QUEER STORIES OF CHRISTMAS BOXES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 273, 24 December 1909, Page 4

QUEER STORIES OF CHRISTMAS BOXES.

LilE CAUSE XKOL'BLIi A.NJ) SOiUi t KILN. (Jue uf tiie most amusing stones collect nut" CuriiUnas LiuNt-'s is Llial told ot Lord Clasgow, who, us Lord KcHninii', was one Ol' ili« groat patrons oi ftie racecourse ot his day, as became V llO owuer of the famous ijeuentl I'eel. 4Vhen it suited his 'whim his lordship would sometimes do his own shopping, and on sueii occasions lie would appeal iu somewhat slovenly attire. OneLuiistnms ho went, iuto a greengrocer's shop to pay a small billot some twenty to twenty-live shillings. Auer receipting the account, the tradesman, under llie impression that lie was, dealing with the butler, handed liatk the easil with the remark, "Keep that, old fellow, for v a Christmas box, ami if you can get me the regular business of the house I! will make it live pounds or better next Christmas. Without a word the peer po; I .'d the coins and t-ouk Itis departure, i.i reach* ing home he immediately gave Ills servants imperative instructions to ivlruiil from entering ii)to any further dealings with the unlucky greengrocer on his aeeount. The tradesman, therefore, not only lost his money, but. also all chance of ever getting even a share of the custom of which he wanted an. | Here is a story of 'how a Christmas present landed a man iu prison in a most peculiar way. A young American i woman, desiring to give ucr husband a I pleasant Christmas surprise, obtained ' employment as a domestic servant, and with the wages she thus earned bought a ring to present to him on Christmas

morning. I How well he deserved it the sequel I shows. Before Christmas morning ar- | rived he somehow discovered that she , ' had tlie circlet, and, becoming furiously * jealous because she had a man's ring in l her possession, he beat and kicked her , in a shocking manner. , , | His wife, therefore, instead of making - ~ him a present, caused him to be arrestI ed, and, so Ear from sporting a ring, he : had to spend his Christmas behind J ■ i prison bars. Thus arc the best inten* J I tioDs frustrated, and thus did what J I might have been a house of joy become ] : a house of tears. . ' The guilelesSncss and charming can- ' II dour of a certain young lady in the . , South of, England waa never better illus- _ trated than in the following incident. . 3 Receiving from a rich uncle a cheque as j . a Christmas present, she promptly pre- . I sented it at the bank 011 which it was g drawn in order thatshe might have the . 3! h.ird cush tu finger'. . i The choqi'e being payable to order, s she was, oi course, naked bv the bunk 0 cashier to endorse it before it could be | (l cashed. The following was the endorsef mcnt she put 011 it, instead of lier sig- • d i nntnrc: "I want this money awful badly, ,| yours truly, please pay the bearer." . ( " Ou'istmas presents are sometimes sent s through the post which the authorities i* respectfully -'cclinc to deliver. A Christ--0 mas or two ug'> there was lying at the e Dead Letter Office a reproduction in ,f miniature of his satanic majesty, with S horns, hoofs, and tail, all complete. Who , e this llattering present wns intended for •- it was not possible to determine, for, curiously enough, 11 had found its way t to the Dead Letter Office through being 7 insufficiently addressed, lhe Post Of- .. tire could not. therefore, have delivered s it if tlicy could. k A queer story of a bogus Christmas s present comes from Washington. When c the late Lord Vnuncefote was the Britit isli Ambassador to the United states, a t heavy pine case, covered with steam- -- ship labels, was delivered at his official 8. residence 'in the American capital, and ( . a sum of money was paid on it for ,t : carriage. When it came to be opened, however, it was found,' much to the r- Ambassador's annoyance, to contain noic thing hut ordinary common bricks. The steamship labels'" with which the case v . was so lavishly adorned, it afterwards a transpired. liad been stolen by the per- - petrator of the swindle, who, it-is satisr- factory, to note, soon found himself in s. durance vile. ■He had victimised a il lave number of public men in the same 0 cruel fashion, and all had cheerfully paid 11' for the supposed Christmas presents. ;c only to find that they were so much s monev to the bad. d Last Christinas Eve a barber in a y small Lancashire town was delighted to ,'s receive by parcel post a hamper which B . lie ventured to predict to his wife would •s be found to contain a good fat goose, n They opened the: hamper with Irateil n breath, and up to a point it seemed as d if the hairdresser's prediction would ic prove correct. On the packing being if removed, what .seemed like a goose, and i r , v very line.'one at that, was l disclosed .S to view. Chuckling to "himself, the bar's her essayed (0 llu it from the hamper, )f when to his amazement and disgust the ooose broke and dropped in pieces. It Had been sent to him by some practical joker, who. having fashioned very clevcrliy some dough in the shape of a goose, liad biikqd it j" at ' sufficiently to carry I and packed it off in the hamper to the | unsuspecting tonsorial artist.