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* PHE NIGHT OF THE NATIVITY.
The air was still o'er Bethlehem’s plain,
As if the great Night held its breath,
When Life Eternal came to reign
Over a world of Death.
The Pagan at his midnight board
Let fall his brimming cup of gold ;
He felt the presence of his Lord
Before His birth was told.
The temples trembled to their base,
The idols shuddered as in pain ;
A priesthood in its power of place
Knelt to its gods in vain.
All Nature felt a thrill divine
When burst that meteor on the night,
Which, pointing to the Saviour's shrine,
Proclaimed the new-born light.
Light to the shepherds! and the star
Gilded to their silent midnight fold;
Light to the wisemen from afar,
Bearing their gifts of gold.
Light to the realm of Sin and Grief—
Light to the world in all its needs—
The Light of Life—a new belief
Rising o'er fallen creeds—
Light on a tangled path of thorns,
Though leading to a martyr’s throne—
A light to guide till Christ returns
In glory to His own.
There still it shines, while far abroad
The Christmas choir sings now, as then,
“Glory, Glory unto God!
Peace and good-will to men !”
—T. Buchanan Read.
FOUND IN THE SNOW.
Tommy and Loreny had heen to the
store to do some errands, and were on their
way back to the almshouse where they
lived. The lights were getting low, and
the western sky was red. The two went
in file down the country road. There had
been a heavy fall of snow the day before,
and it was not yet trodden down ; there
was only a narrow foot track between the
drifts. ~ Loreny kept ahead. She was
3 years older than her brother Tommy,and
quite a tall girl. Her thin, wiry figure
skipped over the snow as lightly as a spar-
row. She wore an old brown cotton dress,
a dim plaid shawl, and a faded worsted
hood. and her arms were full of brown-
per bundles. Tommy tugged a molasses
in one hand and a kerosene can in the
other. Fe was short and sturdy, with a
handsome, little red face. He wore an old
coat of Mr. Palmer’s, the almshouse keep-
er’s, which had been cut down for him, but
the skirts still trailed in the snow.
Suddenly Loreny stopped short.
«What's that ?’’ she cried, in excited
voice.
Tommy set down the molasses jug and
peeped around her shoulder. A brown.
paper package lay in the road before
them.
“What do you s’pose it is ?’’ asked Lor-
eny.
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“Pick it up,’’ returned Tommy.
Loreny eyed it a minute, then she laid
her own bundles carefully down on the;
snow, picked it up, and unrolled it.
“Oh 1’? she cried. *
Tommy said nothing, but his mouth open-
ened and his eyes grew big.
Loreny held a doll with a beautifal wax
face and real flaxen hair. She looked at it
and the tears came into her eyes.
“What you goin’ todo with it ?"’ gasped
Tommy.
“I dunno,’ answered Loreny, slowly.
She looked anxiously at her brother.
“Somebody dropped her,’’ she said ‘but I
dunno who. ‘Mrs. Palmer won't let me
keep her.”
“Mrs. Palmer won’t let me keep her,”
Loreny repeated, and her lips quivered.
Suddenly she wrapped her old shawl care-
fully around the doll, which was not
dressed, and snuggled her close to her with
a defiant air. . -
“YWhat you goin’ to do ?"inquired Tom-
my: :
Ym agoin’ to carry her home. Mrs.
Palmer, she won’t see her under my
shawl.”
“She'll whip you when she finds it
out.’’ x
© don’t care if she does"! returned Lot-
eny, holding the doll closer. She picked
up the other parcels and went on. lommy
took up the molasses jug and followed.
They had gone only a few steps when
Loreny stopped again. *‘There’s something
else,’’ she said, in an awed whisper.
Tommy set thejugdown. ‘‘You pick it
up,’ said Loreny. Tommy set down the
kerosene can also, and brushed past his
sister. He picked up the parcel, which was
a nice, white one. ‘Undo it,” said Lor-
eny, trembling.
Tommy’s clumsy fingers tugged ab the
pink string. It was two pounds of Christ-
mas candy. They looked at the beautiful
red and white twists and were speechless.
Then Loreny spoke in a quick, frightened
way.
‘You tie that right up again, Tommy
Wood,” said she. ‘‘Don’t you eat a mite
of it ; it don’t belong to us.”
Tommy, with a last, wistful gaze at the
candy, tied it up. Then he looked at his
sister. “Shall Ilay it down again,” he
asked. '
Loreny hesitated. ‘‘I dunno, hardly.
Somebody might step on it after dark.”
“I can put it in my pocket,” said Tom-
my, eagerly.
Tommy stowed away the candy in one
of the pockets of Mr. Paler’s great
coat.
“Mind you don’t eat a mite of it,”
charged Loreny, sharply. |
“Ne, I won’t,”’ promised Tommy, gath-
ering up the jug and can. i
They went on, then suddenly Loreny
stopped again.
“Tommy Wood,
another.
‘‘Where ?’
It was a large, flat package. Tommy
opened it breathlessly. There were books
in that—story-books, with handsome cov-
ers, and one beautiful picture book. Tom-
my turned the leaves and Loreny looked
over his shoulder.
*‘Ain’t they handsome ?’’ she sighed.
“What shall I do with them’ asked
Tommy breathing hard.
“I dunno, unless you can put them in
your pocket. It won’t do to leave them
lying under foot.”
Tommy tied up the books carefully, and
they just slipped into a pocket of Mr. Pal-
mer’s great coat. Then he and Loreny
went on.
In a minute Loreny stopped again. “I'm
scart most to pieces,’’ said she. “There’s
another !’’ She and Tommy looked at each
other. Loreny was quite pale. I s’pose
you had better pick it up,” she said
faintly. :
Tommy picked up the parcel, avd his
hands shook when he unrolled it.
“Oh 1”? he cried.
It was a beautiful little concertina. He
pulled it out gently, and there was a soft
musical wheeze. :
“Don’t! Somebody will hear,” cried
Loreny. ‘‘Putit up, quick!”
A stubborn expression came over Tom-
my’s face. ‘‘You’ve got the doll,” said
he, ‘I’m going to have this.”’
“Put it up, quick !”’
“‘Can’t I have it !”’
«Mrs. Palmer won’t let us have any of
‘em when she sees ‘em.’’
Tommy stowed the concertina into a
pocket of Mr. Palmer’s coat with a reso-
» ghe gasped, ‘‘there’s
| many paupers on Green river; in fact,
Tommy’s. She was just taking the doll
Tommy picked up the molasses jug and
the kerosene can again ; but this sime he
did not set them down again until he had
reached the almshouse. He and Loreny
looked sharply, but there were no more
mysterious packages strewn along the
road.
The almshouse was simply a large, white
farm house on a hill. There were not
there were only five—three old women and
two old men, beside Tommy and Loreuy.
The children went up the hill on which
the almshouse stood. The north wind
blew in their faces, and they were glad to
go into the great warm kitchen where the
five old people sat around the fire, and
Mrs. Palmer was preparing supper. Mr.
Palmer was splitting kindling wood out
in the shed; they could here the axe
strokes.
“Take off your coat, Tommy, and go out
and bring in some of the kindlings. And,
Loreny, take off your hood and shawl,
and set the table,”” said Mrs. Palmer.
Mrs. Palmer was a little thin woman,
and she looked tired. Her voice bad a
fretful ring. People said that she worked
too hard. Her husband was not as ener-
‘round the doll’s waist. She kissed its
pretty face. ‘‘Ain’t going to let you freeze
this cold Winter, dear child,’’ she whisper-
ed.
As for Tommy, he was out in the snowy
pasture behind the almshouse, sitting on a
rock which pierced adrift, playing his con-
certina in the freezing December wind. He
actually picked out a little tune wnich he
had heard sung in Sunday school, and he
was in a rapture. He did not feel the cold
but he was so numb that he could seaicely
walk when he stowed away the concertina
in the coat pocket, and returned to the
almshouse.
When he had hidden away his treasure,
he went down to the kitchen, where Loreny
bad just gone. She was warming her little
blue hands over the stove.
“Serves you right for staying up there
in the cold so long,”’ said Mrs. Palmer.
Presently Mr. Palmer came in, stamping
his snowy feet. He had been down to the
village and had some news.
“Deacon Alden’s hired man lost a heap
of things out of his cart yesterday afters
noon,”’ said he. ‘‘Spils them out of the
back—the horse was kind of frisky—and
he never knew it till he got home. Then
he went right back, but the things were
gone. Somebody had picked them up.”
“It’s just as bad as stealing,’ said Mis.
Palmer severely. ‘‘Just as bad.”
Loreny turned white. Tommy sat with
his eyes downcast. As soon as she could.
Loteny pulled him out into the entry.
“Tommy Wood,”’ she whispered, ‘‘we’ve
got to carry em back. It’s stealing.”
“When can we ?”’
“To-night. We must go down the back
stairs real still, after they think we’ve gone
to bed.”
It was half past nine o'clock when two
small dark figures ran down the almshouse
hill. One was Tommy with his coat pock-
ets bulging; the other was Loreny hugging
the doll, which wasstill wrapped in her
pink apron.
It was a mile to Deacon Alden’s house.
It was bitter cold, the full moon was up,
and the snow ereaked under foot. They
ran most of the way. When they reached
Deacon Alden’s house, they stood hesitat.
ing at the gate.
‘You go in,” said Loreny, giving Tom- |
my a little push.
‘No, you,’”’ he whispered.
Loreny marched up to the door, and
rang the bell. Mrs. Deacon Alden opened
getic as she, and most of the work came
upon her.
It was fortunate that Tommy and Lor-
eny were expected to leave their out-of-
door garments in the passage, They shut’
the kitchen door, and clattered up stairs in
wild haste. Mrs. Palmer called after
them, but they kept on. Tommy flew into :
his chamber, and laid the concertina under
his pillow and the candy and books behind
the door, while Loreny tucked the precious
doll between the sheets of her own little’
cot bed. When they went down stairs
Mrs. Palmer did not question them ; she |
was too busy. There was a mild excite-
ment through the almshouse that night.
The next day was Christmas and there was |
was to be a great dinner. Mrs. Deacon
Alden’s rich sister, a widow lady, who was
visiting her, had sent in two large turkeys
two chickens and a quantity of raisins.
The old men and women talked it over, !
and chuckled delightedly. The fragrance
of tea spread through the warm Kitchen.
Loreny set the table, and Tommy brought
in baskets of kindling. They, too, shared |
in the anticipation of the great dinner, but
they bad other things on their minds. |
They were full of guilty delight and ten- |
derness over their treasures upstairs, and |
terror lest Mrs. Palmer should go up and
find them.
After Loreny had washed the dishes,
then she and Tommy pared apples and pick-
ed over raisins.
«Mind you, don’t eat more than you
pick, now,’’ charged Mis. Palmer. She
was too worn out to consider what a few |
raisins on Christmas Eve might mean toa !
little girl and boy.
However, Tommy and Loreny did not
think much about raisins—they were too
anxious to get upstairs. The old people
went to bed early, but the children were
up until 9 o'clock. There were a great
many apples to be pared and pounds of
raisins to be picked over.
At 9 o'clock they hurried up ¢o their
chambers; each had a little candle in a tin
candlestick. Loreny’s room was opposite
out of the bed, when she heard a sweet
wheeze from the concertina. She flew
across the entry. ‘‘Tomay Woods,” she
be up here !”’
Tommy himself looked frightened. “1
won't do it again,”’ said he; *‘I couldn’s
help it.”’
Finally, Tomy went to sleep with the |
concertina in his arms and Loreny with
the doll. Onee in the night she awoke
suddenly, for she heard the concertina. |
She listened in a panic, but she did not
hear it again, and wens to sleep.
The next morning there was a sort of |
feeble merriment about the almshouse. |
There were no Christmas presents, but the :
dinner that meant a great deal. Mrs.
Palmer even smiled wearily as she stirred
the plum-pndding. Tommy and Loreny
were kept very busy all the morning, but, |
after the grand dinner, when they had eat-
en the roast turkey and chicken and plum-
pudding, and all the paupers had feasted,
they bad a little time to themselves. [
TLoreny stole upstairs to ber own room. |
She got a pink calico apron in which her
heart delighted out of her bureau drawer,
and she dressed the doll in it. It wasa
cold Christmas, and the window was thick
with frost, but she stayed there with the
lute air. ‘‘T can hide this jest as well as
you can that doll,” said he.
Commies
doll all the afternoon. She got her best
blue hair ribbon and tied the pink apron
AEE
whispered, ‘‘you stop this minute ! She’ll :
the door, and stood looking amazedly at
them.
Loreny spoke : ‘‘We found these things
in the road yesterday,’’ said she. She held
out the doll, and Tommy began removing |
the concertina from his pocket.
“Well, I never!’ exclaimed Mis. Dea-
con Alden. ‘‘Louisa, do come here this
minute! No, you come in, you Tommy
and Loreny; you are freezing out there.”
Tommy and Loreny were bewildered.
They had to think itall over for. a long
time afterwards in order to understand ex-
actly what bad happened. They were
pulled gently into the warm sitting room,
where there was a lamp with a pink shade
and green plants at the window, and Mrs.
Deacon Alden’s sister, soft voiced, gentle
and sweet faced, in a beautiful black silk,
; was telling them that all these presents—
the doll, the concertina, the books and the
candy - - were meaut for them, and had been
lost out of the sleigh, and that they could
carry them home.
Presently they were sitting by the fire,
eating frosted cake and drinking chocolate.
Then there was a jingle of bells outside,
and they were driven back to the alms-
house tucked warmly under fur robes and
had a Christmas sleigh ride.
Mrs. Deacon Alden went with them to
explain matters to Mrs. Palmer, and her
sister whispered to her just before they
started : ‘I mean to take them, Sarah. I
am going to see about it tomorrow.”
But Tommy and Loreny did not know
what that means until afterward. That
night it was enough for Loreny to go to
sleep with her own beautiful doll in her
arws and for Tommy to sit up in bed fear-
lessly and play softly on his concertina his
little Sunday school tune which happened
to be the tune of a Christmas hymn.—By
Mary E. Wilkins.
———————
A VISIT FROM OLD KRISS.
Big boys says there's no Kriss Kringle,
That shows what they know.
Ain't I heard his sleigh bells jingle
Through the hail and snow ?
Onc't I sneaked up to the chimney,
Fore I went to bed,
Hung my stockin’ up—Oh, Jiminey !
Skeered me like Old Ned !
Didn't try to go to sleep;
Laid awake and listened.
When I raised the quilt to peep
Saw two eyes that glistened.
There a little fat man stood,
Full of sweets and toys,
Marked for them wots always good—
Kriss don’t like bad boys.
Saw him wink and laugh so jolly
(Course he didn’t think I'd look, )
Fill my stockin’ more—oh, golly!
Trembled till the old bed shook.
Phen he went out through the wall—
Kissed good-night to me.
Dream! Not much! I seed it all.
Fooled me? No, sir-ee !
— Walter Lytle Pyle.
——
~ CHRISTMAS,
Ye shepherds watched ye lyttel lambes
One midnight long ago,
When Heaven opened wide its doores
And let its light o’erflowe ;
And Mary watched her lyttel lambe,
Ye Babe who came to be
Ye Lambe of God, to bear the crosse
For all humanity.
The Christmas Dinner.
Some Suggestions for the Christmas Dinner by the
Best Known Authorities on Cooking in America.
The decorations for the table should he
a miniatare Christmas tree resting ona
green base. The tree hung with tiny glit-
tering ornaments, little candles and plenty
of tinsel but confine the color of the decora-
tions to red as much as possible. The
place cards should be decorated with paint-
ed holly or a piece of real holly, tied on
them with a red ribbon bow and there may
be bunches of holly for each woman, and
buttonniers of mistletoe for the men.
There should be plenty of red apples,
candied cherries, and cakes with red frost-
ing. It will add greatly to the festivities
of the occasion if there is a small package
for every one present, hid in the holly at
the base of the Christmas tree, done up in
white tissue paper and tied with red rib-
bon. The ends of the ribbon extending to
every place and to be pulled when the din-
ner is over. The packages need not con-
tain anything more expensive than a candy
toy accompanied by an appropriate verse,
which will strike the weak point of each
guest. Here is a good list of elabo-
rate and inexpensive dinners.
Fruit salad.
Chicken consomme.
Olives. Celery.
Escaloped lobster served in the shells.
Brown-hread sandwiches.
Sweetbread and mushroom patties.
Green goose and apple sauce.
Baked sweet-potatoes. Spinage.
Waldorf salad, with walnuts.
Camembert cheese.
Toasted crackers.
Plum pudding on fire. Brandy sauce.
Individual ices. Cake.
Fruit. Bonbons Coffee.
Caviar canapes.
Gumbo soup.
Whitebait. Creamed potatoes.
Saddle of mutton. Currant jelly.
Fried samp.
Roman punch.
Green goose. Apple sauce. Salad.
Individual plum puddings.
Nesselrode pudding. Cake.
Bonhons. Coffee.
Oysters on Half Shell.
Puree of Peas.
Tarkey with Chestnut Stuffing.
Cranberry Sauce. Celery.
Glaz«d Sweet Potatoes.
Mashed White Potatoes.
Tomatoes, Corn, Cream Slaw.
Plum Pudding with
Currant Jelly Sauce.
Confectionery. Nuts.
Coffee.
COST OF THE ABOVE MENU.
Oysters and relish ................ce00r00 0s .40
Soup. } pound peas and 3 pintsstock .10
10-pound turkey ......... is stectavsy 1.00
2 qts., chestnuts for stufling.... ....... .20
Cranberry sande... ...... /ooovctiee: Sees .20
Three bunches celery...................... 15
Sweet potatoes. ....... loan, 10
White potatoes, cup milk and butter. .10
Can tomatoes and corn, each............ .20
Cabbage and cup of sour cream......... .10
Plam pudding.........cc.c 00, .60
One-half glass currant jelly for sauce. .10
Assorted nuts..................c.ov sheen iaie .25
Qonfectionery. 0. 0.0 clit han .40
Bread -.........0. ot eens .056
One-half pound butter .15
Cnffe:..c2 5. cl i aia ernie es .05
With cream
Ox-Tail (or Tomato) Soup.
Oysters on the half-shell. Horseradish.
Roast Turkey. Cranberry Sauce.
Mashed Potatoes. Peas.
Mashed Turnips. Giblet gravy.
Celery. Olives.
Waldorf Salad. Salted Peanuts.
Mince Pie.
Oranges, Apples
Malaga Grapes.
Coffee.
Candy. Cigarettes.
(Bread and Butter included.)
COST OF MENU.
Two cans ox-tail (or tomato) soup at
Bananas.
Ice Cream.
TO CONES. ccearesereresssssarnrsssearsansas .20
36 OYSLETS..cuurrerrrnererrarernnenreirananan .36
1 small root of horseradish............... .03
Turkey, 101bs. at 10c., $1 1 loaf
stale bread for stuffing, 3c........ veer 1.03
2 eggs, 50., (one egg for the mayon-
noise), two stalks parsley, lec., for
SEUNG. ..ocoivrenrernraiineiciniiiniieens .06
Cranberries, 1 qt., 12¢., 11b. sugar, 6c.
FOI SAUCE......coeeereerrssrrrasavsasnssnsans 18
Potatoes, 5¢., 3 pint milk, 2¢., tur-
NAPS, BC. +e nner cannciiniinisninnnnnss 13
ONE CAN PEAS....rrererraernsisciernsvasiansans 10
One head lettuce, 10c., } bottle olive
oil, 6c., Apples.......ceeeiiiiiiiiinannnns 16
Four stalks celery at 5c., 20c., small
bottle olives, 10C...........ccovvuueennnne .30
One quart roasted peanuts for salting. .05
One Minee Pil..iceeereieereeriiereaannee eee 230
Apples (} peck, 10c., § doz., orang
150., 4 doz., bananas 8¢............... .33
One ounce coffee at 30c., per pouhd
%c., cream, 3c., sugar, 10....c......... .06
One pound candy.......ccooveeieeenniies ee 13D
One loaf bread, 4c., 3 pound butter
15 CeNbS..ccuvnenirnrrecnnriiiitisnannes .19
1C@ CLAM. vanresecersrarrnrussssrornsiosees nee 10
$4.80
Waldorf Salad.—Pare three of the ap-
ples, cut into small pieces the size of dice.
Take the outside, pieces of celery left after
fixing for the table and cut into small
pieces. Make a thin mayonnaise dressing
of two tahlespoonfuls of olive oil, the yel-
low of one egg, a little salt and a few drops
of vinegar, and mix all together. Put one
or two salad leaves on each plate, and on
these place a large spoonful of the mixture.
Oyster stuffing for Turkey.—To the ordi-
nary seasoned bread stuffing for a turkey
add two dozen small oysters, moisten the
crumbs slightly with the oyster liquor,and
fill the turkey with the mix ure.
Cream of Celery.
Fried Soles, Sauce Tartare.
Mushrooms on Toast.
Turkey, Wild Plum Sauce.
nails in Puree of Chestnuts.
Lettuce Salad with Small Balls of Cream
Cheese.
Mince Pies. Plum Pudding in Burning
Brandy.
Pistache Ice Cream. White Cake.
Brandied. Fruit.
Fruit and Coffee.
A Light Dessert.—For one pint of cream
whipped allow half an ounce of gelatine,
two-thirds of a cupful of powdered sugar
and one teaspoonful of vanilla. Cover the
gelatine with a quarter of a oupful of cold
water, soak while you whip the cream,
then stand it over the teakettle to melt.
Sprinkle the sugar over the cream, add
vanilla and at last the gelatine. Stir at
once and continuously until well mixed
and slightly thickened. Turn into a fancy
mould or a plain one lined with sponge
cake or lady-fingers. Two hours in a cold
place will set it, or it may stand in a very
cold place over night.
What Shall I Bay for Christmas?
Truly this is a puzzling question, and
one that is bothering more then half the
feminine minds of the country. Perhaps
it is not altogether comfined to the femi-
nine mind, either, for somehow the Christ-
mastide makes Santa Clauses of us all, and
we all want to give, even those ‘‘lords of
creation.”” But therein the puzzle lies.
There are 80 many to give to, and it is so
difficult to select suitable presents, that
‘‘what shall I buy’’ really becomes a ser-
ious problem.
Ih buying gifts one ought always try to
have them appopriate. For instance, do
not give a girl friend a clock for her room
when she already has one. Do not give
“grandfather” a pair of house slippers
when lie already has several pairs donated
at different times by other grandchildren.
Why is it, by the way. that grandparents
always get slippers for Christmas presents?
Sofa pillows are nearly always acceptable
gifts, and this season they are especially
pretty. There are painted ones, and em-
broidered ones, with college emblems and
dainty scrolls to please even the most fas-
tidious.
Pocketbooks makes good gifts; but of
pocketbooks, too, beware. A girl witha
limited income got three purses one Christ-
mas, besides owning two that were in good
condition.
Handkerchiefs are old standbys. Every-
body gives handkerchiefs, and nearly
everybody is glad to receive them. You .
cannot have too many, and Christmas hand-
kerchiefs are likely to be daintier and softer
than those ordinarily bought. Therefore
handkerchiefs, by all means. Photographs
are going to form an important factor in
the “Christmas gift’’ world this year, as
are all pictures, in fact. But the amateur
photographer, who takes ‘‘art’’ pictures,
will frame and giva them to only her best
friends. Calendars and folios are decor-
ated with them, and show some very
charming results.
Jewelry, especially the little novelties
will be popular as Christmas gifts this
year, but, as unless one can get the very
best, such things should not be thought of.
This year chiffon ties, either in white or
black, with Renaissance ends, are quite
the rage for gift giving. Patterns for these
ends may be obtained in the shops fora
trifling sum, and the small amount of ma-
terial required increases the cost very lit-
tle. Chiffon is so wide, the width makes
the length of the tie, so that only the width
necessary to fit the ends need be purchased.
This makes a very showy present and looks
a great deal more than it really costs.
Little Renaissance turn-overs are popu-
lar, too, but not so new as the soft tie ends.
Very novel, and yet really practicable
and convenient, are the receptacles for hat-
pins that form one of the favorite home-
made gifts of the holidays. For very little
a very narrow bottle is bought at a drug
store. Then a square of white net about
the size of a handkerchief is edged with
narrow imitation Valenciennes lace (put
on plain), and lined with parti-colored
China silk up to the inner edge of the lace.
The bottle is then put iu the centre of this
square and tied around the neck with bebe
ribbon to match the lining. A long loop,
with a bow at the end finishes this ribbon
tie, so the little holder may be easily sus-
pended from the gas fixture, mirror pivot,
etc. The corners of the square hang down,
forming an effective frill, and disclose the
mouth of the bottle in which the pins are
kept.
“Among the daintiest and most useful
presents are bags, which, lacking pockets,
every woman in the land finds a use for.
Little knitted shoulder capes, warm white
shawls, fleecy affairs of soft wool to throw
over the head when sitting on the veranda
in summer; bedroom slippers, such a com-
fort when one slips off one’s boots at night,
and the sumptuous afghan or silken spread
to throw across a divan or the foot of the
couch, are invariably welcome. So are the
numerous artistic centrepieces and scarfs
which may be exquisitely wrought on
linen, and which adorn the dinuer-table,
or find a plaze on the dressing burean.
“Love in every stitch might be the
legend invisibly woven through the warp
and woof of these beautifully designed and
worked gifts of woman to woman.’
A variety of new ways of using crepe
paper for decorative purposes are always
suggesting themselves to the imaginative
mind. One of the latest is a twine holder
made from a little doll dressed in the fi-
gured paper. It makes avery pretty and
useful Christmas gift, and is at the same
time inexpensive. A twenty-five cent doll,
half a roll of crepe paper, a ball of twine
and a couple of yards of ribbon are the on-
ly requirements.
Remove the legs from the doll and sew
firmly to the end of the body a little silk
bag just large enough to hold the twine
ball loosely. Then drees the doll in a big
full skirt and two foll capes. Fasten the
capes at the neck with a long bow of rib-
bon. A jaunty little hat, made of tufted
crepe paper aud trimmed with ribbon bows
adds the finishing touch. Sew the hat to
the head and leave one long loop of ribbon
by which to hang to the wall. Dolls dress-
ed in the crimson crepe paper are very
pretty, and look well with black ribbons.
Larger dolls made with two twine bags, to
hold string of two sizes are very useful.
These always sell well at church fairs.
A pretty ribbon blotter, for a ladies’
writing table can be made by covering a
piece of stiff card-board the size that the
Blotter is intended to be, with silk or some
prettily colored linen. Then eut six sheets
of blotting paper a fraction smaller than
the , and fasten them to it with broad
bands of satin ribbon, embroidered in some
dainty pattern. The ribbon should be
firmly sewed down so that it will hold the
blotters, but must not be drawn so tightly
that soiled blotters cannot be removed,
and new replaced.
Frames are always welcome Christmas
gifts, and they can be made in so many
forms that they are almost sure to sait all
tastes. A new and very pretiy oueis made
of Japanese crash, and decorated with a
design, cut from a wall paper, and applied.
In all cases it is better when making a
home-made frame to have the form cut by
a regular frame maker. It only costs a few
cents and is so much more satisfactory, as
it is almost impossible to get the edges
regular, without the proper machines, and
nothing could look worse than an uneven
frame. Japanese crash costs about a dol-
lar a yard and one yard will cover a dozen
frames of cabinet size. The large designs
in the wall paper with a decided coloring,
are the most effective for applying. If the
flowers and leaves are carefully cut out,
they can be so arranged so as to form a
very pretty spray, and if well done they
will look just like a water-color. Some-
times a wall paper is found rich enough to
make the entire covering for a frame. These
are usually improved by having the back
washed in with a little water-color. Blot-
ters and scrap baskets made in the same
way, are equally effective. The frames, if
intended for steady useshould all be bound
and glassed. They will last indefinitely,
and cannot be injured by dust.
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