{"product_id":"2940013158030","title":"MRS. BUDLONG'S CHRISTMAS PRESENTS","description":"MRS. BUDLONG'S CHRISTMAS PRESENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAT THE SIGN OF THE PIANO LAMP\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe morning after Christmas Eve is the worst morning-after there is.\u003cbr\u003eThe very house suffers the headache that follows a prolonged spree.\u003cbr\u003eRemorse stalks at large; remorse for the things one gave--and did not\u003cbr\u003egive--and got.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEverybody must act a general glee which can be felt only\u003cbr\u003especifically, if at all.  Everybody must exclaim about everything Oh!\u003cbr\u003eand Ah! and How Sweet of You! and Isn't it Perfectly Dear! The very\u003cbr\u003eTHING I Wanted! and How DID you EVER Guess it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChristmas morning in the town of Carthage is a day when most of the\u003cbr\u003epeople keep close at home, for Christmas is another passover.  It is\u003cbr\u003eSanta Claus that passes over.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeople in Carthage are not rich; the shops are not grandiose, and\u003cbr\u003einter-family presents are apt to be trivial and futile--or worse yet,\u003cbr\u003eutile.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Carthaginian mother generally finds that Father has credited the\u003cbr\u003ehat she got last fall, to this Christmas; the elder brothers receive\u003cbr\u003ewarm under-things and the young ones brass-toed boots, mitts and\u003cbr\u003emufflers.  The girls may find something ornamental in their\u003cbr\u003estockings, and their stockings may be silk or nearly--but then girls\u003cbr\u003ehave to be foolishly diked up anyway, or they will never be married\u003cbr\u003eout.  Dressing up daughters comes under the head of window-display or\u003cbr\u003ecoupons, and is charged off to publicity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNearly everybody in Carthage--except Mrs. Ulysses S. G.\u003cbr\u003eBudlong--celebrates Christmas behind closed doors.  People find it\u003cbr\u003eeasier to rhapsodize when the collateral is not shown.  It is amazing\u003cbr\u003ehow far a Carthaginian can go on the most meager donation.  The\u003cbr\u003eformula is usually: \"We had Such a lovely Christmas at our house.\u003cbr\u003eWhat did I get?  Oh, so many things I can't reMember!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Mrs. Ulysses S. G. Budlong does not celebrate her Christmasses\u003cbr\u003ebehind closed doors--or rather she did not: a strange change came\u003cbr\u003eover her this last Christmas.  She used to open her doors\u003cbr\u003ewide--metaphorically, that is; for there was a storm-door with a\u003cbr\u003espring on it to keep the cold draught out of the hall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs regular as Christmas itself was the oh-quite-informal reception\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Budlong gave to mitigate the ineffable stupidity of Christmas\u003cbr\u003eafternoon: that dolorous period when one meditates the ancient\u003cbr\u003eplatitude that anticipation is better than realization; and suddenly\u003cbr\u003eunderstands why it is blesseder to give than to receive: because one\u003cbr\u003edoes not have to wear what one gives away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn Christmas Mrs. U. S. G. Budlong took all the gifts she had\u003cbr\u003egleaned, and piled them on and around the baby grand piano in the\u003cbr\u003eback parlor.  There was a piano lamp there, one of those illuminated\u003cbr\u003eumbrellas--about as large and as useful as a date-palm tree.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlong about that time in the afternoon when the Christmas dinner\u003cbr\u003ebecomes a matter of hopeless remorse, Mrs. Budlong's neighbors were\u003cbr\u003eexpected to drop in and view the loot under the lamp.  It looked like\u003cbr\u003ehospitality, but it felt like hostility.  She passed her neighbors\u003cbr\u003eunder the yoke and gloated over her guests, while seeming to\u003cbr\u003eovergloat her gifts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut she got the gifts.  There was no question of that.  By hook or by\u003cbr\u003ecrook she saw to it that the bazaar under the piano lamp always\u003cbr\u003egroaned.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the chief engines for keeping up the display was the display\u003cbr\u003eitself.  Everybody who knew Mrs. Budlong--and not to know Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eBudlong was to argue oneself unknown--knew that he or she would be\u003cbr\u003einvited to this Christmas triumph.  And being invited rather implied\u003cbr\u003ebeing represented in the tribute.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHence ensued a curious rivalry in Carthage.  People vied with each\u003cbr\u003eother in giving Mrs. Budlong presents; not that they loved Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eBudlong more, but that they loved comparisons less.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe rivalry had grown to ridiculous proportions.  But of course Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eBudlong did not care how ridiculous it grew; for it could hardly have\u003cbr\u003eescaped her shrewd eyes how largely it advantaged her that people\u003cbr\u003eshould give her presents in order to show other people that some\u003cbr\u003epeople needn't think they could show off before other people without\u003cbr\u003ehaving other people show that they could show off, too, as well as\u003cbr\u003eother people could.  The pyschology must be correct, for it is\u003cbr\u003eincoherent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Budlong herself was never known to break any of the\u003cbr\u003ecommandments, but in her back parlor her neighbors made flitters of\u003cbr\u003ethe one against coveting thy neighbor's and-so-forth and so-on.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was when Mr. and Mrs. County Road Supervisor Detwiller were\u003cbr\u003ewalking home from one of these occasions, that Mr. Detwiller was\u003cbr\u003esaying: \"Well, ain't Mizzes Budlong the niftiest little gift-getter\u003cbr\u003ethat ever held up a train?  How on earth did We happen to get stung?\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147462164720,"sku":"2940013158030","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013158030_p0.jpg?v=1763577566","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013158030","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}