A HINT FOR NEXT CHRISTAMS - BY A .A .MILNE

Obviously there should be a standard value for a certain type of Christmas present. One may give what one will to ones family or particular friends, that is all right. But in a house -party there is a pleasant interchange of parcels, of which the string and brown paper and the kindly thought are the really important ingredients, and the gift inside is nothing more than an excuse for those things. It is embarrassing for you if Jones has apoligized for his brown paper with a hundred cigars and you have only excused yourself with twenty- five cigarettes; perhaps still more embarrassing if it is you who have lost so heavily on the exchange .
And now I am reminded of the friend of mine, Willliam by name, who arrived at a large country house for Christmas without any present in his bag. He had expected to neither nor receive anything but to his horror he discovered on the 24th that everybody was preparing a present for him, and that it was taken for granted that he would require a little privacy and brown paper on Christmas Eve for the purpose of addressing his own offerings to others. He had wild thoughts of telegraphing to London for something to be sent down, and spoke to other members of the house-party in order to disover what sort of present would be suitable.
"What are you giving our host?" he asked one of them.
"Mary and I are giving him a book."
William then approached the youngest son of the house, and discovered that he and his next brother Dick were sharing in this, that, and the other . When he heard this, William retired to his room and thought profoundly.
He was first down to breakfast on Christmas morning. All the places at the table were pilled high with presents. He looked at John's place. The top parcel said "To John and Mary from Charles." William took out his fountain pen and added a couple of words to the inscription. It then read " To John and Mary from Charles and William," and in William's opinion looked just as effective as before. He moved on to the next place. "To Angela from Father," said the top parcel. And "William" wrote William. At his hostess' place he hesitated for a moment. The first present there was for "Darling Mother, from her loving children." It did not seem that an and "Williams" was quite suitable. But his hostess was not to deprived of William's kindly thought, twenty seconds later the handkerchiefs " from John and Mary and William" expressed all the nice things he was feeling for her. He passed on the next place............
It is of course impossible to thank every donour of a joint gift; one simply thanks the first person' whose eyes one happens to catch. Sometimes Williams eye was caught, sometimes not. But he was spared all embarrassment; and I can recommend his solution of the problem with perfect confidence to those who may be in a similar predicament next Christmas