The San Francisco call., 1896-08-02
A LITTLE HELPER.

"Oh, auntie, if / could only do something
to help mamma" cried Dottie Gray. 'She
works so hard to make living, and she Is
never very we'll. Ted can help good DEAL"
Dot added. "He gets wood and water, builds
the fires and does many other things and
tears began to trinkle down Dottie's rosy
cheeks.
Aunt Chloe looked up from the pastry she
was making for pies and stared right In the
little GIRLS tear-stained face. "I bleves 20 do
want to help, honey she said. Law, chile,
yo could cook"
"Oh, Aunt Chloe, will you teach mel"
"Recon will. Dere, you go long and roll out
dat dough and show yo how to make de pie"
Dottie was delighted. She worked earnestly
for two hours rolling dough, pairing apples and
doing other odd jobs to help Chloe.
She went home very light-hearted. Mrs.
Gray wondered what had made her little
daughter so happy.
The next day she spent another two hours in
learning to cook. AT the end of three weeks
Dottie could cook meal ''worth eating," as
Chloe expressed it.
She had not told her mother that she was
taking cooking lessons.
One Friday Mrs. Gray had a headache and
Dot had to stay at home from school. She
thought 1t time to show her mother what she
could do, SO after bathing her mothers fore
head in cold water until she went to sleep Dot
slipped quietly down to the kitchen, put on
her dust cap and clean white apron and
washed her face and hands. After that she
took pan of peas to shell for dinner out under
the shade of the house to decide which duck to
kill for her mothers lunch. There was Ring,
Tim, Tom, Blackie and SNOWFALL. Which
should it be? She didn't like to part with any
of them.
Suddenly a thought flashed through her
min
ground and the duck that gets the first pea
shall die" Down went the peasl every duck
made dash to get some. but alas for dear lit
tie SNOWFALL got the first.
So SNOWFALL was killed and cooked to
golden brown. When everything was ready,
Dot with hot, red face went softly to her
mothers room. "Are you awake, mamma,
dear ?" she asked. Eyes, daughter" answered
her mother, sand my headache is all gone"
ssTnen come down to dinner, 1 cooked IL all
by myself" cried Dot, her large blue eyes
sparkling with delight. "You, Dot? you cookT'
exclaimed Mrs. Gray in surprise as she fol-
lowed her to the dining room, where she saw
the table nicely set, chairs in place, and q hot
steaming dinner all ready.
Mrs Gray sank in a chair as she said: "Now
Dottie, explain yourself Who cooked the din
ner? Has any one been here?"
"I cooked the dinner and no one has been
how she had learned to cook. and merry dinner
they had. Mrs. Gray declared the roast duck
was the best she had ever eaten ana the pies
delicious. Dot agreed with these sentiments
by a nod of her curly head. Now mamma,
you shan't work so hard any more. I'll do all
the cooking after this. You shall rest" said
Dot proudly.
Mrs. Gray answered by loving kiss on
Dottie's soft red cheek. CLARA ELKINs-
Pixley, Tulare County.
PATTY AND HER DUCKS.
"Patty. Patty" called mamma, one morning
'sThe little ducks are hatched." Patty
scrambled out of bed in a hurry and dressed
herself.
"Ohl where are my little ducksp' she called
out to her mother, who was kneading dough.
"They are in the old coop, dear, and you
may go and feed them"
So PATTY hurried to the pantry and mixed
some cornmeal with water to feed the little
ducks. She ran out to the coop and saw some
of ssthe sweetest little buckles in the world"
She threw some dabs of cornmeal to them and
laughed to see them scramble for it.
Patty fed her ducks right along for a few
days, but one morning when her mother called
her, instead of getting up cheerfully as she
usually did, she got up slowly, grumbling
"Ohl dear, dear, every morning have to get
up before I'm half awake. Oil dear, DEAR
Instead of feeding her ducks, she lay on the
sofa and read story book.
she soon forgot all about her ducks until
after dinner, when her mother said, Have
you fed your ducks, Patty?"
"No, mamme," said Patty. '1'm tired of
those bothersome ducks, but I suppose Pll
have to-" she grumbled as she walked off.
She took out pan of corn and went out on
the porch. Sitting down on an old bushel basket
oil bo wit
expression on her usually smiling face.