The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-19
BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.

Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
 Every day of the 365 days in the round year contains the same number of hours--24 and no more. Yet, sum mer day and winter day are wnoiiy unlike one another, and summer evening is a very far-away cousin or a. winter evening. Summer evenings are made for happy people who have no sad memories and no dull regrets. They are meant for lovers. for finger ings at the gate, for last kiss and .hand-clasp, while the moonlight bathes 1awn and garden in it's flood of silvery sheen. Winter evenings are for the home. We associate them with the cheer of the hearth and the bright open fire.
 Darkness gathers early in winter, and the evenings are long. They give opportunity for cultivating every grace that belongs to family life. One wins ter night, some years ago, man came home after an absence and q long ride over the hills and saw sitting by the fire a boy he did not know. The farm- house had so large a crowd of curly heads that a boy more or less made little impression. Neighbors' children were always dropping in, and often some of them stayed over night but this boy was a stranger. The farmer made some inquiries.
 That boy" said his wife, came here just at dusk last evening and asked the way to the nearest town. He was thinly clad and very cold, ana seemed half starved, SO I made him stay all night. He offered of his own accord to help milk the cows, and this morning he went out and brought Tn my kindling wood. He seems a nice little fellow. without home ana hAfA.' He did stay there for the next seven years, with a place at the table. cloth ing, food and schooling, just as the children of that home had. The cold of the winter evening had awakened in the beginning the kindly hospital ity of the household. Such virtues as generosity and unselfishness flourish in the country.
 When the long evenings come one of the vital needs is to make them agree able and cheerful for all within doors. Nobody should be left out of the tender | amenities of the home circle. Boys from I5 to IS have often reached a restless stage in their development, when they are very apt to slip away from home if it be gloomy or frigid or in any way wearisome. Of all mis" taken economies that which Is too frugal of lamp-light in the winter evenings IS the most uSpiOEdpASs saw somewhere else if you musts but have plenty of light. The livtng-room should be well-lighted and warm lighted, but the boy or girl who pre-
 fers to spend part of the evening in a separate room should have the chance to do so with a shaded lamp and sufi- cient warmth to make the room pleas ant.
 Sociability among neighbors belongs to those long evenings. and to promote sociability there should be music and
 games and informal congregation. as well as something simple in the way of refreshments. A chafing-dish should be a family convenience, and every home should have its well-filled cake box and a good store of nuts and ap- pies free to all.
 There are peeop1e who pride them selves on being unsociable, who say that they have no fitness for life out side their families. The narrowest woman I ever knew, the woman who was least sympathetic and least att tractive, although beautiful in person and highly educated, had cultivated in herself an indifference to other peo- pIe and a reluctance to leave her own home, that made her in middle life a pure petrification. There is such a thing as being too domestic, too ex- elusive, and while the long evenings give great scope to domesticity, they also give a splendid chance for socia- bIlity.
 I suppose everyone knows that we