davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

The dealer sized me up shrewdly, to make
sure that | was not such father in disguise.
WELL he said, that depends on how
anxious he is. | can generally tell by the
nj mber of crows feet and the beams in his
eye. If he is only so so he could get that
bunch for $40. If the young man has been
calling long time but wont say anything, l
can generally get S12 for it. But the father
of nine-and | can tell him every time
cannot get off for less than SIS or $40,
according to the size of his pocket-book A
chap in this business has to be sort of
human weather sharp. He must be able to
tell by the feel of a mantle atmosphere
around him, so to speak whether it is rain
or shine with him."
Old as Chrstepdom and never wearing
ont the pleasant fiction of the mistletoe goes
on: dining and bed rooms are furnished
with boughs Of holly. Families take it by
turns to entertain their friends. They meet
early; the beef and pudding are noble; the
mlnee ples-peculiar; the nuts, half play
things and half eatables; the oranges as cold
and acid as they ought to be, furnishing US
with superiority which we can afford to
laugh at; the cakes indestructible; the was
sail bowls generous, huge, demanding ladies',
threatening to overflow as they come in,
solid with roasted apples when set down
Toward bed time you hear of elder wine and
not seldom of punch. AT the manor house
it is pretty much the same as elsewhere.
Girls. although they be ladies, are kissed
under the mistletoe. If any family among
us happen to have hit upon an exquisite brew
ing, they send some of it round about, the
ssquire's house included, and he does the same
by the rest. Riddles, hot cookies, forfeits,
music, dances sudden and not to be sup
pressed, prevail among great and small. and
from o'clock in the day to midnight the
village looks like deserted place out of
doors, but is full of life and merriment
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
The Miracle of the Fishes.
The weight of the ingredienta. the size of m

The weight of the ingredients. the size of the
copper, the quantity of water, the duration
OF time. everything was attended to except
one trife-the King forgot the cloth in
which the delicacy should be boiled, and 'ht,aa,
pudding was served un liihss-so much soup
ID immense turee--5 to the surprise or the
empassa1eefl,w who was, however, too we'll
bred to express his establishment.
Even the little street Arab in this country
understands the difference between the fra
grant smell of the plum pudding and that of
any or all other things that grace the table.
In New York there are thousands-or rather
were; things have been changed since the
circumstance here narrated occurred-of
poor waits, whose only share Of the Christ
mas festival is the smell of the vands as
they halt in front Of the place where the
halted over the grating on the Mercer-street
side Of the St Nicholas Hotel. One leans
in nonchalant manner against the wall of
the building, while the other is peerng
through the grating into the depths of the
culinary department. Suddenly he raises
his head and exclains:
say, Jakey, dey's bringing up de ros'
beef. Come and get sniff
Oh, blow de ros' beef, Keyser. Tell me
OATS me tigur."
Philosopher in youth and manager Of a
bank in manhood, Nilsson in his travels
tells OF wonderful pie. Suppose some
coed housewife tries the experiment of
making it,:
Every English family against Christmas
makes famous pye which they call Christ
mas pye. 1t is a great nostrum. The COM
position of this pastry is a most learned
mixture Of meats tongues, chicken, eggs,
sugar, raisins, lemon and orange peel aud
various kinds of SDiceryb
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

the foliage of their darling abodes. The
cutting of the mistletoe was a ceremony of
great solemnity with our ancient ancestors.
The people went in procession. The bardS
walked first, singing canticles and hymns;
a herald preceded tn zee Druids with imple-
ments for the purpose. Then followed the
prince of the Druids. accompanied by all
the people. He mounted the oak and cut
ting the mistletoe with golden sickle. pre-
sented it to the other Druids, who received
1t with great respect, and on the first day OF
the year distributed it among the people as
a sacred and holy plant, crying: The
miStletoe for the new year! Because 1t
was used in the pagan rites of the DruidS,
the mistletoe has never been used in the
decoration of Christian churches, and it
therefore had its place assigned it in kitchens
and halls, where it waS1hung up in great
state with its white berries with the charm
attached to it that the maid who was not
kissed under it at Christmas would not be
married in that year."
Shakespeare refers TO the holly but once,
and also mentions the mistletoe but once in
his works, and with regard to the latter he
does not place very favorable construction
upon it. His reference to holly is in the
song in the seventh scene in the second act
of LAS You Like It." The refrain is:
Heigh no sing. heigh no unto the green holly.
Most friendship is fegning, most loving mere folly.
Then, heigh no the hoily
This life is most jolly.
And his reference to The mistletoe is Act
2. Scene of Titus Andronicus":
A barren, detested vale you see, it is;
The trees though summer yet, fororn and bare
Oercome with moss. and baneful mistetee.
1t is pOpularly SupDOSed that tua mistlaroe
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

grows exclusively on the oak tree, but this
is mistake. as it is found on the oak in
very rare instances, while it grows with
great profusion ON the apple, the pear, the
hawthorn and also on sycamores, lines,
poplars. locust trees and frs. In some Dor
tons of the south of England it is very
abundant, and its evergreen leaves give
peculiar appearance to the orchards in win
ter, when the punches of mistletoe are very
conspicuous among the naked branches of
the trees.
The mistletoe derives its nourishment
from the living issue of the tree on which it
seems to spring. as if it were one of its own
branches. The berries. which are about
the size of curraDts, white, transparent and
full of a very viscid juice, which serves TO
attach the seeds to branches, where they
take root when they terminate, are favor
lite food of thrushes; and bird-lime is made
from them ard also from the bark
At one time the misiletoe was held in
great ute as remedial agent for cpl
lepsy and commissions, but in truth it pos
sesses no decided medicinal properties.
The superstition that the misiletoe was an
unholy parasite was by no means confined
to the age of Shakespeare. Washington
Irving tells OF a circumstance that came
under his observation, where ION reaching
the church porch we found the parson re-
buking the gray-beaded sexton for having
used mistletoe among the greens with
which the church was decorated. 1t was
he observed, an unholy plant, profaned by
having been used by the Druids in their
mystic ceremonies, and though it might be
lnnoeently employed in the festive orna-
mentlng of halls and kitchens, yet it had
been deemed by the father of the church as
unhaliowed and totally unfit for sacred pur-
poses. SO tenacious was he on this point
that the poor sexton was Obliged to strip
down great part of the humble trophies of
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
MAKING HOME HAPPY.

What Kind of Presents to Give and What
Not to GIVE.
1t Is not necessary that the toys and gifts
for the occasion be expensive. Costly gifts
too often excite envy and emulation. An
instance is brought to mind of one young
lady of the mature age of ten years, whose
Christmas doll and its wardrobe, filling
twelve miniature Saratoga trunks, cost
$500. She was the envy of every little girl
on the avenue. and the poor fathers who had
daughters of about the same age had their
very lives made miserable by the pleadings
of their progeny for similar present. Some
of the toys brought from Germany are of
the most costly kind, ranging as high as
S3000 This Is not meant to include the
presents of jewelry which signing StrephOns
make to their loving Phylises. But here is
marked contrast, as going to show how little
it takes to make children happy. 1t is told
by lady, who is relating an experience of
her own:
Il spent a recent Christmas on farm,
among group OF merry children. who had
few but homemade pleasures. We had a
Christmas tree, not very large, but suffi-
ciently laden to give all great pleasure. We
! would tell you just how, but must leave
| that to another time. We had some English
| walnuts that we used in making the candy.
| In cracking them we saved as many COM
| plete half-sheils as possible. OF these we
made turtles and birds nests. To make tho
turtles we cut round piece Of wood for the
under-shell of the turtle; the head, legs and
| tail We cut out of walnut wood. Then we
| fastened the parts together with putty
and vanished the top, and the turtles
were complete. How the children did
laugh at them. But they laughed more at
the turkeys. which we made out of chest
nuts. We took the nut for the body, and
stuck in pins for legs and crooked wire for
with putty, molding it into something like the
shape of birds head. For spread tail
we had the tip of real turkey-tail feather
glued on. The feet we made of
putty and put in brown straws for toes.
Making the birds nests was very pretty
work. Wey vanished the walnut shells, then
fastened inside with glue tiny bits of moss,
and small round candies for eggs. Some OF
these we set In little basket of dried
grapes, and others we hung on the tree,
When the distribution of gifts was over
these nests were given also to tho several
children, who no doubt keep them yet among
their choicest treasures. We had wonder
fully pretty tree, and its decorations cost
almost nothing We had strings of pop
corn, red and white, paper chains, cut by the
children themselves out of bright-cOlOred
papers. As substitute for the bright glass
balls that reflect the light SO prettily, we
hung up pieces of broken iooking-glass
which had q very pretty effect We had
some scraps of gilt paper, and we cut
crescents and moons from pasteboard and
covered them with this. wish you could
have seen how pretty the whole looked when
cur work was DONE"
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
FROM THE DRU1Ds.

supersutions Regarding the Holly and
the MistIetoe.
Every man, woman and child Is familiar
with the old song of "The Mistletoe Bougb."
by Bayly, commencing:
The mistletoe hung I'm the castle hail.
he holly branch shone on the old oak wall
But few are aware OF the origin Of the ems
tom. To such the following, taken from an
old paper, will be found interesting, not only
as throwing light upon Its introduction, but
also as regards tile seemingly incongruous
constructions put upon its Introduction as
part and parcel of Christmas decorations:
1.-The old and pleasant custom Of decking
eyergreens is derived from ancient heather
practices. Where Drnidism had existed the
houses were decked with evergreens in De-
cember that the sylvan spirits might repair
to them and remain unnipped with frost and
cold winds until milder season had renewed
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
CHRISTMAS FARE.

The FreRchman's "PIomb Pooling" and
Jakey's Idea OF Beef
All! there Is where the joke comes in.
Pumpkin pies 90 well enough for Thanks
giving day-and, in fact. Thanksgiving day
ana pumpkin pic are synonymous terms In
New England-but what would Christmas
be without the mince pie and plum pudding?
Alas, for the fate of these luscious adjuncts
OF the great festival II ever the Prohibition
lists get into power. With the brandy, wine
and cider that go to form the sauce left out,
the course would fall as fat Is pancake.
Christmas day all the English cooks In
Paris are full Of business forwarding plum
pudding In cases to all parts of the country.
already cooked and fit for the table after
the necessary warming. All this il. of
course. for the English. No prejudice can
be stronger than that of the French against
plum pudding. A Frsnchman will dress
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

HiS tdobc Dolotc LHc pHTSOU WOulQ consent
to enter upon the service Of the day."
SCOTS connection of the mistletoe with
the festival is rather more pleasant:
On Christmas eve the bells were rung
IN christmas eve the mass was sung;
That only night in all the year.
Saw the stoied priest the ciialice rear
The damsel donned her kirtle sheen.
The hall was dressed with holly green:
Forth to the wood did merry men 20
To gather in the misttetoe.
The heir. with roses In his shoes,
Ina1 night might village partner choose.
All hailed with Uncontrolled delight
And general voice the happy night
That to the cottage. as the crown.
Brought ttdings OF salvation down.
Formerly the miStietoe was hung upon
the wall and the girl who sat down under it
knew full well what she was doing and
watched her opportunity to be seated when
the swain came along by whom She wished
to be kissed. And he had no excuse; kiss
her he must, or else find disfavor in the eyes
when chandeliers hang from the ceiling. the
mistletOe is suspended from the brackets
and an unthinking Joan may heedessIy
walk underneath, only to be seized by a
watchful Darby, who takes the penalty
from her lips, be she willing or unwilling.
Some years ago, when Christine Nilsson
arrived in this country for the first time,
she was invited to enjoy the Christmas
festivities IN PROGRESS in one of the most
fashionable mansions in Filth avenue, New
York. PENDENT from the chandelier hung
branch Of mistletoe, under which she
attempted to pass in most unconscious inno-
cence OF the penalty. When directly under
the faithful bough gentleman who had
been watching his opportunity sprang for
ward and imprinted q rOusing kiss upon her
lips. Crimson with Indignation at what she
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
SIZING HIM UP.

How Well He Could Tell tho Father OF
Nine Daughters.
The father with marriageable daughters
is made the victim of the mistletoe dealers
greed. A would-be purchaser tells the story
of his experience in the following language:
l looked at one great, handsome branch,
which must have weighed quarter of a
hundred weight, and asked the dealer if
people ever bought SO much.
'Oh, yes." he said with grin. "Some
people, you know, are pretty hard to take a
hint, and if the father with nine marriage
able daughters finds the young men too OBJ
fuse for patience, he is very apt to make the
mistletoe hint SO strong that he who is blind
can see it."
"How much does such piece cost him 2"
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
EATING THE ARGUS.

Royal Bird Fit Only to Be Covered by
Fair Lady's Hands.
The term "Argus is applied to a species
of the pheasant. remarkable for It's size and
the beauty and length of its wings and tail
feathers. The peacock is also by some
called the ARGUS" from the hundred eyes
in the tail feathers when spread.
Next in Importance to the boar's head as
a Christmas dish came the peacock. To
prepare argus" for the table was task
entailing no little trouble. The skin was
first carefully stripped off with the plumage
adhering The bird was then roasted.
When done and partially cooled it
was sewed up again in its feathers,
its beak gilded and so sent to the table.
Sometimes the whole body was covered
with leaf gold, and piece Of cotton. satu-
rated with spirits, placed in its beak and
lighted before the carver began operations.
The bird was stuffed with spices and sweet
herbs. haSted with the yelk of an egg and
served with plenty Of gravy. The noble
bird was not served by common hands; that
privilege was reserved for the lady guests
most distinguished by birth or beauty. One
of them carried it into the dining-hall to the
sound of music, the rest of the ladies follow
ing in due order, and it was set down before
the master of the house or his most hOnored
guest
Geese. capons, pheasants drenched with
ambergris, and pies of carps' tongues helped
to furnish the table in bygone Christmases.
Mince pies were popular under the name Of
mutton pies as long ago as 1886. They were
also known as shred and Christmas pies.
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

tempted to withdraw from the house, but
her host and hostess. themselves almost
overcome with laughter, in which the whole
company joined except Miss Nilsson, ex-
planned to her that it was the custom of
Christmas celebrations to exact kiss from
any unmarried lady who passed under the
mistletoe, and that any maid who was so
unfortunate as not to pay the penalty during
the course of the evening was sure not to be
married during the year to come. AS soon
as she understood the joke she entered
heartily into its spirit, and many young
girl was brought under the bough and re-
ceiyed the kiss through her artful maehina-
tons before the party broke up for the
night
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
SERVIETTES FOR
THE TABLE.
How They Can Be Worked Up
Into Fanciful Designs.
Folding Them Into water.Lily-A Bishops
Miter-A Fancy slippsr-A Maltese Cross.
A Quatrs Peche and Double Miter.

IIEHI WELL-COOKED dinner If served
Hk4s on table that has not been properly
INV dressed loses half its favor. There
is nothing that Is so attractive to the eye as
a dining-table which shows that care has
been bestowed upon it to make it appear to
he best advantage. One of the most strik-
ing features on well and care
fully arranged table is the linen, particu-
larly the serviettes when they have been
placed on the plates in variety of fanciful
designs. Of these THE CALL to-day pre-
sents few, together with explanatory dia-
grams and instructions how to fold.
When seryiettes are to be folded into any
fanciful form it is necessary tn have them
starched, but not very stiffly, yet sufficiently
to enable them to retain sharp creases.
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
DISCLOSING OF THE DEAD.

Belief That Cremation Is Older Than
Inhum,tion.
If sun and fire worship be the earliest
forms of religion in the world it is reason-
able to infer that cremation is older than in
humation. And yet The Chaldeans, who
were fire worshipers, regarded the burning
OF a human body as a pollution Of their
Deity, and the ancient Parse (as do their
modern representatives, exposed their dead
to the attacks of beasts of prey, caring not
about the flesh, and confident in the in
DIES tructibiilty of the bones. 1t is curious,
however, that the ancient German races did
not regard it as pollution OF the Earth
Deity to bury their dead. The Scythilns,
again, declined both fire and earth, and
made their graves in the air. hanging the
bodies on trees, while tine Ichthyophagi of
Egypt sought theirs in the sea. These last,
it Will be observed, though. to avoid cor
ruption in the very manner which the
Homeric heroes dreaded mostly the ex-
tinction OF the fire of the soul in water.
The old Balearians. according TO Dodorus
Siculns, adopted a curious compromise.
They affected urn burial without burning
crushing the flesh and bones into urns,
upon which they heaDed wood without fire.
And that the Jews were not unacquainted
with cremation is certain. for the men of
Jabesh burned the bodies of Saul and his
sons.
The Massageta, who, according to Herod-
otus. inhabited the country to the east Of
the Caspian. had a cheerful habit OF boiling
their aged and infrm relatives and of feast
ing on their bodies, "esteeming universally
this mode of death the happiest" Those
who died from disease, however, were not
eaten, but were buried in the earth as alto
gether unfortunate subjects, to be forgotten
quickly as unworthy members of the family.
Yet as the Massageta were sun worshpcrs
we may imagine something of the religious
element in the boiling process.-The Scot
fish Magazine
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

like an Englisbman, swear like an English
man and get drunk like an Englishman, but
If you would offend him forever compel him
to eat plum pudding. A few of the leading
restaurateurs, wishing to appear extraor-
binary, have "plomb pooding" upon their
cartes, but in no instance Is it ever ordered
by Frenchman.
The story is told Of certain French mon
arch who, wishing to regale the English en-
bassador on Christmas day with a plum
pudding, procured an excellent recipe for
making one, which he gave to his cook with
strict injunctions that it should be prepared
with due attention to all the particulars
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25
THE BoAR,s HEAD.

Dressed With Gay Gsriands and Eaten
With Merry Songs.
Among the dishes served up at Christmas
dinners in the olden time the boar's head
was first at the feast and foremost at the
board. Heralded by jubllant flourish of
trumpets, and accompanied by strains of
merry minstTelsy. it was carried, on dish
OF gold or silyer-no meaEer metal would
suffice-into the banqueting-hall by the
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

turn the points over arranging them in a
nice curve with the fingers, and you have
finished the design. The roll must be placed
under the slipper.
MALTESE CROSS.
Maltese cross: A pretty Maltese cross,
suitable fora small-sized breakfast serviette,
may be made by exactly the same folds as
the qnatre poches. After turning over the
fourth fold lift up corner and draw out the
part of the seryiette you will ind folded in
side; this makes one square arm OF the cross.
Draw out all the points in the same way,
lift up the points in the center and set the
roll under them.
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

within. But the great point and crowning
glory OF Christmas is the fire. 1t is the visi-
do without beef and plum pudding, even
the absence Of mince pie may be tolerated:
there must be bowl. POLITICALLY speaking,
but it need not absolutely be wassail. But
hinge, heaped up, all attracting FIRE, with Z
semi-circle. Of faces about it, is not to be
denied u.s."
Herrick puts the Christmas fire into verse.
and sings:
Come bring with noise,
MY merry. merry boys,
The Christmas log to the firing
While my good dame she
Bids We all be free,
And drink to your hearts desiring.
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

steward. who, as he advanced at the head
of the stately procession OF mobiles, knights
and ladies, chanted song beginning:
The boar's head In hand bring
With garlands gay and rosemary.
pray you all sing merrily,
Out estis in convlvio.
The boar's head was then placed on the
table with solemn gravity BETTING the
dignity Of such noble dish.
Sweet rosemary and pays around 4 spread,
His foaming tusks with some large pippin graced,
Or midst those laundering spears an oran ee piaced
Sauce, like himself, offensive to its foes,
The Iosuish> Mustard dangerous to the nose.
The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-25

The following stanZa Is frOnas a song sung
at the celebration Of th isss Bears Head :" at
Queens Cglllsge, Oxford:
10 Thracian brawls at our rites e'er prevail,
We temper our mirth with plain sober, mild ale,
The tricks of old Circe deter us from wine,
Though we honor boar, wont make ourselves
swine.
1t is said that the Christmas celebration
of the 'Boar's Head" at this college is COM
memorative of an act of yalor performed by
student of the college who, while walking
was suddenly attacked by wild boar. The
furious beast came Open-mouthed upon the
youth, who, however. very courageously and
with a happy presence Of mind, rammed
the volume down its throat, crying 'Gracum
est fairly choking the savage with the
sage"