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Speaker 1: Christmas Ants by Kate gannett Wells. The possession of relatives

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at Christmas time is very desirable, provided they give you

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the things you want. For there are three factors in

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giving the gift itself, the personal regard of the giver

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and the appreciation of the one who receives. Appropriateness constitutes

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its charm, as to give without affection as a bore,

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and to receive from one you dislike is hideous. Now,

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Christmas ants as a link between parents who want to

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give something and acquaintances who need not seem to fulfill

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these conditions. Generally, they know what is wanted and have

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a pride in their young relations who are not unwilling

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to be grateful to them. It is character that makes

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the Christmas Aunt what she is. She may give you

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a bit of ribbon or a rope of pearls. In

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either case it is her way of giving which makes

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her Christmasy. She may be old fashioned or of the

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modern committee type of hustler, or of tea gown, grace

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and suavity, but through all the variation runs an adorable motherliness.

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This is it which made the power of Missus Mary

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a livermore and still creates the charm and resourcefulness of

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Missus Julia Ward. How even if a Christmas aunt advises, scolds, praises,

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or bosses her young people, she yet has an hereditary

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pride in them, for they belong to her side of

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the family. It is this belonging to somebody else besides

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your parents, which is so dear. The mere fact that

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parents ought to care for those whom they have brought

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into the world gives to ants an investor of free royalty.

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They care for you just because they need not. Even

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if ants have children of their own, they do not

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lose their prerogatives of grace to others. While the unmarried

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aunt ranks next to a grandmother in delightfulness. These old

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maids of our homes could have been married if they

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want it to be. Any man or woman can be

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of either wishes. The afterglow of tender romance always enshrines them.

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Though they may lead lonely lives. Their range extends from

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the poor woman whose home is her trunk to the

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wealthy lady whose house is a shelter for others. Yet

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both have in their hearts the Christmas feeling. Single life

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may often be best, but in regard to marriage. It

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is not the frequency of divorce that is the trouble,

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but the self love, inordinate self respect, and ambition of

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married life that most needs correction. Don't pity yourself, don't

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cherish vain imaginings. Don't expect to get more than one

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third of what you want, which usually is one half

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more than you deserve. Are as good rules for married

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as for single life. As civilization increases, people naturally will

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find more difficulty in getting suited to each other. As

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the spirit of religion grows, will ask more from themselves

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than from each other, and in that asking will find

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as much fullness of joy and of service in being

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single as in being married. Say that the true companionship

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of marriage with its children is a multiplied joy. Christmas

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aunts know all of this. One of them, a wealthy

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married woman, sent to her nephew who had a hard

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time to get along a check, saying, you do for me,

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I give to you. Doing and giving are like family ties.

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Another aunt of the penurious, unmarried type, sent to her

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niece a single carnation lying on a pair of garters

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she had knit. And the niece thought of the many

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solitary hours in which the yarn had been knitted, and

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of the many economies lovingly practiced by means of which

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the flower had been purchased. Still another aunt and a niece,

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to whom fortune had alike been kind, gave each other

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gifts of equal value. They were quits. Yet there is

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a certain phase of Christmas giving that is more sentimental

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than strengthening, the exchange of thoughts which are supposed to

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have either religious or literary value. Such expressions may soothe

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the nervous, or occupy the amateur, self conscious poser to

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herself of superficial culture. Yet such sentiments are very different

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from the praise of honest affection. But many of us

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have not yet got rid of the old notion that

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praise is dangerous. It may be when it is false,

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but when true, it is an incentive to further effort.

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It is so much better to praise another while she

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is living than after she has died. All the same,

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exchange of thoughts, literary or otherwise may be an invigorating process,

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and may those who enjoy it continue its pastime. But

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do not let the thoughts be tinged with self pity.

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For courage and common sense help us to bear the

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ills of life that beset us from one Christmas to another.

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We can never say too often how grateful we are

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for the Christmas fact. What would our daily life have

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been if the first Christmas had not been born? Keeping

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now the truth of that fact, we pour around it

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the service of our daily lives. Never too poor, too lonely,

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too sick to be useful to somebody. Thank God for

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his Christmas gift of lowly usefulness. Thanks to Him also

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for Christmas ants, for he has set the world in families.

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Yet the trouble is that, as we do not want

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Christmas to come but once a year, with all its

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array of presents to get and to be answered, which

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makes the day a heavy burden, we must carry along

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its spirit from month to month and hour to hour,

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in perpetual giving and receiving of service. Many persons already

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prefer to make their gifts spasmodic rather than annual, just

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because of the meaning of the day has become so

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desecrated by gregarious giving. Simplicity in all things is to

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be followed. Always. May the Christmas Aunt remain transfigured before

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us as one who gives not because she must, but

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because she loves to bring forth from her storehouses of

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invention and affection Gifts New and old. End of Christmas

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Ants by kate gannett Wells