Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-27
I 1OUSE=
HOLD
lINTS

Standing close to the threshold of the new
year, one imagines a mighty rustling, as all
ChristendOm waits, moistening it's fore
finger ready at the stroke of IL to turn the
fresh leaf that shall present a spotless page
to the bookkeeper of the new year. We
have, all of u.s. much to regret in the past.
Sins of omission and of commission! Blots
and stains! Blunders and absurdities! Bad
spelling and worse grammar. But tomor-
row is new day. Let US begin it we'll and
serenely and with too high a spirit to be
weighed down by past failures.
While New Year in this country has been
shorn of much of it's past glory by the i'm
portance now attributed to Christmas, there
are many pleasant little family customs
still in evdence-and there are others that
it might be we'll for us to borrow from our
neighbors over the sea.
What, for instance, is more charming
than the custom that has obtained from
time immemoral at Frankfort-on-the-
Main?
On New Year eve the whole city keeps
festival. In every house lights burn
brightly, all care is laid aside and song
and games and joyous cheer prevail. Just
as the first stroke of midnight sounds from
the great dome of the cathedral every WIN
dow is thrown wide open, and from it's case
ment lean young and old, with glass in
manu-, ready TO invoke prosperity LOT them
selves and neghbors. Then, with one ac-
cord, the cry goes up from thousands Of
lusty throats: - <'t-i<
"Prosit Neu Jahr!' dIappy New YearD
What wonder that the love for home and
fatherland is Unborn with the Teuton, whose
earliest recollections are of united family
and civic observances? ~
Among our old Dutch forbears of New
Amsterdam the children had pretty Gus
tom which is worth reviving:
AS the sun went down they ate their
bowls of suppawn and milk, then gathering
around the immense fireplace sang in low
voices their New Year hymn to the good
st. Nicholas.
Santa Klaus. goedt heilig man!
knopybest Van Amsterdam,
Van Amsterdam aan Spanje,
Van Spanje aan Oranje,
En- brang deze kindjis eenge Crops"
Go your way from Amsterdam,
From Amsterdam to Spain,
from spain TO Orange
And bring these little children toys)
.,snt Nicholas, myn OGDEN vriend,
TX hab altyd mel gediend,
Ais gy my me not wilt geben
IA TX dienen ais myn leben."
Saint Nicholas, my dear, good friend,
10 serve you ever end.
II you me now something will give,
Serve you will as long l live.)
In those days gift giving prevailed, and
tremendous eating and drinking was con-
tinuous performance from morn until night
Every door was thrown wide open. 1t was
a preach OF etiquette to omit any acquaint-
ance In the annual calling, and a hearty
welcome was even extended to the stranger
within the gates.
While the abuse of these privileges at
last led to their abolition, it is their spirit
of hospitality and Of civil union that we
might well consider and to some extent
adopt. In the crowded city, even in the
| much-maigned fiat house, it will do no
harm to pass the seasons greeting with
| the neighbor across the hall. the janitor,
the butcher, the baker The tendency now
adays Is to hold ourselves too much aloof.
| Even the children seem to grasp the idea
that 1t Is mira dig to have anything to do
with those not in their own special circle.
Just us girls and "us fellows marks the
| line of social demarcation as truly as did
| the old mans petition:
God, bless me and my wife, my son John
and his wife-us four and no more''
That is not the spirit to cultivate. We
are all citizens of one country. and for the
furtherance of that citizenship there must
be appreciation Of the universal brother
hood of man. So let the chimes once more
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic SANDER and the spite;
Ring In the love Of truth and right,
Ring In the common love Of good.
While on New Year day the menu of the
| family dinner is apt to have a less conven-
tional makeup than either the Thanksgiv-
| ing or the Christmas dinner, descendants
of the old Dutch families cling with per-
| sistence to certain Of their traditional
| Knickerbocker Dishes while the Scotch and
GERMANS Holu quite as teI1aClOuSly 10 the
| little cakes which have always been asso-
ciated with the day in5theirs own homeland.
Among these holidaytcakes there are none
| more popular than marzipap, which,
coming back to us from Germany,
is really an old English dish as well.
Sometimes it is made stwith b,anched
almonds, sometimes :fwithdpista chic nuts.
When the latter are. used it is an ex-
qusite pale green. When almond is used
alone it is of cream color. Recipes for it's
making vary. All call for the nuts. for
sugar and the white of egg, but after that
the formulas differ. Spme use no "wetting'
at ALL Others employ grape juice milk,
cream or sweet wine,S while sesame seed,
coriander, poppy, anise or caraway seed are
added according to national preference.
Sometimes it is still f1rther, enriched by the
addition of fresh or crystaliized fruits, pre-
serves, jelly or jam. It's form Is also mat
ter Of custom and taste. Formerly in Ger
many the cakes were heart-shaped, orna-
| mented with little turtle doves made of pink
| sugar or fiaring heart on little altar.
Now they are made in many forms and dec
! GRATED to suit individual or national taste.
Biscuit kippel are delicate little cakes that
go well with Ices or the contents of the
punch bowl. Beat to a cream the yolks of
four eggs and one-half cup powdered sugar
, Add one cupful sifted -four and then fold
in the stiff1y beaten whites of four eggs
Have the oven ready as well as the tins for
baking, which should be lined with paper
Drop the batter by teaspoonfuls On to the
pans, sprinkle them with sugar and finely
chopped almonds and bake in a slow, even
oven.
/ Other good German. cakes that find ac-
ceptance at this season are Berlin pfann-
kuchen
These are something like the Dutch oily
hooks. Although they are usually preferred