1362 
THE RTJ RA-Iir NEW-YORKER 
j 
I 
THE CHRISTMAS DINNER 
Every woman loves to have her dinner 
table appropriately glorified on Christmas 
day, as well as dainty and attractive in 
other ways. A miniature Christmas tree 
is a very effective decoration, particular¬ 
ly if the dinner is to be in the evening, 
as well as a source of delight for the 
juvenile members of the household. The 
little dark green pines one sees springing 
up along roadsides and at the edge of 
forest in some parts of the country are 
easier to get than any other. A tree 
one and one-half feet high and in good 
proportion is none too large for a long 
table and a large party, for there should 
be a small gift for each guest on it. 
Take the tree up roots, soil and all, and 
place it in a large flower pot. Cover the 
sides of the pot with red crepe paper, 
and place it in the centre of the table 
on a mat of holly or pine, and scatter 
some of the green sprays carelessly out 
over the white cloth. 
Set the tree with tiny red candles, and 
trim it with silver or gilt tinsel, or white 
cotton batting cut in very narrow strips 
and sprinkled with diamond dust, to re¬ 
semble snow. Topcorn and cranberries 
make a pretty decoration, too; string 
them on separate strings, or the corn and 
berries may be used together on one 
string, alternately, one white and one red. 
Then with the little candles lighted, and 
some of the gifts wrapped in white tissue 
paper and tied with red ribbons, and 
others in red tied with green, the decora¬ 
tions would be complete. 
A number of tall red caudles with 
shades to match make a very attractive 
table, especially if there is plenty of holly, 
mountain laurel, or pine to arrange with 
them. Four small glass hand-lamps, one 
for each corner of the table, and a taller 
one for the centre, with drooping red 
crepe paper shades, placed inside deep 
wreaths of Christmas green, make a 
charming means of illumination as well 
as a decoration. 
Another delightful centrepiece for the 
Christmas dinner table, especially pleas¬ 
ing to the children, is a real Yule cake; 
the top and sides are covered thickly with 
glistening white icing, and there are small 
red candies scattered all over it. The 
cake is placed on a candle-board, with 
a wreath of green and lighted candles 
around it. To make the candle-board, 
get a circular piece of wood; the cover 
of a large candy-pail is just the right 
size. This you can get from the grocery 
store for the asking. Make, near the 
< dge, a row of perforations, large enough 
to fit in a small candie. Cover the cen¬ 
tre of the hoard with a doily and place 
here the cake, then set it in the centre 
of the table, insert the candles in the 
perforations, and conceal the edge of the 
board with the wreath of green, and just 
before the guests are seated light the can¬ 
dles. At the end of the meal the candles 
are removed and the cake cut and served 
with the coffee and cheese. 
As for the menu it may be as simple or 
as elaborate as one chooses, the one given 
here is easily prepared, one that can 
he used either in the north or southland: 
Cream of Celery Soup 
Sweet Tomato Pickles, Gherkins, Salted 
Butternuts. 
Roast Turkey, Suckling Pig, or Fowl, 
Cranberry or Apple Sauce, 
Mashed Potatoes, Glazed Sweet Potatoes, 
Stuffed Onions 
Cabbage or French Endive Salad, Rolls 
Fruit Pudding or Mince Pie 
Sweet Cider, Grape Juice 
Raisins, Nuts and Fruit 
Cake, Cheese, Coffee 
For the soup wash and scrape one head 
of celery, and chop very fine with one 
medium-sized onion,, then cook for 20 
minutes in just enough water to cover 
them. Add one quart of milk, and when 
boiling hot thicken with two tablespoons- 
fuls of- flour rubbed smooth in one-fourth 
cupful of butter; stir and cook five min¬ 
utes, then add one cupful of thin cream, 
season with salt and pepper, reheat, and 
serve with heated crackers. 
The time-honored turkey is, of course, 
the proper thing to have for the Christ¬ 
mas dinner, but if one wishes, instead of 
either, there might be a little suckling 
pig, stuffed, and deliciously roasted. This 
should be at least four weeks old. Wash 
and scrub well, and wipe inside and out 
with care, then rub the inside well with 
salt and pepper. Cover the liver with 
boiling water and let it stand half an 
hour, then drain and chop. Mince one 
onion, and brown slightly in a little hot 
butter and add to the liver. Soften one 
pint of stale bread crumbs and press 
them through a colander, and add also, 
with salt and pepper to suit the taste, 
and one cup of cream or two tablespoons- 
ful of melted butter,. Mix all thoroughly. 
Stuff the pig with the dressing, and sew 
up the opening. Tie buttered cloth over 
the ears and tail that they will not be¬ 
come too crisp in the baking, and put a 
cork in the mouth to keep it open. Place 
piggy in a large roasting pan, pressing 
the legs well forward, and rub him all 
over with a mixture of one-half cup of 
butter, two tablespoonfuls of sifted flour, 
salt and pepper, and bake in a moderate 
oven for two hours, basting every 20 min¬ 
utes with the fat in the pan, and when 
this is used up one-half cup of butter 
melted in one cupful of boiling water. 
Turn often, that it may be cooked evenly 
on all sides and underneath. Half an 
hour before removing from the oven take 
off the cloth from the ears and tail. Put 
on a large platter, remove the cork from 
the mouth, and replace with a sprig of 
green, surround with either boiled rice, 
mashed potatoes, or boiled and roasted 
meat, either chicken, veal, or ham, 
chopped very fine. Season, and moisten 
with cream or melted butter, then fill the 
cavities in the onions with the mixture. 
Place in a greased pan, and bake until 
the onions are soft. 
For a delicious old-fashioned English 
Yule cake, work, with the hands, one 
cupful of butter into two cupfuls of 
bread dough, add two well-beaten eggs, 
two cupfuls of brown sugar, and one cup¬ 
ful of sour milk. Have ready one cup¬ 
ful of currants, two-thirds cupful of 
raisins, seeded and chopped, and one-half 
cupful of citron, thinly sliced and cut 
in strips; dredge the fruit with one-half 
cup of sifted flour, and add to the first 
mixture with one teaspoonful of soda, two 
teaspoonfuls of cinnamon, one-lialf tea¬ 
spoonful each of cloves and mace, one 
teaspoonful of salt, and two cupfuls of 
flour, and mix all thoroughly together. 
Line a deep round baking pan with but¬ 
tered paper, turn in the cake dough; 
cover and let rise one and one-half hours, 
then bake in a slow oven for one hour. 
This cake should be made two or three 
days before it is needed. 
For the icing put two cupfuls of fine 
granulated sugar with one-lialf cupful 
of boiling water in a saucepan, and when 
the sugar is dissolved heat gradually to 
the boiling point, and boil without stir¬ 
ring until the syrup spins a thread, then 
THE YULE CAKE. 
chestnuts, and serve with it apple sauce* 
and cabbage salad. 
In case the family or party is a small 
one a pair of nice plump fowls, stuffed 
with a plain bread or oyster stuffing 
and roasted in the same manner as a 
turkey would be equally as delicious. 
Guinea fowl, though a little unusual, is 
very nice, especially when prepared in 
this way; Singe, clean, wash and truss 
two young guinea hens, and line the in¬ 
side of each with thin slices of fat salt 
pork, rub over the outside with flour, 
salt and pepper, and fasten, with small 
skewers or wooden toothpicks, a slice 
of pork over the breast. Put in the 
roasting pan, breast downward, and bake 
in a hot oven, basting every half-hour 
with one-lialf cup of butter and one cup 
of boiling water, and dredge with flour 
after each basting. At the end of one 
hour turn the birds over on their backs, 
and continue roasting, basting and 
dredging until well browned on all sides. 
Bake two hours, or until the joints can 
be separated easily. 
In the meantime cook one-half cup of 
fine bread crumbs, one small onion stuck 
with six whole cloves, and one pint of 
milk for 30 minutes in a double boiler. 
Then remove the onion and cloves, add 
one-half teaspoonful of salt, a few grains 
of cayenne, and two tablespoonfuls of 
butter, mix, and turn in a well-buttered 
baking dish, sprinkle the top with one- 
half cupful of buttered crumbs, and bake 
until the crumbs are brown. Serve either 
around the birds or in the dish it was 
baked. 
For the sweet potatoes given in this 
menu, scrub medium-sized potatoes, and 
boil 10 minutes in salted water, drain, 
and remove the skins, then slice rather 
thick. Make a syrup with one-half cup¬ 
ful of sugar and one-fourth cupful of 
water; add one tablespoonful of butter, 
then dip each slice of potato in the syrup 
and lay in a buttered baking pan. Bake 
10 or 15 minutes in a hot oven, basting 
two or three times during the baking 
with the remaining syrup. 
Stuffed onions.—Select medium-sized 
onions, the silver-skins are the best. Peel 
and parboil in salted water, drain, and 
remove the centres. Chop part of the 
centres, and add one cupful of softened 
bread crumbs, one cupful of cold cooked 
remove from the fire, cool slightly, and 
pour slowly over the beaten white of 
two eggs, beating constantly, and beat 
the whole until the right consistency to 
spread smoothly. Flavor with lemon 
juice, and cover the top and sides of the 
cake thickly with the icing, and add the 
decorations before it begins to harden. 
ROSAMOND LA MI 1 MAN. 
“Work at Home.” 
Enclosed please find letter from F. S. 
C. Can you tell me if they are reliable 
or not? 11 • o. 
Oneonta, N. Y. 
The circular enclosed was from a firm 
of “home work distributors” who claimed 
to make a specialty of fancy knit goods, 
neckwear, school bags, aprons and house 
dresses. They claimed that women work¬ 
ing for them made from $3 to .$7.50 per 
week in their homes, the work being sup¬ 
plied to them cut out, ready for making. 
All they wanted was a preliminary fee 
of 40 cents to cover material, labor of 
cutting, buttons and postage. 
It is quite 'true that even in these 
commercialized factory days, there are 
certain lines of women's handicrafts that 
are done in the home, but these are al¬ 
ways the specialties that must have the 
touch of the individual artist. There are 
embroideries, laces, and handwoven tex¬ 
tiles made by home artists both in this 
country and in Europe. In the embroid¬ 
ery districts of Switzerland we are told 
that electric power from the waterfalls 
is transmitted into the worker’s homes. 
In England some of the velvets for the 
coronation robes of the present King and 
Queen were hand-woven by aged work¬ 
ers who have spent their lives in doing 
just such home work. 
But this is very different from the 
trade in cheap garments, such as aprons 
and house dresses. They are made by 
thousands, in factories whose machines 
are run by electric power. The help is 
driven at top speed, and there is always, 
at some season of the year, a slack time. 
There has been much trouble among these 
garment workers, and such piteous condi¬ 
tions bitve been disclosed in some cases 
that many women of culture and social 
prominence have interested themselves in 
these operatives, assisting them in their 
strikes, and interesting the better class of 
December 20, 
employers in trade improvement. If ex¬ 
perienced factory workers suffer poverty 
and overwork in the garment trade, it 
can hardly offer inducements for “easy 
work at home.” 
In the fancy knit goods trade there is 
a good deal of home work, and it is quite 
probable that experienced workers find 
it remunerative, but during an investiga¬ 
tion into tenement work in this city last 
Winter, one manufacturer stated that he 
paid 50 cents a dozen pairs for knitting 
bedroom slippers, which does not sound 
remunerative to the home worker. His 
work was largely done by women with 
comfortable homes, who considered that 
they thus earned a little pocket money. 
Of course this underpaid occupation of 
their leisure made life still harder for 
the woman who must try to live by her 
work, since it lowered the “minimum 
wage.” We have investigated, person¬ 
ally, many of these advertisements offer¬ 
ing work to be done at home. We always 
find that the first desideratum is a mod¬ 
est fee before materials are sent. Our 
experience has not yet disclosed a case 
where the work returned was paid for; 
there was always something the matter 
with it. and if return of the fee was de¬ 
manded the worker found it claimed on 
account of unsatisfactory work. The 
worker realizes, too late, that the firm 
only exists for the preliminary fee. The 
legitimate firms who put out work do 
not have to employ such methods. There 
is no other fraud quite so despicable as 
this, since its perpetrators depend upon 
penury and helplessness for their gains, 
robbing, with callous hands, “the father¬ 
less children, and widows, and all who 
are desolate and oppressed.” E. T. B. 
The Star in the East. 
O a new star, a new star. 
Blazed like a lamp of gold. 
For close pressed to Mary’s breast 
The Saviour Jesus lay at rest, 
As prophets had foretold. 
(But little Judas, as he slept, 
Stirred in his mother’s arms and wept.) 
O the worship, the worship 
And myrrh and incense sweet, 
Which shepherds kind from far away 
Had brought with golden gifts to lay 
At the Saviour Jesus’ feet. 
(But little Judas, as he slept 
Stirred in his mother’s arms and wept.) 
O the shadow, the shadow, 
Of the cross upon the hill. 
But yet the babe who was to bear 
The whole world’s weight of sin and care, 
On Mary’s breast lay still. 
(But Judas’ mother, with a cry, 
Kissed him and wept, she knew not why.) 
—Leslie’s Monthly. 
The Travelers. 
O’er leagues of arid, sandy plains, 
And alien lands, and hills, and streams, 
The Wise Men journeyed swift to find 
The guerdon of their hopes and dreams; 
They came to see a greater King; 
And treasurers of the East to bring! 
They talked of prophecies and signs, 
Their hearts with solemn joy beat high; 
They halted not except for rest, 
They felt a leading presence nigh ; 
Each speeding day was strangely bright, 
A glorious star illumed the night! 
They knew not what they were to find, 
What pageantry might charm their 
sight, 
A palace, jubilant with joy. 
A Child with royal robes bedight; 
High courts they sought, but turned away 
Amazed to tread a humbler way ! 
Star-led, they came to Bethlehem, 
And found the Child of David's line, 
Cradled and housed in lowliest place, 
The Child, all-human, all-divine, 
Whose mother marveled as she saw 
Their wonder, reverence, and awe! 
Ages have passed, and yet do we 
The Wise Men on their journey see, 
The camel train, the changeful way, 
The star-lit night, the radiant day ; 
By Fancy’s aid their steps we trace, 
And worship in the self-same place! 
—E. A. Lente in Christian Advocate. 
