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4 THE DAILY BRITISH WHIG SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1024 plary virtues of the deceased, rose OOMPLIMENTING MR. MEIGHEN., | It is impossible not to wonder | and with what feelings the Right HOD. | mourners that once, when the de- Mr. Meighen read the affectionate | ceased was quite a young man, he utterances concerning himself which | had made one mistep. That tactless on Wednesday evening fell from the | violator of all that is decent and sac- lips of Mr. Armand Lavergne, for| red and of taste and appropriateness several years his bitter opponént,| is a pattern of perfect thoughtful now his frank and discerning friend. | nces by the side of the crass smash- Or rather, it is Impossible not to|er of the delightful fictions which wonder with what feelings Mr. Mel- | have made youth happier through ghen read the translation of them | all the centuries. in the Conservative but not particu- | larly Meighenite Montreal Gazette. THE OLD-TIME CHRISTMAS. For Mr. Meighen Is a practical pofi-| Old-timers caught in the holiday ticlah of long experience, and would | rush and gazing at the wonderfully probably be perfectly satisfied to |ailuring panorama of the shop win- have Mr, Lavergne speak kindly ot | dowe- often fall into a reminiscent him in French, If only his enemies | mood and re-live the Christmases of would not translate the encomiums | the long ago. Who does not fondly into English. v recall the magic of Christmas in his Mr. Lavergne explained that he is | childhood? - still, as always, a Nationalist, by | Most of the presents were home- which he means of course a Quebec | made. Perhaps grandma furnished Nationalist. Since his Nationalism | mittens, knitted by oil lamp after has compelled him for the last ten | you had been tucked in bed--thick years to be in opposition to Mr, Mei. warm mittens with a long cord that 333 hen, whom he has hitherto regard- | extended up through coat sleeves ed as an Imperialist some explana- | and around the neck to prevent tion of the change was necessary, | l0ss. Aunt Saphronia gave you a And while it has taken Mr. Lavergne | basket of Christmas cookies, shap- a long time to arrive at that explana- | €d like animals and stars and cover- tion, it must be admitted that when | ed with delicious colored sugar. he got to it it was a brilliant one. In| Uncle Tom gave you a watch, and | brief, it is that Mr. Meighen cannot | his generosity appalled you even if help being an Imperialist, because| it Was the old turnip that he had Laurier made the whole of Canada | discarded. You can imagine the re- Imperialist. And since it was the | action yor would get if you tried French-Canadians who by their| giving a@ 1924 boy a second-hand "cult of idol-worship" put Laurier | timepiece. in a position to make Canada Imper.| Most of the presents were useful, falistic, it is really the French-Cana-| In the old days, including a reefer dians who are to blame for the| Overcoat and a new pair of shoes. whole thing, This idea evidently| As for 'boughten' presents, they enthralled the French-speaking audi- | Were limited to "The Erie Train ence to which Mr Lavergne was ad-| Boy," by Alger; Henty's "With Clive ' [dressing himself, and which appar- | Io India," a New Testament, a sled, ently wanted more particulars, for |8 pair of skates and that most won- we learn from the Gazette that at a| derful of all old-time toys, a tin ------ late hour the orator was still speak-| monkey that climbed a string. Some men of thirty-five are suck [ing "to a wildly enthusiastic crowd| At that, Christmas. of long' ago cut-ups that one takes them to be which refused to let him stop." represented proportionately as big arty. Mr. Meighen, however, was never | 80 outlay as now, comparing eafn- | quite so much misled into the dan-|iD&S in the two periods. Prosperous" times: Thos® In| serous paths of Imperialism as his But the gift itself was secondary Which we charge one another too | misjeader, Laurier, As evidence of | to the gpirit of the giver. Somehow much. the half-heartedness of Mr. Mei. @Very grown-up can't help believing -------- ghen's Imperfalism, Mr, Lavergne | the Christmas dinners of those days It takes @ woman's sewing eirel® | sited the Conscription Law, which | Were superior. The Christmag eve to develop a lot of conversational | .., "an exemption law in, reality" | entertainment at the church was as _Balitosis. (we are quoting from the Montreal | ®njoyable ag the modern movie. Gazette's report), was wanted by And the ride in a cutter over the both parties, and was actually a|deep snow beat the auto-trip of necessity when once Canada had em-| 1924. i [tered the war. Had we not had the| Christmas is always changing and Conscription-Exemption Law, we (to adults) never for the better, must, according to Mr. Lavergne, have had "the Laurier Act of 1904 in force," which apparently would have been much worse. There has long been sonte suspicion that in the Province of Quebec the Meighen Conscription Act did indeed operate in some such manner as Mr. La. vergne suggests, and it fs advan. tageous to historic truth to have the matter thus cleared up. On the whole, it appears that Mr, Meighen is henceforth to be regarded as much less dangerous to Quebgs Nationai- ism than Mr. Mackenzie King. Twenty years from now Mr, La- vergne hopes that it will be possible to have a premier less Imperialist than either Mr. Meighen or Mr. King, but not earlier. "It will take twenty years to destroy the spirit of | Imperialism that the Liberals taught us," he gays, referring to the Laur- fer tradition. All of which will be exceedingly pleasing to Mr. Meighen, if only he can go on getting credit in Ontario and elsewhere for Deing the sole champion of Imperialism, while in Quebec he gets gredit for being the best avaflable friend of Nationalism. But really, if Conservative news- papers gre going to print in the Eng- lish language these tributes which sound so lovely in French but so crude in the less delicate Anglo- Saxon tongue, what is to be done about it? Sir Robert Borden never had to put up with anythgg lke that. The Nationalists whose assist- ance put him in power in 1911 never made the mistake of paying him any spoken compliments. | ubiieass Baty ang semy wonty vy €O., LIMITED, KINGSTON, ONT. Mu. sassesenssee.. Presiden. fel Sopadell sesssncess Bditor and Rooms i ness gr iF resin» ss88s esssuse one JON Department ....oovvveanerss Onn year, by I Ome Sear, to United States oo. 8500 OUT-OF-TOWN REPRESENTATIVES; > Calder, 22 St. John St. Bontreal » W. Thompesn, 100 Ming St W. Letters to the Editor are published shy vr fhe actuai name of the Attached fs Irinting officey in he circulation of THR BRITISH WHIG 1» authenticated by the Audit Bureau of Circuiations of the best job nada. The hope chest is with us yet, but | it seldom contains a cook book. Still, the happiest people are those who 'are married yet instead of again. In a world of turmoil the moat annoying sign of the times is a de tour sign. . THE REFORMERS. "I have a deal more faith in the average business man than I have in the average reformer," Blbert Hubbard once wrote, Hubbard may have been the first person who put the thought into print, but it cannot be gainsaid that "them has long been the genti- ments" of the average person. It is no secret why right-thinking men and women have more faith in the business man than in the reformer. It is simply an eternal admiration for the creator. The man in busi- ness is creating something, He is in the service of the people, filling a positive demand. But what is the reformer? At best he is only a theorist. While the business man is filling the public's, order, the re- former makes orders for the public to fill. The business man renders his service before demanding his pay, while the reformer demands his pay and then promises « service, guaranteed only by his word, Reformers have never heen over popular, because theory is ever hy- pothetical and there has neWer been found a method of separating the sincere from the imposter. Centu- ries ago business was on a similar basis with honest and dishonest merchants in the same bazaar. Then the public watched the reformer with one eye while he kept the other on the merchant, It ig lamen- table that reforming has mot kept pace with business. Today business is firmly established on a foundation of public service and one price, Re- formers are still guaranteeing no service and claiming many prices. The predominating charasteristic of the efficiency expert seems to be goll-sufficiency, | ' 5 A hick town is a place where bridge is worldly, poker wicked, and gossip orthodox. People are queer, and only the rich can afford to wear jewelry from the ten-cent stére. Most of the things we long for might be ours if we had the nerve to ask for them. st cil Now if you had" bought all your coal at once, your regular winter cussing would be done. Lowly opin won't keep you down, Think of the rodents that have become gealskin, A movement to which we will heartily subscribe now is a national "Give-Us-4-Rest-Week." The strange part is that husbandd' 'who lose their memories and wam- der away take all the cash. You can get vaccinated against almost everything except a grass widow who has designs on you. With all his ingenuity, the only thing man has made to function like a porcupine is a windshield. The world has fewer dreamers Bow and it is assumed that they tried ft in the midst of traffic. A MODERN JUDAS. Canon Shatford, of Montreal, Is right when he declares: "A man who would kill Santa Claus in the mind of a child 1s a Judas." Teono- clasts, at the peril of dire devils, keep hands off Santa Claus. The lcono- clast is a rabid red radical in the realm of senttment. He has no {ma- gination, and he would dogmati- cally, selfishly prohibit the exercise of this inner source of pleasure to others. It costs him nothing; it cannot do him harm for others to enjoy what is beyond his reach; what business is it of his that there The crossword puzzle ought to Prove a blessing in a two-party fam. ily where the other is a radio fiend. And now "in conference" may mean that he is trying to think of & seven-letter word ending in "z" The trouble about fighting for one's rights is that more rights ap- Dear as one becomes a better fighter, . Many a poor man dfes and leaves his family a car that isn't respec table enough to attend the funeral tn. : Years ago the New York Sun printed an editorial in response to a little girl's question; "Is there a Santa Claus?" That editorial is a classic. It has been annually printed by many papers the over. The argument of | sented, the assurance | od, the world of little There's one born every ; minute. can recognize him by (his con. that he can beat the stock i i hai i 2 3 1 ik 1Ei Fed ji | E Ee iit i "i g § 3 : $ ; ie Ef Fx by jEEe il i E H reminded the congregation of behind In the dark and nrust al-| ways be the first to enter the! { house." i "I can go into a dark room if I tip-toe 'so as not to hear my own | foot-steps and the floor does not | | creak, but I always shudder ffom fear of something near and about to | touch me." . | | "A great shadow over my eafly | | life was the dread of the moment | | when my mother should kiss me | { good-night and leave me alone in| {the dark, I lay tense and rigid, | {held my breath to listen with open | mouth, always kept my head cover- | | ed, fancied forms bending over me | | and often awoke with my heart | | pounding and a sense of dropping | | through the air." { "I always look in every crevice | of my room before going to bed. | Once, five years ago, I found a { broom which my brothers had dress- {ed up and placed behind the door. | The shock robbed me of all control, | and for months I would laugh and | ery without occasion." "lI used to have the habit of { holding my breath and breathing as little as possible in bed because 1 {read of a man who saved his life by doing this when a lion was smelling him and thought, by thus felgning death, I might escape any monsters in the room." One woman writes that all her fears sprang from a great terror of darkness. "I never like to kneel to say my prayers lest some invisible hand under the bed should cut my legs off, nor to have the blinds up at night lest a strange face should appear at the window and I 'should see its lips moving to pronounce my name." Thirty-four mothers in Detroit agregd that up to eight or nine years boys fear the dark more than girls, that parents were often to blame, but that it was unwise to try to break up this fear by forced m®- thods. The dread of knowing that every night fears assail you because: of darkness is too great-a tax on you. Light up your room or your house, surround yourself with company un- til the place holds no fear for you and try to free yourself of the ter- rible condition, { Monday--The Death Fear, { | KINGSTON IN 1855 Sidelights From Our Files-- A Backward Look. Jordan Crossed. Feb. 24,--In the first division court, Anthony Jordan ws. John Counter. This action was brought by the plaintiff against the defend- ant on the following account: '"To elections, at $10 per day, £20. The defendant contended at the trial that the charges ;were exces- sive and illegal. Judge Mackenzie's decision: The defendant and the Hon. John A, Macdonald were candidates for the representation of the city of King- ston in the parliament of the prov- ince at an election held in the month of July last. The plaintiff was employed a few days before the election by an agent of the defend- ant to drive the agent about through the city In canvassing votes and to carry up voters to the poll during the election. Some days the plaintiff had one horse, and other days he had two engaged. | The usual price for one horse in Kingston is fifteen shillings a : eight days cab driving at ; and for two horses ' twenty-five shilllmgs a day. The plaintiff him- self was examined, and he stated he was & voter of the city of Kingston at the time of the election. That he voted for the defendant at the elec- tion In question and gave him his general support. He stated further! that he would have been employed | by the other side, by the Macdon- ald party. had it not been for his engagement to the agent of the de- fendant, and In that case he would be a supporter of the other side. It | appeared beyond doubt that his vote for the support of the defend- ant, rested entirely upon his em- ployment for hire by the defend- ant's agent. The claim of the plain- tiff cannot be entertained for one moment in a court of fustice, be- cauge it Is contrary not only to the spirit and policy of the law but to the very letter of the statute. STORE OPEN EVENINGS Men Like Gifts that Garb Them $2.00, $2.45, $2.95 to $6.75 Real Nobby SHIRTS $1.45, $1.95, $2.45, $2.95 PURE SILK SHIRTS (White) $2.95, $4.75 Elegant NECKWEAR 35c., 75¢., 95¢., $1.25 and $1.50 SCARFS BRUSHED WOOL $1.35 SILK AND WOOL $2.45 | PURE SILK |] |] $3.50, $4.50 SWEATERS and SWEATER COATS SOMETHING 8! | PECIAL $2.75 and $4.75 Camel Hair | $7.50, $8.75, $10.75 | TRY BIBBY'S FOR YOUR NEW SUIT AND OVERCOAT We Trunks, Club Bags, meee | | REAL SCOTCH SWEATERS Dents Knitted Gloves 50c., 75¢., $1.00, $1.50 Mocha Glove, Wool Lined $1.45 Fur-lined Glove $2.75, $3.50 ENGLISH AND IRISH HOSE 50c., 75c¢., 95¢. and $1.25 SILK AND WOOL HOSE 75c., 95¢., $1.25 CLUB BAGS SOLID LEATHER $13.90, $16.50, $18.50, $22.50 _ DRESSING GOWNS $9.50, $12.50, $14.50, $18.50 BATH ROBES $7.50, $8.75, $10.75 HOUSE COATS $7.50, $9.50, $12.50 BOYS' SUITS $7.50, $9.50 Choice patterns; first taflorings. Last Minute Styles. You are sure of your gift receiving a warm welcome if it is something to wear--some- thing serviceable and fashionable. 4 A few suggestions are herewith advanced --the store abounds with others, $3.50,$4.75 Boys' Overcoats $6.50, $7.50, $9.75, $12.50 Boys' Mackinaws $5.00, $6.00 BOYS' SWEATER BOYS' SHIRTS Boys' NECKWEAR NEAT KNITTED TIES 35c. " TUXEDO SUITS Three pieces. A beauty for $37.50 Men's and Young Men's Blue Suits Genuine Indigo Blue. $29.50 SUITS ENGLISH GREY SERGE NEWEST MODELS $29.50 Men's and Young Men's FANCY SUITS quality A Beauty for $29.50 GOOD KNOCK-ABOUT SUITS For Men. Sizes 86 to 48. - $14.75, $18.00 Men's Mackinaws $7.50, $8.75, $12.50 we can save you a few dollars. A Christmas Gift 20% OFF FRENCH IVORY : : We have the largest and finest stock in Eastern Ontario. BOXED PERFUMES French, American and Canadian manufacture, HOLIDAY STATIONERY : : : Quality and attractiveness combined, making am always acceptable gift. POWDER COMPACTS : : : In all the newest, daintlest shapes and sizes, DR. A. Pi \ CHOWN Pats to De carried = he oveshie: are made of silk or leather complete- ly covered with brilliants. THOMAS COPLEY ; Phone 987 FARE . Shopping Job . ... $1.50 per hogr Central Taxi Service Phone 2550 23¢ To all of , Outer parts of city Depot | Suit Cases, Umbrellas, Caps, Driving Mitts and Gloves Last Minute Requirements TABLE RAISINS. JORDAN ALMONDS. STUFFED FIGS. STUFFED DATES. TUNIS DATES. CRYSTALIZED FRUITS. TABLE WATERS. | Jas. REDDEN & CO. PHONES 20 and 9%0, FREIGHT, FURNITURE, PIANOS, ETL. Local andl long distance giv. en our careful attention. C. L. HENRY . b4/ Albert Street TELZPHONE 1675F