The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1892-12-15

mild and moderate IN most things male
their Christmas keeping somewhat pro.
longed festival, often taking more than
week, INDUCING in all the good things
that they desired or could procure, and
consuming an amount Of strong waters
that would have meant excess tn any ten.
peraments less phlegmatic than theirs or
had less time been taken in III. oousum
ing,
The old Dutch family recipe books con
tanned rules for many compounds requir
ing delicate manipulation on the part ~
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
waiiles were always light and orispy, not
withstanding that baking powders aud
egg heaters were things unknown: that
even pearl ash" was OF home manufac.
ture, and the right quantity Of sour cream,
which was 10 balance the alkali as well as
its due degree of acidity, had to be deter.
mined in each individual case, II Is not ~
very easy n matter 10 find good cook even
In these days Of perfection ranges" and
all manner Of ready made preparations TO
help her. Yet IL appears to be a fact that
early in the Seventeenth century good
cooks were the rule rather than Tia. 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 hest powers were ex.
pended
English dishes Of about the same date do
not so favorably impress the modern read
er Boars' heads, blazing Ia rum, geese
and ducks simmering IN their own grease,
and huge joints of beef or pork We're thanked
by meat pasties,n 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 "hve.year-old mutton, sodden with
cabbage and vinegar donot seem particu-
larry attractive 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 dgestions and
what heads must these old time English
have possessed
When one reads Of the enormous quantity
aud solidty Of the viands and the amount
and strength of the fluids which formed
Christmas dinner OF 200 years ago, aud of
all the rough, not TO say tin our Nineteenth
century eyes disreputable merrymakings
which followed the dinner, one almost
ceases TO wonder at the Puritan revulsioD
of feeling which led TO an effort to replace
a season of gluttony and drunkenness by
,,f t.,t. f..
tiyity, calling it Thanksgiving" and hold
ing IL in advance of the season which, from
the time Of the Romans and perhaps before
them, had been kept as n heather festival,
and still retained some of It's old character
istics after it had been adapted to the new
religion.
The French We're ever more temperate
than their neghbors 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 Huguenols 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
lion and impart gayety TO the spirits
NdItls was uTHhhfflfNN hUOWH
among them The giving of gifts was
more prominent feature Of Christmas time
with them than with the others. Among
HE English and Dutch the gifts, rrespee-
i've Of toys 10 children, were nearly always
If something to eat or drink. \ hauncb
If ycnisoh or "A cask Of home brewed ale
Mas "A favorte gift In the parent isle, but
lere was succeeded by a turkey or "A barrel
n cider, while among the Holland colo.
lists 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
iative taste, were prone TO offer gifts Of
more permanent value. They were poor
II course, most Of them having had to
cave their possessions behind them when
lying from the prosecutions Of Louis the
So their gifts were seldom
ostly, but some have survived even till
oday in the possession Of their descend
nts-c obweb laces made by delicate
myers, painted fans and screens. and EN-
,roidered footstools and cushions.
The United States being the most COS
nopoltan Of all nations, has right to
dept the best customs from all the world
nd has freely ayailed itself Of the priv
eye.
II the roast beef and plum pudding Of
Id England it has added the jolly Santa
,laus Of Holland, tb. gay present giving
I the French and the solemn Christmas
lusic Of the Germans II there be other
GOD things elsew here, let MS appropriate
hem all Are not We the universal
,aDkee nationi"
HELEN EyERTsos SMITH