Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1905-11-23
A Real Thanksgiving.


1A -sAAAA 2SSABLE ANION.
You just can't give thanks IL you
are worried and tired Qua With get
ting ready 70 do so. You can't be
peaceful at dinner-time If you are
irritable in the kitchen ivs minutes
before You can't welcome guests
With O serene brow If you are doing
twice as much extra work rs you
have strength, health or time for.
THANKSGIVING Is really the most
wholesome and delightful festival OF
the year. II is distinctly our own.
We Americans have originated il
2ad - ali d be psoud q Ii. yet,
most OF Us are doing much to spoil
IL with overzeal. We have too long
dinners. too elaborate decorations,
too much house cleaning before and
after. We are numbered with too
much care. And so the day which
should be thrilling with tender
memories, joyous with a sense of re-
membered blessing, peaceful with a
surety OF forgotten ills and prophe-
tic Of gladness because of courage
and OF comfort, because of hope, is
just q weariness of the flesh. We
drop exhausted into our chair for
dinner and are glad to say good bye
to the dear long expected guests.
1t is partly vanity that makes US
overdo this delightsome festival.
We think we are sacrificing our
selves to give others happiness,
but, in point of fact, we are strain
ing to create an effect. We do love to
welcome our friends but also we do
want them to havethe most elaborate
dinner and to see the prettiest din
ing room in town, and what they re-
member longest is just that the
hostess looked i'll and that all the
family seemed out of sorts. So it
ism I worth it.
Real hospitality is in what the
hostess gives of herself, not what
she gives of her substance. Do
things simply and have a good time
yourself, dear Thanksgiving Mother
or Aunt or Sister. Have fewer
courses and more smiles. Who is
so base a materialistthat he wouldn t
give up chicken pie for q cheerful
hostess?
At the very start, don t wear your
self out cleaning house and getting
ready. You have got to clean up
after Thanksgiving, SO why bother
beforep Just have the house brush
ed and busted as you would any
week. II the carpet and oodwork
need little Frightening, wipe them
over with warm borax water, a
teaspoonful of borax TO a basin of
water. A few minutes will do "a
room without scrubbing or rubbing.
OF course, the silver must be polish
ed, but don I spend hours rubbing
it. Fill a pan with boiling water,
add half small cup Of borax dissol-
we'd. Leave the silver in the water
ten minutes, rinse in boiling water
and then dry first with a towel,
next with chamois. 1t will shine
like the bright star of Heaven, and
while it is polishing" itself in the
water, you can be doing other
things.
So don Z spend money for decora-
tions. Have scarlet berries from
the hedges and laurel from the hill,
all gorgeously autumnal, and the ex-
pense natures. A charming idea
is to light your dining room with
homemade lanterns of scarlet and
green crepe paper, and, of course,
you will have pumpkin lanterns,
and your fruit dish must be a large
hallowed out pumpkin edged with
training pine. And all this is fun,
not work, for you get out of doors,
which cannot be drudgery, and you
bring in health with your decora-
tionS.
Then have your dinner simple,
jolly, bright surroundings. savory
food, and not to much of it. happy
faces and the beauty OF meadows and
woods brought in for ornament this
is the real Thanksgiving.