The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-11-26

ABSOLUTELY PURE

out from the parental guardian; think
also of the divine patience, the per
petual little cares, the gentle caresses
that feed these small strangers In a
world of woe fallen into the hands Of
women Who does not feel IN her
very heart of hearts that a mother is
the one sacred and faithful friend life
has to offer, the only n who forgivcs
and endures and loves through want
and sin and shame down to the dark
waters OF death; surely beyond even
that silent and forgetful river. BE
thankful, then, for motherhood.
But to take the matter du grand
serfeu1,. women should be thankful
that they are the merciful and gen.
tie part OF humanity; they are the
nurses of the sick; with soft and fra
grant hands they sootne the aching
head and quiet the burning pains of
illness: they bring cool water to the
fevered lips, and shod with silence
make their presence felt like n shadow
that dlms the glare of day to wearied
eyes. They know how to console;
they are mans appointed comforter;
they stay undaunted by the bed of
the dying, and breathe for them
the last fervent prayer of mistaken
faith.
There were heroes in our dread
full war, heroes unnumbered; men
who came back manned and
exhausted and life-weary; men
who v came back; but
there were heroines also who in hos
pital wards, on the battle field, on
crowded transports. with no exulta-
ton of conflict, nc intoxication OF
victory set their hands and their
souls to works of mercy dauntless
and calm before wounds, fever,
groans, agonizing terrors and abound
ing death. They had the "pang
without the PALM and endured as
seeing Him who is invisible" for
women are the religious sex; with
them the spiritual predominates,
they are faithful to Goo as well as to
a
Let us thank Him with humble
alteration that we are, as we ever
were,
Last at the cross and earliest at the
grave"
The Thanksgiving Dinner.
The dinner early became the marked
feature of the Thanksgiving festival.
In the stern Puritan times it was the
one day, sanctioned by religion and
custom, when one might give himself
up to the pleasures of the table, and
when the close frugality and Spartan
plainness of diet might be blamelessly
relaxed. Until within the last thirty
years Thanksgiving dinner was more
or less of an emergency meal. There
were no markets, and the New
England housewife showed her skill
in making palatable dishes from the
best that the garden or farm produced.
Ii certain crops or fruits failed, the
dinner was cooked from what had
grown well. The spirit of criticism
was held in allegiance, for each n
knew that the best the home afforded
was placed before him, Two prepare
lions were made far in advance for the
day:-the turkey was fattened, and
the pumpkin was encouraged to grow
freely in and out OF the long rows OF
corn, undisturbed by the modern Gull
tivator.
The serving of the dinner vas not
according to the rules of aesthetic
dining, so vigorously taught and
championed during the last decade;
but in the family of the New England
gentleman the meal was marked by as
high a courtesy and refinement as
aver accompanies a modern dinner
with its trained service. Each one
presided over some dish-vegetable
or fruit-and dispensedit courteousiy,
feeling that the others enjoyment
depended on his own attentions, as
we'll as on that of the hosts. Good
will, loving kindness and tact were
the servants for the day.
We have a few national customs.
and it is foolish as well as unpatriotic
to overlap our own Thanksgiving with
foreign words and manners. This APP
plies significantly to the constant eff
fort to change the dishes tor Thanks
giving dinner, and the sarcastic
remarks about the vulgarity of serv-
ing everything at once. Soup, fish,
salad, and entrees may be appropriate
and elegant on three hundred and
sixty-four days in the year, but on the
Observation-Disclosures let them
be banished, and let the traditional
turkey and his vegetable satellites
the toothsome chicken pie, and al
the other triumphs of the Yankee
housewife, reign supreme. Let the
national holiday be kept with nationa
dishes, and let there be a joyful an6
honorable pride in them, with never
a twinge of shame that there palat
ableness is not hidden behind French
names. -Harpef's BGzdr.
A Useful Material.
We have discovered a delightful
material for making decorative quilt
for the beds, curtains for bedroom
windows, and coverings for couches
and easy chairs, says Madge in Lon
don Truth. The pretty figured mus
lin that is SO nice in summer, not only
looks quite wrong in winter, bu
must feel thoroughly miserable oil
grey and foggy days. So we wer'
glad TO discover a substitute for it il
Bolton Sheeting. 1t is much softer am
more pliable than cretonne, and look
like serge, though it is a cotton ia