Never do the English people show themselves so completely en-
slaved to tradition and sentiment—admirable qualities in themselves —as at Christmas. There is a tradition that people should give each other presents at Christmas. Even at normal times it degenerates into a good deal of " We must give her something because she's sure to give us something "—" her " motives being no doubt precisely the same. That is essentially giving without grace, and we all know how much of it there is. But this year, for all the advertise- ment of " seasonable gifts," the range of possible gifts at reasonable prices is more limited than ever. Two-thirds of the useful presents one thinks of need coupons, or else carry a 5o per cent. or 66 per cent. purchase tax, and we have to give enough to the Government without making it special presents at Christmas. There are, of course, always books, and books on the whole are probably best. But ten to one what you choose—after you have decided what the recipient would really like—is out of print, and in any case the number of books that people with limited shelf space really want to keep is very limited ; the average novel is something to get from a library. The result of it all is that tens of thousands of people are wearing themselves out thinking of presents they can't afford, to give to people they don't really want to give anything to. How much better if they could agree to write each other a few lines of friendly greeting. In all this I make an exception of the children. We ought to give them all the best Christmas we can.
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