A SERMON THAT FAILED.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 11, 28 January 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SERMON THAT FAILED.

“Mary," said Mr Wimbledon,, “we’ve got to shut down on this Christmas present business. Now, I don’t want you to imagine I've become one of those grouches who think it is wrong to let the children believe in Santa Claus. I’m for giving the litltc ones a good time, there’s nothing more beautiful than the joy of children over their presents, and I’d. be the last man in the world to advocate any scheme that would tend to sweep away the idea that Christmas should a time of peace on eat th and good will towards men. But the trouble is that we’ve been drifting away from the real Christmas idea. Wc make it a time to bo dreaded. Instead of the simple festival that Christmas should be wc make it an excuse for extravagant displays. Wc have departed from the good old-fashioned Christmas, and are not satisfied to gladden our children with simple presents merely to remind them of our love, but we try to outdo one another in making lavish displays. Women boast about the amount of money they spend for Christmas presents, and the one who succeeds in being the most foolish in this respect appears to stand higher in the estimation of the others. *Wc no longer confine our giving to members of our own families, but we spread out and exchange presents with all our acquaintances. It’s a nuisance and it’s positively wicked. Many of us are forced to go far beyond our means in order to return gifts to people who have sent gewgaws to us. Such giving is a m'ere mockery of the old Christmas spirit. We often give with downright reluctance, because we feel that we must. I am for doing away with all that. Let us bring Christmas back to its old. beautiful signifiehene. Let’s quit sending presents to outsiders. Let ua make our children glad by sending them simple gifts that wc can afford and let our love go with them, instead of loading them up with costly presents and regretting the strain wc will have to be under in order to pay for them.” “Very well,” his wife sweetly replied. “I’m glad you feel like that about it. Let us begin this year. I’ll not get those furs that I had intended sending to your mother, for. really, they are more than wc can afford." “Confound it,” said Mr Wimbledon to himself, as he slammed the door and started down the front steps, “what’s the use of trying to reason with a woman, anyway !”