The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1913-12-28
THE CHRISTMAS
DAY OFFERING
The Graceful Acceptance d =
Gift, 1la. IN the Majority Of
Gases e Be Put Down a. One
Of the !. ose A1t>
PHIIE N may De more
NM blessed TO give shan %
wv seceive It II scasceis

yHILE at may Dc more
M blessed TO give Shan %
wv geceive It IL scaScely
courteous Cor the recflf
tents Of gifts to make this fact too Sbr
vious to the GonoTA
The art Of accepting gifts seems 90
be q lost one. there are nowadays 50
few persOps Whs practice IT with
grace
How many ef Ns can secais the ecos,
apRraising glances with which some gift
over which We had spent limo and
thought has been received? How often
has the SAGE of ahe recipient belie1
the conventional words Of Ghankss IN
wardly we have ~aaed indignant and
vowed that never again would we eol-
Germ ourselves on behalf Of the Gngrs-
cious one
another trsitasing type Is che friend
who shanks you in sleprecating tones
and says: "Oh. dear: Bus tns afraid
yop spent toe much money ON this
gift Any little thing would nave done
for poor sne" and Of course yOu
make up your mind that in che future
nothing svili dc very we'll for ''poov
me-"
Almost as sactfess is the friend who
insists on sending back present to
make up for the one that you have
sent her. The gift may come to you
the day after Christmas with a note
of apology about unavoidable delay in
getting your present started. Whether
she tells the truth or not, you have an
impression that she has merely for
warded this token after receiving the
one from you and in order to cancel
what she felt to be an obligation. OBJ
legations being unpleasant things. you
are mortified, as in selecting the gift
you had expected none in return and
perhaps would have been much hap
pier not to have received one.
Every gift is worthy Of little note
or few warm words Of thanks. No
matter how small 1t may have been 1t
represents thoughtfulness and trouble
on the part Of the one who sent It
And 1t is the inexpensive gift that en-
tails the heaviest expenditure of this
kind.
Duplicate gifts there are bound, to
be. and there are some persons Of not
very good taste who merely pack away
unwelcome gifts they receive one year
in order to send them to some one else
the following Christmas This may or
may not be wise. In a certain town
there lived a young woman who had
this habit. One year she received a
pretty stamp box among her Christ
mas tokens. It CHANGED that she al
ready owned box just like 1t. So she
tucked it away and the next Christ
mas took it out and mailed 1t to
friend whom she thought it would just
suit.
A few days after Christmas she re-
ceived the following note:
Dear Polly-The stamp box which have
just received from you is accepted with
thanks. When / bought it for you last
Christmas I liked 1t SO much that hest
tated to part with it; but, though bread
upon the water may not come back to
one, 1t seems that Christmas gifts some
times do.
Polly had forgotten to look inside the
box and take out the tiny Christmas
card on the blank side of which the
original giver had written her name.
So IL you are in the habit of doing
anything like this it Is wise to keep
list Of the gifts you get and the per-
sons from whom you receive them and
consult this before sending them out
again.
One girl has kept a list Of this sort
for FIVE years, not because she returns
gifts. but because In this way she can
vary her gifts from year to yeaf In
this, which she calls her christmas
notebook. she jots down bits of infor-
nation in regard to the taste Of those
in whom she is interested Lf during
the year she hears them express a
wish for anything in particular, or gets
bint Of their special needs. she jots
it down beside their name for holiday
reference. In this way she manages
to- select even a calendar or tiny book
that has some special significance to
the one for whom it is intended
The tendency nowadays is to do
away with promiscuous giving, and it
Is wise one. But even the fad of
sending Christmas cards may become
nuisance. Plain engraved cards
with a Christmas greeting have an In
divfdual touch and are in better taste
than the cheap picture postcard.
When you do get gift. however, no
matter from whom 1t may come or
what it may be, acknowledge it prompt
". No matter how unacceptable 1t
may be do not permit the donor to I
suspect 1t. The Christmas spirit should
30 into the acceptance. and no Doubt
the recording angel viii wink at the|
fact that in some cases we perjursl
ourselves like gentlefolk in acknowfla
edging them. In
A Novelty In Hairpins.
A clever invention recently piacsdI 8,