The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1942-01-02


something outrageous Aun'
Bessie was like that. She had way
of saying things, not unklndIy' hoi
very insistently, but definitely 80
that they made you feel as Il Si'
was right and you were wrong.
1t was a good pie-chocolate, Win
whipped cream on top. ana DC
cause of what Aunt Bessie salu'
Jack said, with gloWerlng eye
cooked sidewise at her. Give ms
an extra large piece, Elizabeth. IL :
my favorite dessert. 1t isn't As d
matter of fact, Jack would ratnei
have apple pie than any other. buI
chocolate pie fitted into my menu SO
| had made it-and its 4 lot OF
work-for this first dinner OF Aunt
Bessie's with us after her last trip
| abroad
Me, too, mama said young
John. II want a double order.
And that was true. Boy-hke, my
ten-year-old wants a double order OF
any pie.
Aunt Bessie looked down her nose
at her granddaughter across the table
from her. Il hope, she said, you
don't give the baby chocolate PIE
at this ungodly hour, Bessie"
"Oh, no" | answered as easily
as possible Betty, you know, IS
only three-hardly graduated into
the pie class yet She had her
cereal and milk at half past five,
in the approved modern fashion, and
was asleep by SIX
Yet" said Aunt Bessie, Il don't
know that your mother and | sui
fered because we were brought up
in the old fashion, Bessie We were
husky enough. OF course, your
mother died when you were baby
but no kind of food could have
saved her from being killed by a
runaway horse l always thought
she was a reckless rider"
Well, we were off to a pleasant
vening; | could see that. Jack was
furious. He bit into his chocolate
cream pie SO hard that his teeth
clicked John looked eager. | could
see that he was planning crafty to
get Aunt Bessie to give him a de-
tailed account of the awful acct
dent that had killed my mother be-
fore | could really remember her.
And | was annoyed, too. Aunt
Bessie was in one of her less pleas
ant mOOdS-She was calling me
Bessie.
Elizabeth, said Jack, sternly,
another piece of pie, please"
There's always been an Elizabeth
in our family-in my mothers fam
lily, mean The name had fallen
to Aunt Bessie in her generation,
when Bessie was the usual form.
I'd been christened Elizabeth, and
had kept the name as it was. And
we'd given the name TO our baby,
ard of course called her Betty. My
grandmother-the mother of nv
mother and Aunt BesSie-had been
called Bess, and her mother had
been Lizzie Holden. And there'd
been a succession of Bets and
BessleS and LiZZies with a Betsy in
Revolutionary days-way back to
the days of Elizabeth in England,
when there had been a Bess Hard
WICK as one of the good queens
ladies N waiting We were proud
OF that ancestor, of course. And il
was fun TO pass on her name. But
| wondered, as | watched Aunt
Bessie drink her cup of black coffee
II the name had caused as much
trouble in the past as it was
causing us now
l really loved Aunt Bessie. She'd
been a darling to me always. NV
father had married again. and. as
my stepmother had no place in her
plans for leftover daughter. | had
spent my childhood in various
schools. With Aunt Bessie as the
bright fairy godmother who made
life interesting. Summer HOLIDAYS
abroad or IN the mountains with her
unexpected Christmas trips to At
lantic City or Bermuda-a conva-
lescence one winter, in Florida, and
lovely winter, out of school, in Cali
tornia. Of course, l loved her. But
she was spoiled sort of woman,
nevertheless. Too much money and
too little to do.
Now, after an eighteen months
trip around the world, she had come
to US for six weeks visit. We had
really looked forward to it. Jack
had planned trips to the theater and
dlnner IN tOWn-''We can't let her
think there's nothing worthwhile in
this country, Elizabeth" he had said
And | had rounded up a lot of her
old friends and planned to have
them for cards and luncheons
Little John liked company. and had
mapped out picnics to some of his
favorite haunts. And Betty seemed
to have got II into her head that the
aunt who was coming was coming.
really, to see her.
Did you make that pie, Bessie?"
asked my aunt.
Yes"
Haven't you a maid?"
1t was an unnecessary question.
Annie had been serving dinner, and
very nicely, too. Yes" an
swered. But she is not an expert
enced cook. So l do some of the
cooking. You know. l learned how
l<I al