208 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



doll, when one is conscious that the little dar- 

 ling's parents would have preferred a miniature 

 electric railway which might have helped them 

 to while away many a long winter's evening. 



Daring the process of wracking one's brains 

 for original ideas on the subject of juvenile gifts, 

 one is occasionally apt to forget that the young 

 have an inconvenient habit of growing up with 

 a rapidity that may cause one's offerings to 

 look exceptionally silly and unsuitable. I know 

 nothing more mortifying than to visit a small 

 nephew and niece, armed with a rattle and a 

 woolly rabbit, and to find the boy sitting in an 

 Eton jacket reading " Sonnets from the Portu- 

 guese," while his sister is playing Handel's 

 " Largo " with supreme self-confidence on the 

 violin. On the other hand, it is almost as easy 

 to err in the opposite direction, and there is 

 something infinitely pathetic about the forced, 

 wan smile of thanks with which a fond mother 

 accepts the copy of Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Pro- 

 gress " which you have brought for her six- 

 months-old infant. 



One of the many obstacles that a man has to 

 contend with at this season of the year is the 

 terrible temptation to keep for his own private 

 use the Christmas presents that he has bought 

 to give to other people. A great friend of mine 

 once confessed to me A\'ith .- ^ ars of shame that 



