Great Falls tribune., 1888-12-26
CHRISTMAS CHEER
THE HOTELS WILL DECORATE AND
CELEBRATE.
Grand BAH at the Milwaukee
House TOnight-Old Time As
sociations-Turkey and
Mince Pie.
A mayd soc sweete,

" And plentye OF holyday cheere.
" v Olde friends we'll meete
Il And with hand clasp greete,
For Xmas now is here. =
The Great Falls hotels will keep Christ
mas with due honor. Joe STEINER is dec
n Grating the Park hotel dining room with
q his customary good taste. When tomor-
4 row dawns there will be Christmas tree
Il in the centre of the dining room and
4 guests will behold the words, "a Mer-
&ry Christmas" surrounded by wreath.
1 The menu and the dinner which 1t repre-
sents will each maintain the high reputa-
\ ton Of the Park hotel for good fare.
The Milwaukee house will resound
with music tonight, when the popular
proprietors, Matthes s. Roehl, will give q
grand ball. The attendance viii be
large and the entertainment good. Sup
per will be served in the Milwaukee's
4 best style. Tomorrow the house will pre-
sent Christmas dinner that will COM
bine all the luxuries of the season.
John Burke, the popular host of the
Cascade hotel, will likewise entertain his
guests in accordance with the time-honor-
ed custom.
The Delmonico, the B and B, and the
Bob and Joe restaurant will also serve
noteworthy dinners in the good Christ
mas style tomorrow.
No other festival is so universally cele-
brated throughout Christendom as is
Christmas, and no festival carries with it
quite such spirit Of joyousness apart
from its own inherent reasons for joyous
ness. Century after century poetry and
art have been adding to the associations
of the Christ child's day new and beauti-
full conceptions and associations more
than making up for The gradual dropping
off Of the grosser traditions and delights
Of the Christmas in the olden time when
"the mightiest ale was broached and the
boyr's head grimly stared" as the twas
sail cup' went round. .....
But if there is less "wassail" the an
nual feast known as the Christmas din
ner remains an interesting feature in the
programme Of the days celebration.
There Is less novelty in modern Christ
mas fare than in any other yearly feast
except Thanksgiving. The time hon
ored mince pie ranks first as standard
Christmas dessert, although real Eng
lish plum pudding may take Its place,
when both are not provided. 1t is to the
Saxons that we are indebted as the orig
inators of the fruity mince pie. The
Saxon kings and mobiles always had pie
upon their Christman tables, sometimes
so large as to fill up the width OF the
board. These were often used as a
means of presenting surprises in the way
of gifts that were hidden underneath the
crust.
In place of the boar's head and stout
surloin, we long ago adopted that national
bird, the turkey, which in the past few
years has given way in some households
to the goose.
For the housekeeper it is an agreeable
fact that the preparation for the Christ
mas dinner can be made so long in ad-
vance. The apples for the mince pies,
for instance, may early be selected for
peeling, and the fatted heifer killed for
suet and meat This relieves the prepa-
rations that under any circumstances will
pile up as the dayapproaches.