1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



417 



odors — the smell of Christmas trees 

 and greens lining the streets out- 

 doors, and the spicy smells one 

 catches in whirrs wherever a house 

 door is opened. For weeks before 

 the festival those fragrant indoor 

 odors of gingerbread, fruit cake, 

 mince meat and cookies are apt to be 

 met with upon entering any friend's 

 house, and they always cause a little 

 happy lift of spirit because they 

 mean that Christmas is coming. 

 Then there is the atmosphere of se- 

 crecy and tissue paper permeating 

 everything for at least a month be- 

 fore the great day, and the last min- 

 ute shopping in a good-natured, shov- 

 ing, jolly crowd, and the carrying of 

 parcels, all glorious in ribbons and 

 holly, and the trimming of the Christ- 

 mas tree, speaking in subdued voices 

 so that the children will not waken, 

 and the filling of the stockings, and 

 the last weary, but joyous "Good 

 night! It's almost Christmas Day 

 now!" And then, as if one hadn't 

 had happiness enough in getting 

 ready, comes Christmas Day itself! 



The early morning service is very 

 solemn and beautiful, and as the old 

 hymn rings out "Hark! The Herald 

 Angels Sing!" you thrill with thank- 

 fulness for the Baby born in the 

 manager. Service over, you hurry 

 home through the crisp air, wonder- 

 ing how mother is managing without 

 you, and whether Aunt Sue, who is 

 bound to be early, has come yet with 

 her four boys. They have, and are 

 soon followed by the proud parents 

 of the newest baby in the family, 

 and all the other aunts and uncles 

 and cousins, until the house is full of 

 happy chatter. But the crowning mo- 

 ment is when mother, all flushed 

 from making the gravy which she 

 will trust to no one else, announces, 

 "Dinner is ready, folks !" 



With shining eyes, the children 

 beam at the table, trying to take in 

 all that it holds — turkey, baked ham, 

 mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, 

 stewed tomatoes, boiled onions, 

 oyster sauce, several kinds of jellies 

 and preserves, celery, cold slaw, 

 mince pie, plum pudding, raisins, nuts 

 and — that's all! It's enough, isn't it? 

 Even the boys of the family are filled 

 for once in their lives, and sit around 

 feeling uncomfortable for part of the 

 afternoon when the big folks have 

 settled to cigars and pipes, em- 

 broidery and knitting. 



But these were the Christmases of 

 long ago, before the war, when we 

 never dreamed of war, and famine 

 and pestilence could stalk over our 

 earth and lay it waste. This, another 

 short-food Christmas, must of ne- 

 cessity, be a very different celebra- 

 tion, and yet we must keep the bright, 

 joyous Christmas spirit there. We 

 can do it — the French have drunk the 

 very dregs of suffering in the last 

 four years, and yet they took each 

 new war hardship with a marvelous 

 buoyancy of spirit, a contagious 

 gayety that changed it into a joyous 

 adventure. With the same high 

 spirit — in spite of the absence of our 

 boys abroad, in spite of a shrunken 

 family circle, in spite of the lessened 

 family pocket-book, let us play the 



game for all that it is worth, and 

 celebrate Christmas joyfully! During 

 the past year we have given, and 

 given and given, not only for the 

 .Liberty Loans and the Red Cross and 

 the Y. M. C. A., but for the many 

 relief funds to help our stricken al- 

 liees, so that we have nothing left for 

 Christmas presents! That is as it 

 should be, and you should be proud 

 to say to your friends, "All I have 

 above my bare living expenses has 

 gone to heln the great cause, so let 

 us not exchange gifts this year." 

 Anyone who gives a Christmas gift 

 to any but children or the needy this 

 short-food Christmas is a shameful 

 slacker! We women have been far 

 more guilty in the matter of useless 

 Christmas giving than the men, and 

 it is generally the women who de- 

 cide about the exchange of presents. 

 It is to be hoped that having learned 

 the lesson of giving to those in need, 

 will never revert to the barbarous 

 custom of making Cousin Nan a 

 jewel case because last Christmas she 

 embroidered you a traveling case— 

 the fact that she has no jewels, and 

 that you never travel having no con- 

 nection with the choice of gifts. 



As for the Christmas dinner, let us 

 keep the family reunion by all means, 

 remembering to invite as many sol- 

 diers as can squeeze around the table, 

 even though an elbow or two may 

 be poked into Uncle Amos's portly 

 sides. And then then let us not spoil 

 the day by serving a dinner that we 

 would be ashamed to have Mr.. 

 Hoover see us eating. Turkey is 

 good, but suppose you live where 

 game is plenty and there is a gun in 

 the family? Shall you eat turkey, or 

 let someone else have it who cannot 

 get game? Venison steak, when 

 well cooked, is delicious. It needs at 

 least three minutes longer cooking 

 than beefsteak, but is generally pre- 

 fered rather rare. Roasted rabbit is 

 very good, stuffed with a dressing of 

 salt pork, minced onion, and bread 

 crumbs seasoned with pepper and 

 salt. The body is sewed up and cov- 

 ered with a few thin slices of pork 

 to supply the fat lacking in rabbit. 

 Roast one hour, making a gravy with 

 the liquid from the pan. Wild birds 

 are roasted in the same manner as 

 chicken, but all lack fat, so need 

 basting frequeuth- to keep them from 

 drying out. 



The vegetables for the Christmas 

 dinner this year should, of course, all 

 come from the home garden, or if 

 that is not possible, then from the 

 country near. Every time anyone liv- 

 ing in Maine uses California raisins, 

 or Louisiana pecans, freight space 

 has been used unnecessarily. The 

 ideal Christmas desserts are mince 

 pie and plum pudding, and fortunate- 

 ly both may be had without hurting 

 our Hooverized food conscience. The 

 pie crust should, of course, be made 

 of other Hours than wheat, a mixture 

 of corn flour and barley being spe- 

 cially good with mince meat. Here is 

 a recipe for mince meat endorsed by 

 the Food Administration : 



Green Tomato Mince Meat 



2 quarts green tomatoes. 

 lyi cups sorghum or honey. 



1 pound seeded raisins. 



14 cup citron. 



V/ 2 pounds chopped apples. 



% cup chopped suet. 



1 tablespoon salt. 



1 cup cider vinegar. 



2 teaspoons cinnamon. 

 1 teaspoon cloves. 



1 teaspoon nutmeg. 



Chop tomatoes or run through 

 meat grinder, using coarse blades, 

 and drain off juice. Cover with cold 

 water and let come to a boil. Scald 

 for half an hour and then drain thor- 

 oughly. Repeat until the tomatoes 

 have been boiled three times. Add 

 all ingredients except spices, stir well 

 together and cook until thick. 

 When cold add spices and stir thor- 

 oughly. Heat and seal in glass jars. 



The plum pudding made every year 

 in one Ohio family, long before we 

 thought of food conservation, is, how- 

 ever, made from a recipe which 

 would meet with Mr. Hoover's ap- 

 proval, particularly if barley or corn 

 flour be substituted for the white 

 flour given. 



Aunt Annie's Plum Pudding 



One pound each of raisins, cur- 

 rants, flour, sugar, chopped suet, 

 grated bread crumbs and grated car- 

 rots. Spices added to taste. Mix dry 

 grated bread crumbs and grated car- 

 rots. Put into bowls, tying cloth 

 over the top. Immerse in boiling 

 water and boil at least 8 hours. (This 

 is best made on ironing day, if a coal 

 range is used, so that fuel need not 

 be wasted.) 



For little Christmas cakes, the fol- 

 lowing are good and do not use one 

 bit of flour, unless honey be used as 

 the sweetening, then a little of some 

 kind of flour will be found necessary 

 to hold them together: 



Cocoanut Macaroons 



y 2 cup of oatmeal. 



Yz cup of cocoanut. 



Whites of two eggs well beaten. 



Pinch of salt. 



1 cup of sugar. 



These should be stiff, dropped 

 from a spoon in small bits the size 

 of a walnut and cooked about ten 

 minutes in a hot oven. 



Washington, D. C. 



Ivy Poisoning Again 



Soon after replying to "Missouri" 

 about a supposed case of "Rus" or 

 "Ivy" poisoning I had four successive 

 cases, and tried a new remedy which 

 acted like magic in all, the worst 

 case, on back of hands and forearms, 

 terminating favorably in three days. 



One case involved half the side of 

 the head, including an eye; yet the 

 patient was free of pain and swelling 

 in 55 hours. 



The formula: Tincture iodine (N. 

 S. P.) 3 drams. Tincture camphor 

 (new formula U. S. P.) IVz ounces. 

 Mix and apply hourly. 



DR. BONNEY. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



