December, 1916 
17 
beautiful in the florist’s window, are not in 
the least suitable for growth in the house. 
It is all right to select cut flowers for the 
bewildering beauty of the moment, and in 
full consciousness that within a day or two 
at most they will be but a fragrant memory. 
But if you are selecting a plant for a Christ¬ 
mas gift, pick out something which will 
continue to live under house conditions for 
weeks if not for years. And if you feel 
that a plant alone is hardly sufficient for 
your purpose, remember that a jardiniere, 
both artistic and substantial, is a rare thing 
and one sure to be appreciated. 
Good Things to Give 
I will not attempt to name the various 
sorts of plants that fulfill these require¬ 
ments of beauty and long life. All florists 
have them now for just this purpose, but if 
you wish to plan in advance just what you 
will choose, an article on the indoor garden 
which appears on another page of this issue 
will give you some suggestions. The “old 
reliables,” like azaleas, begonias and cyc¬ 
lamen, are always in order, but perhaps the 
best inspiration will be to go and see just 
what your florist has on his benches. 
So much for gifts of things from man¬ 
made gardens. For those who can obtain 
them, some of the untamed products of the 
infinitely larger garden of Nature are al¬ 
most more desirable as presents to those 
who ordinarily have them not. 
It seems ordinary enough to many coun¬ 
try dwellers, but that doesn’t make the beau¬ 
tiful bark of the white birch any the less 
attractive to city people. From it you can 
make hanging baskets, flower and fern 
boxes, and a dozen other unique and useful 
articles with real decorative value. Even 
plain sheets of the bark are acceptable as 
gifts for those who have a liking for doing 
handicraft work with odd materials. 
A word as to gathering the bark will not 
be amiss, as so often in this connection we 
see evidences of thoughtlessness which re¬ 
sults fatally to the trees. A living birch 
which is girdled for its bark is almost cer¬ 
tain to die. So whenever bark is stripped, 
take it only from a tree which is misshapen, 
overcrowded by its neighbors, or otherwise 
unfitted to survive in the endless struggle 
for supremacy in the woodland community. 
Do you live in a pine or spruce country? 
Then remember that your less favored 
friends will surely appreciate a supply of 
crackly cones to throw on their winter fires. 
Holly and mistletoe they can buy in the 
market, but these things carry far greater 
significance when gathered and sent by a 
friend in the South. And if none of these 
three is ready to your hand, the ground 
pine, prince’s pine, bittersweet, partridge 
berries or laurel branches will bring a wel¬ 
come as gifts of things that grow. 
Finally, to any of your friends who may 
be actual gardeners, or even potential ones, 
you can give no more practical a present 
than a good book; for of the making of 
garden books there is no end, nor is there 
likely to be so long as there are plenty of 
new discoveries, new methods, new varie¬ 
ties with which every gardener wants to 
keep in touch. Interest in gardening of all 
kinds is tremendously on the increase in 
this country, and every wide-awake gar¬ 
dener is interested in keeping abreast of 
the newest developments. For that rea¬ 
son a gift of a thing that grows will 
quicken his interest of this season. 
Peruvian huacas 
were, no doubt, 
the earliest form 
of the toby. 
These earthen 
jugs ivere filled 
with wine and 
placed in the 
tombs 
A teapot toby, 
probably de¬ 
vised for the 
total abstainer 
A Staffordshire 
toby of 1880, 
representing 
Gladstone 
This jug was made in 1909 at 
about the time Mr. Roosevelt 
started on his hunting trip to 
Africa. It is richly colored 
and beautifully modelled 
He holds a gun in one hand 
and a red guide-book to Africa 
in the other. The handle, an 
elephant’s head, is emble¬ 
matic of the G. O. P. 
There are probably more to¬ 
bies of Bonaparte than of any 
other notable. This one ivas 
made in America about 1876 
A very good piece of 
portraiture shows 
Washington in a 
handsome uniform 
I N one of his earlier plays, at the old 
Daly’s Theater, John Drew, imper¬ 
sonating an absent minded, rich uncle or 
something of the sort, asks a fond 
mother about her boy, who was but a 
very young baby when Drew went off 
to Australia, or somewhere else in the 
play, to get rich. The mother asserts 
that the boy has grown considerably. 
“And has he still got that ridiculous 
mug?” asks the Uncle. The mother, no 
doubt a New Yorker, was highly resent¬ 
ful of this question, until Mr. Drew re- 
(Continued on page 52) 
The spectacles, fallen 
over the nose, give 
Ben Franklin a be¬ 
nevolent expression i 
