COUSIN BETTY'S LETTER.

Southland Times, Issue 19720, 28 November 1925, Page 22

COUSIN BETTY'S LETTER.

Well Cousins mine, and are you becoming imbued with that perfectly irrepressible spirit of Christmas which makes you all bubbly and excited inside, as if you Were like those mechanical toys which are so easily broken if their springs are too tightly wound? Do you ever become so excited INSIDE, though your face may be perfectly natural and calm, that you feel, you not only feel, but you KNOW that if something, doesn’t happen soon, jolly soon, something will go “snap!” inside you, or some of the suppressed excitement will burst right through your head? That’s the way I become excited, and that’s the feeling that is coming over me now. I want to jump or shout, or do something, ANYTHING to ease the tightly “bottled-up” feeling inside me. For there’s never been such a Christmas as this one is going to be! Goodness me! I forgot to say “good morning” to you! Good morning, darlings, food morning! I hope the sun is shining as you read this, so that its message may ooze into your soul, gloriously, so that you will never, never, never forget it as long as you live! Do you think you will remember ? Now, Cousins, dears, I want to talk with you in a very business-like way. Away, irresponsible spirit of Christmas—l must summon wise Mr Good Counsel to my aid. It’s about the Magazines. In about a fortnight (straight after the Invercargill Show! they will be ready for you to receive, and they are to be much bigger than we had planned at first; ever so much bigger; bigger even than my wildest flights of imagination hoped for. They will cost you eighteen pence each (the office has consented to pay the bulk of the cost), and there are to be a limited number of copies. There will be one for every Cousin, and some over besides, though whether every Cousin will want one I do not know. Now, I know’ lots of you want extra copies to give as Christmas presents (one Cousin even suggested she would want a dozen copies!) and I think that is a very good idea. There is nothing your Uncles and Aunts and Cousins and Mothers and Fathers and Sisters and dear friends would like better than a magazine with some of your very own work in it, I quite agree with you there. But there is only one thing—you must get your orders in early, as early as possible, because it is going to be a case of “first come, first served”—that is the fairest way when there is only a limited number of copies. So I will take your orders at once, send them in as soon as possible. Just let me know’ how many you are sure of taking, and I will mark them down. A rush at the last minute would be dreadful, and with the badges due to make an appearance any day (I have received an invoice for them, so they must be on their way) it is best to get everything arranged as soon as possible, before Christmas is on us. That reminds me I have still to make a roll, with the names, ages and addresses of all my Cousins, for the end of the magazine. I decided that would be a good idea; but just think what a job I have before me. Goodness! I must not forget to tell you about our Birthday number. We must hold one every year, you know’, at the beginning of December to celebrate the birth of our page. Just think, it will be one year old in less than a fortnight! Do you think it seems like a year? Most undoubtedly it has been the quickest year of my life, which shows it must have been a happy one, because happy times fly on fastest wing, don’t they! Well just look at the 51st Competition carefully, and I want every one of you to make up your minds to do some thing for the page that week, so that the 52nd week, our first birthday will be a sort of family gathering, in which we all take part. I should like something from each single Cousin of mine to be included that week. Do you think we could achieve that? Do, please, PLEASE try. Wouldn’t it be just perfectly splendid! Cousin Winnie McQuilken has sent me 5/- towards the Christmas Celebration Funds, which are steadily rising. That is for fruit and other things on which we will decide later. I have also received Christmas Tree Gifts from Cousins Gladys and Isa Robertson, Winnie Dillon and Emily Korrell. Good-bye, my dearest dears—l do not know whether to say “goodnight!” or “good morning!” it is such a shocking hour! Ten thousand kisses. Your own COUSIN BETTY.