Evening star., 1933-12-15
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
limiting for Christmas presents usu'

Hinting for Christmas presents usu'
ally Is waste of time.
Nobody ever takes the hints!
The notorious inability Of people tt
take them any time Is nowhere better
exemplified than here.
The more one talks about a certain
thing, or points to it in an ad, or ever
cuts out picture Of it, the surer every
one is not to understand.
Consider books, for instance. Books
constitute what may be called stand
ard Christmas present, whether they
are new or old.
Throw out few dark hints, from
time to time, that certain volumes are
highly spoken Of; well, throw them out
but nobody includes them in that per-
sons presents.
y n X
"I am afraid to buy him books, he has
read them all"
Such is the explanation, which is
rather compliment to the gentleman
but, like so many nice things, is not
entirely true.
He has not read them all, by any
means, and wouldn't mind having some
of them duplicated, If he had. But he
hasn't, and no one should hesitate a
second on any such ground.
The most difficult person to select a
Christmas present for is he who has
some hobby and already has everything
that its proper riding calls for. There
is nothing that one can think OF that
he does not possess or has rejected.
Friends realize that nothing would
be quite so acceptable as something he
had not found as yet, but which he
would like. Well, try and find it, as the
expression Is.
One may find him something he has
not found, all right, but will he like it?
If he is a real fan" and knows his
stuff, as the vernacular has it, he will
measure the gift by its utility, and if
it is merely something to sell to those
who do not know the subject deeply, he
will reject it as politely as he may. He
will not use it, in other words.
Closets are full Of such gifts. Many
a young newspaper reporter, for in
stance, has been presented with nice
leather note book by some doting rela-
tive who was unconscious of the fact
that real reporters never use 'em.
The lobbyist, on the other hand, will
be tremendously pleased with a very
cheap gadget, If it is a good one. The
difficulty comes in knowing as much as
he does. and therefore picking a good
one.
1t might seem to follow that the
best presents could be selected by fellow
enthusiasts for each other, but this is
not necessarily the case. 1t is one of
the happy features of Christmas time.
it seems, that one never is sure what
enc will get.
The surprise element is a great deal,
say what one will, and be what age one
must. To know exactly all that one is
going to receive is not so good Surely
the best part Of it all is to give. Re-
ceiving is incidental. These are truisms
which every one works out for himself,
to find at last that they are divinely SO.
1t may be believed that the best CIV
ing is predicated upon careful study of
other people.
Thus from every aspect the real joy Of
the season comes from giving, both gifts
and thought
Which of these is the most precious
no one can say except in individual
cases where air the facts are known.
A little knowledge of a person. how
ever. is better than none at all 1t
prevents many gift which has nothing
in it except display. There are times
and occasions for such gifts: maybe
Christmas Is such, in some few cases,