Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-12-19
A co.ooer,tive Christmas Cake.


A COOPERATIVE Christmas CAKE
NJ. rbeophilus ellington said sne
| "a 80. COO how she could get time 10
-, christmas fruit cake this year.
. ,not of disappointment spread over
- t.ces of the young people. Out
George the eldest boy, aged fifteen ms
| r,otbers' own right hand man, SPOKE up
and said: :.
mother. Just give me the recipe OF it,
and we'll make it ourselves!
ooh. yes, we'll make it ourselves.
said they all together.
So thew allotted the task among
them The big sister. college girl
1heophila, said she would mix the pat
for and see to the baking II George
would chop the fruit and stir II IN.
The mother said:
"Ill tell you how to learn something
besides cake making while you are at
n We put into a fruit cake-let me
see-raisins, currants, citron. prunes,
dates. figs. spices and a few chopped
English walnuts. Each one OF you
NAV prepare part Of these and find out
where they come from and how many
of them can be grown in the United
States.
George, you may take for your
share the figs and walnuts. Theo, you
tell US about the spices and citron.
Fred you may stone the dates and
prunes and find out where and now
they grow. Lulu, my girl. you are very
neat and careful, 50 l will let you stone
the raisins and currants and make
them ready for the cake"
So they began, but in her own mind
Mrs. ellington thought Lulu had the
hardest part of that cake making ar
rangements. for Lulu had to wash the
currants. They hunted up their facts
from dictionaries and encyclopedias.
and they also asked everybody who
seemed likely to know anything about
the ingredients that go into fruit
cake They were surprised to discover
how little many grown people know.
When all was ready they sat by the
long kitchen table. and the co-opera-
tive fruit cake party began. Theo, the
eldest and the most learned, built her
cake dough on geometrical principles
and told her part of the cooperative
story first.
II find that Spices said she. ARE
cake ingredients that do not grow in
the United States. They come from
the tropics, most of them from the East
Indies. There is one exception, all
spice. which grows in the West Indies.
Then there is candied citron, which we
shave into strips for the cake. This
that we are using grows upon a tree in
India where it is preserved in sugar
nd IN oil RI of Ia World
will also grow in California. southern
Florida and the West Indies. There is
citron melon, too, growing in all
parts of the United States whose rind
is preserved to put into cake"
George. who had just then pounded
his thumb instead of a big walnut, cut
his speech rather short. He said:
The kind of walnut we call English
grows all around the shores of the Med
iterranean sea. About thirty years
ago walnut orchards began to be
planted in southern California. and now
that part of the state sells every year u
million dollars worth of the nuts. The
figs in our cake also come from Cali
fOrnia. Fig trees grow in the southern
part of the United States from the At
lantic coast to the Pacific"
Fred. twelve years old. was just at
the age when a patriotic American boy
is proudest of his country. He had
| written down his story and delivered it
| like an orator. He said:
Il am glad OF say that the prunes
and dates for this Christmas cake both
grew in America. the best, happiest
country the sun ever shone upon. The
prune orchards of the state of WASH
ington produce some of the finest fruit,
Of this kind in the world. The date
palm thrives in southern California,
New Mexico and Arizona. 1t is a
beautiful palm tree. growing sometimes
100 feet high. The
| This batter will all sink down and
get heavy is we don't hurry YOU" inter-
rupted Theo. Lulu. what's yours"
| Il had to scald and stone the raisins
and wash the currants. but those Zante
currants were SO dirty and took SC
much washing that 1 didn't have time
to find out much except that raisins
too. are grown in our own country. in
California, very fine ones. These grit
ty currants are not real currants at all
but just small. dried raisin grapes that
come from the Greek island of Zante
and I have read that they are thrown
upon the ground to dry and are just
scraped up. sand and all, and sen,
across the sea-"
|