"WITH BEST WISHES"

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 151, 23 December 1921, Page 12

"WITH BEST WISHES"

It's scarcely any wonder that The season finds me all unmoved, For Father Christmas leaves me flat— Step-Father Christmas, it has proved. 'Twas ever thus—from early youth I've seen my hopes decay, because Too soon I learned the bitter truth; There isn't any Santa Claus. Each Yuletide mocks my. touching trust; Though give and let give is my plea, It's J2hristmas Day for some, but just December twenty-fifth for me. For I'll get a paper-weight, to crush my Christmas cheer, A hand-painted needle-case, a brace of button-hooks, A host of cordial '■ wishes for a prosperous new year, . And a holiday edition Of thg "Rubaiyat," de luxe. I've often heard that gome there areHow hard such ,tales are to believe!— To prove that costlier by far It is to give than to receive. On Christmas they present their friends With motor-cars, and pearls in strings, And blocks'of stock with dividends, And other useful little things. Though I have no such benefits, I sing the Christmas spirit's praise. I know the giver's thrill—for it's A pool Yule which won't work both ways. '" . ,

So I'll give a laundry bag, of chintz refined, yet gay; . A tooth-brush container of a fanciful design, A flock of timely greetings for a snappy Christmas Day, And a highly coloured copy of "That Old Sweetheart of Mine. "—Dorothy Parker. Life. ■ ■ ' • ' ■ '