Cooking and castle-building

" An ounce of cloves and a pound of sugar to a gallon of vinegar, is what / should use," I replied ; "but that is a matter of taste, and, as I said before, I prefer, in such cases not to give weights or measures. I will also add, Alice, that when I speak of vinegar I always mean good, strong cider vinegar, and not the weak, watery, insipid stuff that is often used by housewives, with the almost certain loss of the pickles on which it is used. Yet I notice that people whose pickles spoil from want of good vinegar, generally attribute their having spoiled to some other cause." "Cousin Kate, I hope you will give some nice methods of sweet pickling, or spicing fruits. Among pickles, sweet or spiced ones are my favorites, although mamma, no doubt, would object to them as occupying neutral ground between pickles and preserves, as being too undecided, not Ijositive enough, in character to suit her." "Spiced peaches and damsons are both very nice," I answered. " The former I prepare in this manner : Selecting hard free-stone peaches, I cut in halves, and remove the stones before paring, as I find them much easier to remove before than after paring. For seven pounds of fruit I use three pounds of sugar, a quart of vinegar, and a half ounce each of cloves and cinnamon. I put the sugar, with three pints of water, into a preserving-kettle, and when it boils, cook as many of the peaches at a time as the kettle will hold without their being piled one upon another. I cook slowly, turning them over and shaking them about, that they may cook evenly ; and when tender, remove by means of a wire skimmer, and place in a jar. When all the fruit is cooked, I simmer the syrup until quite thick, then add vinegar and spice, simmer all together a few minutes, and pour over the peaches. "Damsons I treat diflfercntly. ^electing large, fair plums, I puncture the skins with a fork, and lay them in a stone jar. Then I heat to boiling, four pounds of sugar and a quart of vinegar, with s-pice, the same as for peaches. When boiling hot I pour the liquor upon the plums, cover closely, and set aside until next morning; then I drain from the plums all the juice, heat to boiling, and pour over them as at first. I repeat this every morning for a week, or until the damsons are soft and tender. I then put all in the kettle together, simmer gently for a few minutes, skim out the fruit and put it in a jar, simmer the s}Tup twenty or thirty minutes, or until it seems rich and sufficiently thick, then pour it over the fruit, and consider the process of spicing damsons completed. But here comes Tom with our letters and papers." Our trunks were packed and our arrangements all completed for leaving Maple wood ; and as we sat on the piazza in the September twilight after tea, listening to the chirpings of the katydids, Alice observed, — " Cousin Kate, I would like to linger on here indefinitely. I have never passed a pleasanter summer ; and I wish we could stay through October and November, at least, to watch the autumn foliage as it brightens and fades." " If I had known before making other arrange-