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TRY THESE SHADOW PICTURES

SHADOW pictures are quite popu- lar, the scenes being arranged so that the shadows of grotesque and rapidly-moving figures grow larger and smaller against a white screen. This is so simple an idea that it is easy to transfer it to any large room as an entertainment whensomething novel is needed at Christmas time.

A white sheet stretched across, and a brilliant light set a few feet behind it, so that it is strong- ly illuminated, are the principal preparations. ‘The room, of course, must be in darkness when the shadow action takes place.

The actors in the scenes pass in front of the light, so that their shadows are thrown clear cut against the sheet. This is all the audience on the other side are’ to

see.

Everything takes place in dumb- show, and in profile, as far as pos- sible, so any little scenes enacted must necessarily be exceedingly simple. If something more elabor- ate is desired, and i_t has all been carefully planned out beforehand, someone might stand at the side and announce "titles" of a similar nature to those thrown on the Icreen at the pictures.

Costume helps a great deal; false noses, exaggerated wigs and beards, gloves with preposterously long fingers, and any absurdities of the kind emphasise outlines.

In the ordinary course the light in the background should be fixed about three and a half to four feet from the floor, but the most fantastic effects can be obtained if it is placed on the ground or high up. As the figures move the shadows elongate and contract into ludicrous proportions.

A GUESSING GAME

You probably know a lot of guessing games, but I wonder if you have played this one.

Hungarians . Have London Observance

I LTHOUGH small, the Hungar-

ian colony in London does not neglect the opportunities afforded by Christmas and the New Year to get together and celebrate after the fashion of the mother-country. Christmas Day brings the Christ- mas tree, decorated with fancy chocolates, silver and gold "angel- hair" and white candies; a quiet day.

New Year's Eve is a time cf en- tertainment. The leaders, of the colony meet at the Hungarian Restaurant on Regent Street. where national dishes and music are followed at the stroke of mid- night by two luck-bringing cus- toms- As the clock strike a real Surrey-side chimney-sweep enters the supper rooms and moving among the tables gives everyone a chance to take a bristle from his bmsh. Carried throughout the year the bristle will bring luck to the owner. c Hungarians call the custom cmcnysepro. ‘The other custom. "Az ujevl szerencse-mal- ac," brings into the room lucky New Year sucking-pigs, and every- one who can touch one of the little squeakers will have a double chance of happiness.

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PURITANS AND CIIBI STMAS

E PURITANB regarded

Christmas as savoring cf pooery and preferred their own celebration of Thanks- giving. In 1660 the General Court of Meuechusettl on- nctcd that "anybody who ll found observing, by abstin- ence from labor, feasting or any other way any such day u Christmas day shell for 4 each and every such offense b0 fined five ahillinll!"

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The host or hostess should lead the games He or she gets a box, and inside this places some small object.

“Now I have something very in- icresting in this box," he says, as he taps it with a stick. "Can you guess what it is?" .

Then the players question the box owner as much as they like- "ls it coloured?" “Is it round?" “Is it eatable?" etc. And so the questioning goes on until the ob- ject is guessed.

The player to guess then takes over the box, places something in it, and so the game goes 0'

TRY THIS TRICK

Christmas timeds the time for tricks and jokes. You can try them on uncle or daddy and make everybody laugh. Here is a trick that you might suggest. Get every- one to join in, and there'll be lots of laughter.

Tell someone to hold his nose with his right hand and his right ear with the left hand. Right! Next he must reverse the position, so that he is holding the nose with the left hand and the left ear with the right hand.

It's easier said than done, as everybody will find.

GLITTERING HOLLY ,

If you would add glitter and sparkle to your Christmas decor- EWJTIS. try dipping them in a solu- tion of alum and water.

Use one pound of alum to each pint of boiling water. Dip the 11011? in the solution and then hang it up to d:y in a. warm at- mosphere. After about, twelve hours it will have crystallised and the leaves will be covered with I frosty glitter-

Even ordinary twigs from the garden treated thus loci: quite pretty for table decoration. Snow in the form of cotton wool may be attached to the twigs and frosted, and, of course, the alum treat- ment renders the wool fireproof.

Choosing A Christmas Tree

THE EARLY purchasers secure the best-shaped Christmas trees. Those who leave it till A couple of days before the holiday usually have to be content with a. tree that lacks grace and sym- metry.

But how is it to be kept fresh if it is bought so early? Quite simple, by standing it in water, which is a better method than potting up in earth. Use an ordinary house- hold pail and prune the roots so that they fit.

when the actual day of dressing the tree arrives, pot it up in damp sand and then camouflage the lat- ter by standlng it in a wooden box which has previously been sand- papered down and painted I. bright colour.

To make it quite neat the lid of the box should be nailed on after having been cut in two, two V- shaped pieces having been ‘out out of the centres, so that when they are put together there is a space to allow the stem of the tree to come through.

If You're Good

Santa Claus will come tonight If you're good.

And do what you know ls right, As you should.

Down the chimney he will creep,

Bring for you a woolly sheep,

And a doll that goes to sleep, If you're good;

Santa Claus will drive his sleigh, Through the wood,

But h'.'ll come around this way If you're good.

With a wind-up bird that sings

And a puzzle mode of ,

He will bring you many my If you're good. ' T‘ 17"?" r"ri"’r’ '

' come Christmas visitor):

Aunt Chloe's Inherited “Merry

Christmas Gift” -

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‘LD AUNT CHLOE was a darn

almost as wide as she was high. She had a smile that would melt a quart of ice cream. She wore a red bandanna handkerchief tied about her head, with two corners sticking up like rabbit's ears- Her aprons were big enough for the mains’! of a square rigger. She radiated such a warmth of hospi- tality in her mean little, clean little shack that many visitors called there for tlv. pleasure of basking in the glow of it. Aunt Chloe was very poor, and uncon- querably cheerful.’ She also had imagination. _

Tacked to her walls were two colored prints. One was of a gar- den ln full, summer bloom. The other depicted a Christmas scene, a sleighload of people going off on a glorious ride. ,

Christmas morning some of her neighbors dropped in to complain a little about hard times. ‘They found the old woman gazing in- tently at the siunmer picture. She turned her head to welcome the visitors. "Eben if Ah'm a little cold," she explained. "Eben i1 Ah don't hab much Christmas, I got one gif’ don't neber fail. Ah can think aheaddnter pleasant times. when Ah'm all hot and steamy in de summer, and tiahed, too, I looks at de snow picture, and right away Ah'm cool. And now in dis chill- some time, Ah keeps a-lookin’ at de summer one- I kin eben feel de sunshine on mah back. Dem things isso. . .eben if dey ain't so just dis minute. It's a gif’ from de Lord, chllluns, c. gif’ from de Lord. And it keeps me fannln‘ along," her wide smile lit up the room, "like nobody's buslnessW-Martha Banning Thomas.

Christmas Games

l-IRIBTMAS is invariably a sea- son for children's parties and the games described below may help the little hosts or hostesses to make their parties a real success.

A lively game, of course, will start the youngsters off in a whirl of merriment. Here is a variation of tag that is enjoyable.

One of the children should be chosen to play the part of Santa Claus and another for one of the reindeer-s. Both should be blind- folded and then guided to oppo- site ends of the table. At a signal they begin moving around it; Santa trying to find his reindeer and the deer trying to escape.

Another stunt may be played with little sugar animals. They should be wrapped in red paper and each child pennltted to draw

Christmas Jokes

Mother: "Paul, you naughty boy, you've been eating too much Christmas pudding. Do you feel very bad, dear?" '

Paul: "Thank you-I'm only dying."

Mrs. Mean: "Don't you find this calling for Christmas boxes makes you a. very unpopular person?"

Coalman: "No, mum; they near- ly all ask me to call again."

Mother: "Now no more Christ- mas pudding, Peter. You're too small to eat so much."

Peter: "I'm not so small inside as I am outside"

Maid to Master: "The man who is singing carols in the streets wants to know if you can help him, sir."

Master: "Impossible, I can't sing a note."

I-le: "And did you like the book I gave for Christmas?"

Bhe: "I lov it. You left such a lot of letter in as bookmarks."

Small Boy (in haberdashery): "I want a collar for father's Christ- mas present." ~.

Assistant: “One like mine?"

Small Boy: “No, a clean one."

Mrs. Dragon: “George, I'm just wondering what Christmas gift I shall send to the Home for Lost Dogs."

Long Buffering Mr. D.: "Send me, m’dear."

"Look,- John, that fur coat is the very thing I've been wanting for mother's Christmas present—and the shop's closed-and we're trav- eillng tonight. Just my luck."

"Er-yes, dear, and mine, too!"

Unextravagant One (to unwei- “Nam ower glad tae see ye. But, mon, it's an awfu‘ night for a call." Hopeful Visitor i (hanging up dripping coat): "Ye're right. But, aye, it's a grand night for findin‘ folk at heme!’

Customer: "Have you any cigars like those I bought here yester-

day?"

Clerk: "Yes sir. Here are the diffcent sorts."

Customer: "Yes, there are the

ones. I'll take some of those for Christmas presents. And now give me another sort for myself, those ‘wue awful."

llhther (reading adventure story): "If you were stranded on a desert island, what would ‘you wish for most?"

Tommy: “A Christmas pudding." a

Father: "And if you were al- lowed two thingl?" .

Tommy: "Two Christmas pud- dings."

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‘ "D0 YOU ever win anything in those contests you are always entering?" Muriel Wilson queried of her sister Agnes, who was home for the holidays, as they sat on

the bed doing up last minute family gifts Christmas eve. q

"Not yet," Agnes laughed. "But by the law of averages I should win sometimes." -

“Soon, I'd say," Muriel said grimly. “You've been entering con- tests of one kind and another ever since we were infants and mother entered you in a prettiest baby contest."

"That's whale I began my los- ing. If I'd won then I'd probably have kept on winning like these people we read about who live on what they make from contests."

“Phooeyi" Muriel scoffed. "What makes you do it, anyway?"

"Just my love of adventure. I'm really a born gambler-in a dis- creet way, of course. That's why

‘I write for my living, just to see

if my brain children will find a. place or come back home to me." "Was it your love of adventure, or gamblnlg spirit, tor whatever you call it, that made you turn down Harold Ryan three years ago when he came home from college with his cousin Fred to spend the holidays? Now. why did you do that, Agnes? He was everything anyone would want in a husband

» —1ooks, family, money, and aren't

we always told that marriage is the great adventure?"

"Maybe it is an adventure but what sort of a gamble is it to marry a man who already has

Harold Decided io Deliver the Prize in Person. ‘

everything. No, I preferred to gamble with my own career."

“And now that you've made a. success where ls the gamble in it?" Muriel carefully stuck a sprig of holly in the knot of her red tissue ribbon.

When Agnes replied it was in a more serious manner: -

"Since you ask me so pointedly. Muriel dear, I think, perhaps, if Harold lost his money during the depression, as so many did, and if he were to_ present himself now as a man winning his way through his cwn efforts, I might trust my- self to adventure along with him. But, Ifancy, it is too late. He's probably found some less adven- turous soul ere this."

"Most likely," Muriel answered, as she rose to answer the door bell which had been persistently ringing. “Guess we're home alone." She hurried down the stairs.

Five minutes later she was back, trying vainly to refrain from any show of excitement:

"Some one on business for you, Agnes. He's the persistent kind, insist" he had to see you right now." .

“Oh, well, all right. I'll go down and get it over with." Agnes took off her smock and departed.

Muriel heard Agnes’ surprised ejaculation, but it was some time before she was summone‘ to join the two in the living room below.

“Muriel is just dying to con- gratulatc me," Agnes gayly greeted her younger sister. "Behold, sister mine, I've actually won in a con- test- You see. Ilaroid is managing cdftor now of the paper that was running this particular contest. When titc judges were sort of stuck as to which of three people had won second prize they referred the matter to him and. recognizing

your honorable sister's name among ill‘ three, he immediately drclfu-T "1 l1 l‘ favor and con-vs, in

person, to drliver. it."

"But I thought it was for anoth- er rcrson I was to congratulate you." Mule! did not try to conceal her disappointment.

"There is," Harold answered promptly. "I let Agnes speak first. But the reason I had for bringing Agnes the prize in person was to see if I could win this prize per- son." >

Just then the door of the room o adjoining was thrown open and another ovcrcoated young man ap- peared. This time it was Agnes’ turn to show astonishment: .

"or all things, Fred Ryan! Have you been there all the time?" .

"Sure thing. I came with Har- old, a sort of moral support. You see, Muriel and I have our wedding all planned. let's make it a double one "

To which bright idea they all ivyfuliy agreed, hugging one un- other and shouting "Merry Christmas!"

Mother-And what did Santa Claus say to my little boy when he saw him at the shop?

Small son-Well, mummfe, he said, "Will youkeep yer-blidkin‘ ‘ands off those toys!’

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‘Christmas Bells!

And Joyous Wedding ' Bells!

GEABVILLEI Coe d0: ville!

With a greet jerk the great Christmas train came to a stop and the next moment. Sylvia n! Bob were filing their way-thro gh the happy, smiling Christmas passengers laden with parcels, bones, suitcases and good will! Christmas! Christmas everywhere!

Off they‘ hopped and hurried through the blinding snow storm to the house on the side of the hill, the old familiar homestead of Sylvia Bronson. There it stood in its snowy coat and Christmas wel- come-much the some as when she had left it but. a year before.

"Just think, to be married on Christmas, Bob. The gra-ndeshday in the whole year. Isn't it wonder- ful? Let's hurry. I can hardly watt to see Mother!"

Bob acquiesced by a. tighter grip of Sylvia's arm and a genial smile o! understanding.

Stamping and brushing the feathery flakes from them, they opened the door and were almost smothered with greetings and shouts oL"Merry Christmas" from the whole family.

What a sight! Christmas bells! Wedding bells! t _ ‘

The tree iteelf was one glittering mass of lights and miniature bells -—bells of gold and bells of sliver. Even beneath its branchse stood a huge bell-shaped contained simply loaded down with Christmas gifts

' —weddlng gifts-all for this one

night of nightsi-Alioe B. Palmer. one. Each ehlid then unwraps his animal, without letting his com- panions see what it is, proceeds to act the part of his animal. A prise should be given to the child who best imitates his animal and to the one with most correct guesses.

Pinning a beard on Santa is a stunt that is usually enjoyed. A reg doll should be dressed to rep- resent Santa Claus and fastened securely to the top of e. chimney made of cardboard. ‘The children should be blindfolded one at a time, and given a bushy piece of cotton. He must try to pin Santa's whiskers in place.

Snow man is another game that will balots 0f fun. One boy is chosen to be the snow man. He stands between the two bases which have been marked off in the snow. The players are divided into two aides. _

The Snow Man calls, “Ho! Who's afraid of the snow man?"

This is the signal for the players to exchange bases.

While the children are running across the" open field, the snow man ‘tries to pelt as many as he can with snowballs. Those who get by are safe, but those who are hit must stand by the snow man and make more snow balls for him to continue his warfare.

The Snow Man_ continues to call: "l-Io!Who‘s afraid of the Snow Man?" until all are caught. The last one caught wins the game and is snow man for the next game.

The Toy Shop is also a good game. The children stand in a circle after choosing one to be “it.” Each chooses the name of a toy. “It" pretends she ls a lady in a toy shop and walks about the _ circle saying: “I am looking for I. ' doll and a bicycle" (or any other toys). The toys mentioned must change places, while "lt" tries to slip into one of the vacant places. The child left out is "it" for the next time.

An ordinary feather will provide any amount of fun and is the medium of a. game especially pop- ular with children.

select one that will float in the air, and throw it above the head of the players, who sit in a circle. The object of the game is to keep the feather tn the air by blowing. If the feather touches anyone the‘ person must pay l. forfeit

CHRISTMAS TREES

THE CHRISTMAS tree which all Canadianboys and girls regard as a necessary ease “ 1 for proper Christmas celebration was intro- duced into England from Germany by Queen Victoria. The custom of loading a,young spruce tree with gifts originated with the ancient Romans; who used them at the Saturnalla, feats held in honor of Baturnus. the god of g agriculture and civilization.

CRACKERS

IT HA8 LONG been the custom

in France to sell packets of sweets in colored wrnppers twisted at the end to keep the contests from falling out. The French cailed"them cosaques. They were introduced into England about eighty years ago, and from them‘ the cracker was developed. Some millions of crackers are made every year and sold all the world over. . _

' CAROL!

SONGS OF JOY and praise, or- tcn accompanied by dances, » have been sung by the English for more than a thousand years, being handed on from the Druids to the Christian Church. "On Christmas Day in the Morning," and "111; cherry-tree Carol," are found in ma!!! llnlllllfl. with slightly dif- ferent words. '