'There do not seem to be many real novelties inthe Christmas shops, though there are many" familar things! made' in new. and outed thapes. "Cigarettc boxes at silver Birch. or elm from the foundations of Waterco 'Bridge, a lovely. silver-stey, highly polished' with an inscription fiuaranteoing their origin, are' alrac: five "it you can pay £2 for such tries Everywhere there are doll lnbelied "The "Peacemaicer" repre fenting Mr." Neville, Chamberlain, more, Po the "block cout farewed_ ai sherman, of
sua bincacipe ettrs ox peetnment fry: wear, with the inevitable be2na,"Un onplols um poraplute, dens fawolai deux' paraplulee". lees true, whaps, than when the phrase coined, now that so many Eng-Vishmen scorn hats, umbrellas and weather alike. But—Mr. Chamber-Isis, Curisine is Becoming a Gladstonian collars of old. timer.
'Of course Father Christmas is on uty "in every toy-shop, red robe, white beard and (as one descriptive writer says) "checks aglow with sleighing" From my own recollect tion of a two hours' drive in an open sleigh in Petrograd on a January night, his checks would be blue or wax-white from "frost-bite if he rally had been sleighing. But realism kills romance. The odd thing that the children accept Father Christmas with perfect equanimity though they see him every day. in every toy department. It is the standing puzzle to grown-ups who ther the children still believe in tim, jand, if #0, how and when belief Jpasses into scepticism. But children Keep their thoughts to themselves; and, try as we may, we can only re-jewell' what we thought at their age on rare occasions which seem to. stand Jout' from each other like snapshots Interspersed by seas of mist.
Thad nearly forgotten one real novelty, for golfers, namely a putter which literally cannot fail to send the ball straight to the hole. It is suid to have received the benediction Jof Archie Compston who certainly has. Tt consists of a small lamp on the shaft of the putter, which shows a red light if you swing the club out forthe true Line for the hole, Pro fessor Low says that it struck him as Jabsurd that every golfing neophyte should be instructed to swing in a certain style, although everyone's form and muscles tend to function Jdiffereatly. So he invented a club with which everyone may learn to purl according io his own taste. Archie Compston says the new invention will be invaluable to practice. But "just think of the faces of the [Royal and Ancient and the L. G. U. "you brought the thing oat in 2
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.