Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-12
Gifts and Giving

TTAVING utterly and completely lost from
IL his understanding or recollection any
significance attaching to the word gift
your Gownsman followed an often fnculcated
precept Of his preceptorial guild and looked
for the word in a dictionary, But modern
dictionaries are dstressingy accurate, scien-
tifc and wanting In atmosphere; where
fore he went not to such, but to that famous
tome which Becky Sharp once threw out
Of the carriage window when she left board
ing-school, If not for good, at least for all,
hoping to find therein one of those delight
fully wayward definitions which have raised
Doctor Johnsons Dictionary of the English
Language from an extended catalogue OF
words to an honorable place In letters. But
bookish vanity. which seeks inspiration in the
thoughts of other men, received its just re-
buke. Doctor Johnson is neither picturesque
nor prejudiced in his simple definition or the.
word gift. And to employ the word or the
thing as he defines It Is to be hopelessly
out of date. Wherefore like many another
barren scholar before him, the Gownsman
is driven to a homemade definition of some
thing which he dimly understands to clarity
the understandings Of those who labor in
a similar darkness.
C A GIFT is a costly and useless commod-
n ity. purchased with anxiety and be-
slowed In lively anticipation of reciprocity
in substance or in kind" Dare we hint that
possibly in some such wise the shade OF Doc
tor Johnson might speak, could that immortal
shadow now revisit the glimpses or the
moon? However, the light OF his intelligence.
were he still alive in this bewilderng world
would have given us greater Illumination.
Formerly we merely gave gifts; now we
make donations or at least bestow presents
the presentation counting for more than the
gift or the giver. Givers are donors; the
receivers of gifts recipients. We give not
for our love, our regard for him to whom
we give; but for our own self-respect, our
self-esteem, our conceit of our own position
and Importance. The trail Of the patron Is
SVtx,sn md nIr
to be too much in the nature of gratuities
condescendingiy bestowed where they are
not actually fiat blackmail, levied without
conscience or blush.
GIFT Is not what man must give
| n that is an obligation. A gift is not
what a man Is forced to- give that Is an
| extortion. Nor Is gift eyenth thing which
| the giver finally concludes after long cogi-
| tati6n, to be that which he ought to give !:
| for that Is commonly a vanity. based on more
| thought about himself than about anybody
| else however that vanity be translated In
his own mind into an ideal IN the upshot
! rarely attained. A gift, to be really such,
| should have the character OF spoptaneity.
| Giving should proceed from impulse, not
| from consideration: and impulse Is matter
of the heart.s not the study OF calculating
| head, toilng over the balanee-sheets of favor
and worldly advancement. Wherefore this
| giving at a fxed season, prepared and pre-
| arranged by. the conspiracy or commerce
| however IL commemorate n Cu5tufu, huiiilr-
| able in the past, has become IN thing too
often perfunctory, meaningless and worse.
| NNE of our notable musicians toured a few
" years ago In Spain. In one of the larger
| Spanish cities he was much appreciated. and
| one gentleman. properly to befdesignated a
| grandee was full of admiration for the
| artists art. In the grandee,s house, where
| there was much of the grandeur Of the past
| though less of the wealth Of the present.
| the srnusician happened to admire certain
| old battle flags of embroidered silk, trophies
| of the. past 'giories of the grandees ances-
| tors Soon after the musicians visit the
| Spaniard sent him one of the most beautiful
| of these fiags, asking him to receive 1t as a
| gift t!an appreciation of the Joys which his
| art HAD given to the sender The musician
deprecated, receiving such gift priceless
10 the giver. an article of curiosity only to
the receiver. But although returned. the
gift was later sent after him with this
explanation; your lart, sir. gave me an
citation In an unusual manner. know that
more to you. To me, as the symbol of a
brave deed of one of my family. 1t means
much more and wish to give you some.
thing the giving Of which shall feel.
Quixotic? Yes and very Spanish 70 be
righted only by the codicl OF the musicians q
will /: but assuredly an ideal In the way OF
giving not unworthy the pondering.
an THE gift ss an expression or the siver
III much has been written and said, w