Holiday Stories for Young People | Page 9

accommodating. It has to be attended to when
the proper time comes, whether it is convenient for the maker or not. If
neglected, it will be too light, or else heavy. Bread which is too light
has a sour taste, and is just as unpalatable as that which is heavy, _i.e._,
not raised enough, I mean."
In the morning our bread had risen to the top of the bowl, and had
cracks running in a criss-cross manner over its surface. Miss Muffet
was the first one to appear on the scene. She gave us a lesson in
kneading. Such patting and pounding, throwing over, tossing back and
forth, as she gave that poor dough. But the dough must have enjoyed it,
for it seemed to grow lighter every minute.
After a full twenty minutes of this process the bread was set near the
fire for a second rising. A half-hour passed. Miss Muffet took it in hand
again, and again she pounced and patted, beat and pounded the helpless
mass, this time dividing it into three small loaves, which she set near
the fire for the final rising.
"Bread is nicer made in little loaves," she told us. "More convenient for
use on the table, easier to bake, and less likely to become dry."
And now let me give you a receipt for Ingleside waffles. Mother
considers these very good, and so do we girls who have tried them.
"Make one pint of Indian meal into mush the usual way, which is by
stirring the meal into boiling water and letting it boil until it is thick.
While hot put in a small lump of butter and a dessertspoonful of salt.
Set the mush aside to cool. Beat separately the whites and yolks of four
eggs until very light; add the eggs to the mush, and cream in by degrees
one quart of wheat flour; add half a pint of buttermilk or sour cream, in
which you have dissolved a half-teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda;
add sweet milk enough to make a thin batter.
"Have the waffle-irons hot. They should be heated in advance, not to

keep the batter waiting. Butter them thoroughly and half fill them with
the batter. Bake over a quick fire."
I never eat waffles without thinking of a pleasant home where two girls
and a boy who read this paper have good times every summer. They
often go out on the bay for an afternoon sail, and come home in the
rosy sunset in time for waffles. Waffles, with sugar and cream, are a
very nice addition to a supper table.
Another receipt of Miss Muffet's:
_Delicious Corn Muffins._--One pint of corn meal sifted, one egg, one
pint of sweet milk, a teaspoonful of butter, and half a teaspoonful of
salt. Pour this mixture into muffin-rings and bake in a very quick oven.
This receipt is one that mother sometimes uses on a cold winter
evening when she has nothing else hot for supper. They are great
favorites in our household.
CHAPTER IV.
HOW TO SWEEP.
In the first chapter of this story I spoke of the trouble housekeepers in
Bloomdale had to get and keep good servants.
We Clover Leaf girls made up our minds that we would learn to be
independent. We resolved to know how to do every sort of housework,
so that we might assist our mothers whenever they needed us, and be
ready for any emergency as it came along.
Aunt Hetty's daughter-in-law in Boston sent the poor old soul a letter
which made her rather uneasy, and grandmamma thought that I might
better let her go and pay Sally a visit while mother was away than to
wait till her return.
"The fall dressmaking and cleaning will be coming on then," said
grandmother, "and thee will be busy with school again. So if Hetty

takes her vacation now, she will be here to help the dear mother then."
I agreed to this, for the chance of having the kitchen to myself was very
tempting. The club was charmed; they said they would just live at our
house and help me with all their might.
"Then you won't have Hetty's moods to worry you," said Veva,
consolingly.
We had a good time. Nevertheless it was a happy day for me when
Aunt Hetty, bag and baggage, came home a week sooner than she was
expected. Nobody was looking for her; but the good old soul, having
seen her relations, felt restless, and wanted to get home.
"Somefin done tole me, honey," she said, "that Aunt Hetty am wanted
hyar, and sure enuf it's so. Yo' pa an' ma off on dey trabbles, and
nobody but one pore lamb lef' to take car' ob de house an' de ole
madam. I wouldn't hab