The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1892-12-29

mild and moderate in most things-made
their Christmas keeping n somewhat pro
longed festival, often taking more than n
week, indulging in all the good things
that they desired or could procure, and
consuming an amount of "strong waters"
that would have meant excess to any tenn
peraments less phlegmatic than theirs or
had less time been taken in the consum.
ing.
The old Dutch family recipe books con.
tained rules for many compounds requir
ing delicate manipulation on the part OF
the cooks, as well as n good deal of the
comprehensive faculty known as "judg
ment." Indeed one can but conceive the
greatest respect for the mental powers
of the woman whose "crullers" and
waifles were always light and crispy not,
withstanding that baking powders and
egg beaters were things unknown; that
even "pearl ash" was of home manufac-
ture, and the right quantity of sour cream,
which was to balance the alkali, as well as
its due degree Of acidity, had to be deter
mined in each individual case. 1t Is not so
very easy a matter to find good cook even
in these days Of perfection ranges" and
all manner of ready made preparations to
help her Yet it appears to be fuct that
early in the Seventeenth century good
cooks were the rule rather than the excep.
tion among the wives and daughters Of
the well to do inhabitants of the New
Netherlands, and Christmas was the sea.
son upon which their best powers were ex
pended.
English dishes of about the same date do
not so favorably impress the modern read
er. Boars' heads, blazing in rum, geese
and ducks simmering in their own grease,
and huge joints of beef or pork were flanked
by meat "pasties," by rolls of boned veal
hidden in layers of pork fat and then
roasted before the fire so slowly that the
fat was all absorbed in the meat, and sad
dies of "fve-year-old mutton, sodden with
cabbage and 'inegar," do not seem particu.
larly attractiYe to modern palates. Grand
'Sir Loin," plum pudding and mince pies
descendants of the ancient meat pasty-
are almost the only dishes that have sur.
vived the years and now appear upon our
Christmas tables. What digestions and
what heads must these old time English
have possessed!
When one reads of the enormous quantity
and soldity of the viands and the amount
and strength of the fluids which formed a
Christmas dinner of 200 years ago, and of
all the rough not to say Gn our Nineteenth
century eyes, disreputable merrymakings
which followed the dinner one almost
ceases 20 wonder at the Puritan revulsiou
of feeling which led to an effort to replace
season of gluttony and drunkenness by
one of religious feeling and temperate fes
tiyity, calling it Thanksgiving" and hold
ing it in advance of.the season which, from
the time of the Romans and perhaps before
them, had been kept as a heather festival,
and still retained some of it's old character
istics after it had been adapted to the new
religion.
Inc rrencn were ever more temperate
than their neighbors and very early mani
tested the talent which has made them the
tutors of all the rest of the world in table
matters.
To the French HuGuenots Christmas was
a day of rejoicing thanksgiving, family
festivity and neighborly greeting They
drank almost no strong liquors, and their
mild pure wines served but to aid diges
tion and impart gayety to the spirits.
Rarely indeed was drunkenness known
among them. The giving of gifts was a
more prominent feature of Christmas time
with them than with the Others Among
the English and Dutch the gifts, irrespec
tive Of toys to children, were nearly always
of something to eat or drink. A haunch
of venison or a cask Of home brewed ale
was a favorite gift in the parent isle, but
here was succeeded by a turkey or barrel
of cider, while among the Holland colo.
nists some special forms of cheese and
Cookies" or few bottles of choice i'm
ported wine were most usual.
The Huguenots, whether from thrift or
native taste, were prone to offer gifts Of
more permanent value. They were poor
of course, most of them having had TO
leave their possessions behind them when
flying from the prosecutions Of Louis the
Magnificent" So their gifts were seldom
costly, but some have survived even till
today in the possession of their descend
ants-cobweb laces made by delicate
fingers, painted fans and screens, and EN-
broidered footstools and cushions
The United States, being the most cos
mopolitan of all nations, has a right to
adopt the best customs from all the world
and has freely availed itself of the privi
lege.
To the roast beef and plum pudding OF
| old England it has added the jolly Santa
Claus of Holland the gay present giving
| Of the French and the solemn Christmas
music Of the Germans. If there be other
good things elsewhere, let us appropriate
them all. Are not we the universal
Yankee nation"
HELEN EvERTsoN SMITH.