Take A square of thin wood and drive two long, slender nails through it; these are the legs of the elf. Turn it up- side down and push two large raisins on eaeh nail, and then a fig on both — ^these are the legs and the body. Take a wire about four inches long, and put two raisins on each end, twisting up the ends to hold them. Lay this across the i^ body and press it down to hold it firm. Put a marshmallow on a wooden toothpick, and put that on top for a head, and half of a fig for a cap. Draw eyes, nose, and mouth on the face with pen and ink, and, if you choose, brush a little melted chocolate on the sides of his head, for hair. Put a sprig of Christmas green in his cap. 26 THE FUN OF COOKING Jnst as the elves were put in a row on the table. Miss Betty exolaimed, "Children, it's stopped snowing! It will be all clear to-mor- The Christmaa elvea row, and everybody will get here in time, after all!" They mshed to the window to look, for sure enough, the storm was over, and everybody was going to have A Merry Ckristmasl CHAPTER n SUPPER AT THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS WHEN the Junior Blairs came down to breakfast on New Year's morning, there were three good-sized red-covered books lying on the table, one by each plate, and on the cover of each, in gold letters, was the name of Mildred, or Jack, or Brownie. But when they opened them there was nothing inside — only just white paper leaves. * * What are they for t ' ' asked Mildred, puzzled. **For school, for examples and compositions?" *'Not a bit of it!'* laughed her mother. * ' They are cook-books, or they will be when you have filled them full of receipts. When you made such delicious things for Christmas, I or- dered these for you, so you could write down each rule that you used then, and add others as you learned other things. You see, there are little letters all down the edges of the book, and when you want to find gingerbread, for instance, all you have to do is to turn to G ; and when you want — '* 27 28 THE FUN OF COOKING **Cake,'^ interrupted Brownie, *'you turn to Everybody laughed then, but in a minute Jack said soberly: ^*If you don't mind, Mother, I think I '11 use mine for school. You see, boys don't cook." **It seems to me I 've heard that before," said Father Blair, nodding at him. **But you just tuck that book away in your bureau drawer and keep it, because I 've an idea you may want it yet for a cook-book. ' ' Jack shook his head energetically, but as Norah just then brought in a fresh plate of pop- overs, he was too busy to say anything more. That afternoon, the girls began their books by copying very neatly the receipts they had al- ready used : Brownies, Christmas Cakes, Icing, Christmas Elves, Gingerbread Men, Oatmeal Macaroons, Pop-corn Balls, and Tartlets all went in, each under its own initial. Then they said they wanted some more receipts right away, because these looked so lonely. *'Very well," said their mother; **but first we will have a talk, because I have a bright idea. ' ' Now it happened that one of the particularly nice things about the Blair family was that they , SUPPER IN THE WOODS 29 owned a little bit of a house not many miles from town, right in the midst of a pine grove. A farmer lived quite close by, but the trees hid his house from sight; and the trolley-cars ran just around the comer, but they could not be seen either ; so when the family went there for a day or two, or a week or two, it was just as though they were a long, long distance from everybody in the world. They called this little place the House in the Woods, and Brownie Blair often pretended it was the one in the fairy book, and that Goldilocks might come in at any moment to eat a bowl of porridge with the three Blairs, instead of the three bears.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Take A square of thin wood and drive two long, slender nails through it; these are the legs of the elf. Turn it upside down and push two large raisins on each nail, and then a fig on both — ^these are the legs and the body. Take a wire about four inches long, and put two raisins on each end, twisting up the ends to hold them. Lay this across the i^ body and press it down to hold it firm. Put a marshmallow on a wooden toothpick, and put that on top for a head, and half of a fig for a cap. Draw eyes, nose, and mouth on the face with pen and ink, and, if you choose, brush a little melted chocolate on the sides of his head, for hair. Put a sprig of Christmas green in his cap. Jnst as the elves were put in a row on the table. Miss Betty exclaimed, "Children, it's stopped snowing! It will be all clear to-mor- The Christmas elves row, and everybody will get here in time, after all!" They rushed to the window to look, for sure enough, the storm was over, and everybody was going to have A Merry Christmas! CHAPTER n SUPPER AT THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS WHEN the Junior Blairs came down to breakfast on New Year's morning, there were three good-sized red-covered books lying on the table, one by each plate, and on the cover of each, in gold letters, was the name of Mildred, or Jack, or Brownie. But when they opened them there was nothing inside — only just white paper leaves. * * What are they for t ' ' asked Mildred, puzzled. **For school, for examples and compositions?" *'Not a bit of it!'* laughed her mother. * ' They are cook-books, or they will be when you have filled them full of receipts. When you made such delicious things for Christmas, I ordered these for you, so you could write down each rule that you used then, and add others as you learned other things. You see, there are little letters all down the edges of the book, and when you want to find gingerbread, for instance, all you have to do is to turn to G ; and when you want — '* **Cake,'^ interrupted Brownie, *'you turn to Everybody laughed then, but in a minute Jack said soberly: ^*If you don't mind, Mother, I think I '11 use mine for school. You see, boys don't cook." **It seems to me I 've heard that before," said Father Blair, nodding at him. **But you just tuck that book away in your bureau drawer and keep it, because I 've an idea you may want it yet for a cook-book. ' ' Jack shook his head energetically, but as Norah just then brought in a fresh plate of popovers, he was too busy to say anything more. That afternoon, the girls began their books by copying very neatly the receipts they had already used : Brownies, Christmas Cakes, Icing, Christmas Elves, Gingerbread Men, Oatmeal Macaroons, Pop-corn Balls, and Tartlets all went in, each under its own initial. Then they said they wanted some more receipts right away, because these looked so lonely. *'Very well," said their mother; **but first we will have a talk, because I have a bright idea. ' ' Now it happened that one of the particularly nice things about the Blair family was that they , SUPPER IN THE WOODS 29 owned a little bit of a house not many miles from town, right in the midst of a pine grove. A farmer lived quite close by, but the trees hid his house from sight; and the trolley-cars ran just around the comer, but they could not be seen either ; so when the family went there for a day or two, or a week or two, it was just as though they were a long, long distance from everybody in the world. They called this little place the House in the Woods, and Brownie Blair often pretended it was the one in the fairy book, and that Goldilocks might come in at any moment to eat a bowl of porridge with the three Blairs, instead of the three bears.

The fun of cooking