1480 
1'HfcC KUMA.Iv NEW-YORKER 
December 10, 
I:: The Christmas Tree :: , 
Christmas Presents and Christmas Questions 
“It blooms one day in all the year, 
Not when the roses blow, 
But when the leaves are brown and sere, 
Or robed in gleaming snow. 
“Upon its branches bending low, 
All beautiful to see. 
Both flower and fruit together grow, 
O wondrous Christmas tree!’’ 
E VERYONE who prepares a Christ¬ 
mas tree knows that its chief re¬ 
quisites are the three G’s—gaiety, glit¬ 
ter and gifts. Unless it holds the eye 
by its color and sparkle, and arouses 
anticipation by the sight of mysterious 
parcels, small and great, that mean some 
sort of gift for every beholder, it has 
not carried out its mission. 
The tree itself must be well anchored, 
and secure against tipping; iron sup¬ 
ports are sold in toy departments and 
hardware stores for this purpose, while 
wooden blocks or crossed pieces of plank 
with a large auger hole into which the 
trunk of the tree is securely fastened, do 
very well when anchored down with 
weights. We like the appearance of a 
large tub for the tree to stand in be¬ 
cause it keeps the lower limbs oil' the 
ground, and one can show off, in this 
way, a tree that is not too unwieldy for 
an ordinary room. It is not difficult to 
put a brace in the bottom of a tub with 
an auger hole to receive the trunk, the 
branches being trimmed up to the right 
height, then weight the tub with earth or 
stones. This is absolutely secure; the 
tub may be draped with evergreens or 
moss, flecked with cotton batting crystal¬ 
lized with alum to represent snow. If 
electric lights are used, the batteries are 
hidden under this trimming. The wires, 
with their green covering, are disguised 
by the foliage. An electric outfit with 
eight lights, red. blue, green and white 
bulbs, costs $2.50; with 16 lights $5. 
Batteries are 15 cents each: two are re¬ 
quired for eight lights, three for 16. We 
still think old-fashioned candles, twink¬ 
ling all over the tree, are the prettiest 
of all lights, but we believe in “safety 
first,” and they are entirely too danger¬ 
ous among the inflammable branches, 
with the further risk of contact 
with celluloid toys. If electric lights are 
beyond reach, we would leave the tree 
unlighted, and depend on color and tin¬ 
sel for the effect. 
Popcorn and cranberries are usually 
accessible, and are among the prettiest 
festooning material. Have plenty of 
both, and also make sugared popcorn into 
“snowballs,” to be hung on the tree by 
red ribbons. A fashionable candy store 
on Fifth Avenue had these popcorn balls 
wrapped in thin paraffin paper and tied 
with red ribbon for Thanksgiving favors, 
and they are pretty on the tree. A sur¬ 
prising amount of glitter can be provided 
by using the liquid gilding sold for fancy- 
work ; pine cones are very attractive thus 
treated, also nuts, while a jack-knife art¬ 
ist can make anchors, hearts and stars 
from soft pine, which are very effective 
after a golden bath. These suggestions 
are not offered to those who can walk 
into a department store and order what¬ 
ever they want, without thought of cost, 
and who thus miss a great deal of whole¬ 
some fun. 
Strings of tinsel, and the various fancy 
ornaments, vary little from year to year, 
whether bought at a big toy shop or at 
the five and 10 cent store. This year 
there is a great variety of fruit, apples, 
pears, oranges lemons and grapes, made 
of some sparkling composition, and more 
gorgeous in coloring than the pictures 
in a nursery agent’s catalogue; they are 
not edible, and may be kept f om year to 
year. Fancy boxes and cornucopias for 
nuts and candy are quite inexpensive 
and may also be made at home if one 
is provided with neat fingers and colored 
paper. One may also put candy and 
small gifts in little “prize packages” 
made to imitate oranges; the package is 
made round, then wrapped in deep 
orange crape paper, gathered together at 
the top, where some leaves of green pa¬ 
per hide the closing. These are very 
pretty on the tree. The children usually 
expect to see “Christmas stockings,” too, 
which are quickly made from pink tar¬ 
latan, and filled with popcorn. There 
should, of course, be some candy canes 
and baskets made of that pink and white 
striped peppermint candy so dear to 
children, because no Christmas tree was 
ever regarded as fully satisfying with¬ 
out them. A roll of crape paper, ger¬ 
anium red, used as wrapping for small 
parcels, will also add color to the tree, 
and may also be used to make round 
“fruit,” with green leaves at the top, 
like the crape paper oranges. 
We always prefer to crown the tree 
with a Christmas star, which may be 
made of gilded wood or gilt paper over 
pasteboard. A Santa Claus doll at the 
foot of the tree, or snuggled away 
among the branches, is quite easily made, 
the long robe being red flannel with cot¬ 
ton batting trimming, the rosy face sur¬ 
rounded by a cotton batting beard. 
With the head of a discarded doll and 
the contents of the ragbag to furnish a 
Household Questions. 
| The following questions among others 
have been answered by Miss Edna S. 
Knapp. All such questions are welcomed 
and will receive prompt attention.] 
Old Magazines. 
HAT do you do with your old maga¬ 
zines? 1 have a year’s accumula¬ 
tion on hand. w. 
We send ours to a friend in the hills. 
Isn’t there someone iu your neighborhood 
who would be glad of them? If not. 
write to your denominational missionary 
society. 
Crocheted Fascinator. 
My mother-in-law lives in the country 
and is very old-fashioned in her tastes, 
but very dainty. She wants a fascinator 
for Christmas. How can I make one 
and how much does it take? What else 
could I get or make for her? F. G. B. 
Half a pound of Shetland floss is am¬ 
ple for a fascinator. They are usually 
“BOTH 
FLOWER AND FRUIT TOGETHER 
GROW.” 
foundation the jolly St. Nicholas may 
be a real member of the family. 
Some of our friends disapprove of 
Christmas trees, on the ground that it 
encourages the destruction of our for¬ 
ests. The fact that thinning is a neces¬ 
sary process of forestry seems to be over¬ 
looked, but anyone who disapproves of 
the graceful fragrant forest tree for this 
purpose may, without scruple, build up 
a synthetic tree, like those stout-hearted 
women on the treeless Dakota prairies, 
who made the first Christmas tree evei 
displayed in their district with a scan- 
thing for trunk, and the sticks out of 
their window shades for branches, the 
bare wood draped with “made-believe” 
foliage of green paper and carpet rags! 
E. T. R. 
T HE Department of Agriculture at 
Washington has issued Farmers’ Bul¬ 
letin No. 607 which is of special interest 
to farm women. It is entitled “The Farm 
Kitchen as a Workshop,” and is written 
by Miss Anna Barrows, a well-known 
teacher of domestic economy. Miss Bar- 
rows says that the kitchen is the work¬ 
shop of the home, and she might well 
have said the most important shop con¬ 
nected with the farm. She says that 
there are 6.000.000 farm kitchens, and 
including the relatives and hired helpers. 
8,000.000 women spend their working 
lives inside these kitchens. This shows 
the necessity of making this kitchen as 
comfortable and well planned as possible, 
for it is a serious thing when S.000.000 
women are compelled to work under con¬ 
ditions which do not give them a chance 
to be truly efficient. It is impossible to 
give anything like a synopsis of this bulle¬ 
tin. It ought to be read by every woman 
in the country who is ever expected to 
get up a tasty meal, do a week’s washing 
or any of the other things which count 
for so much in household work. 
crocheted in shell stitch. Begin with six 
chain and put one shell, five double cro¬ 
chet, in the middle, two shell in next row, 
three in the next and so on. Put a 
whole, instead of a half shell, at the end 
of each row, that widens it. Continue 
until you reach the desired size. For 
border use 10 chain stitches caught into 
the edge with a single crochet. Or you 
can knit one, starting with three stitches 
and widening at the beginning of every 
fourth row until you reach 13 inches in 
width, then narrow once at the beginning 
of every fourth row. Use the same bor¬ 
der as above. Medium gray is a very 
pretty shade to use. 
Why not make a collar and cuff set 
from a fine hemstitched linen handker¬ 
chief? Cut off a strip 1 */> inches wide 
from one side and put on a narrow lawn 
binding. Then cut other strips for cuffs, 
so a hemstitched corner will overlap the 
hemmed end. There will be linen enough 
left in the center to make more cuffs, if 
you like. These are old-fashioned but 
many elderly women still wear them. 
A Box of Possibilities. 
A dear friend has had a long illness 
and lives where she can’t get many 
things to entertain her. I want to send 
her a “Box of Possibilities.” Can you 
help me? H. V. C. 
Fancy work materials of various kinds 
would be best. Have the work com¬ 
menced and everything needed for its 
completion included. I wouldn’t put in 
anything that involved too much work. 
A pretty stamped corset, cover or small 
centerpiece would be nice. Perhaps a 
tatting shuttle and book of instructions 
or some skeins of Shetland floss, wood 
needles and a book on knitting, would be 
better. Why not get some of the pret¬ 
ty Christmas cards and folders to be 
tinted by hand and send materials for 
coloring? T know a museum art 
student who pays her way doing 
this. If she is strong enough, start a 
raffia basket until it is easy to hold and 
put in materials and directions. You 
will think of things enough when you 
begin to pack your box. 
Gifts by Mail. 
What kind of gifts can be sent in a 
letter? My friends are at a distance. I 
want dainty things that are not too much 
expense or trouble. c. n. 
Handkerchiefs, flat tailored hows for 
neckwear, hair ribbons for young girls, 
flat little packages of sachet powder, ad¬ 
dress books, bookmarks, letter openers 
and many other things can be enclosed in 
letters. One lady is buying the little 
books with soap leaves or leaves with 
face powder and making for each book 
slip covers of Dresden ribbon, these are 
very popular with women who travel. 
Gifts for the Blind. 
What can I give a blind cousin? She 
wears white aprons, but I have made 
pretty nearly every kind. w. 
If you live near enough, why not send 
carnations or a thrifty plant with scent¬ 
ed leaves? A box of chocolates would 
be welcome, too. I just saw a little 
round apron made for a Christmas sale; 
it had a three-inch circular facing, in¬ 
side that connecting ovals featherstitclied 
in two shades of yellow. Yellow ribbon 
was slipped under straps of lingerie tape 
an inch apart on the band. 
Domestic Science Bulletins. 
Can you give me a list of Farmers’ 
Bulletins used in schools of domestic 
science? Should think they would be of 
great value to housekeepers. m. M. 
A Michigan school uses the following 
in general cooking classes: 
535. Sugar and Its Value as Food; 
142. Principles of Nutrition and Nutri¬ 
tive Value of Foods; 203, Canned Fruit 
Preserves and Jellies; 240. Cereal Break¬ 
fast Foods; 295. Potatoes and Other 
Root Crops as Food; 256, Preparation 
of Vegetables for the Table; 582, Green 
Vegetables and their Use in the Diet; 
Eggs and their Uses as Foods; 400. Bac¬ 
teria in Milk : 413, Care of Milk and its 
Use in the Home; 363. Use of Milk as 
Food: 332, Nuts and their Uses as Food. 
Ask for Farmers’ Bulletins from Divi¬ 
sion of Publication. U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. 
Dressing for Warmth. 
We have bought an old house, once a 
Colonial tavern. It is lovely in Summer, 
but cold in Winter. How can I dress 
to keep comfortable? I haven’t much 
time or money to spend on my prob¬ 
lem. N. B. 
If you do all your own work you can¬ 
not dress without thought of time spent 
over the stove or doing some heavy work. 
Try the new double-body union suits. Be 
sure your corset fits and leaves you free 
to move easily. Wear medium weight 
cotton stockings and felt shoes. Make 
corset covers of outing flannel and a 
warm petticoat of wash flannel. Use 
gala tea or eden cloth for vour house dress¬ 
es. and keep a wrap of some kind handy 
if you are chilly when you sit down. The 
old circular shawl is good for this. Wear 
wool dresses or flannel shirtwaists in 
the afternoon. Put a thick rug where 
you stand much by stove or sink if the 
floor is cold. 
Making a Newport Scarf. 
What is a Newport scarf and how do 
you make one? e. n. 
A Newport scarf is a long, narrow 
knitted affair. 16 to 18 inches wide and 
about two yards long. It is worn as a 
shawl in Summer and as a muffler or 
head scarf in the Winter. Eight skeins 
of Shetland floss will make one, six 
skeins of the ground color and two skeins 
for stripes and fringe. Cast on 100 
stitches and knit 12 ridges, 24 rows,- plain 
with the body color. Then join the sec¬ 
ond color and knit six rows as follows: 
First row. knit across plain. Second 
row. seam clear across. Third row, knit 
one, over, knit one, over; etc. Fourth 
row. seam two together clear across. 
Fifth row, knit plain. Sixth row, seam 
clear across. Repeat both stripes until 
the desired length is reached, ending 
with the body color. Add four-inch 
fringe at each end; the scarf should be 
64 inches long. 
