Various

“ Even the big hunters and coach horses felt a trifle jealous in their stalls down-stairs, for the children came from the main floor, and passed the big fellows by to feast their eyes on the dear little ponies and cunning Shetland horses. Some of the ponies were stalled at the east and north sides of the basement, among their larger brothers, and how provoked the latter would look, how angrily they would twitch about, when a bevy of youngsters devoted their pleased attention to a little brown pony in a neighboring stall, patting him and caressing him! ”

“ Then, as their fathers and mothers trooped in as sedately as Shetland horses ever can walk, their heads proudly arched, and their manes waving gracefully, on trial for the prize which was to go to the best family of the three, a funny thing happened. The tiny Shetland colts, who had been cooped up with their mothers in a narrow stall all the week, began to open their eyes with excitement. They saw a huge tan-bark ring in a great building, plenty of air and space for a romp. ”

“ You may rest satisfied that when you are lucky enough to get a box of these sugar-plums it is the result of an endless amount of painstaking labor and exceeding niceness, but it is questionable whether that will stop you for a moment in putting one of these pretty things into your mouth. Maybe when the very last sugar-plum is eaten you may think about the way they are made, and then you can ask for more, so as to be fully impressed with the cleverness of the bonbon art. ”

“ Once in a while, at the eastern end of the building, you might observe, shyly peeping in at the moving horses and the gayly dressed children, more poorly clad young people, friends of some of the grooms, who had smuggled them in at the back door for a "look at the show." Though the hackney, the hunter, the tandem, and other competitions were, of course, watched closely by the young people, the keenest and most gleeful interest was shown in the ponies, and particularly in the little Shetland horses, of which there were more exhibited this year than ever before. ”

“ So I went down and took a look at this Duke of Wellington. She was a wall-sided old hooker, with a stern that looked like an ace of hearts painted black, and a main-yard half as long as her keel. But her bow was clever, and made her look as if the great spread of canvas promised by her yards would carry her up to whaleland in good time. While I was hanging around the wharf looking at her, and expressing by my face the sort of an opinion I had of the way her crew went about their work, a mean-looking fellow came up to me and asked me if I didn't want to ship. ”

“ At this season "all roads lead to Christmas." Whatever else I begin to say, I end by finding myself talking about Christmas. It is so pleasant an occasion, so merry a day, that we think of and plan for it long before it comes, and remember it gladly long after it is gone. One of the most graceful things you can do, if you have not gifts to send, is to write to your friends, near and far, a Christmas letter. A letter never fails to give real pleasure to the one who receives it. ”

“ For the last fifteen minutes Hopkinson tried desperately to score again, but the English High's line was too strong, and although Hopkinson forced the playing, and played in the High-School's territory, they came no nearer than the fifteen-yard line.
For English High, Wittemore played the most brilliant game. His long rushes around Hopkinson's left were responsible for the victory more than anything else. He is, by a big margin, the best back of the year. Eaton, at guard, was the best man in the line. He did some brilliant work carrying the ball, and on defense he was impregnable. ”

“ Some sugar-plums are frosted, by means of crystallized sugar, then a rich syrup is put on them, and slow drying gives them a silvery appearance.
There is just as little touching of the sugar-plums as possible; not that the hands of the working-people are not clean, but to finger a bonbon before you help yourself to it is to take away something of its pretty bloom. I saw trays full of moulded chocolate bonbons, almond shaped, and some of them had a little rim of chocolate around them, which had exuded from the mould. A girl with a pair of gloves on was breaking off the excess of chocolate. ”

“ As soon as one batch of sugar-plums was finished, the saucepans had to be filled up again.
For the coloration of the sugar-plums many vegetable substances are used, and the utmost care was taken that nothing unwholesome should enter into the manufacture. Then it is, too, a nice question of flavors, for it is so easy to add too much of an essence and so spoil the bonbons. When the sugar-plum is made it must have powers of resistance. Sugar tends in some conditions to deliquescence, and so sugar-plums might all run together, and their appearance would be ruined. ”

“ The change made a great deal more work for Aunt Patty and Cynthia, but they had not complained. Half a dozen times during each meal Cynthia was obliged to go into the kitchen on some errand, but no shadow of impatience or annoyance ever crossed her face. That Ida found the change desirable and pleasant was quite enough to cause Cynthia to feel glad that it had been made. Often when Ida would have risen to attend to some errand to the pantry her sister would forestall her.
"I know better than you do where things are," she would say, as she hurried from the room. ”

“ It was some months now since the boys had seen one another, and in the mean time Carter had been at Bunker Hill, and had been promoted for bravery to be a Lieutenant at eighteen.
After the parade had been dismissed George sought the headquarters of the New Jersey regiment, eager to see his friend and hear the news. As he turned about a corner the pounding of hoofs was heard, and a cavalryman rushed by, his sword clanking against his horse's flanks. As he passed a group of officers seated on a porch, he drew up slightly.
"The British fleet has entered the Narrows," he called, and dashed along. ”

“ When the sugar-plums leave the workman's or work-woman's hands they are not yet ready for consumption. They must be nice enough when fresh, but they have to be hard enough or of such a consistency as to stand travel. If chocolate enters into their composition, they would be likely to run if preventive measures were not used. The chocolate bonbons have to be hardened in currents of cool air. If there is no chocolate, or if it is in small quantity, the sugar-plums are dried by heat, but not at a high temperature. ”

“ You cannot shoot sugar-plums into a box like coal into a bin. A bonbon refuses rough treatment. Be the least rude with a sugar-plum, and it is mashed. Gentle management does wonders with a great many things.
If the bonbons themselves are excellent, much of their saleability depends on the way they are put up. The utmost nicety is used in the construction of the box, with its frill of lace paper and the bit of silver or gold cord or the ribbon used in fastening it. ”

“ School-girls should eat plenty of good food at the right times, and should avoid too many sweets. Many a headache and fit of the blues can be traced back to a pound of candy, delicious candy, but too much for the stomach to manage. Bonbons and caramels and all such tempting confections should be eaten after a meal as dessert, not munched all day betweentimes.
One of the prettiest Christmas presents sent me last year was a box of home-made candies, sent by a dear girl friend who has great skill in this line. The candies were laid in a dainty birch-bark box lined with paraffine paper. ”

“ It has a decided disinclination to pack itself solid. A vast quantity of small tablets of chocolate are used. To make them the soft chocolate is placed in small tin moulds, and these are put on a rocking table, and the tins dance and rattle until the chocolate assumes the proper shape and consistency. Then sugared almonds in the act of manufacture make quite a [Pg 114] racket. The almonds are surrounded with a sugar paste, and then put into revolving cylinders, and they roll and roll, making a sound like theatrical thunder. ”

“ If there is anything among all the things you girls should cultivate, my dears, it is repose. Simply do not allow your feet to swing and your brows to pucker, but compel face and feet to mind your will, and will to be calm and tranquil on the outside if not beneath the surface. A result of this will be that the looking quiet, and moving gently, and holding yourself in control, will bring about a restful condition of mind. You will feel better and be less nervous if you put down the expression of nervousness. ”

“ Cambridge excelled in offensive work, and kept the ball in Boston's territory throughout the game; but Boston's defense was so good that they held Cambridge for downs three times, with Cambridge only five yards from a touch-down, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that Watson managed to get through tackle for the score. Boston's offense, however, was lamentably weak. The interference rarely cut any figure, and the guard and tackle plays generally went wrong. This made it appear that Cambridge's defense was strong ”

“ So his business grew and grew, until to-day this enterprise founded by this baker occupies a large building with many stories in New York, and the motive power for making chocolate, candy, and sugar-plums is a 300-horse steam-engine, and 350 people are employed.
To give some idea of the quantity of the prime material, sugar, used every day in the year in this establishment, the total mass may be fairly grasped at in this way: An acre of good ground in the West Indies produces twenty tons of sugar-cane; the sweet juice expressed from the cane represents some eighteen per cent. ”

“ A scrap of pretty silk or embroidered linen bound with narrow ribbon transforms an ordinary pin-book into a dainty ornament for the dressing-table.
Out of a pretty embroidered handkerchief, such as is sold in any shop, a combined sachet and handkerchief case is made by folding the four corners to the centre, embroidering scattered flowers and the word "Mouchoir" on the corners.
A stick-pin cushion is made of an egg or heart shaped cushion covered with a bit of silk, edged with a frill of lace, and suspended by strings of baby-ribbon. ”

“ The supposed impossible has been accomplished and at last we are able to give you one of our GUARANTEED AMERICAN WATCHES for only ONE DOLLAR. Our watches have reached a world-wide fame and their sale has exceeded that of any other watch ever produced. This "DOLLAR WATCH" is the 5th and last of the famous American series and marks a point in watch manufacturing past which all of the money and ingenuity of the world can never go. ”

“ Said the foreman: "Chocolate is so sensitive, that if the workwoman did not use gloves there would be thumb-marks, and a sugar-plum with a finger-mark on it is a spoilt sugar-plum. We have those gloves washed everyday."
In the make-up of the ordinary one-pound box of mixed sugar-plums there generally are some fifteen varieties. It would take a five-pound box, probably, to hold the one hundred and fifty different kinds this manufactory turns out. ”