The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1950-12-21

10 Jnlnk Wnal lney "a
could give her 1t
would have been Ri
absurd to send her
o check, for though SEQ
she was not rich
she Old not really
need money. There ~'-2-~.'- ~ '---4Ra
was o thin g to Dr. FOREMAN
speak of that she seemed to need for
her house, for she had lived in one
place for some time and she had
collected about all the furniture and
bric-a-brac that her house would
hold. There was not much use in
giving her something like candy be-
cause she was on a diet and could
not eat fancy foods. She had more
pictures than she could hang at one
time, and as for books, she had a
taste above best-soliers and what
she could not get from the public
library she could buy for herself.
A Lovablc Person
T3OWEVER, her friends were de-
= I termined to give her some
thing, for she was a lovable per-
son; so when Christmas time came
her table was piled with gay parcels
from near and far. Some Of the
gifts may have been expensive and
some not, but all were beautiful.
So she appreciated them, but
because she could have
bought any of them herself, she
did not appreciate any of them
quite so much as she did ore
present that when Christmas
morning came could not be
seen at all One could not call
it a beautiful present to look
at; indeed il was seen only once.
But the memory of it fingered
for a lcag time.
This lady had a cook. She was not
a. very good cook when first she
went to work, because she was
young and 10 one had trained her
and she did not like TO be trained.
She was suspicious Of any enc who
tried to show her how to do
anything, and she bore a grudge
against any one who had more in
this world than she had. But the
lady was patient, and the girl
learned about a home from her;
indeed the most and the best she
learned was not about cooking at
all, as you shall see.
The Invisible GIFT
IN the day before Christmas the
" girl went home early to spend
the day with her family. But before
dark on Christmas day, in the same
hour the kitchen stove went out of
order and visitors came to spend
the night, and the lady fell i'll. Not
knowing what to do, she called up
the girl, Christmas though it was,
and asked her if she could come
back and help out for a few hours
to get things straight.
So the girl came and made
the stove behave and cooked
a meal and took care Of her
friend and made everything as
it should be Gu that day. When
it was late and time to &c, the
lady offered the girl more than
her usual pay. But the girl would
net take even enc coin. She
said to her friend: 81 like to
do something for love"
So when the presents lay opened,
on the very top of the pile, visible
to the inward eye alone, were the
hours Of work given because the
giver wanted to do something for
love.
The True Gift
rIFTS that are sold in the stores,
vi gifts that crowd the post Of
fees, carloads of gifts that pass
each other in the night on roaring
wheels, the little gifts and the great:
which of these are given for love?
Some are sent to return a favor;
some because it is the thing to be
done; some are sent out of old habit,
or in hope Of favors to come.
1t can never be seen, for it
cannot be sold in the stores and
the post office does not know The
rates on it. 1t GENES silently, and
sometimes only the giver and
God know about it, and the enc
who receives it does not suspect.
But it shines above all the Tin
sci and The s:ars upon the Christ
mas tree; when the lights are
out it gIows in The dark. Ii keeps
the night bright for the lonely
heart. It is the something done
for love.
them-everything but that.
That is what Christmas meanG.
On the first Christmas Eve, Mary
the blessed Mother, was in pain, but
it was pain borne in love. You could
not have. paid her for it. Yes, and
the Child that lay in the manger
that night was there because God
wanted to do something for love.
Copyright by the International Conn
ell of Religious Education on behalf of
40 Protestant determinations. Released
by WNU FeaturcsJ