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HOW WE PREPARED OUR CHRISTMAS 
GIFTS. 
Christinas was coming all too fast for us unpre¬ 
pared elders, too slowly for the eager young ones. So 
many sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews to be pro¬ 
vided with gifts, and from where, oil! where should 
they come ? 
Our house was grandma’s, and we were grandma’s 
single daughters. Money, that in antebellum days 
was so plentiful, was now, alas, hard to get, and must 
be spent on necessaries, not luxuries. But the ques¬ 
tion was, are not Christmas gifts necessaries ? So, at 
least, we resolved, and agreed to hold a convention 
and decide as to ways and means, for the gifts must 
be forthcoming if we had to evolve them from “the 
inner consciousness.” 
The preacher’s wife was boarding with us, and she 
was called to join the conclave. She, too, longed to 
pour out gifts like water, but was stopped by the same 
barrier, the needful. Having sojourned awhile in the 
West, she had learned that many pretty things could 
be made with little or no cost, but with considerable 
trouble. 
We were some time in deep consultation, and the 
result of the confab was—Resolved, that in this house 
must be made a gift for each of the twenty grand¬ 
children, and some twenty more for the elders here 
and at a distance. That the said gifts be pretty and 
appropriate, and the cost but trilling. That was the 
last of November, and the time seemed very, very 
short for the work to be done. Fortunately the chin¬ 
chilla zephyr shawl, with its fancy purple border, for 
the preacher’s dear mother, was almost complete, and 
the rose and white toilet mats for Katie darling, were 
finished and laid away, waiting for the 21st to he 
mailed with the shawl. All else was to be done. Oh, 
the wrinkled brows, cogitating novel and lovely pres¬ 
ents, the busy fingers, the sighs for money that did 
not come for the sighing, the merry laughs over fail¬ 
ures, and kind assistance from eacli other. Those 
busy days, teeming with work and bright with Christ¬ 
mas green, Holly, Ivy, Magnolia, Mistletoe, and Cedar, 
will always be a pleasant memory, and the merry 
workers enshrined in the chamber where forgetfulness 
never enters. 
To appreciate our dilemma, you must know we 
lived in a little Tennessee town, twenty miles from the 
railroad, but on tiie winding Tennessee, where pretty 
materials for fancy work were not brought, and many 
of the graceful etceteras, so common in cities, were 
almost unknown. The great crochet lever that raged 
from Maine to California had not then become con¬ 
tagious here. 
Fortunately for us our city niece had been spending 
the golden autumn days with us, and had initiated us 
into the fascinating' mysteries of crochet. Our first 
move was to collect the “loose change” and order 
thirty ounces of zephyr; we used it all and wanted 
more. 
“Blessings on the man that invented zephyr!” 
How many delighted women over the land will echo 
that. 
Three paiis of pink soled dainty baby feet were on 
Christmas morning treading air in soft, bright socks 
knit by grandma’s kind hands. That day Flora’s 
baby May and little Will’s dimpled wrists were 
adorned with blue and pink wristers. Bobbie and 
Jamie disolayed their arms protected from the cold by 
the same worsted comforters, only dark red and blue, 
as suited big hoys. Grandma could not forget her 
boys, bearded men they were, and they declared, all 
four, they did not know how they ever endured the 
winter’s cold without the pulse warmers. 
There were six sets of zephyr mats of as many dif¬ 
ferent colors and patterns for the sisters, and four sets 
of washstand mats of snowy Dexter thread No. 8, 
with borders of scarlet Saxony yarn, for the brothers’ 
wives. There were two phantom baskets, and they 
were “tedious and tasteless” in the making, hut most 
fairy-like and lovely when completed. Then three 
chair jewel cases were fashioned for the girls just bud¬ 
ding into womanhood. I must describe one of these. 
You know the ladylike, artistic work taught by the 
Moravians, called crape embroidery, and which is 
lovely as a flower painting "l A dear lady, aged sixty- 
seven, taught me this dainty work, and her soft white 
hands and delicate touch seemed just suited to the 
task. 
A piece of silk or velvet is traced with the figure of 
the article to he made, and then sewed securely to a 
small wooden frame. The flower pattern is then 
selected, marked on the material, and squares of the 
best Italian crape cut of the size and color suited to 
the flower to be made. No matter what flower is to 
he made, the crape is cut in squares and sewed on 
over or under, as the case may he, always taking care 
to hide the stitches aud imitate nature. Leaves of 
bright green crape are interspersed and tendrils of all 
colors of split silk floss intermingled. 
The chair of which I spoke, was of graceful Gothic 
shape, of white silk embroidered with bouquets of 
Pansies, Roses, and Violets on back, cushion, and 
sides. 
This same crape work furnished a watchcase for a 
certain fastidious youth, whose visits to grandma’s 
furnished the little ones with many a sly joke and 
teasing comment. 
I think we reduced the wheelbarrow pincushion to a 
science, for what else could we make the hobblede¬ 
hoys, too large for playthings, too small to he neg¬ 
lected. This is a dainty gift when deftly made, and 
the remains of Leonora’s grey silk poplin furnished 
the exteriors, while pieees of fresh blue and pink silk 
lined the little beauties. 
The pastor’s wife made her father a sofa pillow cover 
that was noticeably pretty and cost but twenty cents. 
Dark, bright and light pieces of worsted were cut in 
small hexagons, arranged in groups with an eye to 
contrast and effect, and pieced together till a hexagon, 
the cross width of the pillow, was made; then the 
length was filled in to correspond with the rest, the 1 
corners like the centre; this was lined with strong 
cloth ; the under side was of cardinal red alpacca, and 1 
cost the twenty cents. The two parts were hound 
with a large cord of bright plaid. 
For the College hoy, exposed to the weather, a 
nicely fittiug pair of brown yarn gloves with blue 
gauntlets were knit. Louis was an only child, so 
something different could be given him. A spirited 
black horse with flowing mane, erect ears and startled 
eyes, was fashioned for him of black alpacca, red 
braid, raw cotton, fringe, and an old broomstick. This 
toy sells for fifty cents in the store, and can he as 
nicely and more durably made at home. The head 
and neck cut in a single piece, sewed around, turned 
and the head stuffed, care being taken to preserve the 
likeness to a real horse while stuffing. The stick, just 
long enough to ride conveniently, is then inserted and 
the neck stuffed around it, otherwise the stick will 
turn : when as full as it will hold, a notch is cut around 
the stick and the cloth gathered and firmly attached 
with strong thread. A piece of fringe furnishes mane, 
the ears are cut of the cloth, with au inner lining of 
wiggans to hold them erect; the eyes of white wig- 
gaus, eye-shaped, with hole in centre to represent pu¬ 
pils; this is sewed with invisible stitches. A red al¬ 
pacca braid, put on real bridle style, finishes this fine 
looking animal. 
We had smokers in our family, and for them barrel 
cigar-holders were made, too particular work for any 
but Leonora’s neat fingers ; so four of the troublesome 
stands fell to her lot. 
Elizabeth is practical, and the scrap-bag was ran¬ 
sacked for pieces' of silk, and cravats were made to 
please the male fancy. Old numbers of Peterson were 
looked over to furnish models; in one was a spool- 
case, made to imitate a red wagon, spools furnishing 
wheels. This struck Elizabeth's fancy, and she vowed 
to make mother one. All the red stuffs being used, she 
decided black would he serviceable. It was her first, 
and somehow, instead of resembling a wagon, bore a 
melancholy resemblance to a coffin on wheels. When 
she held it up, in all the pride of her heart, as some¬ 
thing unique and useful, how we laughed till the tears 
came, and only stopped when we saw hers were com¬ 
ing in earnest. It is hut justice to say she succeeded 
admirably after that, and rejoiced the hearts of several 
with the possession of spool wagons. 
There were many more gifts, ingenious and pretty, 
hut the rapidly-filling sheets warn me to desist. We 
worked early and late, and the Saturday night before 
Christmas found us laughing, talking, completing our 
work, and admiring it. Mother had caught the con¬ 
tagion, and never shall I forget her look of horror 
when some one coining in informed her she was work¬ 
ing on Sunday; it was one o'clock A. m. We were 
tired hut happy when the gifts were distributed. We 
spent but little money, and gave much pleasure, espe¬ 
cially to the little ones for whom Christmas should 
always be a crowning joy. 
The preacher and his wife were not forgotten, hut 
their hearts were gladdened by presents from young 
and old, and the stranger feeling passed away as they 
all met around the generous Christmas board and par¬ 
took of the Christinas feast. 
Belle. 
Housekeepers and Friends. —Gladdys Wynne 
in her household talks, insists that the under-clothing 
is a matter of great importance. “ Many,” she says, 
“ go shivering all the winter, simply for the lack of 
sufficient and suitable under-clothing. Boys and girls 
—especially girls—are sent off daily to school, through 
cold and snow, with scarcely more under-clothing than 
was worn during warm weather; while in this respect; 
wives and mothers at home are often equally disre¬ 
gardful of their own health and comfort. In our cold 
and changeful climate, this will not answer; it is ruin¬ 
ous to health.” 
The most satisfactory under-wrappers I have ever 
had are of white sale flannel, made “ sack shirt ” fash¬ 
ion, whole on the shoulders. The bottom of the wrap¬ 
per is “ pinked,” and just above the pinking a small 
tuck stitched in all around ; the neck finished off sim¬ 
ply by being pinked and a strip of narrowtape stitched 
around on the wrong side, just below the pinking, to 
“stay” the neck; then a strip of flannel over half a 
finger in width, pinked at both edges aud across the 
ends, is stitched the whole length of the wrapper front, 
left side, just inside the pinking at both edges, and in 
the centre of this the button holes are made; the right 
or bottom side is faced with a strip of muslin. 
