideal of giving you should set before your self. Tn the light of that. buy your gifts for the country cousins.
 You look at the purchase of such gifts in a rather different way with that light upon them. You make your choice in another fashion from that you have heretofore followed. You buy as though you were select ing for the near and dear, and if you do not know the taste of the distant one to whom you are giving, inn- agination takes the place of knowl- edge And with that imagination