Arizona republican., 1900-11-25

Cocoa.
 The observant individual who goes about much, and sits at meat with his fellows in homes. north. south, east and west. must of necessity notice the growing infrequency with which grace is said before meals.
 Not so many years ago, that home was an exception where heads were not bowed and hands folded, as the head of the house, devoutly or in a more per functory manner, as the case might be, asked the blessing"
 Today in not enc family in a! hund- red Is this beautiful and appropriate custom observed.
 Whether the commission is due to the everlasting rush that enmeshes the modern family life, or whether. like Charles Lamb, the up-to-date batter fla miIias believes that grace is only suited to a, meagra or precarious meal, is inn material; the fact remains the same. The tri-daily blessing has taken its flight.
 Today, however, as the family, with tits old broken links of affection restor- ed,' gather about the mahogany tree" lad5n with the bounties of an unusu ally prosperous and fruitful year, a churl indeed would be he who did not render hearty and solemn thanks unto the Lord of the harvest.
 
 Unlike Christmas, when dividing in terests touch the heart, Thanksgiving day is dedicated primarily to home. Now, as at no other of our few pleas ure days, the heart longs for the home associations, the home atmosphere, the home people, the home cooking. The great dinner. sign and symbol of the harvest festival, instituted by our Pill grim forefathers. but made possible by our Pilgrim mothers, is not a perfect feast if made from modern dishes and served after the fashion of any country but our own. It is a feast in whose honor the old family china and silver, even the curious old, pewter, and all ways the old family dishes, should be brought forth. Pretty, tiny little kickshaws" with foreign names and foreign fiavors, have no place here, where the turkey "rules the roost," supplemented by the good old dishes that mother and grandmother before her used to make. In how many des- olaite mining camps and frontier towns on isolated ranches, anl spreading cat tile ranges, among the boys in kahki and the sailors in blue who guard our new possessions among the islands of the sea, will thoughts turn yearningly, this week, toward the home from which the sturdy sons went forth to seek their fortunes. Nor is it beyond the range of possibility, nor derogafl0ry in any way to their manhood, to venture the asser- tion that the most poignant regrets at their enforced absence from the family ingathering will be found to center about the laden table.
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 While in the majority of homes the sage and onion dressing is yet preferred for the Thanksgiving turkey, the chest nut stuffing is also popular. To make it, shell one quart of large, fresh chest nuts. and cook in boiling water until the skins are loosened. Rub off the brown skins and put again into boiling salted water, adding a little stock if you have 1t, and cook until the are tender. While still hot rub through a coarse colander. Mix w.rh the sifted nuts a few bread crumbs, moistened with melted butter and sweet cream, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Fill the turkey, but do not press Hhe stufing in, as it will swell.
 Attention is again called to the expe- dient adopted in some families, where tastes vary in regard to the drs ssing, of filling the crop with one sort and the body with another. This gives those who have pronounced preferences a chance to have whatever suits them.
 
 In decorating for Thanksgiving a pretty idea is to bank the dining room mantel with all kinds of small vegeta- bIes and fruits, interspersed with oats, barley autumn leaves and ears of corn. A Hubbard squash, with its royal Wore ster color of brown green, a royal en hued country pumpkin or a symmet- rical cabbage, with it's Boucherlike ef- feet of pale green may be hollowed out and used when filled with loose branch es of autumn hued leaves, red berries and yellow chrysanthemums as a most effective center piece for the table.
 Failing leaves or flowers, clusters of purple grapes, bronZe pears and red checked apples may be made quite as artistic. If a vine effect is desired in decorating the sideboard it may be ob- tained by taking large, bare branches of apple boughs, with many separate and uneven twfgs, and fastening to it at irregular intervals smooth, glossy apples, not too large, but of brilliant in colorinS. This can be done with an up