If the Vagabond has managed to keep up his usual gay and carefree appearance in public during the last few weeks, it has been at the price of a great mental strain. For his soul has been oppressed with the knowledge that dogging his every footstep and growing more huge and ominous every day there has been a dread spectre of Responsibility. Neglect served only to increase the bulk and fearsomeness of the apparition, and so yesterday the Vagabond surrendered and set about making out his Christmas shopping list.

The Vagabond was well supplied with good will in fact, so thorough going was his genial spirit that it included even Uncle Albert who last year donated a smoking stand in the shape of a purple camel with an ash tray on each hump and a stack of matches in each car. The result of his visit to the pedlars and pushcarts of the metropolis across the Charles was tremendously successful. For the Vagabond's wood-closet is now piled high with assorted containers of everything from velocipedes and sewing machines to a porcelain statuette of Buddha for Aunt Agatha, who has just discovered the possibilities of Oriental art. The triumph of which he is really proudest, however, does not lie in the impressive pile of his purchases, but rather in the stroke of policy that succeeded in settling a matter fully as difficult for him as the original purchasing.

For the Vagabond is afflicted with a conscience that every year has sent him rushing back to stores on December twenty-fourth and a half to exchange Cousin Ned's pipe for a cocktail shaker on receipt of the news that Aunt Alice is going to try having him swear off on smoking instead of drinking this New Year. This time he has been more provident, however, and was careful to select a store that made a conspicuous display of its "No Credits or Exchanges" sign that was reassuring in its finality. For once he is prepared to enjoy the days preceding the festivities in perfect tranquility, and if it later develops that Gloria simply despises Oriental perfume she can give it to a younger brother to use on the dog. And, just to make safety doubly sure he is planning to take six weeks vacation in Labrador beginning December 26th.

So it is with a spirit as benign as that of St. Nicholas himself that he recommends these lectures to his followers for this morning:

TODAY

9 o'clock

"The Competence of Public Opinion", W. Y. Elliott, Sever 5.

"Elizabethan Parliaments", Professor Merriman, Harvard 6.

10 o'clock

"Foreign Policies of Catherine H", Professor Karpovitch, Sever 25.

"'Young America'", J. P. Baxter, Harvard 3.

11 o'clock

"Martin Luther" (continued) Professor Howard, Sever 6.

"Wycherley", Professor Murray, Harvard 3.