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Show CHRISTMAS GIFTS. The Christmas gifts that are made through love are exceeding sweet. The parents' gifts to children, chil-dren, the children's gifts to parents, the lovers' gifts, the brothers, the sisters, the friends, gifts where the recipient will not measure the souvenirs by their value in dollars and cents but by the wealth of the love of the one bestowing the gift, all these are delicious. The memory of them keeps the hearts of the recipients warm sometimes some-times through long lives, after those who made the gift have long passed from this world. It is very lovely to see the furtive look of a mother when buying presents for the little brood at home; it is delicious to see the children putting their heads together and exhausting their knowledge of arithmetic in trying to estimate whether all their hoarded wealth will suffice to procure a coveted present for mamma. Even the old man of the family has a mysterious look when he undertakes the task of buying something which will bring back the old love-light to the dimming eyes of the ,.( jB wife who never grows old to him, and for her chil- ' H dren. He tries, then wipes his brow, when the '-j H problem becomes too complicated he is apt to go i I B somewhere and brace up, but he is sure to make v B it at last. It is lovely to watch a young miss who t B has a sweetheart. No one in her estimation is to B guess her secret, and she does not know that she B is giving it away 'every minute. B An old chap in rusty clothing yesterday stepped I ' 'B into a well-known place of refreshment and said: l B "I want a quart of your best, and fifty pretty jjj ! B strong cigars." When the goods were delivered jf ' H and settled for, the old man asked for a sheet of 'f B paper. It was given him and then with the stub jj j H of a pencil on the showcase in which the cigars j are kept, laboriously wrote a few lines, and then n ! as thought not quite sure whether 'he had made a t j M success or not, appealed to the vendor with the ,' M the question: "Say, do you think this will do?" i M The merchant read the following: M "Tim . Pioche: Blast your old eyes. I hate to do it, but j! M Christmas is getting close by. You may be 'j M lonesome down there in the desert, so I send V i you some nails for yout coffin. On Christ- ji ! M mas eve drive a few of them and think of , M Yours heartily, j i H JIM " The note was approved, the sheet of paper was j M laid on the package, another paper was put around If H it, and the giver started for the express office. Be- j; H fore he left, the old man said: "It isn't much, but i H we camped together for seven years; things were 1 a little tough with us sometimes, but Tim was true-blue, and the rougher things grew the jollier, ! he became. I did not sleep good last night and this morning when trying to think was the matter l was, all at once it came to me. Tim was thinking think-ing of me and trying to Marconi me with his wireless telegraphy. This (tapping "the package) 1 is just an answer to his dispatch." j i The first Christmas was ushered in with the t , r ' gift to the world of a Messiah. Something of the , splendor of that unparalleled offering still clings to real Christmas gifts. Mortals cannot explain the feeling, but when tj I they make real Christmas gifts, there is a little of '' ' the stir in their souls which has come down from ' ' that night when the great bequest was made to a startled world. |
