Half-A-Dozen Housekeepers

at never twenty-four hours passed but a ridiculous adventure of some kind overtook the girls. The daily bulletin which they

pected. Uncle Harry was in great demand, and very often made one of the gay party of young folks off for a frolic. They defied King Winter openly, and went on all sorts of excursions, even on a bona-fide picnic, notwithstanding the tw

ege, and was teaching the district school that he might partly earn the money necessary to take him through the remainder of the course. He was as sturdy and strong as his name, or as one of the stout pine-trees of his native State, as gentle and chivalrous

in church tableaux, and made a dark green carpet by stretching them across the floor smoothly and tacking them down; they wreathed the pillars and trimmed the doors an

ubbing his cold fingers, “but I’m afraid we’ve gone as f

ges of canaries and Mrs. Adams’ two; then we’ll bring over Mrs. Carter’s pet parrot, and al

y accordingly adopted, and the

at home with which he mixed some cleverly constructed bright tissue-paper flowers, of mysterious bot

e made of paper, and were growing artistically in a moss-covered chopping-tray.) “We can’t get up a brook, and a brook is a handy thing a

ice-water tank, put it on a shelf, let the water run into a tub, then station a boy in the corner to keep filling the tank from the tub. There’s your stagnant pool an

He ought to be drowned for propo

sound would be sylvan and suggestive, and

.” After some explanations from Hugh about his plan, the boys finally succeeded in manufacturing something romantic and ingenious. Two blooming oleanders in boxes were brought from Uncle Harry’s parlor, there was a hemlock tree with a rustic seat under it, there was an evergreen arch above, there was a little rockery built with a dozen stones from the old wall behind the barn,

heir hats in irr

e, though! Won’t they think of the des

plants, and screw-driver, that perhaps she had better go over to Mrs. Carter’s and board. The girls will be fairly stunned, though. Just imagine Bell’s eyes! I told them we’d see to sweeping and heating the hall, but they don’t expect any dec

rom Jo Fenton, who was present in Grandmother Winship’s kitchen on one of the borrowing tour

dergoing abject suffering in their cookery for the picnic. It had been a day of

e began it, for it went out in the night. Everybody knows what it is to build a fire in a large coal stove; it was Jo’

ors, and clattering of hods and shovels, that trouble was overcome. But, dear me! it was only the first drop of a pouring rain of accidents, an

h, that most precise and careful of all little women under the sun, broke a platter and burned her fingers; Lilia browned a delicious omelet, and waved the spider triumphantly in the air, astonished at her own success, when, alas, the smooth little circlet slipped illnaturedly into

ouse for breakfast. There is no bread; Alice put cream-of-tartar into the buckwheats, instead of saleratus, and measured it with a table

Never mind the breakfast! there are always apples. What shall we take to the picnic?

cried Jo, animatedly, fro

castic smile. “There’s plenty of t

p the injured omelet for the second time. “We had better carry the delicacies, for

acy of reminiscence. “I haven’t had tarts for a

hority. “Cut a hole out of the middle of each round thing

sh the cooking dishes and found an empty dish-water pot. “I should think the jelly would grow hard and c

‘I’ll try, I’ll try, I’ll try,’”

about pastry, I wonder? Look in the cookbook. Does it have to be soaked over night like ham, or hung for two

ide’s Manual,’ “but it has to be pounded

ie Belt, and the glass rolling-pin and the marble slab have never been seen by the oldest or youngest inhabitant. I know that bride. When she make

est New Orle

out,” said Jo;

“where, I can’t think, for th

t with bread,” said Alice, remi

store for more eggs and a pail of lard. We’re out of m

high and light as air were flat and soggy; pots, pans, bowls, were heaped on one another in the sink until at one o’clock Alice Forsaith went to bed with a headache, leaving the kitchen in a state of general confusion and uproar. I cannot bear to tell you all the sorry i

f mince-meat in the pantry. It’s frozen, but it will be all right. You

o thaw. It thawed, naturally, the fire being extremely hot, an

le in it,” said Lilia to Bell, who was patting down

; “but I suppose it will boil down or thicken u

ty;’ and, to tell the truth, it does not look at all as

‘bringing up,’ Lill. Please pou

ough over it, slashed a bold original design in the middle for a vent

an, Mrs. Winship’s maid-of-all-work

oking mince-meat, Betty?” asked

en said, with youthful certainty and disdain:

tterance fell like a thunder

r rolling-pin at the same time. “What do you mean? It lo

r suet plum puddins this winter. It’s thick when it’s cold; and when it was froze, maybe

temper for a moment; caught up the unoffending spider filled with molasses and floating bits of suet; carried it steadily and swiftly to the back-door, h

ery doughnutty hand, and trying to wipe her flushed cheeks with an apron redolent of hot fat. “Yo

her merry, tearful eyes, an

ow, or let Uncle Harry or the boys know about it, I

King of France and fifty thousand men plucked

n different attitudes of dejection, all with from one to three burned fingers enveloped in cloths. The results of the day’s labor were painfully meager,—a colander full of doughnuts, some currant buns, molasses ginger-bread, and a loaf of tolerably light fruit cake. Out in the kitchen closet lay a melancholy pile of failure,—Alice’s pop-overs, which had refused to pop; Patty’s tarts, rocky and tough; and a bride’s cake tha

r an age, and I don’t wonder, if everybody is as tired

I shouldn’t care very much; but we have had such fun, I dread to break up housekeeping. The chief trouble with to-day was that w

of a ‘pow-wow,’ as Uncle Harry says, for the boys, in return for their invitation, and then we’ll think of something perfectly grand and stupendous for Friday, our last day of fun. It will take from that unt

n the morning while you are packing the luncheon. Whatever we do let us unpack our baskets privately an

farmers wore in haying time, with high crowns and wide brims. They had turned up one side of them coquettishly, and adorned it with funny silhouettes made of black paper, descriptive of their various adventures. Lilia’s

; and the next morning with the recuperative power that youth

, and even the older people avowed that they had never seen such a miracle of ingenuity. The scene was as pretty a one as can be imagined, though the young people little knew how lovely a picture they helped to make in the midst of their pastoral surroundings. Six charming faces they were, happy with girlish joy, sw

any of them ever expected to have; while the embroidered butterflies and stuffed birds flutter

hoolgirls and boys particularly affect—jelly-cake, tarts, and hosts of other goodies. How the girls remembered their closetful of “attempts” at home; how they roguishly exchanged glances, yet never disclosed their failures; how they discoursed learnedly on bakin

k, nearly dark in these short days, they left their make-believe forest and trudged home through the

ghtmare, or, at least, it would if it hadn’t happened in the daytime, and if we hadn’t the pantry to remind us of the truth. The things we

er and spotted-er,” quot

; but I think it very unbecoming in the maker of the bride’s-cake to say anything abo

n to what had been the most thorough and expensive failure

ed Alice. “Do let us try to straighten it before Sunday! The closets are all in sn

ots that had been evaded for two days, made fish-balls for breakfast, dusted, scrubbed, washed, mended, darned, and otherwise reduced the house to that especial and del