Now that cold weather is coming, 
school lunches take on an unattractive¬ 
ness that appetite doesn’t always over¬ 
come. The healthy, robust child will need 
little coaxing to aid his appetite. But the 
delicate, and perhaps more studious one, 
is likely to prefer a book at noontime 
rather than a hearty lunch and romp. 
In cold weather, a cold lunch is unat¬ 
tractive at best, but when it is the same 
thing over and over, day after day, it is 
likely to be left untouched sometimes. 
Let us have a series of letters with hints 
for putting up appetizing food for the 
children. * 
Tiik children have had too little room 
in our Home Department. It is true our 
qiiarters are small, and there isn’t room 
enough for a very large family at our 
table. But we shall have to take turns. 
If we can’t find one little corner for the 
children every week, we shall have to 
appoint a “ childrens’ day” as the 
churches do, and let the big folks take a 
back seat on that day. The Chief Cook 
is very sorry her table isn’t one of the 
extension kind. But since it isn’t, she 
will have to follow the old fashion of 
putting the children at the second table; 
but, mind you, the children are not to be 
piit off with left-overs. That is some¬ 
thing of which we do not approve. We 
can pi’ovide a plenty of the very best, 
and when “second table” week comes, 
the big folks will have to stand back 
and look on, except those who have 
young hearts, and the Chief Cook invites 
such to join her in getting up the very 
best literary bill of fare for the young¬ 
sters. _ 
CHRISTMAS AT HOME. 
MAKE IT A DAY OF GEADNESS FOR THE 
CHILOKEN. 
lIlilSTMAS with all its joys and 
sorrows, hopes and disappoint¬ 
ments, will soon be hei*e. In many 
homes, it will be a day of gladness and 
real rejoicing ; in others it will be one 
of disappointments. Happy, indeed, we 
shall be, if, after it is all over, we have 
nothing to look back upon with regret, 
and do not wish we had taken a differ¬ 
ent course. Too many will feel obliged 
to give presents which they are not able 
to afford. Many will go in debt for 
these presents, that they may make a 
show and be up with their neighbors 
and friends, and more necessary expenses 
will be cut down. A big dinner will be 
served if the family must half starve for 
a month to pay for it. I have not a word 
to say when people are able to afford 
the presents and dinner ; but when there 
must be too much sacrifice, 1 protest. It 
certainly is not i-ight to feel obliged to 
give that for which we know we are not 
able to pay. 
It is perhaps easier for the country 
poor to celebrate the day than it is for 
the poor in the city; for in the city 
everything must be bought, while in the 
country we need only to put forth our 
hands and gather in the beauties which 
Cod has so lavishly bestowed upon us. 
No matter what our circumstances, we 
can at least decorate our houses as nicely 
as need be, and at Christmas we need 
not be afraid of overdoing in this way. 
We may feel fi*ee to indulge our fancy 
and decorate all that the children desire. 
I have laid aside a great armful of ever¬ 
lasting fiowers, not to be seen till Christ¬ 
mas eve ; and I shall do the same with 
the bittersweet and green brier berries. 
Autumn leaves are being pressed, and 
ferns may be used to mingle wdth the 
leaves and grasses. 
Let the Children Help. 
We shall not begin to decorate till the 
afternoon before Christmas, as we wish 
it all fresh and new. Then we shall 
bring in great armfuls of pine and cedar. 
Mamma will mount a high chair, and 
the children may hand the branches to 
her, to be placed over picture frames, 
doors, windows and mirrors. After the 
evergreens are all in place, we shall ar¬ 
range bouquets of flowers, grasses and 
berries in vases on brackets and shelves, 
and form wreaths of autumn leaves and 
ferns for the windows, etc. The red 
berries of the bittersweet look so pretty 
nestling among the evergreens ! Every 
room should be decorated to some ex¬ 
tent ; and I hope that those having boys 
old enough to begin dreaming of city 
life, will not forget to tidy up their 
rooms and decorate them the prettiest 
of all ; for if they leave the farm for 
city life, they will never find anything 
half so beautiful, and will at least long 
to get home to spend the Chrismastide. 
Substitute for a Christmas Tree. 
W’here one cannot very well have a 
family Christmas tree, it is very pretty 
to set a table across the corner of the 
room under a corner bracket or some¬ 
thing which may hold a basket of crys¬ 
tallized grasses. An arch may be formed 
across the corner over the table, from 
which to suspend some of the prettiest 
presents. Others may be placed upon the 
table. The children might be taught 
some appropriate exercise for the even¬ 
ing, and with papa to act as Santa Claus, 
have a charming time at home, which 
would be better than taking our presents 
to the church tree. I do not believe it 
right to put costly presents upon a church 
Christmas tree for a few children of 
rich parents, while many poor children 
stand by and receive a cheap toy or, per¬ 
haps, only some nuts and candjE I think 
it extremely unkind. 
Our Christmas dinner will not be elab¬ 
orate this year, as times are too hard, 
and the failure of fruits and crops makes 
it necessary for us to be careful of our 
expenditures, yet we shall have some¬ 
thing more than common, and try to 
please the children with favorite dishes. 
On a farm, there is always some kind of 
fowl to roast ; and with vegetables, 
fruits and a Christmas cake, one may 
have a nice dinner which need not be ex¬ 
pensive. R. o. R. 
LIGHTENING HOUSEWORK. 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SLAVERY AND 
MASTERY. 
LAS ! I did not see any new devices 
for lightening or quickening house¬ 
work at the fair this year ; partly, 1 sup¬ 
pose, because I didn’t go, and partly be¬ 
cause our town didn’t have a fair. This 
w'as a misfortune, truly, for I feel in 
especial need of such devices now, as my 
blessed housekeeper that we fondly 
hoped was to be a permanency, has just 
hied herself away to take charge of a 
widower's baby boy. (“ John ” will per¬ 
sist in thinking that she hopes to capti¬ 
vate the widower.) This is a sore trial 
to me, but I am determined to find some 
benefit therein, like the old lady who 
said, “ If the Lord sends me to the school 
of affliction, Satan shall not hinder me 
from learning all the good to be found 
there.” Hannah Whitall Smith says that 
our trials—all of them—may be to us 
God’s chariots into which we may climb 
and ride to his high j)laees of triumph. 
Or if we choose to consider them jugger¬ 
naut cars, they will roll over and crush 
us. Now 1 do not propose to be crushed 
—and am fully resolved to ride in my 
“chariot” to some sort of victory. I 
haven’t soared very high yet: but I am 
mounting. Already the dear little giidies 
are developing surprising ability and 
willingness to help, and this is an ad¬ 
vantage in their training. Then the ne¬ 
cessity for accomplishing much besides 
the care of baby, forces me to greater 
system, and system is a wonderful factor 
in lightening housework. 
Since the housekeeper left, it really 
seems as if I accomplish more than both 
of us did together—and I don’t “slave,” 
either. Slave! What a word that is ! 
After all, it is not so much what we do 
or bear as the spirit in which things are 
done and borne, that makes the differ¬ 
ence between slavery and mastery—be¬ 
tween triumph and defeat. Let us de¬ 
cide that every trial shall mean triumph 
to us, and we will wrest .victory from 
every circumstance. Yet, this is consid¬ 
erable preachment and couldn’t exactly 
be called a mechanical contrivance for 
lightening housework, but it is a spiritual 
one, and worth more than the other kind 
because it brings hope and courage and 
joy, which are important in winning suc¬ 
cess of any kind. 
For the Flowers. 
I would like, however, to mention an 
arrangement by which 1 kept my plants 
watered with abundance and ease dur¬ 
ing the drought of last summer. From 
the tank at the factory which is supplied 
with water by an engine, “ John ” laid a 
small pipe leading through the cellar to 
the front of the house, where a hose with 
sprinkler was attached. The children 
like to operate it, and it is a simple mat¬ 
ter to keep flowers in good condition. If 
one has no engine conveniences, a similar 
arrangement could be provided by means 
of an easy-going wooden force-pump 
which should force water into a barrel 
or hogshead elevated about 15 feet. Get 
some of the men to do a few minutes’ 
pumping a day, and the thing is done at 
small expense. 
1 must tell, too, about my flower win¬ 
dow, which is much admired for its con¬ 
venience and simplicity. It is built out¬ 
ward about a foot with square corners, 
and faces the south. A pane of glass on 
the east side lets in plenty of sunlight 
there, and with the sill I have a broad 
shelf 18 or 20 inches wide with a two- 
inch hole bored in the bottom. To this 
shelf, the tinner fitted a galvanized iron 
pan and made a pipe for it to fit into the 
hole of the shelf. This passes outdoors 
and provides drainage for the plants 
which stand—two or three dozens of 
them—in pots without saucers. I can 
use a sprinkler over them freely and thus 
save much labor. 
Perhaps I would better take a look at 
that cake in the oven before it is browned 
to burntness ! If it happens to be “ sad ” 
I shall be sad too, and yearn for some 
sure device fdr “lightening” cake and 
things. CARRIE ELLIS BRECK. 
CHESTNUT RECIPES. 
HE chestnut industry promises well 
for the future, and the housewife 
has a part in making it successful. It is 
for her to present the chestnut in its 
attractiveness as a table delicacy. When 
it is appreciated, the demand will be 
such as to insure profit in chestnut grow¬ 
ing. The following recipes are taken 
from Harper’s Bazar: 
Hot chestnuts, handed in a napkin, 
accompanied by toasted crackei’S and 
butter, make a tasty course for dinner. 
Both for turkeys and geese, a chestnut 
stuffing is a great addition. The follow¬ 
ing recipe is a French method for obtain¬ 
ing a good result for these stuffings : 
Take one pound of sausage meat and one 
pound of roasted chestnuts; mash the 
latter with a fork, then add half a pound 
more left in nice pieces, neither too large 
nor too small ; a quarter of a pound of 
bread crumbs, passing them through a 
coarse sieve to make them very fine ; 
then chop up the liver and some parsley; 
mix all together with an egg well 
beaten, and put it in the turkey. 
A -puree dc rtutrrons is a delicious dainty, 
quite out of the common, and most inex¬ 
pensive made in this wise : Boil one 
pound of the best chestnuts (after having 
pricked them), in water for three-quar¬ 
ters of an hour, or one hour, according 
to size ; peel them well and pass them 
through a colander, or through a patent 
potato masher ; sprinkle them with two 
ounces of pounded or fine sugar flavored 
with vanilla. W’hip a quarter of a pint 
of good cream and pour it over the chest¬ 
nuts, having also mixed sugar and vanilla 
with it. The cream must be whipped in 
a cool place, and only just when it is 
wanted. It whips easier if a pinch of 
very fine gum-tragacanth be added. 
For a hot pudding, nothing can exce 1 
the Celestine chestnut pudding: First 
parboil, and then bake, 30 chestnuts. 
Bub them through a sieve and put them 
into a stewpan with half a pint of cream, 
two ounces of butter, six ounces of sugar, 
and a little vanilla to flavor. Stir over 
the fire till it thickens, then hasten the 
motion of the spoon, so as to prevent the 
mixture adhering to the pan. When it 
leaves the side of the pan freely, take it 
off and add the yolks of four eggs and 
the whisked whites of three. I'our the 
whole mixture into a buttered mold and 
steam for an hour. Turn out and serve 
with a sauce of a vanilla-flavored custard. 
WOMEN AND MARRIAGE. 
T is true that the vast majority of 
women will marry ; it is also true 
that the majority of those who marry 
will be home-makers and mothers. But 
there will just as surely always be a 
minority of earnest women who will 
devote themselves to the cause of human¬ 
ity at large ; to literature, music, art— 
rather than assume the duties of wife 
and mother. Nor should this minority 
be scorned, ridiculed, spoken of in deris¬ 
ive terms. We are not so sure that God 
intended all women to marry. How 
many seeds the various plants mature, 
for one that germinates. How many 
seedlings that never reach fruition. 
Would the world, now or in the future, 
be better off, if such women as Frances E. 
Willard, Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony, 
and hosts of others, had married ? 
That men and women .should marry, 
is a law of Nature which no discussions, 
“ views,” or secular laws, can set aside ; 
but, that there should be occasional ex¬ 
ceptions to this law, cannot be denied. 
If a woman has an exceptionally strong 
bias for taking the world upon her 
shoulders, is it not a worthy thing for 
her to do ? We who have our household 
cares, our homes, our children to plan 
for, are likely to shut out outside cares 
—to neglect the world at large. We are 
so loyal to our motto that “ woman 
makes the homes and the homes make 
the nation.” Yet the home and the 
nation are better because, here and 
there, scattered through the centuries, 
there have been men and women who 
have chosen to make the cause of human¬ 
ity their lifework. 
The world needs, most woefully needs. 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
AB^LUtElY PUBE 
