Victorian Christmas Card

Here's a Victorian Christmas Card

Here's a link to the page I found the image from. http://www.museumoflondonprints.com/image/744403/s-hildesheimer-and-company-victorian-christmas-card-c-1890

Ten Christmas Presents

A poem that was published several times during the 19th Century was by Carolyn Wells called "Christmas Gifts" but commonly referred to as "Ten Christmas Presents."

Ten Christmas presents standing in a line;
Robert took the bicycle, then there were nine.
Nine Christmas presents ranged in order straight;
Bob took the steam engine, then there were eight.
Eight Christmas presents--and one came from Devon;
Robbie took the jackknife, then there were seven.
Seven Christmas presents direct from St. Nick's;
Bobby took the candy box, then there were six.
Six Christmas presents, one of them alive;
Rob took the puppy dog, then there were five.
Five Christmas presents yet on the floor;
Bobbin took the soldier cap, then there were four.
Four Christmas presents underneath the tree;
Bobbet took the writing desk, then there were three.
Three Christmas presents still in full view;
Robin took the checker board, then there were two.
Two Christmas presents, promising fun,
Bobbles took the picture book, then there was one.
One Christmas present--and now the list is done;
Bobbinet took the sled, and then there were none.
And the same happy child received every toy,
So many nicknames had one little boy.

Here's the illustration that was in the St. Nicholas magazine from 1898

Central Park NYC

I love Central Park, not because I've been there more than driving past it but I love how NYC designed this park and what they wanted and planned it for. I've seen it from across the street and I've been at it at the Tavern on the Green Restaurant. However, I've never had the time to thoroughly enjoy the park, perhaps some day I will.

Here is a link to a book published in 1869 about the park titled A Description of the New York Central Park it has great illustrations and I think you will enjoy it as well.

Here's a pic of the Belvedere Castle which was known simply as the Belvedere back then.

1882 Winter Fashions

19th Century Christmas Books

Hi all,
As you begin or finish up your Christmas shopping for this year, I'm certain you've looked at some possible books to give as gifts. (hint, hint) Seriously though, books are a great gift idea that has been around for well over a hundred years. And the 19th Century it was quite a gift to give and receive. Here is how Christmas books were described back then "For instance, suppose you and I had to announce the important news that some writers published what are called Christmas books; that Christmas books are so called because they are published at Christmas: and that the purpose of the authors is to try and amuse people"

So, for today's tidbit I thought I'd post are some links to Christmas books that were available.

The first is a book that was published in 1866 by Charles Dickens title Christmas Books He not only wrote A Christmas Carol but several other stories as well.

The Christmas Books of Mr. M.A. Titmarsh" by William Makepeace Thackeray.

The Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke is another Christmas Classic.

Then like today there were books, or in this case more like a pamphlet about Keeping Christmas for the real purpose of the reason for the celebration of the birth of Christ.

Blow is a copy of an advertisement for 1870 Beeton's Christmas Annual which means they put together a book each year for Christmas.

Pocket Books were also quite popular here's another advertisement to point this out.

Other books that were quite popular were dictionaries, almanacs, and travel books.

I hope you have fun with your historical characters going Christmas shopping this year.

19th Century Board Games Plus

Below are some images from an 1891 Youth's Companion displaying various games available at the time. Many you will already know, perhaps you have some in your game closets as well.

Basalinda (Looks to me like a very early version of battleship)

Bean Bag & Ring Toss

Fish Pond

Game of Halma
(apparently designed as a scientific game combining chess and checkers)

Jolly Marble Game

Parlor & Lawn Tennis

Royal Parchessi

Table Croquet

Tiddledy-winks, tennis, hop scotch.

Victorian Christmas Card

Here's a Victorian Christmas Card.

Electric Bell

Below is an image I found of the The Leclanché Electric Bell Outfit.

The cut illustrates the Leclanché Electric Bell Outfit complete. It consists of a large Leclanché Battry with Chemicals, fifty feet of insulated copper wire, a paper of Clamp Tacks for putting it up, one push button with porcelain knob, and an elegant nickel-plated Electric Bell mounted on a black-walnut base. It has a black-walnut cover. Any young man can easily put up this electric bell. For door-bells, for servants' call-bells, etc., there is nothing quite so handy and reliable as this outfit.
Some parties are doing quite a business by purchasing these outfits by the dozen, and putting them into houses at reasonable rates.

The ad goes on to say you can use these for burglar alarms as well with an attachment.

1891 Pocket Cutlery

Below are five knives from 1891 advertised in Youth's Companion. They were being offered as a gift with the price of a subscription to the magazine. I left most of that information out from their advertisements. However the magazine is available on Google books if you'd like further information. What I find interesting is that pocket knives haven't changed all that much. However, some of the tools within the knives have changed, like the hook for cleaning out horse hooves. Perhaps one of your characters might be in the need of purchasing a knife. Here are some choices.

This first image is of Farmer's English Knife this knife comprises nine distinct tools, --two Blades, a Lancet, Corkscrew, Reamer, Tweezers, Pick, Screw Driver, and a Hook for cleaning a horses's hoof. It is of special service to the farmer.

The next knife is Pearl Handle Boys knife. The Boy's Own Knife is a beauty, but it's more; it's made to cut and to kep its edge. No better-cutting Knife to be had at any price. German Silver Bolster, Rivet and Shield, and best of Pearl Handle

The next knife is a Lady's Pearl Handle Knife. The cut illustrates how our Lady's knife looks. We give the plan of this knife to our manufacturer, and this is the result. Fine English steel, faultless pearl and perfect finish are embodied in the knife. For a lady nothing would be better; for a gentleman, too, will find it a most useful vest-pocket companion. Large blade, nail blade and file, glove and boot-buttoner.

The fourth knife is a Four-Blade Pearl Knife, this is a find knife, --a Wostenholm pattern. It is made only to our order, and expressly for our subscribers. By controlling this special knife ourselves we are able to offer a rare premium at a low price. The cut will show you just how the knife looks, and its exact size. It is made from the best English steel, the pearl is the first quality and the hands is brass lined. The tips are German Silver.

The last knife is the Granger's Knife. The Blades of this fine knife are the best English steel and will cut like a razor. Stag-Handle, double German Silver Bolsters, Rivets and shields are brass lined.

A Christmas Carol

The classic "A Christmas Carol" has been rewritten, played and put into film more times than I can count. Dickens did a fine job on this classic. And it only seems fitting that we would include it in our tidbits about 19th Century Christmas Tidbits. It was first published in 1843. The link below to Google books is a copy printed in 1858. Here is a picture of the first publication that can be found in wikipedia.

An interesting tidbit about A Christmas Carol is that it was a novella. I love writing novellas and have often been told how amazed my readers are about the amount of story that is included in the novella. A novella challenges an author to tightly write their stories.

A Christmas Carol

Here is a page with illustrations for
A Christmas Carol in 1933.

So how are you going to enjoy A Christmas Carol this holiday season? Better yet, how are your characters going to enjoy it?

Old English Plum Pudding

Personally I've never had Plum Pudding but you read and hear all about it during the Christmas season so I thought it might be fitting to start our holiday plans with some recipes of Old English Plum Pudding. This tidbit begins with a poem about said item.

THE PLUM PUDDING OF ENGLAND.
We've long sung the praise of old English roast beef,
The mighty Sir Loin, and the Baron his chief,
But beef without pudding, with turkey no chine,
That is not the way that we Englishmen dine.

Then here's "the plum pudding of England!"
Old English plum pudding for me!

Plum pudding's a mixture of all that is good,
No Frenchman to make it ere yet understood;
To plain roast and boiled he too vain is to stoop,
Roast beef he makes brick bats, and plum pudding
soup.

That's not the plum pudding of England!
The sort of plum pudding for me!

The commerce of England extends o'er the world,
"Where'er the winds whistle our sails are unfurled,
Then home come our ships with plums, sugar and spice,
With currants and citrons, and all that is nice
To make the plum pudding of England.
Old English plum pudding for me!

The corn growing fields of old England ne'er fail,
Our flour it is sweet and our eggs never stale,
Our suet is fresh, but the taste to enhance
We don't mind a dash of the Brandy from France
To make the plum puddings of England.
Old English plum pudding for me!

The man who plum pudding refuses to eat
I'd hold you a wager at heart is a cheat,
While he who well loves it deserves a good wife
For he feels himself young, and a boy all his life
While he eats the plum pudding of England.
Old English plum pudding for me!

May solid plum pudding then, year after year,
At Christmas ne'er fail us to make us good cheer;
Well boiled—plump and round—deck'd with holly—

I wish Merry Christmas to all, and for ever a dish
Of the jolly plum pudding of England!
Old English plum pudding—Hurrah!
1878 John Edwards Carpenter

Old English Christmas Plumb Puddings.
The Harrisburg Telegraph furnishes its readers with a recipe for the real "Old English Christmas Plumb Pudding." After having given this pudding a fair test, I am willing to endorse every word of it; and wish for the holiday to come oftener than once a year:
"To make what is called a pound pudding; take of raisins well stoned but not chopped, currants thoroughly washed, 1 lb. each; chop suet, 1 lb., very finely, and mix with them; add 1/4 lb. of flour or bread very finely crumbled; 3 ozs. of suger; 1 1/2 ozs. of grated lemon peel, a blade of mace,1/2 of a small nutmeg, 1 tea-spoon of ginger; 1/2 doz. of eggs, well beaten; work it well together, put it in a cloth, tie it firmly, allowing room to swell; put it into boiling water, and boil not less than two hours. It should not be suffered to stop boiling.
The cloth, when about to be used, should be dipped into boiling water, squeezed dry, and floured; and when the pudding is done, have a pan of cold water ready, and dip it in for a moment, as soon as It conies out of the pot, which prevents the pudding from sticking to the cloth. For a dip gravy for this or other puddings, see the'• Biscuit Pudding without fie-Baking,"or "Spreading Sauce for Pudding."
Source: Dr. Chase's Recipes ©1875

Plum Pudding.
(Family Recipes.)—(1.) Beat two eggs and a little salt well together, then put to them three-quarters of a pound of stoned rasins (or currants), the same quantity of minced suet, and of flour. Add as much skim milk as will make it very stiff. Boil the pudding full five hours, for on this depends its being so good. No wine, brandy, or sugar the least necessary.
(2.) Small Plum Pudding.—One pound of minced suet, one pound of stoned raisins, six ounces of flour, four ounces of sugar, five whole eggs well beaten. A little cinnamon if liked. Boil full five hours.

Plum Pudding.—Mince finely one pound of fresh suet, picked from every scrap of skin, half a pound of stoned raisins, five ounoes of flour and the same of breadcrumbs, five ounces of brown sugar, the peel of two Seville Oranges (lemons if you cannot possibly get Seville Oranges), and four eggs, leaving out two of the whites. Mix together with as much milk as will just make it too thick to pour, but not as stiff as a paste. Do not beat or knead the pudding, but mix it all thoroughly together. Tie it tight in a cloth, as tight as possible, and boil it for six hours precisely.

Some people boil Plum Pudding in a mould. If so, let the pudding made as above rest for six hours before it is put in. Line the mould with buttered paper, press the pudding in, put a buttered paper on the top, tie a thick pudding-cloth closely over it, and boil as above for exactly six hours.

Oronoeo Sauce fop Plum Pudding.—(Family Recipe.)— A quarter of a pound of butter, and rather more of finely powdered sugar, beat well together with a wooden spoon till quite light and white, then add, drop by drop, a tablespoonful of brandy, and work it again till thoroughly mixed—which is troublesome to do. Put it in a sauce-boat, and set on ice till wanted. (This sauce is now called Brandy Butter.)
Source: Mrs. Roundell's Practical Cookry Book ©1898

Plum Pudding—Two cups flour, 1 heaping cup of bread crumbs, 1 cup of molasses, 1 1/2 cups stoned raisins, Y2 cup citron (cut fine), 1 cup suet chopped fine, 1 cup sweet milk, 1 tablespoon soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons of cloves and cinnamon; steam two and a half hours. To be eaten with butter sauce.—Mrs. J. H. Porter, Atlanta.

Plum Pudding.—This pudding is best when prepared, all but eggs, the day before using. Three-fourths pound picked and finely-chopped suet, 3/4 pound of stoned raisins, 3/4 pound of currants, 1/4, pound of citron cut in small slices, 3/4 pound of powdered sugar, 3/4 pound of bread crumbs grated, 1 lemon, grated yellow rind and juice, 1 tablespoon of powdered mace and cinnamon mixed and 2 powdered nutmegs, 12 eggs beaten separately. Steep allspice in 1/2 pint of mixed wine and brandy over night closely covered. Beat wine and eggs together until thick and smooth, then add bread crumbs. Mix with the sugar, grated yellow rind and juice of lemon, then add gradually prepared ingredients, stirring hard. Butter pudding mold, fill with mixture and boil four hours. Sprinkle hot dish with powdered sugar. Turn out pudding; pour 1/2 pint warm rum and light when taking to the table. This is sufficient for twenty persons.—Mrs. Willie Conyers Cook, Inman Park.
Source Tested Recipe Cook Book ©1895

Bedroom Furnishings

Below is an image from 1880 of a set of bedroom furnishings. These items were made of walnut, can you image how much they would cost today? Anyway, note the large cabinet with the chest of drawers. Often times rooms were built with no closets and cabinets were needed to store their clothing.

And here's a little tidbit on the art of being a cabinet maker:
The art of the Cabinet-maker differs from most other arts in many particulars. In the first place, the articles made by him, are not only very numerous, but there are not, even from the same shop, two articles of the same description, which do not vary in their form and manufacture; and fashion is continually, changing the forms of almost all Cabinetmakers' articles, so that it must be obvious no rules can be laid down, as to the formation of particular articles of furniture; and, indeed, were it practicable, it would be necessary that cabinet, like female fashions, should be published monthly: in fact, this is, in some degree, done in a publication by Mr. Ackerman. . The Cabinet-maker furnishes chairs, tables, chests of drawers, desks, scrutoires, bureaus, sofas, book-cases, and bedsteads, of all sorts of prices. But, in almost all places, the business of the Cabinet-maker is united to that of the upholsterer; and the furniture collected in one of their warehouses is worth from ten to thirty thousand pounds. Such
warehouses may be seen in St. Paul's ChurchYard, Bond-Street, and other parts of London.
Source: The book of English Trades ©1818

Thanksgiving Menus Part 4

And last but not least I thought this menu was quite unique as a Vegetarian Menu for Thanksgiving meal. This comes from Guide for Nut Cookery ©1899

THANKSGIVING DINNER.
The Thanksgiving dinner has been a great puzzler to the vegetarian housewife. "How can we ever celebrate Thanksgiving without a turkey ?" has been a question which it has been hard to solve. I propose that we do have a turkey for Thanksgiving,— not the corpse of a bird whose life was sacrificed to satisfy our perverted appetites, but something which, although it looks like a real turkey, with neck, wings, legs, and even the drum-stick bones protruding, is only one made of nuts and grains. Then let us have the pumpkin pie, chicken croquettes, and fish all stuffed and baked, the salads, and lettuce,— in fact, all that Thanksgiving calls for; but we will use only wholesome material. We will substitute nut foods for the different meats, lemon-juice will take the place of vinegar, and nuts the place of animal fats. With painstaking, we shall have a better dinner than our sisters who have their platters ladened with the remains of a barn-yard fowl, and with cakes and pies filled with animal fats and spices. Besides this, we shall have a clearer mind, as well as a clear conscience; while those who eat meat are taking poisons into the system which benumb the brain, cloud the conscience, and render man unfit to meet the vesper hour and hold communion with his God.

THANKSGIVING DINNER MENU.
SOUP.
Canned-corn soup, canned-pea soup, or vegetable oyster soup, seasoned with raw peanut cream.

FISH.
A stuffed baked trout.

ENTREE.
Mock chicken croquettes. Serve with it mock salmon salad.
Stewed salsify (vegetable oyster) with cream.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY. With the turkey send a sauce-boat of gravy, sweet potatoes, curled celery or lettuce, and cranberry sauce.

BREADS.
Nut crisps, nice buns, and cream rolls.

PIE.
Pumpkin pie with cocoanut cream crust.

FRUITS.
Fresh fruit, red-cheeked apples, oranges, and any other fruits desired.

NUTS.
Salted almonds, salted pine-nuts, and roasted chestnuts.

BEVERAGE.
Butternut coffee with peanut cream.



RECIPES
MOCK FISH STUFFED AND BAKED.
Take 6 cups of water; i A cups of white corn grits or white corn-meal; I teaspoonful of salt.
When the water boils, add the salt and stir in the grits, continuing to stir until it boils; let it boil gently for a few minutes, and then place in a steam-cooker, and steam for three or four hours. Make a stuffing of 2 tablespoonfuls of zwieola, I tablespoonful gluten No 3, 2 tablespoonfuls pecan meal, and 1 tablespoonful peanut butter, 1 tablespoonful almond butter, 1 hard-boiled egg, \ teaspoonful sage, 1 teaspoonful grated onion, \ teaspoonful salt; add just a little water until the mixture makes a stiff batter. Mix thoroughly. When the corn grits are done, oil a bake tin and put some of the cooked grits on it, spreading them in the form of a fish, making it as long as can be easily served on the platter you intend to serve it on. Then put some of the dressing the whole length of the fish. Make a little trough in the dressing, and put in the yolks of two eggs, chopped and seasoned with celery salt, then cover the egg with the dressing paste, and cover that with the cooked grits. Form more perfectly into the shape of a fish, and spread with a diluted nut butter, using the slices of the white of egg for the gills and mouth, and filberts for the eyes. Press in a row of blanched Jordan almonds down the center of the back to represent the dorsal fins, also use the almonds to make the tail. Lard it across the back (see cut) by sticking in pine-nuts. Bake in a moderate oven for half an hour; if it browns too fast on top, cover with a brown paper, until ten minutes before taking from the oven. Garnish with parsley and curled celery, bank the sides with potato balls made by cutting them from raw potatoes with a scoop made for the purpose, or make balls of mashed potatoes. Roll them in pine-nut butter and bake in the oven until nicely browned. To make the curled celery, take some nice crisp celery, split it into four parts from both ends, leaving about one inch in the center to hold it. Place it into ice-cold water for twenty minutes and it will be curled nicely. If the water is not very cold, leave it in longer.

MOCK CHICKEN CROQUETTES.
Take 1J pounds or ij pints of nutmeato chopped quite fine; add nearly as much mashed potato, 4 tablespoonfuls of zwieola which has been soaked for fifteen minutes in \ cup of warm water, and 4 tablespoonfuls of gluten, 2 teaspoonfuls of sage, 2 teaspoonfuls of onion grated, salt to suit the aste, 4 hard-boiled eggs put through a sieve, and 1 raw egg. Mix the sifted eggs with the zwieola, and work till smooth; then add the other ingredients, and mix all very thoroughly. Take a large tablespoonful, and work in the hands quickly, handling with care, and form into cylindershaped croquettes, making the ends as square across as pos
[graphic][merged small]
sible ; then roll them in a beaten egg and then in gluten, or what is better, fine cracker-crumbs; crisps or rolls that are perfectly dry and ground fine are also nice, and give them more of a meaty flavor. Bake on well-oiled tins for an hour or more. The above amount will make twenty good-sized croquettes. In serving, they can be arranged as in the accompanying cut, which represents them garnished with sprigs of parsley, or if a smaller quantity is desired, they may be made into funnel shapes by molding in an ice-cream mold or a small funnel with the hole stopped up with a piece of raw turnip or potato. Then when baked, they are nice served on a plate covered with curly lettuce leaves; serve a lettuce leaf with each croquette, placing the croquette upon the leaf.
MOCK SALMON.
Take 2 cups of nut butter, 1 cup of tomato juice without the pulp, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoonful of corn-starch. Mix thoroughly; cook in cans.

MOCK TURKEY.
Take 3 cups of sifted lentils, 1 cup of walnut butter, 1 pound of zwieback moistened with water, 3 heaping teaspoonfuls of powdered sage, 1 cup of gluten, and 2 teaspoonfuls of salt. Add 2 eggs. Form into loaf or turkey. The walnuts should be the black walnuts, as they give it more of a turkey flavor. The whole-wheat zwieback is best, but the white will do. Beat the eggs well, and mix all the ingredients together, adding enough water to the zwieback to moisten it before adding the other ingredients. If formed into a turkey, it should be real stiff, but it does not require to be so stiff when cooked in a loaf.

If you would like to search for the rest of the recipes here's a link Guide to Nut Cookery

Christmas Decorations

For some of you today is the day you take down your fall decorations and begin putting up your Christmas decorations. Since I am traveling and won't be home for a few more days, I'll be starting a few days later. Anyway, here is some information about decorating for Christmas from Floral Decorations for the Dwelling House ©1876 It's a fairly lengthy text but you'll have the entire weekend to go over it.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.
ONE could hardly believe it was Christmas in the absence of Holly, Ivy, and Mistletoe, which have so long at that season occupied prominent places in our households. The custom of decorating with evergreens is far from being a modern one. The Romans, 2,000 years ago, did the same thing; indeed,, it is more than probable that the origin of adorning our homes with Ivy, Holly, and Bay, must be sought for in the Roman Saturnalia, held every year towards the end of December. Formerly, the decorations of rooms consisted of a few branches of evergreens stuck here and there as might be convenient; but now they are of a much more complicated character, and require time and skill in their manufacture. Where decorations of any extent are annually employed, the week before Christmas is a busy time with the ladies of the household, as the making of the decorations principally falls to their share. To make effective and pretty designs requires good taste, practice, skill, and a general knowledge of the materials to be employed. A few hints on this subject, therefore, may prove acceptable, as I have assisted in making many decorations at Christmas-time, and so can speak from experience. First come under our notice the shrubs to be selected. Though' Holly, Ivy, and Mistletoe are principally used, many other materials may be enumerated that are admirably adapted to intersperse with those mentioned above, and thereby tend to relieve the sameness which would occur were Holly and other ordinary Christmas evergreens only employed. Amongst others I may mention the following:— Mediterranean Arbutus, Aucuba, Bay, Euonymus, Gold and Silver Hollies, Ivies of different colors, Laurels, Laurustinus, Portugal Laurel, Spruce and Silver Firs, Yew, etc., also branchlets of Arbor-vitae, Cypress, Deodar, Juniper, Thuja, or any other ornamental shrubs obtainable. Having said so much for evergreens, let me refer to the foundations on which they are to be worked. These consist of the following, for, according to the style of decoration, so the foundation must be selected :—For garlands, wire or strong cord should be used—the latter is, however, preferable, as it is not so liable to twist as wire; and, for what are called upright wreaths or panels, fine iron rods are the best. For ornamental devices perforated zinc should be used; for letters, strong brown paper; for narrow headings, where single leaves only are employed, tape wire; for crosses, picture-frames, texts, etc., flat laths, such as are used in the construction of ceilings by plasterers, or Hazel rods; and for wreaths, strong wire; for small garlands fine twine is serviceable. In addition to the above, several balls of hemp twine (fine and coarse), large needles and strong linen thread (dark green or black), a pair of scissors, penknife, and reels of bindingwire, must also be at hand; and, though last on the list, one of the most important articles to be supplied with is
a strong pair of kid gloves to guarantee the hands from the scratches and cuts which they are certain to receive if unprotected from the prickly leaves of Holly or from the binding wire. Although I recommend strong kid gloves, I do not mean them to be thick or in any way clumsy, as, if that were the case, it would be impossible to do any of the fine work—such as letters in single leaves— neatly. Having thus alluded to the different materials required, let me now direct attention to the manner in which particular designs are manufactured.
Garlands.

Thanksgiving Poem

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

THANKSGIVING POEM,-1876.
[Read at Thanksgiving Service in Waverly Church.]

All hail, thou grand Festival! glad are the hands
That crown thee with blossoms, and joyous the bands
Round thy tables of plenty, thine altars of praise,
Where the millions have gathered, their anthems to raise.

Thanksgiving for blessings a century old;
Ah, well may our hearts in their fulness unfold
As we wait on the threshold of an era sublime,
The pride of the nations, the marvel of time.

We join the glad anthems that tremble and ring
From ocean to ocean in praise of our King,
And then a new altar of gratitude rear
For blessings peculiar, vouchsafed to us here.

No temple more sacred than ours, to-day,
Nor feet ever readier to tread the glad way
To the Holy of Holies, to gratefully raise
Our prayers of thanksgiving, our peans of praise.
One year with its mercies; recount them to-day,
These love-laden mercies that garland our way,
The year that began with foreboding and fears,
Whose bow in the clouds was prayer shining through tears.
Ah! the shadows were dark that were over us then,
And we looked lor the "lining of silver," in vain;
Our faltering faith scarce could pilot us through;
Our courage was waning, our numbers were few.

Then came to our rescue, (Heaven sent her this way,)
Our sister, God honored, we bless her to-day,
Her hands held the sickle for the reapers to come,
And we shouted together the glad "harvest home."

Unstop the glad organ, send strain after strain,
'Till these old walls shall echo and echo again
With an anthem more glorious, a thousand times o'er
Than ever has rung through its portals before.

For Heaven has bent till the sun of its love
Has tinged these dull walls like the glory above,
And the wing of the seraph has rustled, I ween,
The darkness of sin and God's sunlight, between.

The young man and maiden, and life in its prime,
And the child in the freshness of life's sweet spring-time,
And the husband and wife, blest bethrothal ta share,
Have knelt at the altar for pardon and prayer.

There are voices to-day in thanksgiving and song
That were silent and tuneless in years that are gone,
And the shout of the angels has sounded again
As they wrote on the fair book of life each new name.

But a shepherd was asked, lest the lambs lose their way,
And the flock should be scattered, and wander astray,
And now to the prayer " Lord, by whonq wilt thou send?"
We greeted our brother as pastor and friend.

So we gather to-day in this home ot our God,
With a greeting for loved ones anear and abroad,
And as here, with our greetings and gladness we come,
We would we might welcome each wanderer home.

How I love the old custom, grown dearer with time.
The genuine thanksgiving of "Auld Lang Syne,"

When the family, wide scattered, back thronging would come
To meet the warm kiss and the s,weet welcome home.

When the old-fashioned table with dainties was spread,
And father sat down in his place at the head
With his family around him, once children at home,
With a plate in reserve for the wandering one.

And the mother's eye glistened as they drew round the board,
And the father's voice choked in the blessing implored,
With a prayer for the "wanderer" echoed by all.
As they hoped for his coming and longed for his call.

Such the olden " thanksgiving" remembered and blest,
That points to a grander re-union at last,
When the children shall come from the West and the East
To song and rejoicing, to welcome and feast.

O! to hear the "Come in" from the royal pearl-gate
Where the Father for each of his children shall wait,
While the bright hills of glory shall echo and ring,
As they welcome the long coming wanderer in.

All Hail! then, Thanksgiving, like mile-posts that stand
Each, in turn drawing nearer some city at hand,
So ye are the waymarks that yearly ascend
Toward a glorious thanksgiving that never shall end.
Source: For Friendship's Sake ©1882