II.
Oyster Soup.
Roast Turkey, Made Gravy.
Mashed Potato; Sweet Potato; Squash.
Macaroni, with Cheese.
Cranberry Sauce; Celery.
Plum Pudding, Cream Sauce.
Fruit, Nuts and Raisins.
Black Coffee.
For a family where the mistress must do all with her own hands, omit the soup and at least one vegetable in the second menu. It would be wisdom also to substitute for the rich pudding a mould of blanc-mange or lemon jelly, but these are matters of personal decision.
The home dinner decided upon, every woman will remember the poorer homes where festivity can never be possible, save as the means for it come from others. It is easy to find ways of adding some unaccustomed luxury—a little fruit, some nuts and raisins, or perhaps even the turkey itself to the table of some hard-working, self-respecting head of a family, who finds the dollars always too few, yet asks favors of no man. Often a little coöperation would secure a good Christmas dinner to many who alone would be unable to buy it. By settling upon how much can be spent, and giving the sum to some authorized buyer, wholesale prices may often be had. To accomplish this for half a dozen poor families in a given neighborhood, would often be truer charity than any giving, and pave the way to coöperation in other ways. On no other day of the three hundred and sixty-five can we answer as readily the question, “Who is my neighbor?” as on this one sacred to love, both human and divine, and demanding love as its highest expression. There may be no time for any elaborate church service, to which a morning must be given, but evening if not morning should hold some assembling together, and in a neighborhood where many poor, or workers in factories or mills are to be found, a simple entertainment—play, charade, light concert, or stereopticon might well have its opening word, thoughtful and tender, of the Christ-child; his love for every weary and toiling child of earth, and his joy in their joy. Where there is no such population there is no less need of a general as well as a special assembling. In short, by judicious planning, it will be possible not only to cover all necessary ground of home pleasure in the day, but to make part also of such evening entertainment as may seem good. A church dinner has been given, made up of prepared food sent in by various members, all that remained being taken home by the eaters. Each year has had its suggestions for Christmas pleasure for the poor always with us, and at such a season denominational differences slip out of sight, and counsel can satisfactorily be taken together by the working members of all churches. Union festivals have already proved successful, and may be perfected still more in detail, the warmth of this joint action for a common good lasting long beyond the day of its accomplishment. If the day has its dangers it holds also its delights, and may be more and more the occasion for the sweetest and tenderest thought and labor that we have to give—a never-failing spring of pleasure to every soul who knows its real meaning and works toward a fulfillment of that meaning.
DO ANIMALS FEIGN DEATH?
BY M. ROMANES.
Translated for The Chautauquan from the Révue Scientifique.