Life — December 28, 1893 — page 28: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

> LIFE: Our Christmas Sermon. BY LIFE’S SPECIAL TEXT: AT shall I give? This is the burning question of the hour as the holidays approach, and one that re- quires a judicious mingling of sentiment and common sense. Any fool can give something. Any spendthrift can overdo it, and nothing is casier than to give too little. ‘The thoughtful citizen is in- clined to ask, “Why give any- thing.” But these are sad days for the thoughtful citizen, and it is better that he should not be considered. If we once allow ourselves to real- ize the folly of exchanging these undesired gifts we shall destroy the holiday spirit. Let us, on the other hand, en- deavor to forget that we must spend money we can ill afford in purchasing gifts that the recipients would never think of buying for themselves. Your bishop, of course, understands that you will, as usual, present your wealthy friends and relatives with gifts of some value, for the reason that inexpensive objects would be out of place in their surroundings ; and that you will, as usual, give to your humbler and more impecunious relatives those cheaper articles which it is their custom to receive. The fifty-dollar gift to those who have no possible use for it will continue to impress you as being the natural and proper thing. You will also see your way clear to give the twenty-five-cent present to those who would not only heartily appreciate and enjoy, but who really need something very much better. Now, my dear friends, if you earnestly wish this holiday BISHOP. What Shall 1 Give? season to be a season of joy do not dispense these perfunctory and worse than useless gifts. Deny yourself the pleasure of presenting to intelligent beings those holiday objects that are made only to be sold with no thought for after use. What shall I give is certainly a very burning question, but what shall I receive, is probably, in your mind, a still hotter one. . Put yourself in the place of the recipient. If you are short of money and your little children need shoes and overcoats, of what avail is a Japanese vase or a celluloid nail brush ? There is neither nourishment in a frame for photographs nor warmth in a silver plated inkstand. Do not mislead yourself and seek consolation in the vain thought that it is the spirit of the deed and not the value of the article that is important. You are not deceived by that sentiment when your rich uncle gives you a silver tooth-pick instead of the gold watch you expected. Neither is your impecunious relative carried away by too much sentiment, when you, in turn, play a similar game upon him and his expectations. If you give him anything let it represent something more than a useless waste of very useful money. If you can summon the courage to do some honest good and give real pleasure to others, bestow your calendar and cheap paper cutter upon the rich and not upon the poor. Turn your back upon the thirty dollar rocking horse you thought of sending to the overtoyed son of your opulent relative. Give the money to your struggling kinsman who is trying to educate a family on fifteen hundred a year. In a word, my dear brethren, when you make it known in this holiday season that your heart is expanding, sce to it that your purse and your intelligence do not contract in proportion. fa} comicbooks.com