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as paganism, ; en, that children 'has always rstood in Rome. From there nto Germany, where rtain "old traditions t modification = him- m the woods of Germany he channel to England. ys he was a rather individual, tall, a > by: went under. it n } fr. od Tuck 'to a house o hristmas Eve, every ong entprl in a strike the Tole log siece, of iron. This custom ill prevails in rural Europe. ~~ | Inthe Azores, wheat, maize and leaves are Put fo water on Christ- seve, and the way théy germin- ate wall indicate what crops may be expected the following year. i ad rictmas spell is given as fol- Jows in parts of northern Germany : 'Steep mistletoe berries to the num: ber of nine, in a mixture of ale, vinegar and wine ; then dip them in honey, and eat on retiring what you dream you may rest sure of finding. Ha sa X The Boar's Head. In medieval England Christmuas commenced with a great feast, in which the boar's head first appear- ed. In many of her educational in- stitutions the boar's head is still to be seen at Christmas dinners. Queen Victoria had this custom res tained at her last Christmas dinner. The custom is a relic of the pre- Christmas Druidical times, when a t | hoar was killed at the festival of | the winter solstice and sacrificed to goddess of "peace and Frey or the 5 eace Ane plenty. As this period. is coincl- dent with Yuletide, the custom was £| retained. rarely held i After his arrival in Eng- e appears to have improved 'hat in personal appearance, "but it was not until he had emigrat- America, where he . had a to become acquainted with elf in his various aspects, that s developed into the familiar fig: re now seen all over the world at ristmas time, VE LE ; v quaint traditions have fol- Towed in his footsteps and many su- erstitions have grown up 'about the Christmastide. English Legends. In England it is still generally be- lieved that those who quarrel on Christmas, Day "or night will have no luck in-friendship; love or pock- ot. This tradition followed Santa Clans from le throu th the Frankland of the . | Santa Claus combined. ples | the Germany, and is trace- To Coleridge is given the distinc- tion of introducing the Christmas tree in England. At least it was he {who first called public attention to its beauty in a letter from Ratz- burg, North Germany. Tt was ad- apted alt once by some of the lead- ing families and at once became popular, spreading in a single year throughout the length and breadth of the land, and instantly crossing to America. Phe Christmas Tree. In Germany the tree is identi with the apostolic labors of St. Maternus, it : being supposed he slept; under a fir tree and that & miracle occurred on that occasion. But the Christmas tree is really of Roman origin, being traceable to the Roman Saturnalia. 'With all of these traditions and superstitions, Santa Claus is close- ly connected, and how this came v be told briefly y_tracing the amiable old" gentleman through some of his pash rambles. In Italian folklore there is an old woman whose name is Befana. She 13s a sort of wandering Jew and ombi She was filled children's hid fhe fied good fairy. who: stockings with -fur-trimmed coat and cap with its tassel of red and the clattering reindeers and wonderful sleigh; less distinctly a feature of old-time memories than® the peculiarities of hundreds of people we remember as children} J ' Of all the characters about whom history has so many strange and in- teresting tales to tell, can one be naméd whose perennial activities rival those of St. Nicholas? Home=Made Curtains as a Token for the Yuletide If you are aware of the size of your friend's windows, buy net by the yard, decorate it with darned borders in mercerized cottons used for Hardanger work, and give curtains for a Christ mas gift. * Get a firm, square-meshed net. Mea- | sure the windows and allow for hem and casing at the top. Use tapestry needles as their blunt point will not catch, Long skeined, heavy cottons can be had in white or ecru as required | by tone of net. i Conventional patterns for darning may be bought separately or can be i picked out from books on this popular form of needlework. Choose those whose lines are not too intricate and {call for many cuttings of the thréad. When ends must be jointed, run them together for a half-inch and with a fine thread overcast on the wrong side and hide fastening under a stitch. The difficulty in darning is to make an even pattern. Where there is a border on hoth sides and across the bottom lay the front and bottom hem and leave the other until the darning is done, that the hems may be an equal distance from the design. It is often During this 'operaticn the mén fire off guns and pistols, and the girs sing a tong asking the tree to ear "barnfuls' bagiuls, and sack- #fuls." It used to be, and perhaps still is, a cuttom in Cheshire for farm ser- vants to engage themselves to their masters from New Year's Eve to Christmas Day. This left them the days between for jollity befitting the season, though it must often have been somewhat inconvenient for the farmer and his family. A belief still lingers on in parts of Cornwall that at midnight on Christmas Eve the cattle in their alls fall down on their knees, "Bees are also said to singin their hives at this hour, and it is be- lieved that bread baked then will never go mouldy! -- London An- swers. oh SANTA CLAUS KIDDIES | suet easier' to start the pattern in the} corner and work in two directions. Do not finish one line entirely and then begin on the cross lines, Use two or three needles at the same time. A mistake is then easily detected. It will be impossible to count meshes ac- sugatelf, but do have a general idea 0 o | design must be repeated to come out i) evenly at the corners. Where there is only a ) the néts are darned in colored cottons, but as the effect against the light 1s poor, use a heavier { tone. than if the work were to be done distance and how many times the |. border across the bottom count- | |i ing is simplified. ©] Sometimes surface. ; Those who like cross-stitch embroid- 8 pe is 68 inches wide, in a rather new mater: | 1t is divided | read which, | culiar mosaic | oY | Few: formed when drop Remove fro dd one cup of chopped nut meats; ug ugk) ' creamy and pour into buttered. tins and mark off into squares. e nub meats need not be added ess' sired. A very good substitute for '| maple sugar is made by using brown sugar and a few drops of maple flavoring. Tota 2 Chocolate Fudge.--Make the same as cream nut fudge only adding in addition four ounces of grated choe- olate to the other ingredients; and the nuts can be omitted if you wish a plain chocolate fudge. : Fruit Caramels.--Moisten = 'tw. cups of brown sugar with a little vinegar or lenion juice, and a heap- 'ling teaspoon 'of butter, and cook ORIGIN OF PLUM PUDDING Queen Anne Gave .a Prize for the] Recipe. The exact origin of the English plum pudding is so obscure it is difficult to | obtain any information other than an| occasional note in records covering the | early part of the eighteenth century. It is supposed to have been in use many years before this, but the first | mention of "pudding made from flower and raisins" is found under the date | of 1711. Under the sama date we find an old! book of recipes written by the chef) who had charge of the kitchen for King Charles II, James II., and Queen Anne. He writes: "Pudding is a Dish very difficult to be described, because | of the several Sorts there are of it; | Flower, Milk, "Eggs, Butter, Sugar,| Suet, Marrow, Raising, etc, ete. are| the most common Ingredients of a! Pudding. They bake them in an Oven, | they boil them with Meat, they make them fifty several Ways; Blessed be he that invenied Pudding for it is a Manna that hits all Sorts of People; a Manna better than that of the Wilder- ness because the People are neyer weary of it. Ah, what an excellent! Thing is an English Pudding." In the latter part of the same year| Queen Anne offered a prize of two | guineas for the best plum pudding | recipe and out of 500 answers she awarded the prize to the one sending the following? One pound of raisins, one pound of} chopped fine, three-quarters pound of stale bread crumbs, one- quarter pound of brown sugar, one- quarter pound of flour, one pound of currants, one-half of nutmeg grated, five eggs, one-half pint of brandy, one- half pound of minced candied orange peel. Clean, wash, and dry the cur- rants, stone the raisins, mix all dry ingredients -well together. Beat the eggs, add to them the brandy, then pour them over the dry ingredients and thoroughly mix, Pack into greas- ed small kettles or molds (this will | make about six pounds) and boil six| hours at the time of making and six hours when wanted for use. Serve with hard or brandy sauce. The number of answers the queen received proves that such a dish was fairly well known thrcughout England | at that time. As such news did not] travel as fast then as with the modern | system, it is safe to estimate that the! plum pudding was served in England at least 150 years pevious. But even with a 200 year old recipe I fofore us we find it as a whole much the same as those in use to-day. The slight changes found in the modern |- recipes are due in some respects to the high cost of the ingredients. These |: changes were made dn order that all classes may enjoy their English plum pudding which Christmas has assign- ed to the Christmas diner, and it is appropriate as the "decorations and gifts themselves. So with the coming of the holly and mistletoe comes! the | thought of the plum pudding, which | 8 1 ahead 'of time and| | and | rations. for until it makes a firm ball when dropped into cold water; add one- half cup 'each of chopped dates, raisins, figs, citron and éardied peel. Beat welliand roll out' inte a sheet, an inch thick, then cut inte small squares and wrap in paraffin paper. ton Vanilla Caramcls.--Place in a saucepan one cup of golden corn syrup, one cup of light brown su- gar and a cup of good milk. Bir until mixed, Boil until when drop- ped into cold water it will form a soft ball between the fingers. Re- move from fire and add a table spoon of vanilla, and one cup ol English walnut meats, although it will be very good without the nuts. Pour into a buttered pan about aa inch thick, and when slightly cool mark off into small squares. When nearly cool cut into squares. Chocolate Cazamels.--Put in a saucepan two cups of granulated su- gar, one-half pint of cream and déne- half cup of milk and one-fourth of grated ;unsweetened chocolate, stir constantly until the mixture forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water. Pour into greased pans, first flavoring it with vanilla; cut into inch squares. Peanut ugat. -- Place in a saucepan a half cup of water, twe cups of granulated sugar and * one tablespoon of lemon juice. Boil un- til it spins a thread or makes a hard ball between the fingers when drop: ped into cold water. Pour this over a cup of peanuts frem which the skins have been removed and halv- ed. Spread smoothly and mark in to squares. Hazel Nut Toffee.--Melt one-hal cup of butter in a saucepan, allo one cup of mc 8 cup of brown sugar and one tablespoon ol vinegar. Boil until it cracks brit. tle when dropped into. cold water. stir in a half cup of chopped haze nub meats and a tablespoon of va. nilla. Pour into a buttered pan and cut into squares when nearly cold. Sunshine Drops.--Place two cups of granulated sugar in a saucepan and add one-half cup of golden corn evrup. a half cup of water, and one fourth 'teaspoon of e¢ream-of-tartar Boil until it makes a firm ball wher dropped into cold water. In the meantime whip up the whites of twe eggs very stiff. Just before remov: ing the syrup from the fire add one cup of English walnut meats and 8 teaspoon of vanilla. Pour over t! beaten whites and 'beat up un foamy and light. Drep from spoon on greased plates or paper. Stuffed Pruncs.--Procure some large prunes and let stand in co water over night. Drain and wi dry. then remove stones and fill the cavity thus formed with dates anc nutmeats chopped fine.* Coat the outeide of the prunes with powdared sugar. A CHRISTMAS SONG. Hail, Redeemer. Saviour. Friend, Who didst stoop our woes to end, Who a little child became Botn to poverty and shame: Gladly 'we acclaim the morn = i When thou wast of virgia born: Angel lips did Thee proclaim And announce Thy roval name To the shepherds in the field © Keeping watch their "flock tag fc i hy ngel choirs my Glory be to God Men Thy glorious ag