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The Brussels Post, 1913-12-25, Page 6J w— Carmel s Dives feast upon his golden plate And Lazarus is at his gate, The same starved beggar whom we know From nineteen hundred years ago, In reeking slum and tenement The children whimper, wan and spent, And hunger -sharpened tongues deride The mockery of Christmas -tide, And mothers weep in woe forlorn— Was it for this that Christ was born? In flaring light and glaring hall Vice holds her strident carnival, And mortals fight and steal and lie For gold to join this revel high; Men sell their truth, their souls, their fame, And 'women know the taint of shame By greed and passion downward whirled Along the Highway of the World; And true men cry, in wrath and scorn, "Was it for this that Christ was born?" And yet -though toilers taste distress While wasters roll in idleness, Though Mammon seems to hold in sway The people of this later. day, It is but seeming—truth and right Are leading all the world to light, And old abuses fall to dust Before our new -won faith and trust. We are not heedless—Christmas chimes Ring the true spirit of the times, Of "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men," Brave Words that thrill and thrill again, For in the deeps of every heart The little flames of fervor start, And grow and grow until we burn ti All bitter wrongs to overturn, Till all the world we're children of Shall know the perfect rule of Love! Ah Gentle Savior, pierced and torn, It was for THIS that You were born! THE CHRISTMAS GOOSE. .And How the Little Boy and Girl Found It the Best Fun of AIL The little boy and the little girl eat at the breakfast table. eating oatmeal and milk. The papa said to the mamma: "A eem_ltrx rias goose is the best thing feeem e ' .This year we must have S' 'aatmae goose." Teee little girl looked up at the little boy and smiled, and the little boy smiled back. After breakfast the little girl and the little boy put on their caps and coats and mittens, and started off for rile barnyard. They met a big, old fat duck. "Are yon the Christmas geese?" the Tittle girl. Wand v',g, old, fat duck shook her The licet eiK •rettes d at abig, aid fa hen. Ply Se the Ohristmas goose T sand the little eee. But the big, old, fat hen shoo her head. They met a big, old, fat guinea tea. "Are you the Christmas goose T" ne teethe little bey. big, old, fat guinea-hen Ir ler head. Dominioi. net a bag, old, fat white ,,,1 s aficial to aeu the Christmas goose?" to little girl. share the big, old, fait, white goose and ate, and ate. The ehreeemas goose ate, too, but she ate very proudly, and raised her head every few minutes to shake her holly wreath. The papa and the mamma, came out to see them. "Heigh-ho, what's this?" said the papa. "Mercy, what's all this?" said the mamma, "This is the Christmas goose!" shouted the little boy. "And the Christmas goose's Christmas tree 1" said the little placed his things on the ground near the tree. "Now, Christmas goose," said the little girl, "we will go and in- vite all your friends to come and see our beautiful tree 1" So the little girl picked up her ribbon and the little boy picked up his ribbon, and they led an<l drove the Chrisamas goose back to the barnyard. But it was hard work, for the Christmas goose wanted to turn her head all the time to look at the Christmas tree. At the barn- yard all the chickens, and all the ducks, and all the guinea -hens, stood still to admire the fine Christ- mas goose in her holly wreath and ribbons. "Oh, Chickens!" said the little boy. "Oh, Ducks!" said the little girl. "Oh, Guinea -]Iona !" said the little boy. "Come, see our Christvtas #re s' said the litt :.aa'• ---e— :. v thickens clucked, and the ducks packed., and the guinea - hens piped, and they all spread themselves out in a. long row, and ran around, and around, and around after the little girl and the little boy driving their Christmas goose. The little boyand the little girl scattered corn and wheat and oats all over the ground around the Christmas tree. The chickens and the ducks and the guinea -hens ate, tuded her head and fluffed her cullers, and stepped proudly with ay.ftat, yellow, webbed feet, parch, geode: 1" shouted the little am,_ ;`We've found our Christmas ise already 1" "Oh ! Oh 1 Ole 1; I know some- thing," said the little girl, and she ran to the house, just as fast as she Auld go. And when she came back e had a lovely little holly wreath, d with beautiful long red and •een ribbons. They put the wreath over the of the Christmas goose, and girl. h held one of the ribbons. The istanas goose waddled proudly. the guinea -hens piped, the ducks ked, and the hens clucked ri they saw this eight. e little boy and the little girl and drove the proud Ohristmas eec out of the barnyard to the wen, :grove where all the little telstmas trees grew. o fe must have a Christmas tree er Christman goose," said the e girl. i'es, yee, Christmas goose," the little boy, "yeti wait right for as! Doe'•t you muss your y wreath, and don't you muse ur ribbon•s ls Phe proud Christmas goose wad - id gently, to &how how careful would be. The little bey and the girl ran away fast to get tate for the tree. 'dale girl brought back some red and yellow corn, and a f wheat and barley heads, ocloetful of oats, his tee boy brought !sack two we, and a yellow pionpkin, the grain, The CI-mid/nee aecasne eo egeited when the ere things, that she waddled an, :a minute, Christmas " cried the little girl, and feted her things on the tree. isn't quite time, C'hriat late e1" cried the little bey, and ho "And the Christmas goose's friends!" said the little boy. "Yea, and it is quite true, pa," said the little girl, "a Christmas goose is the best thing there is ! Why, a Christmas goose is just lots of fun 1" "Yes, mamma," said the little boy, "a Christmas goose is the best fun of all." At Christmas the present should Superstitions In Servia. be complete. There's a happiness Curious indeed is the spending of in giving. and a joy in receiving and a Servian Uhrislanas. Before dawn using. If one has eo wait until the on Christmas Eve the on of the shops re -open after tete holidays be - house are despatched to the forest fore they can mese a present, the joy to cut down the Ohristnias-tree, or is baked, especially with obildren, badnyak, as it is called in Bervia, The feilowing examples—it is im- This is attended with remarkable possible to give more -will guide rites. Once felled, the tree is car- you. A boy loves a box of tools. tied home, and leant against the He wants to begin using them at east side of the house. Towards evening the mother of the house - How to Give Presents. Why is it that people in selecting presents so 'often say, "Oh, yes, that will do for so-and-so." This means that something quite unsuitable is to lib offered to se - and -so, but that the giver's con- science is eased by the fact that she has given "a present." The giving of presents is really an art, and one, too, which entais a good deal of trouble. One natural- ly hopes that the recipient will have pleasure in one's gift, and surely that is worth some trouble. ,Some people buy a lot of things without the slightest regard for whom they are intended. The re- sult is a general mass of things, books, gloves, sweets, needle cases, and so on, which have to be planted on a collection f "sisters si ers and cous- o st ins .gneeme nb?' without any, -or at least very little, regard to the in- dividual taste. Better far is it to hoose seam quite small present provided it will really give pleasure to the re- cipient. For the Lady with nimble fingers the little presents she makes her- self, costing only a few cents, will often give more pleasure than tho most expensive thing bought at random. Men find much difeulty in select- ing presents. Let them remember that pot flowers are always accept- able. For the reader, books never come amiss. Where there are young people, sweets, fruits, crackers, and so forth are always acceptable, but with everything let the individual- ity of the sender be seen. Write a little note or a few words of greet- ing on a Christmas card or visiting card. It is in these little ways that the thoughtfulness of the sender is seen and: appreciated. K-- The Perfect Present. once, No wood, no nails, no ecrewe 1 Send with the .tools a pound of mix - bold lights -two candles, and con ed I:rench nails, two dozen screws, duets her husband, hearing the and a dozen shorn pieees of weed.' tree, into the .house. here he Then he'e .harpy. With that new stands, still clasping the tree, while acetylene lamp put in a half -pound with the ether band he scatters tin of carbide. See? '4'1'tth the au - darn, saving "Good -evening, and a tomatie lighter, send -in a tin, merry C'lrislmas to you 1" Later carefully closed --a little metdty- on, the tree. is burnt on the hearth, head eputt pr tetra With o dell, while avoryene dances joyously urdroseed, and »a selection of those round. On •C'hrietmas Day itself. the bits of silk, ilennel, eta, which de- Servian peasant takes his family to , lizht a loth! who tnakes her own ohurclt, and brings then! back to a dolly's rialtos. With sloatea, don't g. i he r i forret. the straps 1 With a rose, huge meal o ions t ca v n g t pig, s Mend the materials for stuffing! ownof parbis also ar reended with its Before you begin :bo pack your cut down totlthe hone it ea, 11eu_ ('resents, think over' each carefully, liar fashion, and if the hone when 1 and make them complete, exposed shows red, precautions must be taken against fire during the coming year; if small, it means the year will be unprofital:rle;if e, hole or abrasion, that one of the family will die before .Gm ycer is out, f'cra, `y eetlilaTilltati IVEEI( COOKERY, Oreagoe for Children's Parties, Peal them and free there flea. the whit•c :skin, divide them into see - tions, and heap in a glass dooh; scatter grated cocoanut over. }Banana Salad.—Peel and out the banenas in half lengthwise. Lay. each half on a lettuce leaf, cover with Mayen/lake dressing, and scat- for a few chopped nuts over, A Hint on Choosing a Gotha,— When ai goose 03 o1(1 the bills and feet are reed, yellow when fresh killed, The feet of a g0000 get stiff when kept too long. Geese are called "green" when they are un- der four menthe old. Make Pink Sugar, which is so pretty as a garnish, by beating a few drops of cochineal into granu- lated sugar.. Then dry the sugar in a slow even. Store in a tin. Mince Pie Pastry, made as fel- lows, will delight my read ms. Take sic ounces 0' flour anti nth into it three ounces of mixed butter and lard, a teaspoonful of baking pow- der, a teaspoonful of caster sugar, the yolk of one egg, and three des- sert-poonfuls of cold water. roll out three times and use. Orangeade is made elitist Make a syrup of one pint of water and twelve, ounces of loaf sugar; steep the thin rind of three oranges in it ; squeeze the juice of twelve arauges• through a hair sieve into abowl; add the syrtm and three pints of cold water, mix, and creel in ice for an hour. Place in glass jags en the refreshment table at a party. Christmas Date Pudding. -Take one cupful and a half of stoned and washed dates, and cut them into pieces, with a cupful of walnuts, a'.•so chopped. Make a nice ]iglu suet pudding mixture, add half e tea•rrpoonful of carbonate of soda and three nieces of brown sugar. Add the dates and nuts. Place al' into a greased mould, and boil at a gallop for four hours. Sift caster sugar over to serve, Icing tiro Christmas Calm—Be- fore making the icing •see that the top surface of the cake is quite fiat.. With a sharp knife trim it and grate off any blackened parts. It is difficult to give the exact propor- tion of icing, as some people like a thick layer and others a thin. Aa you spread the icing over the cake dip the knife constantly into a jus• filled with het water, whiolt maker either a'rrond paste or sugar kin, work nicely. Gingerbread Reci a for ' uv en i g J l Codes: Piit .one pourd of flour it begin, adding a t-a,sroonfe] 0' ground ginger tied half te teaspoon• ful of mixed spine, wenn three quarters of a pound of treacle are' three ounces of brown svawr;Were-- fair ounces of meed beef dripping' into the flour. Dissolve a teaspoon• fel of carbonate of soda with a little warm milk, add it to tete door Med treacle. Beat the whole well wit!" a wo"cten epode. Place in e greased tin, and baloe in a moderate oven. ter. CHRISTMAS WITH']'(€E^' RAISER How the German Emperor Speeds the Day. Germany is the home of the Cloidtm .s -tree, of Christmas car- ols, and of Father Ohristmas.. No- where in the country are these old oedema more honored or more striobly observed than at Court. In keeping with the German concep- tion it is strictly a family feetival, and tee Kaiser never by any chance, permits •affairs on State or any oth- er of has manifold duties to .inter- fere with his enjoyment of leirist- mas. Towards the darkening hour on Chrieteas Eve the children and grandeliildren of his Majesty mtav be' seen alighting before the Royal residence at Perte'dam, where Christmas is invariably 'celebrated. No strangers ---net even the moat in- timn.te friends—are invited. While the Kaistrin plays the mel- ody on the piano, the ccrnp00 as- sembled round her sing ebbs Kalser'e favoriteChristina'sChristina's carol, "Stele Nechth, Heilige Nacht I" Then Kai- ser and Kaiserin lead the proeo,s- sion to the Me echei Seal o•r. Shell Room—the walls and ceiling being covered with shells gathered from. the coast of Norway give it all .the appearance of a sea. -cave, ` The Kairor looks forward with al- most dhildiah delight to the plea- anre of playing with ]ns grand- ohildtsen at Chri:ehn ustide. Most of the presents are prrictical, rather (lisp luxurious. Ab dawn on Ohri.etonos morning the Kaiser le 6edbir. ]Tis first duty is to make a routed of the pollee guarde, giving to each sentry as he rs pete At gold piece for his Cheiste gnat -box, In the oourse'Of the fore- noon the Xaiset visite the various regiment» of the guards•, making a tonne' of the ba+rrac!etteenu•. ONE OF THE CHILDREN HE MISSED. PLUM -PUDDING Some Curious Planes That Corn nreloorato Christmas. Search your atlas, and you w]1 ISLAND. find that all, or nearly all, the great Church festivals have their names on the snap. Perhaps the best known is Aseension Telenet, which has been an important naval post of our own for a great many years, says London .A,nrvwera. Then there is Taster Island, two thousand miles from anywhere, to which Jacob Roggewein gave its name on Easter Day, 1722. During the past year a British expedition has gone out to explore this mys- terious spot of land, with its 555 huge stone gods. Trinity Sunday is eowaneenorated by more than a dozen places named after le, including rivers, bays, is - lends», and two Irish parishes while Whit Sundn,v has an island namesake cif the Queensland coast. as well as a strait in the same local- ity. Oddly enough, Christmas, wheel" is in our eves t'e tgreaten festival of all, is. worst ail from a geogramhi gal point of vieev. So far as Eng land goes, we have only one place which bears the name of Chris.tenas. This is the little vil'a,ge of Cheese,,- mar C•sensnon in Oxfordshire, two melee from Wai 1 rn aton. B ut per- haps er-haps it is only right to mention thet we have no fewer than fourteen na•ri.<hes in oar i -lands which are :mined after pt. Nicholas, tho pat. ron saint cf Ceh isin+re. not to man_ tdetteSee . Ninholes Island, in Ply- mouth Sound. • -. Three islands, However, inediffer- '»t .pasts of the world bear the -beery name of Chh ieemas. They ore all British. The first and least known is very areal] indeed, and 'ies just off Cape Breton ; the aee- ord is alio small, and alanost un- known. It is as dot of land lying in the very centre of the Pacific Ocean, about two degrees north of some gifts had spoken of her as &I- tem equator, and s, little south of most a spendthrift because of her giving, and heal touched severely upon some of her devices for put- ties off -r.edi+ars. She sat down in humiliation and studied the matter out, then asked herself. "Why ehould I make Chrieltmoatide a time of doing what is really didean est 1 Can I elaian any merit while I fel- Lew such a course ?" She decided FREE-IrANDED GIVING. Let There Be Moderation In the Christmras Gift. Ono oe the sins of Christmastkle is that we give when we cannot af- ford to do so. It seems contradic- tory to itso the word sin in connec- tion with giving.No•ne the loss, the two words may very appropri- ately go together unless we aro careful to say that some so-oalled giving 15 not true giving. The majority of people have to deal with incomes that have oast iron limitations, so that to spend Lavishly or carelessly for the sake of giving to a friend on the right, may mean that the butcher and the baker on :the left will suffer great ieconvenience, if not loss, because of long-d^'eyed bill -paying. Little self -sacrifices are highly appropri- ate for the cake of giving to the dear ones, in feet add value to the gifts, and forcing saotificee upon others is a very different matter. Such management of Christmas giv- ing brings it doyen to the level with strai'.ing after the must haves of the fashionebbe world; yes, carries it on into the realm of injustice. Not always does free-handed giv- ing mean debts. It may wean pinching along without things that are essentially more important than gift giving. It would not be hard to find cases in while, the money value given away merely to keen up wit social conventions would far better be used to provide a va- cation for father or mother, or more fuel to keep the hence com- fortable, or. a better »supply of win- ter clouting all around. or a few !nooks and gaenes, even parties, to ma10 hone mtt-..etiee to the ehil- dren, Not so verymany years 0.go a woman who had gone to extremes in trying to remember many well- to-do friends and acquaintances, accidentally learned that one to whom she had habitually sent hand - Fanning Island, which we took aver"" r^ene years ago fog a cable sta- teen. This particular Christmas Islar,d is valuable on]y for its deposits • of rruano, thousands ofteas el which have bean shipped to England for thepurpose of growing good crops• on Pur farmlands. The biegest and beet known of the not to 5100 a single gift that year three Christmas Islands is the one .save for pr o love's-eake, apd (then whiah lies a couple of hundred only ie a simple way. It cost her miles south of Java. In some re- pride some pangs to carry out the specie this is the most initorestultg resolution. but .she found herself of ell small is•1ande, for it has been ha,n, er then in former years and known for over three hundred able to anticipate the next Christ years, yet lentil unite lately itt was mai ^with peace of mind, ertirely uninhabited. The reason is that 'it is not a coral Wand, and, instead of a shore of white •sand, it is •surrounded on all sides by steep, stern -looking cliffs, while a little distance off the shore the ',ea ie: over a mile deep 1 reaipieot, emit they are to• be drawn In 1888, Andrew O. Ross, breather by lot, •wit1> to corresponding 111.1171- of umof the King of Coate Keeling Is. - lands, landed there, aed made a settlement, _ He found that the birds were so tam that they did not even trouble to fly away. You could eatoh pigeons with a wire noose on the end of a stick. Thrushes could be taken with a but- terfly -nee. Another island which, if net named after Christmas, bees, at any natal the name of a C1hristmes come motley, is Plum -Pudding Island. off •the ooastof Somali Afrvoa. It awes rte pante' to its queer foci» tion, .bloclas of stone being-stuolc, like plums in e pudding in its gray- ells cliffs, Some five or six scans ago there was great excitement about a ilia-. mond-digging •svndicatee which wan sated to have discovered diamonds oil this island. Bob the Cape Gay - eminent refused to pei'inib a land- ing, •and Plum -Pudding Island is hely to the millions of sen birds which inhabit it. --op Dressing a Christmas -Tree. Make a list of the pimento, unci label each with the name of the �,aq,,n.itet a 1r11ti4100. rll*C APIA mDT. Begin et the bottom, and work upwards. • 'very heavy articles •should not be placed on the tree, but arranged round its base. Fairly heavy articles should be thrust in among the branches, olose eo the »stem, Work gradually upwards, keep- ing .tire lie -teen gifts for the top and 1110 ends of the branches ' Article's may bo tied on with string; butt a better plan is to make a number of hooks of picture were, so that the arleclee may be :svy� needed from them, .and easily re- moved without cutting. Illuininatiome oil a, G7risb ntleetrce are algaye dangero•ns, and, as a rule, 00sieceseary. The tree should look quite- bright enough •q decor. ated with eolcred glass balls and tinsel ornaments, ` 11 you mush have' illuminations, Chinese lanterns are particu-larly •dangerous, In any case, if the tree is illumi- nated, there should be no eobton- wool on it tc roproaontl e•now;..ac space should be roped round it, so that children *trainee get elute to it, and "rather Christmas" domed he strictly forbidden to wear a heard, or reey octet:gm-wool on hie a,'+ wn. If rho tree iy unateethe .it should be lashed to a. 1310(111 ehirtlt driven info the pct, ego e— Christmas Jlfelpig, Stoning Raielns,—B,wh a littlk; butter or ether grease over yoult' lingers before beginning apd sort will ho able to stone them with lit»: the trouble. A little butter ehould also bo rubbed on bho Made of the knife. When Frying Doligl,»eits.--•Whero frying douglntttts success dopende largely on having the fat ab just the right, heat. 7.'o tofi ib dip a match quickly into the hot fat, and if ignites the fat is hot enough to fry doughnut,. To ('lean Sliver.-li'or washing silver pat 11)111 0 teaspoonful , monia into suds; have the water hot ; wash quickly, using a small, brush; rinse in hot water and dry with a clean linen towel, then rub dry with a chamois skin. Washed in this manner silver becomes bril- lianb, requires no polishing 'with any of the powders or whiting us- ually employed, and does not wear out. Jewelry can be made to look like new by washing in ammonia water. Put half a teaspoonful into clear water to wash bumblers or glass of any description. Ironing '!able Limen.—It is saki Glad an experienced iaundrese never sprinkles her table linen. She dries it thoroughly in the air, then she dips it into boiling water and puts it through the wringer. Bach article is then folded in a dry eletli es smoothly as possible and allow- ed to remain there for a couple of hours or so. Irons =lathe hob, but net scorching, because the linen most be ironed .perfectly dry. Here. in lies the secret of tablelinen that is guiltless of starch. Christmas In Russia. The traveller in this land of snowy steppes will be most struck ab Christmas -time by the Little amount of stir the feast day makes among the peasants—for the reas- on, chiefly, that Easter is really the time of most rejoicing in Rus- sia, and not Christmas at ale; How- ever, on the Gbh of our January, a little unusual bustle will be des- cried rte the market -.places in most Russian villages, where small and large Ohrie.tmas-trees are sold, the foamier costing only four cents, and the latter—some that scrape the ceiling, too—being bought for a matter of a few cents. These aro taken home; her there is my little excitement manifested over thew, and until quite recently, when Bus - •iia has been influenced by the Ger- man "Weihnachtsrnann" (Santa Claus), the Russian children did not dream of 'hanging up their stock- ings, nor did they receive the nu- merous presents that English child- . ren expect at this season of the year. The Russians spend most of their Christmas Day in church at Mase. They begin with a service at two o'clock in the morning, which lasts till four o'clock' in the after- noon. After this they re+urn home to regale themselves with pork, ham, and sausages, arriving bade at church, where, after another Mass, a solemn thanksgiving is giv- en for the deliverance of Russia from the French in 1819. . Christmas -in Jerusalem. Perhaps one of the most notable' Christmas Days I have ever spent was at Bethlehem a few.years ago, writes a traveller. The festivities themselves extended over a` period of a fortnight, scanting with the re- ligious ceremonies for the Latins, followed by those .of the Orthodox Greeks, the Copts, and of the S,yri• ane. These latter often degenerat- ed into brawls .between the differ- ent religious factions, 1 am sorry to say. The shops -or, rather; the dismal holes which talke duty as each—remained open all night long during the Christmas rejoicings, and the Arab cafes were constantly full with visitors, listening to the ear-splitting discords of the Arab musicians. In, the square in front of the Church of the Nativity hawk- ers cried their wares, consisting mainly of roast pistachio nubs, » died pumpkin seeds, carrot beans, and grain, not to forget boiling we- ber to fill the teapots of the hessian pilgrims. An hour before midnight of the day preceding the actual eliminates Day,; the church was full to overflowing, threehundred sol- diers maintainingorder amongst the conglomerate assembly. iChis service lasted until two o'olooh in the afternoon, when the majority of the i:nhebii•ants repaired to the, squaree to smoke, or to alto cafes to listen is the» story -1,011m%. .._....fit.- Cocoanut trees begirt to bear a g t the age' ee eight years. , Dome thieves !rave no higher am, 5 bition than the top teen in a chick en house.