Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-08-05
Dear M. b. Friends:

Dear M. B. Friends:
1 never knew so many of the mutuals to
take a vacation at the same time. Whittier
away do you suppose they have flown?
And will they tell us about their travels
and experiences? If they have left their
Johns at home as housekeepers, hope we
shall hear from them how they managed.
The "themr and ithey'' in that last
sentence relate TO the Johns.
l heard two young housekeepers dis
.cussing cooking problems not long ago,
and if had ever learned shorthand /
could have gathered enough new ideas on
gravies, and roasts, and fiavors, and pud-
dings, and salads, and cereals, and
methods of cooking, to have stocked our
column for several weeks.
doubt not many others have listened
to similar talks. We must manage to
capture some of these experiences and reci-
pes. There is not usually patent-right
on them.
A good neigbbor brought me, day or
two ago, lovely collection of pansies
grown from seed sent to her by p. r. l..
The petals seemed thicker and more vel
vety than those of our usual pansies, and
the shades were very pretty.
Has Mrs. II. r. c. forgotten she was to
send us each month an installment Of 1.-THE
Singing Man"2
As this is the season Of picnics, you may
be interested in hearing about those Susan
used to attend years ago.
Dear Aunt Mad9e:
We had q rather quiet time Of 1t here at
FIRST, but soon came to know our distant
neighbors, and one way we had of getting
! acquainted with them was, to have someone
| ride round on horseback and tell the neigh
| bors that there would be q settlers picnic on
| certain day, in one OF the nearby canyons
or sycamore groves, Just as it happened to be
to suit the one getting up the picnic, and all
were invited 10 come with lunch baskets well
| filed.
Those picnics brought us together as one
family and were enjoyed by all settlers, am
sure. We went in lumber. or farm wagons, or
on horseback or walked. In the canyon were
plenty of big rocks, some of them having aat
tops suitable for tables, around which the
friends could sit or stand; but in the
grove we spread the tablecloth upon the
| sAoahd Al huc smut VI tree or trees
and sat upon our feet while we ate and drank
and chartered and were glad.
In the canyon we had pure water from
\ mountain stream, cool and refreshing; and il
we preferred we added to it our coffee and
boiled it on our improvised stone stove. Or,
perhaps, we made lemonade or limeade. We
usually spread our tables at the mouth of the
canyon and after luncheon would walk single
file in a path beside the stream to the irst
fall, or two or three miles away from our
dining groom; each one carrying stick to kill
| RATHER, should he or she meet one
The picture of this valley in that earliest
day of our pioneers, thirty-seyen and forty
1 years ago, varied to suit our seasons. 1t was
| picture covered with dust during summer
months-the foliage of orange trees and
others of the citrus family, in few orchards,
furnishing about all of the green in the ex-
tensive brown groundwork. There were a
few live oaks, widely scattered, and a very
. few ciumps of sycamores. We had set ont
only few deciduous trees, for our minds ran
| to citrus-tree culture, but in the winter and
spring seasons we had in this picture the
plowman with his team of two horses and
pillow turning the rich loan furrow no rocks,
| stumps or other distractions, in squares of
ten or twenty acres; and all the balance of
the plain of the valley in growth of wild
flowers, carpet il you please, of varied coll
ors, and beautiful beyond description, un-
| rolled upon the plain.
/ used to ride on horseback through the
valley and over the plain many times when it
was thus conditioned, and my pony seemed
to enjoy the splendor Of the scene as much as
! did, and would prance and caper coming
upon especially bright spots in the extensive
tapestry. Those were days of equestrian
pleasure to the young Of our families of the
|