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Thk usual Thanksg’iviufj programme 
includes a more or less elaborate bill of 
fare as the central attraction, probably 
because Thanksgiving Day has come to 
be looked upon as a feast day merely, in 
many homes. But let us comsider an¬ 
other side of the question. During the 
past year, it is safe to say that almost 
every farm home has felt the effect of 
hard times. “ Hard times ” has been the 
cry echoed all over this land, and has 
been the answer to many complaints as 
varied and different as the complainers. 
Notonly the poor have felt “hard times,” 
but even the wealthy have made it a con¬ 
venient phrase to explain this or that 
deviation from their usual expense. 
There has been complaint enough, all 
will agree. It is quite late enough in 
the year to stop grumbling. If we can¬ 
not lift thankful hearts to Providence 
when we review the year, then let us 
look forward. If your accounts do not 
balance, if you think Providence owes 
you something, you have made a mistake 
somewhere. You have overlooked some¬ 
thing, carelessly or willfully. Go over 
it all again ; be sure to put down your 
blessings at their real value, and do not 
forget to deduct from your hardships the 
value of experience, which is always a 
profit on your side. He honest, and you 
will find that you are yet indebted to 
Providence sufficiently to require you to 
be in a good natured frame of mind on 
Thanksgiving Day, no matter what your 
table may present for your approval. 
* 
Now a word to the cooks. We could 
give you an elaborate bill of fare, but 
that might presuppose that other cooks 
didn’t know so much as the Chief Cook. 
Hut we know what it is to read over the 
recipes for good things, and with a true 
housekeeper’s impulse, long to put them 
into effect forthwith. To find one’s 
store of supplies unequal to the de¬ 
mands, puts a damper on the enthusiasm, 
from which the average housekeeper, 
however, is able to recover herself ; and 
an appeal to her own ingenuity rarely 
results in a failure to substitute some¬ 
thing “ nearly as good ” from the mate¬ 
rials she may have at hand. To write a 
Thanksgiving dinner is a task quite dif¬ 
ferent from cooking the same. So we 
shall not undertake to instruct our read¬ 
ers in w'hat we believe them already able 
to perform, the preparation of a Thanks¬ 
giving dinner. We shall give only this 
word of advice : Let the dinner be not 
for show ; do not go to extra expense to 
make an elaborate spread, merely to 
convince some envious relative or 
neighbor that you are the best cook 
in the neighborhood, or family. Thanks¬ 
giving Day is an American institution, 
and Americans should observe it—wdth 
thanksgiving. 
MRS. GREGORY'S SIDEBOARD. 
T was Saturday morning. Mrs. Greg¬ 
ory had her hands more than full of 
Saturday’s work. She had been so busily 
engaged with her serving during the 
week, that the housework had been 
somewhat slighted. The Friday’s sw'eep- 
ing, and numerous odds and ends of 
various kinds, had all been postponed 
until Saturday. Mrs. Gregory, however, 
felt equal to her day’s work. That de¬ 
licious cup of coffee had such a wonder¬ 
fully exhilarating effect; she felt as 
though she could do a week’s wmrk in a 
day, and not grow weary in the doing. 
There certainly was no time for taking 
pains with one’s toilet when there was 
so much work to do. The dishes were 
quickly cleared away, deftly w'ashed 
and placed in the cupboard. The bread 
was kneaded ; while it was growing to 
twice its original bulk, the pies were 
baked—and also a caramel cake. Mrs. 
Gregory had only 13-year-old Ethel and 
little Paul, six years old, to help her, 
but they were faithful little workers, 
and all their active energies were utilized 
in helping mamma with her morning’s 
work. The sweeping and dusting were 
left until the last thing before dinner. 
While the dinner was cooking she 
wielded the broom ; swept the walls, 
dislodged every cobweb, sprinkled mois¬ 
tened bran over the carpets, and swept 
them thoroughly. With doors and win¬ 
dows open, the rooms were soon fresh, 
and the air free from dust. 
Mrs. Gregory moved about like an in¬ 
cipient whirlwind. The clock hands, 
however, took no pity ; would not stop 
a single moment. Time drove them re¬ 
lentlessly on, on, on, nearer and nearer 
the dinner hour. 
“ Here, Ethel, come quickly : you and 
Paul may rub the chairs and table with 
kerosene; here is a cloth for each of 
you ; do it carefully—don’^miss a single 
spot! 1 want to try that new furniture 
poli.sh on the sideboard. You must work 
fast; papa will be home to dinner di¬ 
rectly !” 
The children went to work with a 
will, and so did Mrs. Gregory; though 
the perspiration stood in great beads on 
her forehead, she viewed her shining 
sideboard with inward satisfaction. 
“ How surprised John will be to see 
it so bright and new.” She congratu¬ 
lated herself upon having accomplLshed 
so much work in one forenoon. It was 
such a pleasure to look at the fresh. 
clean rooms, and especially at the side¬ 
board. “ It looks every whit as nice as 
new,” she said, as she hurriedly placed 
the dinner upon the table. It was a 
Saturday dinner ; John could not expect 
much of a variety, when she had so 
much other work to do. 
After the family were seated at the 
dinner table, Mr. Gregory looked at his 
wife, then at his children, as if he wished 
to say something, but thought better of 
it, and remained silent. Mr. Gregory 
Avas especially neat about his personal 
appearance. However hui*ried he was, 
he managed, somehow, to find time to 
wash, comb his hair, and clean his finger¬ 
nails before each meal. 
Mrs. Gregory waited a few moments 
for some commendatory comments from 
her husband. She thought, “ He must 
certainly notice how nice and new the 
sideboard looks.” Finally, unable to 
wait for voluntary expression on his 
part, she said with pride and exultation 
in her voice, “See how my sideboard 
shines, John ? ” 
“ Yes, Kate, but your face doesn’t,” 
Avas his reply. 
A great lump seemed to SAvell up in her 
throat, and, somehow the sideboard sud¬ 
denly seemed enshrouded Avith a film ; 
its neAvness seemed quite gone. She saAv 
only the reflection of an untidy Avoman 
in its clear glass; a Avoman in an old, 
faded gOAvn, with grimy looking face, 
and disheveled hair. Mrs. Gregory 
looked at Ethel; looked at Paul. Only 
now she realized that they had been 
neglected ; saw their unkempt hair and 
half washed hands. She and they had 
been too busy to think of themselves. 
Many thoughts passed through Mrs. 
Gregory’s mind that Saturday aftenioon. 
Was it right, Avas it necessary, was it 
proper, she asked herself, so to disregard 
one’s personal appearance even on Satur¬ 
day? Did it give evidence of good manage¬ 
ment, to crowd into one forenoon so much 
work that it was an utter impossibility 
to take any pains with one’s appearance? 
After all, would it not be better to let 
one’s sideboard go unpolished, than to 
let one’s self sit doAvn to preside over a 
meal as she had done that day ? “ Yes, 
but your face doesn’t,” kept ringing in 
her ears all the afternoon. She made up 
her mind that henceforth she and the 
children Avould at least be on a par Avith 
the house and its belongings. 
A different atmosphere pervaded the 
Gregory dining-room that evening Avhen 
tea was served. Mrs. Gregory took 
especial pains with her toilet ; deter¬ 
mined that her face should outshine her 
polished sideboard. The children were 
likeAvise different—clean, fresh and 
beaming. Mr. Gregory looked about the 
table again. With a smile and a twinkle 
in his eye, he said, “ The sideboard can’t 
outshine you to-night, Kate, and that is 
as it should be. I would rather see you 
and the children neat and trim, even if 
dust accumulates in consequence, or the 
sideboard grows dull and old. You do 
not need to work so hard ; you know you 
do not. It is a form of intemperance in 
which you are wont to indulge.” 
MK8. AV. A. KKni.KRMAN. 
FOR THE CLOTHESLINE. 
To protect the clothesline when not in 
use, is an economy in more ways than 
one. It will last longer, and will also 
keep clean, which will do away with the 
necessity of wiping it off before hanging 
out the clothes. The box and reel shown 
at Fig. 199 are so simple as to no need no 
description, and the carpenter of the 
family will haA’^e no difficulty in making 
them, unless his OAvn unwillingness 
should prove an obstacle. The posts 
for the clothesline should be properly 
placed, made as shown in the illustration, 
and the line may be quickly stretched 
ready for the clothes. The line that is 
alAvays up, unfortunately comes down 
some day, and usually at a vei'y incon¬ 
venient season. Hy folloAving the above 
method, Avashday may be made a little 
easier. 
THANKSGIVING CHEER. 
HE standard round of ncAvspaper 
topics, Avhile seldom failing to 
bring up, in its annual revolutions, 
bucketfuls of seasonable menus and di¬ 
rections for fresh culinary intricacies, 
seems unaccountably chary of words of 
counsel and encouragement regarding 
the things that make up the real cheer 
of the day. Why do not the Avomen at 
whose houses people always have a good 
time, impart to us the secret of how to 
make people happy ? Trying to make a 
good time for others is so praiseAvorthy 
a task, that it seems the more pity that 
any should go about it blindly, or for 
lack of adequate support, miss some of 
the best possible results. Of course, 
when regarded theoretically, all one’s 
guests are invariably affable, patient, 
obliging and really fond of their rela¬ 
tives ; but experimentally, many a day’s 
pleasure has been spoiled because people 
failed to behave as Avell as they might. 
Is not the spirit of hospitality one of 
the loveliest instincts developed in men 
and women by the possession of a home? 
Nearly every man is at his best when 
w'elcoming others to his fireside—where 
he was when the stress of preparation 
was at its height depends on several 
things. Children love a holiday as ani¬ 
mals love the sunshine. Hut the children 
ought to imbibe the idea that a season of 
much serving, as well as one of unusual 
hilarity, is at hand. Upon whether 
children are naturally inclined to be too 
shy or too forward, depends the matter 
of what would best be said to them by 
Avay of putting them at their best. Help¬ 
fulness is alAvays lovely in a child, and 
they may all be led to look upon the 
coming festivities as opportunities for 
entertaining those younger than them¬ 
selves, being nice to grandpa, or waiting 
upon some invalid or aged person. Ap¬ 
proached in this spirit, a holiday will 
seldom fail to yield more actual pleasure 
to the little people than if they Avere left 
to anticipate only joy and gratification to 
themselves. 
Among the older members of the fam¬ 
ily, so much depends upon the sincerity 
of the welcome, the mirth and good feel¬ 
ing of the hour, the putting aside of per¬ 
sonal animosities, and the burying of 
every external trace of that quiet hatred 
that sometimes exists between blood re¬ 
lations, for Thanksgiving Day ought to 
be a day of family reunions. Preemi¬ 
nently, it is the day for remembering 
the aged and the lonely. To none Avill 
it bring more hearty satisfaction than to 
those who keep the good old festival 
where their presence will afford most 
pleasure to others, or who entertain 
those guests who have greatest claims to 
their ministrations. 
PRUDENCE PRIMROSE. 
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE TIMES 
FRIEND told me the following, not 
long ago, and I hope that it may 
benefit some one else. In my friend’s 
case, I believe that the real benefit came 
from her own efforts to return the favors 
Avhich she thought she had received. 
Said she : “You Avill hardly believe how 
much I have come to depend on my let¬ 
ters for stimulus. I Avrite to one cousin 
in Pennsylvania, and another in the 
State of Washington. My sister lives in 
northern Wisconsin, and I have tAvo cor¬ 
respondents Avho are not relatives. One 
does office w'ork in a large city, and one 
is a country school-ma’am. The latter 
is progressive and enthusiastic, indus¬ 
trious and persevering, and her letters 
are full of life, fairly breathing courage 
and ambition from their pages. 
“My office girl is older, quieter, and 
more given to Avriting at great length, 
real happenings in the great city, with 
her conclusions in regard to the same, 
often filling seven to nine closely written 
pages. My relatives write long, neAvsy 
letters giving me many bits of every-day 
wisdom, many accounts of the far differ¬ 
ent customs of East and West. These 
letters are living links connecting me 
with the outside world.” 
Yet, after all, my friend’s letters were 
probably the best of the lot. She Avas 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
absolutely pube 
