Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-12-08
Editors Letter Box
christmas Suggestions.

Editor ken0ebeC Journal:
Any suggestions at this time Of the
year that will enable folks to make
Christmas presents with little expense,
are liable to be gratefully received.s
The purpose that should guide US is
that Of making the recipient happy.
We can all recall how some slight
token of remembrance has cheered our
heart and made gladness spring up in
the seasons that are gone.
II you want to make fifty relatives
and friends real glad this Christmas
you can do 1t for three cents apiece
plus your own labor. Just buy q bot
tie Of red ink. fifty stamped envelopes
and some pads of paper Cred Is a Joy
color). Some have near relatives that
they have not written to for q long
time.
Before you begin the letter spend
one-half hour thilking over the past,
recall all the kindnesses you have re-
ceived from them, being careful not to
let your mind dwell on injuries sup
posed or real. You will be surprised
to recall how good they have been to
you. Some one has said:
1.-THE difference between a pessimist
and an optimist is rather droll.
The optimist sees the doughnut,
while the pessimist sees the hole"
Don't look at the hole (the faults) but
let your thoughts linger long on that
fat circle around the hole until they
will appear to yo6 like some dough-
nuts you have seen where there was
hardly room to put a pencil through
the center.
BY this time yoA will find that the
old love for them has been revived and
you will really enjoy writing to them.
Remind them of the many kindnesses
you have received at their hands, tell
them you are sorry for the neglect in
the past. talk over the happy times you
have had together. Take the blame on
yourself for the gap in your fellowship,
tell them you hope to hear from them
soon. and be sure not to wind up with
Yours truly"
If mother Is still living try and out
do any letter you have ever written to
her. sending a check for $50 won't sat
isfy her heart though it may keep her
from want Of temporal things. But
mother wants love, and If you can
think over for one-half hour the kind
ness Of that mother to you and not be
able to write her a warm hearty
epistle, may God have mercy on you.
for your heart is turned to stone.
In order to stir some one who has
neglected mother to do their duty, I
will relate an experience of my own.
l received a letter from my mother
one day and although she was about
rs years of age it was written in the
same excellent hand that she wrote my
excuses to the teacher in 40 years ago.
It was a good letter. she told me how
pleasantly she was situated in my
sisters home beside one of the large
lakes in northern Maine, how she
could see old Mt. Katahdin from there,
about her little grandson and about
church life in the little town in the
woods, and then she told about her en-
joyment in reading Gods word, and
that she prayed for us all daily.
l went to the writing desk and be-
gan a letter to her while my heart was
still warm. l wrote four or five pages
and then was called to dinner before I
finished. The days went by and L
day I was called to the phone and the
VOlCc VI d lOVCu OIIC ooAN VMOLuSI
died last night" At once / thought
of the letter 1 had not finished. went
to the desk and read it. it was one of
the best letters had ever written to
her, 1t would have gladdened her heart
and made her life brighter at its clos
ing. but my neglect to write a. few
more lines and then mailing it robbed
her Of that pleasure. / thought there
was plenty of time. II this should
cause one person to write good let
ter to mother at once should be glad,
though 1t is not a pleasant picture to
have hung on memories wall.
ut is not the things we do. dear,
But the things we leave undone
That cause a bit of heart ache at the
setting Of the sun.
The kind word left unspoken,
The letter we did not write,
These are our haunting ghosts to-
night"