The universal cookery book

But when at last the penny was hers, no more garden-work, or play either, for that day. It was business, serious business. She hied away with it to the corner grocery ; and it was a weary forenoon to the wretched clerk behind the counter there, who must have grown to dread the sight of that little figure, if he did not regard its approach as an expiation of his own peccadilloes among the cakes and sweetmeats. JESSIE'S BARGAINS. meats. Jessie was not like those good children who put their pennies in the missionary-box. She felt, perhaps, that there was a little heathen here at home that wanted the penny; and though she was any thing but starved, yet, except on the rare occasions when she bought a tiny china baby as naked as a pappoose, she always spent that penny for her palate. But stingy with her bargain, — bargain it was always, — a jury of her peers could not have declared her; for though she quarrelled and scuffled with her sisters, in the morning, for the wash-basin or the towels, she always gave them a bit of her macaroon, or her tart, or her plum, in the afternoon, — crying a little bit if they took too big a bite. She would begin her bargaining by pricing every thing in all the jars deliberately, until at last the half-distracted clerk would cry, “ Now you know the price of every thing in this shop, see here ! And you can buy, or you can let it alone. The gibraltars are a cent apiece, and so are the barley-sugar sticks, and the apples, and the ginger-snaps. And we don’t sell white grapes by the cent's worth, nor guava-jelly. And I sha’n’t let you have a quince anyway, because it would give you a colic, and your ma wouldn’t like it ; and, besides, quinces are two cents this year.” “ How much is jujube-paste ? ” Jessie would ask then, oblivious of the slight to her dignity involved in the reference to colic. “ Well, you can have a stick of that for a cent.” “I don’t know as I like jujube-paste,” hesitatingly, and climbing higher with her dangerous elbows on the show-case. “ Then what did you ask about it for ? ” the clerk would say tartly. “ We have it in all flavors,” he would add, from mere habit. “Then there’s Jenny Lind chewing-gum,” in a tone half-questioning, half-advising. “ I like real gum better than that,” is the reply. “ We’re all out of spruce,” teetering back and forth on his heels and toes. “ Haven’t you any gum -drops? ” Jessie would ask. “ Oh, yes, plenty of those,” snatching at relief. “ How many ” — “ Six for a cent,” plainly and emphatically. “ I don’t think that’s quite enough,” gently, but full as decidedly. “Very well. That’s the best we can do for you,” taking out his pocket-comb now, and soothing his mind by its use. “ Do you ever sell a piece of an apple ?” “ Good gracious 1 I’ll give you a bite,” cries the clerk desperately. “ Oh, no,” she answers sweetly ; “ I don’t want you to give me any thing. I’m not begging, I’m buying,” grand as a little archduchess. “ Well, then, what will you have ? ” he demands, leaning over the counter in a state of exhaustion. “ I suppose, though, you don’t throw any thing in when people buy ? ” she asks, slightly modifying her grandeur, as even archduchesses may. “ Not your sort,” says this Bayard of the boxes. “ I didn’t ask you to throw any thing in,” indignantly. “ I said I supposed you didn’t.” BARLEY SUGAR.