Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1873-03-31

OF the w n1UakefS QWlnQleu alaflnlHSly.
Susan, who saw the most of Luna's cook
ing, lived entirely on crackers.
When Mrs. Whitaker heard that Lu-
ma prepared the potatoes for dinner In
the wash-hand basin, and put the best
tea-knives soaking in the bottom of the
pan while she did the other dishes,-
tea-knives whose glossy handles were
Mrs. Whitaker's pride,-her indignation
knew no bounds.
Il won't have her in the house anoth-
er minute | can't sleep till she's out
Of it! The idea! My best tea-knives
I've been SO particular never even to damp
the handles, and put them away in It's
sue paper, and now they're ruined Do
get her out of the house before she spoils
everything in it and poisons US all.
Luna went. Susan cleaned up the
house, and prayed, whatever other cal
amity might be in store for them, they
might at least be spared another girl.
Susan was much better now. Her moth
er's illness had taken her out of herself,
and obliged her to make some exertion.
She went into housework with will,
equally surprised and pleased to find
herself really good for something. Ned
helped her all he could, and novel were
some of the experiments of what Ned
called the '.new girls
One day Susan decided to have baked
beans for dinner She put something
like two quarts boiling. BY and by,
looking in the pot, she was dismayed by
finding it full of beans to the very brim.
She took out nearly half, but still the
beans continued to swell beyond her wild
est forebodings. Ned came in to din
ner to iind an immense dish of baked
beans crownirg tn, dinner-table, while
several pans of the same agreeable edi-
bles, in various stages of doneness. were
standing around the kitchen.
"Whe-ew p exclaimed Ned. .'You' re
good providcr Sue, but seems to me
you are rather overriding this bean bust
ness. | feel about beans as the old la
dy's hired man did about liver. He
liked it we'll enough for fifty or sixty
days, but didn't care about it for steady
diet"
Don't laugh, Ned" said poor Sue,
looking anxious and exhausted. "lve
had really dreadful time with the
things. l positively believe three beans
would have been enough"
Susan usually had very good success
with her bread, but one day there arose
an unforeseen complication. The sponge
had soured in the night.
Med" she said, "did you ever no.
tice how much soda mother uses when
the sponge is sour? I'm sure | don't
know
Nor |. I guess she just stirs it in
till it tastes all right
She put in large teaspoonful of soda.
Then she and Ned both tasted and smell
ed it.
"'Tain't right yet. J" said Ned, with an
air of wisdom and experience. dab in
some more.
In went another spoonful. Another
: testing by the cooks.
, 'It tastes smarty," said Sue. Il be-
: lieve l shall put in another spoonful.
After getting in four spoonfuls, they
, concluded it would do
The bread came out Of the oven +;
. deep yellow brown in color, and exbal
+ ing an overpowering odor of soda. Su,
made biscuits for tea, and the pigs rev
l eled in new bread for supper that night
/. Ned, being implicated, swore solemn
secrecy +; and, as he used afterwards tri
e umphantly to observe, it didn't kill tn
pigs, either
!, But Susan's experiences were not al
g so disastrous. Mrs. Whitaker was quit
t astonished to see how we'll things wen
y on She began to think Susan was
! natural cook Daughters Of such nota
J. BILE housekeepers as Mrs. Whitaker ar
apt to be natural cooks" Order an
n method is the rule of the house, an
n they adopt instinctively, mothers wa
t. of doing things. A certain deftness an
skill is hereditary with them. Perhal
J. if Susan had, as she sometimes wishe
<. in the old dreamy days, been an autho
/, ess, her proudest triumphs would hay
r, given her no deeper thrill of pleasu1
+! than when her father said:
n Susan, this is really a capital squaS
pie. If your mother don't look ou
IL you II pedu Her Net. 1uoO give lho d.
" other piece.
h. One day Ned astonished Sue with
n bona fde compliment.
o. .'sue, you're growing handsome" s" sa
~ he.
Sue thought Ned was making fun
lie her, thereby. for once, doing him an i
III Justice for there is no surer cosmet
he and beautifer than housework. when Il
at carried to excess. No amount of dun
v bells, flesh brushes, constitutional wal
OF and drives can give the energy. the bri
= circulation, and cheerful tone to bot
ce and mind that comes from the vigorot
W varied exercise of houseWork Sue tx