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Show CHRISTMAS FRESEHIS. The season of the year has again come -wheu gift selection unci gift-buying gift-buying must ho done. The custom of making Christinas gilts is one of tho oldest, as it is one of the beet known to man. Nobody wants to have it full into desuetude. It is the ouo occasion in the year when the children rule the world, and ma.- tured people are happiest when they approach nearest to the child-mind; when everybody gives or received, or both, sDme auuual remembrance or good-wili.oflering. No other lime of the year approaches to thia in univerail gladness and general eD joy meat. And one distinctive feature of the occasion is the gilt making. The toy shops and trinket dtiuds, the novelty stores and book stores, the milliuers and dealors in pottery and the jewelers, will al! ba patronized during tho next two weeks, and vast sums will Le spent now for things that people w;;uli never dream of buying ai any other time. Santa Chuii will have to carry for a fortnight fort-night a wonderful load of tricks, trumpery aud useless tubbish thAtsii weeks benco any decent old man with respectable breeding would be ashamed to be c.uiht looking at. And who would have it olheiwise? Stinay people and voiy wide folks, among whom aro the moralists and instructors at other times, toll tii to buy only useful gifts. At the risk of advising extravagance and wastefulness, we say this is all bosh, aud no attention should bo paid to it. Useful gifts are good at any time, but tho man who says ChrUtuias presents should be exclusively of that order bis forgotten thai he w:is ouco a child, or he never knew the real delights of Christmas. A boy doesn't expect boots and shoes, nor a wife new dresses and eesving rmicbiuss at Christmas. These the parent and husband must furnish at all times and seasons as occasion may require. But now the child wants something better than clothes something Jhat is exclusively for its delight and entertainmentsomething en-tertainmentsomething that Santa C!aus sclec'.s, and cot articles that bavo b?eu pic ted cut and paid for hy parent;!. That genial old gentlemaD, with fiost-covered beard and shaggy coat, isoeveraoen laden with eclhrs and shoes and gewns, bis cargo consisting con-sisting of dolls and jumping jacks, tin herns anl picture books, loy house furuUhinL'3 and frail'.ies generally gen-erally tLirgs that make juvenile life bearable and Christmas wvrtl. waiting wait-ing and !ong;i.g for. If you .i:,t to break the child Leail and iksirny the child hope in the dearest being on earth, fill his atockirg wiih "use ful" tbincs and c'irrge tho m I'y upon Santa Civis. Of course we do not rule against utility absolutely. Durability may be considered in child gifts, tut not at tho expense ol pleasure, cor on the score of economy. With older people, whoso juvcuiiu ideas of Santa CI tin have been dispelled to tho sorrow of ail of us, be it said a little more of judgment and a Utile less of Christmas Christ-mas may enter into the matter of J eolecting presents. Bat eve a with them novelty ought not to be sacrificed sacri-ficed to usefulness. Wo never knew a well-regulated person with the faintest recollection of Christmas and childhood who w is not better pleased with a present at this aea30n that hud soma ottior feature about it than utility. If tho wife tells yu tint she had rather havo a "base-t".irner" fur the parlor or new lace curtain, than a sealskin coat or a pur of earring, don't believe -her. ritie tells a fib which she thinks ecmumy will excuse. ex-cuse. It is your duly to get the baeo-burner baeo-burner and curtains, as ttioy are required, re-quired, and they are for your enjoyment enjoy-ment as much as hern. Too earrings and sealskin are for htrr personal pleasure, as a Christmas gift should be. You have no right to luru a ne cesaity into a virtue, and buy the stove and drapery pretending that they aro testimonials of regard for your wife. If you want to aDd can spend one hundred dollars, fifty dollars, or only one dollar for Christmas presents, do not deceive yourself and do violence to tho occasion oc-casion by selecting such things as would be just as acceptable or just as neceesary on any other day ol the year. If use and durability can be combined with beauty, tho present mill boat satisfy the recipient, as it then answers its full mission of a memorial of goed-will, and tells of . the thoughtful discrimination cf the I giver. But in choosing do not think j only of what your friend most needs. There are three hundred and eixty-four days in the year when you can minister to wauls, and I onlv one when you aro privileged to i contribute solely to pleasure. What' i ever we may do on the threo hundred ) and sixty-four days, let us not bo bound by the useful on the remain ing day; but at least let us bar the doors of the nursery against the utilitarian, even though we open every other room in the bouse to him. There promises to be no lack oj beautiful things in thoshops this year, Borne of the season's centres of trade, and headquarters already making liberal displays of the attractive, the novel and ornamental. All tastes can be suited, and all purses measured; meas-ured; and what is of greater importance import-ance in these days of financial dullness dull-ness and money scarcity, extravagant prices are not to be the rule, judging from figures displayed on newly opened Christmas goods. |