en ' \ Illustrations by Ellsworth Young rcom?taifr. ao»)»s HT»«;-ju cowfrxytip PART ONE CHAPTER I. On the Labrador. Dictated by Hr. Jesse Smith. Don’t you write anything down yet. ’cause I ain’t ready. If I wroto this yarn myself. I’d make !t good and red from tip to tip. claws out. teeth bare, fur crawling with emo tions. It wouldn't be dull, no, or evi dence. But tfcen it's to please you. and that’s what I'm for. So I proceeds to stroke the fur smooth, lay the paws down soft, fold up the smile, and purr. A sort of truthfulness steals over me. Goin' to be dull, too. No, I dunno how to begin. If this j am was a rope. I’d coil it down be fore I began to pay out. You lays the end, so. and flemish down, ring by ring until the bight's coiled, smooth, ready to flake off as It runs. I delayed a lynching once to do just that, and re lieve the patient’s mir.d. It all went off so well! When we kids were good, mother she used to own we came of pedigree stock; but when we’re bad, seems we took after father. You see mother’s folk was the elect, sort of born saved. They allowed there’d be room in Heaven for one hundred and forty-four thousand just persons, mostly from Nova Scotia, but when they took to sorting the neighbors, they’d get ex clusive. Anyway, mother's folk as a tribe, is millionaires in grace and pretty well fixed in Nova Scotia. Then she’e found out, secretly married among the gr.ats. Her name’s scratched out of the fam ily Bible, with a strong hint to the Lord to scratch her entry from .the Book of Life. She’s married a sailor man. before the mast, a Liveyere from the Labrador, a man without a dollar, suspected of being Episcopalian. In them days the Labrador ain't laid out exactly to suit mother. She's used to luxury—coal in the lean-to. taties in the cellar, cows in the barn, barter store round the corner, mails, church, school, and a jail right handy, so she can enjoy the ungodly getting of their just deserts. But in our time the Labrador was just God’s country, all rocks, ice, and sea, to put the fear into proud hearts—no need of *each ers. It kills off the weaklings—no need of doctors. A school to raise men—no need of preachers. The law was "work or starve”—no place for lawyers. It’s police, and court, and hangman all complete, fire and hail, snow and vapors, wind and storm ful filling His word. Father’s home was an overturned schooner, turfed in, and he was surely proud of having a bigger place than any other Liveyere on the coast. There was the hold overhead for stowing winter fish, and room down-stairs for the family, the team of seven husky doge, and even a cord or two of fire wood. We kids used to play at New fnlanders up in the hold, when the winter storms were tearing the tops off the hills, and the Eskimo devil howled blue shrieks outside. The hus kies makes wolf songs all about the fewness of fish, and we’d hear mother give father a piece of her mind. That’s about the first I remember, but all what mother thought about poor fa ther took years and years to say. I used to be kind of sorry for father. Yon see he worked the bones thre ugh his hide, furring all winter and fish ing summers, and what he earned he’d get in trdek from the company. All us Livcyeres owed to the Hudson Bay. but father worked hardest and he owed most, hundreds and hundreds of skins. The company ^trusted him. There wasn't a man on the coast more trusted than he Was. with moth er to feed, and six kids, besides seven huskies, and father’s aunt, Thesea lonika, a widow with four children and a tumor, living down to Last Hope beyond the Rocks. There -.-as secrete about father, and If mother ever found out! You see. he looked like a white man. curly yailer hair same as me, and he was fearful strong. But in his inside— don’t ever tell!—he was partly small boy same's me. and the- other half of him—don’t ever let on!—was moun taineer injun. I seen his three broth ers, the finest fellers you ever—yes, Scotch half-breeds—and mother never knew. Thar's me on father’s knee, with my nose in his buckskin shirt, and even to this day the wood smoke in ;amp brings back the wuff, whereas summers his boots smelt fishy. What happened first or afterwards is all nixed up, but there's the smoke smell ind sister Maggie lying in the bunk, ill white and froze. There's fish smell, and Polly who used to wallop me with a slipper, lying white and froze. And yet I knew she couldn’t get froze in sum mer. Then there’s smoke smell, and big Tommy, bigger nor father, throwing up blood. I said he’d catch it from mother for messing the floor, but rather just hugged me, telling me to shut up. I axefl him if Tommy was going to get froze, too. Then father told me that Tommy was going away to where the milk came out of a cow. You just shove the can opener into ! the cow' so—and the milk pours out. whole candy pails of milk. And there’s vegi tables, which is green things to eat. First time you swell up and pretty nigh bust, but you soon get used to greens. Tommy is going to Civil! Zation. It’s months and months off, and when you get there, the people is so awful mean they’d let a stranger starve to death without so much as ‘‘Come in.” The men wear pants right down to their heels, and as to the women— Jifother comes in and looks at father, so he forgets to say about the women at Civill Zation, but other times he’d tell, oh. lots of stories. He said It was worse for the likes of us than New Jerusalem. 1 reckon Tommy died, and Joan, too, and mother would get gaunt and dry. rocking herself. “ ‘The Lord gave,’ ” she’d say, “ ‘and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ ” 1 don't reckon I was more’n ten or eleven years old, but you see. this Labrador is kind Of serious wiLh us, and makes even kids act respon sible. Go easy, and there's famine, freezing, blackleg, all sorts of rea sons against laziness. It sort of edu cates. Mother was worse thap silent. There was something about her that scared me more than anything outdoors. In the morning her eye kep’ following me as if to say. “Go find your father." Surely it was up to me, and if I wasn't big enough to drive the huskies or pack father's gun, 1 thought I could manage afoot to tote his four-pound ax. She beckoned me to her and kissed me—just once in ten years, and I was quick through the door, out of reach, lest she should see me mighty near cryin'. It was all very well showing off brave before mother, but when I got outside, any excuse would have been enough for going back. I wished I’d left the matches behind, but I hadn’t. I wished the snow would be too soft, but it was hard as sand. I wished I wasn’t a coward, and the bush didn't look so wolfy, and what if I met up with the Eskimo devil! Oh, 1 was surely the scaredest 111’ boy, and dead certain I’d get lost Then I went on because I was going, and there was fa ther's trail blazed on past Bake-apple Marsh. The way was as plain as streets, and the sun shining warm as he looked over into the valley. Then I saw a man's mitt, an old buckskin mitt sticking up out of the snow. Father had dropped his mitt, and without that his hand would be froze. When I found him, how glad he'd be to get it! There was only Pete and me left, and father wagging his pipe acrost the stove at mother. “They’ll die, ma’am," I heard him say, and she just sniffed. "If I hadn’t taken ’em out doors they’d be dead now, ma’am." She called him an injun. She called him—I dunno what she didi.’t call him. I'd been asleep, and when I woke up she was cooking breakfast while she called him a lot more things 6he must have forgot to say. But he carried me in his arms out through the little low door, and it was stabbing cold with a blaze of northern lights. He tucked me up warm on the ko matik, he hitched up the huskies, and mushed, way up the tickle, and through the soft bush snow, and at sunup we made his winter tilt on Torn gak Creek. We put in the winter there, furring, and every time he came home from the round of traps, he’d sell me all the pelts. I was sure ly proud when he took me hunting fur and partridges. I was with him to the fishing, in the fall we’d hunt, all winter we’d trap till It was time for the sealing, and only two or three times in a year we’d be back to mother. Then I’d see Pete, too, who'd got pink, with a spitting cough. He want ed to play with me, but I wouldn't. I just couldn’t. I hated to be anywheres near him. "Didn’t I tell yez?" father would point at Pete coughing. “Didn't I warn yez?” But mother set her mouth in a thin line. “Pete,” said she, “is saved.” Next time we come mother was all alone. “ ‘The Lord gave,’ ” she says “ ‘and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord,’ but ife get ting kind of monotonous." She hadn’t much to say then, she didn’t seem to care, but was Just numb. He wrapped her up warm on the komatik, with just a sack of clothes, her Bible,.and the album of photos from Nova Scotia, yes, and the china dogs she carried in her arms. Father broke the trail ahead, I took the gee pole, and when day cams, we made the winter tilt There mother kep’ house just as she would at heme, to clean we was almost scared to step indoors. It was along in March or maybe April that father was away in coarse weather, making the round of his traps. He didn’t come back. There’d been a blizzard, a wolf-howling hurri cane, blowing out a lane of bare ground round the back of the cabin, while the big drift piled higher and packed harder, until the comb of it greV out above our roof like a sea breaker, froze so you could walk on the overhang. And just between dark and duckish father's husky team came back without him. But when I tried to pick It lip, it was heavy. Then it came away, and there was father’s hand sticking up. It was dead. Of course I know I’d ought to have dug down through the snow, but 1 didn’t. I ran for all I was worth. Then I got out of breath and come back shamed. It wasn’t for love of father. No. 1 hated to touch that hand, and when I did I was sick. Still that was better than being scared to touch. It’s not so bad when you dare. I dug, with a snow-shoe for a shovel. There was the huckskin shirt smelling good, and the long fringes I’d used to tickle his nose with—then I found his face. I just couldn’t bear that, but turned my back and dug until I came to the great, big, number-four trap he used for wolf and beaver. He must There Was Father’s Hand Sticking Up. have stepped without seeing it under the snow, and it broke his leg. Then he’d tried to drag himself back home. It was when I stood up to get breath and cool off that I first seen the wolf, setting peaceful, waggin’ his tail. First I thought he was one of our own huskies, but when he didn't knew his name I saw for sure he must be the wolf who lived up Two Mile Crick. He’d got poor inspecting father’s busi ness instead of minding his own. That’s why he was called the Inspec tor. It was March, too, the moon of famine. Of course I threw my ax and missed. His hungry smile’s still thar behind a bush, and me wonder ing whether his business is with me or father. That's why I stepped on tffe sn9w-shoes, and went right past where he was, not daring to get my ax. Yee, it was me he wanted to see— first, but of course I wasn’t going to encourage any animal into thinking he’d scared a man. Why. he’d scarce have let father even see his trackB for LEAVE OUT THE SUPERFLUOUS Some Truth in Assertion That Pres ent Generation Considers Too Many “Wants” ss “Needs.” A woman who has been observing people and things hap come to the conclusion that the expense of living today is largely due to Individnal in dulgence. People want so much more than they formerly did, or at any rate. If they wanted it before, they often did without it, for expe diency’s sake; but now, she says, to want and to have &o hand in hand without regard for expediency. This woman says: "My idea of the wide spread complaint of the high cost of living is that people are not temper ate In supplying their three principal wants, namely: food, clothing and shelter. Some people cut down on food aad shelter and spend an over abundance on clothing. Others in dulge themselves in rich foods that are absolutely unnecessary. still others like to live In fashionable quarters aad neglect their food and •batter. A person to be happy most preserve a balance in all things. One must be temperate with regard to food, clothing and shelter. Live In a respectable but not ultra-fashionable neighborhood; wear standard clothes, not the latest Paris fashions; eat good, substantial food, not rich, tasty delicacies that cater only to the pal ate, is my parting advice.” Unconventionalities. "It was printed in your paper, was It, mister? That's the reason I didn’t see it.” "You don’t seem to notice, Gerald, that It’s nearly midnight, and I’m yawning to beat the band!” “There’s no need of your apologis ing for these sliced tomatoes, Mrs. Nayber; 1 saw they were spoiled, and 1 haven't touched 'em." “Yes, 1 notice, Mrs. Sykes, that your boy Bill takes my Mary Jane to the moving picture shows quite often. What she sees in him I can't imag ine.” "Oh, well, Mrs. Gliszard, my BUI goes to see your Mary Jane because nobody else does; he kind o' pities her.”—Chicago Tribune. Want Protection for Lions. The legislative council of British East Africa is expected to adopt a proposal at present before it for the protection of lions on crown lands. Up to the present game licenses which stipulate the number and class of ani mals that may be killed or captured have ignored lions, which have been regarded as vermin. Now, however, it is proposed to limit each holder of a big game shooting license to four lions. The other day a game ranger who is said to be familiar with all the conditions in British East Africa expressed the opinion that the propo sal would- do very little, if carried into effect, to prevent the extermination of lions in certain parts of the protector ate. “They are being exterminated,” he said, “by the advance of civiliza tion. Exterminated may not be the right word, for they are really being driven away. In my opinion, how ever, there will be no actual disap pearance of the lion for a very long time to come, although, even when he is on the game license, there will be complete freedom to boat and shoot on private land.** fear they'd be trapped or shot. So ! walked slow and proud, leadin’ him off from father—at least I played that, wishing all the time that mother’s lil’ boy was to home. After a while 1 grabbed down a lopped stick where father'd blazed, not as fierce as an ax, but enough to make me more or less respected. The Inspector was bigger than me. stronger 'n any,jnan, swifter 'n any horse. I tell yer the maned white wolf is wiser’n most people, and but for eating his cubs, he’s nature’s gentle man. The trouble was not him hunting, but me scared. Why, if he’d wanted me, one flash, one bite, and I'm break fast. It was just curiosity made him so close behind like a stealthy ghost. When I’d turn to show fight, he’d seem to apologize, and then- I’d go on whis tling a hymn. Thar he was cached right ahead in the deadfall, for a front view, if I’d known. But I thrashed with my stick in a panic, hitting his snout, 30 he yelped. Then he lost his temper. He’d a “sorry, but-business-is-business’’ ex pression on him. I ran at him, tripped on a stump, let out a yell, and he lep’ straight at my throat. And in the middle of that came a gunshot, a bullet grazed my arm, and went on whining. Another 3hot, and the Inspector ran. Then I was rub bing whar the bullet hurt, Bort of sulky, too, with a grievance, when I was suddenly grabbed and nigh smoth ered in mother’s arms. She’d come with the team of huskies followin’ me; she’d been gunning, too, and I sure had a mighty close call. She’d no tears left for father, so when 1 got through Bobbin* we went to the body, and loaded it in the ko matik for home. Thar's things 1 don’t like to tell you. It wasn’t a nice trip exactly, with the Inspector superintending around. When we got back to the tilt, we daresn’t take out the huskies, or un load, or even stop for grub. We had to drive straight on, mother and me. down the tickle, past our old empty home, then up the Bacalieu all night. The sun was just clear of the ice when we made the Post, and we saw a little ball jerk up the flag halyards, then break to a great red flag with the letters H. B. C. It means Here Before Christ. The air was full of a big noise, like the skirl of sea-gulls screaming in a gale, and there was Mr. McTavish on the sidewalk, marching with his bag pipes to wake the folk out of their Sunday beds. Then he saw father’s body, with legs and arms stiffened all ways, and the number-four trap still gripped on broken bones. Off came his fur cap. Mother stood, iron-hard, beside the komatik. “Factor,” says she, "I’vfe coine to pay his debt.” “Nay, it’s the Sabbath, ma’am. Ye'll pay no debts till Monday. Come in and have some tea—ye puir thing.” "You starved his soul to death, and now I’ve brought his body to square his debts. Will you leave that hero till Monday?” Mr. McTavish looked at her, then whispered to me. "B’y," said he, “we must make her cry or she’ll be raving mad. Greet, woman, greet. By God, I’ll make ye greet!” He marched up and down the side walk, and through the skirl of gulls in a storm, swept a tune that made the meat shake on my bones. Once mother shrieked out, trying to make him stop, but he went on pac ing in front of her, to and fro. with his eyes on her all the time, peering straight through her. and all the grief of all the world in the skirl and wail, and that hopeless awful tune. She covered her face with her hands, try ing to hold while the great sobs shook her, and she reeled like a tree in a gale, until she fell on her knees, un til she threw herself on the corpse, and cried, and cried. CHAPTER II. The Happy Ship. Cap’n Mose of the Zedekiah W. Baggs ’e was a Sunday Christian. All up along ’e’d wear a silk hat, the only one on the Labrador. Yes. Sundays ’e’d be ashore talkin' predestination an’ grace out of a book 'e kep’ in ’is berth, but never a word about dsh or the state of the ice. Mother’d been raised to a belief in Christians, so when Mose dropped in at her shack, admirin’ how she cooked, she’d be pleased all up the oack, and have him ACCORDED A HIGH POSITION Women of Servia, Well Educated and Able, Are Companions of Their Husbands and Brothers. There is no country in the world where women occupy a more dignified position in the home than Servia. The Servian idea is quite different from that of the Turk, who keeps his wom en behind shut doors or the German, whose ideal woman is a hausfrau. In Servia the woman is the companion of the man. A man is responsible for his un married sisters, and throughout the Balkan states it is considered rather a breach of etiquette for him to mar ry before his older sister No Servian girl would feel she could hold up her head in society unless she could speak four languages. There 1b hardly a Servian woman who can not play Borne musical Instrument. Embroidery, painting, drawing; and sculpture are all studied. Politics is a popular feature among women. Servian women are very domestlcat | ed and the highest ladles pay personal right in to dinner. He'd kiss me, talkin’ soft about little children. Yes That’s how ’e got me away to sea aa boy on a sealin’ voyage, without pay ing me any wages. Mother never knew what Cap’n Mose was like on week-days, and Sun day didn’t happen aboard of the Zede kiah. I remember hidin’ away at the back of Ole Oleson’s bunk, axing God please to turn me into an animal. Any sort would do, because I seen men kind to animals. You know an animal mostty consists of a pure heart, and four legs, which ie a great advantage. Queer w-orld though, if all our preyer? was granted. Belay thar. A man Bets out to tell adventures, and if his victims don'i find some excuse for getting absent, he owes them all the happiness he's got. It's mean to hand out sorrow tc persons bearing their full share al ready. ~So we proceeds to the night when I ran from the Zedckiah. and Joined the Happy Ship. We lay in the big ice pack off Caps Breton. The Zedekiah was old. just paint an’ punk, and she did surely groan to the thrust of the pack. 1 was too scared to sleep, so I went up or deck. I I’d alius watched for a chance tc run away, and thar wait Jim. the an chor-watch, squatting oa the titts dead asleep. He used to be that way when nobody chased him. I seen the lights of the three-masted schooner a couple of miles to wind ward. I grabbed a sealing gaff and slid down on the ice. first, as the pans rocked under me I was scary, next I warmed, gettin venturesome, until I came near slid ing into the wet, and after that I’d look before I lep’. You know how the grinding piles an edge around each pan, of broken splinters? That edge shone white agin the black of the water, ail the guide I had. But times the squalls ol wind was like® scythes edged with sleet, so I was blinded, waiting, freer ing until a lull came, and I'd get on It was broad day, and I reckon each step weighed a ton before I made that schooner. A gray man, fat. with a chin whis ker, lifted me In overside. “Corns far?" says he, and I turned round tc show' him the Zedekiah. She wasn't there. She was gone—foundered. So that's how I came aboard of the Happy Ship, just like a lil’ lost dog with no room in my skin for more'n bones and famine. Captain Smith used to say he’d signed me on as fam ily ghost; but he paid me honest wages, fed me honest grub, while at to clothes and bed, I was snug as s little rabbit. He taught me reading and writing, and punctuation with his belt, sums, hand, reef, and steer, cate chism, knots and splices, sewing, sque gee, rule of the road, soojie moojie, psalms of David, constitution of th« United States, and playing the trom bone, with three pills and a good lick ing regular Saturday nights. Mother’s little boy began to set up and take no tice. The five years In the Pawtucket all along, from Montreal to Colon, from banjos plunking in them portales ol Vera Cruz, to bugles crying revally in Quebec, and the oyster boats asleep by Old Point Comfort, and the Glouces ter fleet a-storming home past Saole and dagos basking on Havana quays. Suck oranges in the dinghy under the moonlight, waiting to help the old man aboard when he’s drunk. If ever he went ashore without me, I’d be like a lost dog, and he drunk before the sun was over the yard-arm. But away together it wasn’t master and boy, but just father and 6on. He’d even named me after himself, and that’s why my name's Smith. (TO BE CONTINUED.) Jekyll and Hyde Both Out. One day Mr. Jenkins, senior part her in the firm, came out of his pri vate office and handed Jimmy, the of fice boy, a slip of paper and said: “Here, Jimmy, go over to the pub lic library and get me ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.' I have written it on a piece of paper for you so that you will not forget.” Jimmy lost the slip of paper on the way. When he discovered his loss he returned to the office without go ing to the library and was seated at his little desk innocently shooting flies with a rubber band when Mr. Jenkins said 'to him: “Well, Jimmy, where's ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?”’ “Please, Mr. Jenkins," responded Jimmy with well feigned candor, “the lady at the library said they both just went to the ball game and to call for them in the morning." Interesting Memory Test. Ask anyone to draw a representation of a watch face with Roman numbers and you will have plenty of evidence o! the unreliability jjf incidental memory. Of two hundref persons examined by Myers only eight omitted the VI from their drawing of the watch face, and only twenty-one put HIT instead of the more familiar notation, IV. From this it would appear that impeachment of a witness because of his inability to re port some incidental feature of an event or scene is not psychologically justified.—Case and Comment. attention to trivial matters of house keeping. There are two women doctors prac ticing in Belgrade, and several wom en teachers. But public opinion, on the whole, is rather against women entering the labor arena. / Great Financier Poor Writer. Illegible bandwriting may prove an aid to prosperity. The late Lord Gos chen said of his father: "He has told me, half in joke and half in ear nest, that when he came to London he was obliged to found a firm be cause he wrote such a bad hand *i»* no one would take him for a clerk.” Of Lord Goschen himself his biog rapher remarks: ‘In his latter years he might have spelt as he chose, for no one could have affirmed with cer tainty how many Ts’ he might have put in ‘although.' At length his script became undecipherable even by Gos chen himself. He could not when speaking in parliament make out what it was that he had put on' paper, and he thus came in later years to abandon almost entirely his old prac tice of making note*” Most Graceful Mounting of Plumes GOOD ostrich feathers require the investment of more money than almost any other millinery trimming, but they last much longer. They are always in fashion and they stand cleaning and dyeing so that the life of a good feather extends over several years. A handsome pair of plumes is shown here. They are the only trim ming required on a shape, and it is a : mistake to use any other with them, unless it is a little band and bow of ribbon about the crown. This will serve to conceal the mounting of the feathers. As will be seen in the picture, the plumes are mounted at the back of the hat, with one falling toward the front and the other standing almost upright. They are placed back to back. By buying a readymade velvet shape the owner of a plume, or of two or three, may mount them herself by going about it in the right way. It is usual to first sew the wire stem of each plume to a little square or disk of buckram.'This should be about the size of a half dollar. The stems must be sewed securely to the buckram with a strong linen thread. When the needle is thrust through the buckram first, leave several inches of the thread free. After many stitches are made (holding the plume securely to the buckram), this free end is used to tie with the lemainder of the thread. The piece of buckram fastened in thiji (iay to the stems of the plumes make it possible to mount them grace fully. When sewing the buckram to the shape an end of thread is left free for tying. This is necessary be cause plumes sway in the wind anc will pull stitches that are not tied loose, and one is liable to lose a plume. Whenever a plume is fastened to the hat it should be tied rathei than sewed, but several stitches are needed as well as the tied thread, tc hold the plume securely. Do not make the mistake of drawini the plume tightly against the hat. Lei it fall naturally. Then, to keep it ir position, tie the thread about the rit and then attach it (the thread), to the hat, leaving the thread sufficient^ long to give the plume a little play The whole object is to fasten tbf plume in place, but in such a way at to make the fastening unnoticeable. It is a feature of this reason’s mil linery that a pair of plumes back tc back, or one curling within the other is mounted at the same point on th« hat. One or two plumes are seen mor< often than a great number. For th< season demands that the lines o shape must be preserved, not lost, bj too abundant trimming. White plumes clean and dye satis factorily. In buying black plumes, : good quality may be depended on foi many seasons’ wear. But one mus select glossy and deep black ones, foi the color of these will not grow lesi rich with wear. Very good plumes an not much affected by moisture. I they become damp hold them over th< stove or a radiator, and shake then until thoroughly dry. JULIA BOTTOMLEY. BASKETS FOR THE HOME-MADE CANDIES EASY TQ FASHION NOW that It has become difficult to buy really good candy without pay ing an extravagant price, those who know how to make the delicious home | made candles can be certain of mak ing the most palatable of gifts for friend3 who haven't time or ability to make them. It is too early to make up candies for the holidays, but one may prepare in advance pretty boxes or baskets in which to place them when they are made. Secure at the ten cent store or wherever you can And thgm the bright little splint basksti such aTare pic tured tiered Cut and pull out the strand of cslQjed^jfbavlngs that have been placed in then! for ornament. Jtun in, instead of the shavings a rib boif $f the same width. A thin, in expensive satin ribbon is just the right kind for this purpose. Tie the ribbon in a small bow at the front of the basket, Light green and light blue, or colors corresponding with those In the basket, are prettiest. Red and green are fine, if the basket is in the natural wood or bamboo color. These little baskets may be gilded with gold paint and made very attrac tive. After the candy has been eat en the basket will remain a pleasant reminder to the recipient of the do nors delicious Christmas gift. Paraffine or tissue paper should be placed in them to protect them from the candy. They will serve so many purposes later — thread boxes, handkerchief, ribbons, laces, gloves—all these need boxes. But the prettiest use lor them is as a receptacle for small flowers used in table decorations. By fitting them with a scallow tin cup or part of a can, and throwing back the lid, they make a charming decora tion for the table, filled with foliage and flowers. JULIA BOTTOMLEY. . - Dress Shields. Instead of sewing or pinning shields in a waist, sew a narrow piece of tape or baby ribbon at each end of the shield, and sew similar pieces at the proper distance apart in the armholes of all your waists. The shields are quickly tied in place, they are easily changed in wash waists, and there are no pins to rust or prick. ^ * T< -'■■a- ' ... Deviled Ham Loaf. Take tw$ cupfuls of cracker oi bread crumbs, one-quarter of a pound of deviled ham and two cupfuls of milk, using a portion of it to moisten the ham. Stir in two well beaten eggs, add one saltspoonful of salt, pour into a buttered bread pan and bake in a moderate oven for an hour. Serve cold cut in thin slices. To Stone Raisins. When stoning raisins the following method is excellent: First free them from their stems, then put in a bowl and cover them with boiling water, letting them remain in it for two minutes; finslly pour off the water and open the raisins, and the seeds can be removed quickly and easily without the usual stickiness. Marshmallow Mousse. Beat one pint of heavy cream until stiff, fold in one-half cup of powdered sugar, and three-fourths cup of marsh mallows cut into small pieces, flavor with one teaspoon of vanilla, turn into a mold, pack in salt and ice and let stand from four to six hours before serving. Monograms. French knots make a very hand some monogram, especially in old Eng lish. No padding is required, and the papier-madhe letters cannot be used. Stamp the monogram upon the article and then simply fill it in closely and solidly with small French knots. The result will be highly satisfactory. Plaited Mallne. Maline is more used than ever, and there 1b scarcely a gown without the plaited frills or ruffles of this soft ma terial. -