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ThL genial parentiy has tion with our do we see his jolly laugh. Th: genial smile of old St. Nick apâ€" parently has a psychological connec- tion with our sweet tooth. No sooner do we see his genial smile, or hear his jolly laugh. than we think of candy canes, lollipops. sugared animals. and many other sww-ts that are found in the Christmas stocking. uuc uun “Wu...” During the holiday season nothing is more pleasing to the children, and I will includo [be grownâ€"ups, too, than to have a handful of candy to munch while enjoying their Christmas stories. These recipes for home-made candy vou will find to be accepted in high These recipes you will find to favor. 1%. lbs. sugar, 374 cup water cream tartar. flavoring. ynvuu. m... -V.., , Cook sugar and water slowly and stir until the sugar is dissolved. When boiling, add cream of tartar and cease stirring. When syrup forms soft ball in cold water, pour onto a moistened platter. When cool, stir with a knife until creamy. Form into a large ball and place in earthen jar and cover with damp cloth. This will keep a long time. When ready to use, work in the desired flavoring, coloring and nut meats, or candied fruit, and mold into small pieces. I went into the nursery toâ€"day, The children have grown up and gone “Grown Up and Gone Away” awayâ€"â€" Flung wide the blinds to let the sunâ€" light in, What merriment within that room has been! -What woes, so quickly solaced with a kiss. What blessed noise . . . what silence, now today. The children have grown up and gone away. What rollicking and quarreling and bliss! I stood beside each little quiet bed Where, years agone, had lain a rest- less headâ€" And where they knelt at night and mom to pray . . . The children have grown upâ€"and gone away. ’Tis Christmas eveâ€"and hearts should be all gay. The chi1dren have grown up, and gone awayâ€" . But I shall hang the stockings in a row, Just as we did those happy years ago! to see, A fire upon the hearthâ€"a holly spray The children have grown upâ€"and goneâ€"away. And oh. I'll bring the half forgotten And set a little candle lighted tree For Fathey Christmas, when he comes toysâ€" They mind me so of all the childish joys . . . The laughter, and the pranks they used to play . . . The children have grown up, and gone away. I'll till the little stockings! P'raps ’twill seem As if this dreadful silence»â€"is a dream . This one~was Jeanie’s . . . This belonged to Ray . . . The childrenâ€"Aâ€"huve grown upâ€"â€"and gonegaway. And this was Baby Larry’s Ohâ€"my heart,â€" So tong, the years . . . so so far apart! {Beside their empty beds I kneel and pray-â€" Christmas is an ideal time to begin feeding the birds. While we are eat,- ‘Ing our own big holiday dinner, a pan of grain or table scraps set out on a low shed roof where it will be away from the reach of chickens or rodents will cheer many a hungry little friend. The birds will soon find it and you will be delighted to watch the feast. A box nailed to the side of a tree makes an excellent birds’ cafeteria, or a platform with a few boards across a. couple of limbs on the protected side a platform with a few boards across a couple of limbs on the protected side of the trunk will do equally as well. It would be a good idea to make the feeding-grounds a short distance from the house, since some birds dislike too much publicity. In a very few days every species of bird in the neighbor- hood will be feeding at your lunch counter, and you will take great plea- sure in studying their ways and be- coming friends with them. By saving the birds now you will be doing a lot toward saving the crops next year. The birds will do their part then if towzird saving the crol The birds will do their you will help them now COCOA CARAMELS. Two cups sugar, 1 cup molaSSes, 2 Gm®w Give The Bii'ds a Dinner. FONDANT send my children home on Chfisfimas Day! â€"Ba.rba.ra Yofmg , 1/3 tsp. so fabâ€"- “How cold it is!” said little Marie. ias she drew her thin shawl round her ‘shoulders. The snow was very deep iin the woods, and Marie had been gathering sticks for a fire. Somehow the snow gave the little jgirl no joy this year, for her parents lwere very poor indeed, and Santa lClaus would never visit so poor a cotâ€" l tage as theirs. tb. butter, 35 cup cocoa, 1 tsp. vanilla. Cook all together except flavoring, until the hard ball stage is reached. Do not stir after sugar is dissolved. Cook sugar, syrup and water, stir- ring until sugar is dissolved. Than continue cooking until very brittle when dropped in cold water. Add flavoring and coloring, stirring as litâ€" tle as possible. Pour into greased molds and when the lollipops begin to harden, insert the sticks. CHOCOLATE DIVINITY. 2 1-3 cups sugar, 2-3 cup light corn syrup, % cup water, 1 tsp. salt, 2 egg whites, 1-3 cup cocoa, 1 cup nut meats, 5% tsp. vanilla. Add flavoring and pour pans. When cold. cut wrap in waxed paper. One cup sugar, ‘91; cup light corn syrup, 1/; cup water, 8 drops oil of cinnamon, coloring. Cook the sugar. syrup, salt and water, stirring until the sugar is dis- solved. Then cook to the soft ball stage. Gradually pour the syrup over the egg whites, which have been beaten stiff, stirring constantly. Add coeoa and beat until candy will hold its shape. Add vanilla and nuts and drop by teaspoonfuls on waxed paper. Suddenly Marie caught sight of an old man hobbling towards her in the distance, bent beneath the Weight of a large bundle of faggots. He looked so tired and old that Marie ran for- ward to him. “May I help you?" she said kindly. “That bundle must be very heavy!” , The old man smiled and allowed her to relieve him of his burden. “You are very kind. little maiden!” was all he said. They plodded along through the snow for a long While in complete sil- ence. Every moment the bundle that Marie carried seemed to grow heavier, but she never once complained, At last they reached the outskirts of the forest. Here the old man stopped suddenly, and gathered up a handful of snow. He rolled it neatly into a small snow- ball, and handed it to little Marie, at the same time taking his bundle of sticks from her. “Thank you, child!” he said. “Ac- cept this gift from me in return for your kindness I" Then he turned, and in a few mo- ments was lost to sight, leaving Marie stating in astonishment at the snow- ball in her hand. “What a strange THE FIRST GIFT TREE ‘ ONLY A SNOWBALL‘ LOLLIPOPS mix,” into buttered cut in cubes and gift 1" she thought. “Why, I could make a hundred such myse (fieve'rtheless, she took it home with her, feeling that there must be some meaning in it. Whey; she had told her adventure, they scornfully. child!" 2[The oild man was mad!" said her father. “Throw away the snowball, But Marie would not do so, and, crossing over to the fireside, melted the snowball on the hob. Suddenly she gave a cry, and picked up from amid the melting snow a tiny seed. “See! The old man’s g worthless!" she cried. "A seed!” laughed 11 “And what use is that to 0N CHRISTMAS MORNING. Then very sadly she went to bed, for it was Christmas. Eve; but it was no use hanging up her stocking. Santa Claus never came to their cottage. "A seed!” laughed her mother. “And what use is that; to you?” “I will plant it!" cried little Marie, not heeding their laughter, and she planted thé little s_.eed just outside the cottage. But the next morning, when Marie Went to her window and looked out, she gave a cry, and, running down- stairs, called her parents outside the cottage. There, on the very spot where she had planted the seed the evening be- fore, had grown a tall, beautiful tree, hung with all sorts of toys, gifts, and lovely things to eat and wear! “This is magic!” cried her father, as they gazed at the Wonderful tree. They had never seen a Christmas tree before. "Isn’t it beautiful?” cried Marie joyously. “You see, the old man was not mad after all. This is his gift to The season whose apex is reached with Christmas and the New Year is valuedespecially for the emphasis it puts on friendship. In the year that elapsed since the last festival perhaps some among us had forgotten the in~ flux of intense and genial feeling which the Yuletide brings with it, even as we forget the spring, so that each new May is a green miracle and a fresh wonderment. me. Why, perhaps he was even Santa Claus himsel: in disguise!” And I shouldn’t wonder if he was! There are many things for which to give thanks at the threshold of 1925, and for nothing should we be more grateful than for friends. We are not poor till we have lost them. The loss of his throne to a king, or the loss of his fortune to a millionaire, or the loss of health to one who rejoiced in his physical well-being, is not so great an affliction as the loss of a friend to one who greatly cares for those who share the human scene with him. Friendship is imperishabie even on If!" Friendship. her parents of laughed very gift was not K“: ETHE QUEEN 0F AU. CHRISTMAS SflfiPPERS I It seemed to me that I had‘ never seen so many people on a city street before. I tried in vain for a long time lto get from my office to the street car stop, but the close-packed throngs held me to a snail’s shuffle all the way. And, mind you, it was after 7 o’clock in the evening, and it was a cold and miserable winter night. Most of the men and women who jammed this street were workers who had to shop after their regular hours: They were tired and supperless, but they were a1so good-natured and pa- tient with each other as they strug~ gled for progress.. Finally I escaped from the press and forced my way into the crowded street car. And in the seat across the aisle from me I saw the Queen of all Christ- mas Shoppers. I wish I could tell you. She was a woman of middle age and her cloak and hat were of a fashion years gone by. Her face was kindly still, in spite of the lines traced there a beautiful young woman only a few years ago. She was so tired she droop- ed forward in her seat. by an unkind world. Somehow, it seemed 2 me that she must have been She had with her a little cheap, frail, brightly painted toy wagon; just a two-wheeled wagon, and she held the little old swiggering wheels close between her feet, and her bare hand held the crooked and pathetic- ally small tongue of this vehicle close to her knees. This wagon was her sole purchase of the day. She bore no other bundle, carried no other merchandise, had no other package, purchase or present. just a two-wheeled wagon, andishe" held the little old swiggering wheelsl close between her feet, and her bare hand held the crooked and pathetic- ally small tongue of this vehicle close to her knees. This wagon was her sole purchase: of the day. She bore no other bundle, carried no other merchandise, had no other package, purchase or present. All the way westward to my des- tination I sat there and looked at that shopper with fascinated and. thoughtful interest. And I wove a little story about her. I was sure; she was a widow and that she worked for a living, and that she had one‘ small son. She had stopped down- i that mortals desire. town after her work was done and( had sought through the department, stores for something she could afford She. was a queen in her own right, this tired, middle-aged woman with only traces of youth and beauty, for she was taking a splendid gift home to her boy who had waited all day alone: for her coming. He will have a great Christmas, that boy. Who knows but; he may hitch that toy vagon to ai star and ascend to great heights? 1‘ say, who knows! The children of such a woman as this reach every state Yea, but it is so“ This lad’s heritage of that mother and that little red wagon is a thing not to be lightly considered. Maybe I was dreaming all the way home that night, but I still affirm and declare unto you that I had the honor and the privilege to see at close hand and to ride with the Queen of All Christmas Shoppers. earth, for its quality and its influence} inevitably pass into our character. If we choose to be friends with the mean and malignant (not to raise them but to adopt their ways), we shall become mean and malignant too. If we by preference consort with greatness of soul and essential nobility, we must, though imperceptibly to ourselves, ab- sorb something of these qualities into! our own beings. As we touch pitch and' are defiled, so we communicate with beauty and partake of it. Habitually! to dwell with truth and decency and‘ dignity must almost certainly mean a: lasting bias in favor of these lovely: things. The child who is brought upi among ruffians will be fortunate to avoid having his character permanq ently seared and blasted. I We choose our friends, our friends? choose us, because we mutually find; congenial impulses and aspirations... The same end must be proposed andl the same means approved if friendâ€"i ship is to be fond and lasting. In[ that greatest friendship of all which‘ subsists between husband and wife‘ there cannot be permanence unless both partners have the same ideals inl the planning of a home (which is af BY CULLEN CAIN ‘ But try as I would I could not make a sad and pathetic picture of this wo- Iman, and about her I cannot weave, ia sad tale. V I For I was sure that, in spite of her 1 poverty and misfortune and weariness - she was happy. I cannot tell you Why I knew, but I did. She had a grand land gorgeous present for that little §boy at home. He would have a fine {Christmas with that little red wagon, ;with its slewed wheels and tongue al- 1 ready askew. to buy to make a Christmas for ,that- boy. She was just as poor as' poor could be. That was easy to see from her frayed and sadly worn apparel, and that her work was very hard could not be doubted by any who saw the weary dmop of her body and the exhaustion that showed so plainly in her face and eyes. - Say, it seemed to me that that boy was the luckiest kid in town. Honest! Did he not have a mother who had spent more for that little wagon than any magnate or matron in Ontario would ever spend for the finest, fast~ est automobile in the world? It would ruin a capitalist to spend as much of‘ his visible working capital as she had spent for a Christmas present. Life is said to be, 1 best, a. very! lonesome business. We are reminded; constantly of upreared walls fhroughf which there is no feeling and over, which we cannot look, between one human being and another. But a true, deep friendship discovers to each of us surprisingly how near we may 81);, preach through all the barriers of" sense and custom and our separate physical frames that are the temples of the indwelling spirit. It is not so much the separate embodiments of our beings as it is the spiritual differences that estrange and prevent our being friends. personal rather than an architectural, affair) and the training of a child": Christmas Greetings. A pretty and convenient way to dis- play Christmas greeting cards is to fasten each one with small paper clips onto a cord or narrow ribbon stretch- ed across a corner of the room. They look much prettier that way than on a tree. May you have a stockingful of bless~ ings to help brighten each cloudy day.