It is possible to give wedding presents, birthday and Christmas presents, without any thought of affection at all, they can be ordered by postcard; but the unbirthday present demands the nicest care. It is therefore the best of all, and it is the only kind to which the golden rule of present-giving imperatively applies – the golden rule which insists that you must never give to another person anything that you would not rather keep; nothing that does not cost you a pang to part from. It would be better if this rule governed the choice also of those other three varieties of gifts, but they can be less exacting.

A ‘golden rule’ is a rule which

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