Six little cooks

"Now, I believe I have given you all the receipts we shall need," said Mrs. King, " besides a good many others. You know we have a pretty large party to provide for; eight from here, three from Mrs. Lane's, and five from Aunt Carroll's — sixteen hungry people! Here is our bill of fare, that she and I made out together. "Veal loaf, ham-sandwiches, potato salad, buttered biscuit, short-cakes, black cap and huckleberry pies, loaf cake, soft gingerbread, iced tea and coffee for the grown folks." " And what shall we have to drink, Aunt Jane?" " Oh, I think little folks can get on very well with icewater. However, there is a very nice preparation called lemon sugar, that makes a pleasant drink when mixed with water, and we'll take along a bottle of that. I advised Mrs. Lane against lemonade, it is so troublesome and hard to manage." " Are we going to make every thing to-morrow ?" "Mrs. Lane will have the veal and pork weighed and chopped up at the butcher's, and the ham boiled to-day for the sandwiches, and as her cook is going to bake bread to-morrow, we shall have some light dough ready for the loaf-cake; every thing else I think we can prepare ourselves." The next morning saw a busy scene at Mrs. Lane's. Six clean-aproned little girls bustled about the kitchen, like peas on a hot shovel, somebody said; Ellen, the cook, had to be on hand to give out materials and utensils. Mrs. Lane said she could not keep out of the kitchen, it was so delightful to watch them, and Aunt Jane sat by a corner of the table up against the wall, in the character of the Genius of the place, inspiring every one with the power suited to the occasion. " The dough will be ready for your loaf-cake very soon, Edith; you must be ready for it. Take your recipe and put the materials together just as we always do, and Mabel and Amy will stone the raisins." " Shall we weigh them first, Aunt Jane?" " No, raisins musn't be weighed until after the seeds are taken out. Hose, you may set about the veal loaf; the meat is all ready, mixed by the butcher; Ellen will give you some bread to crumb up, and you can see by your recipe what else you will want." u I'm waiting patiently for my turn, Aunt Jane," said Grace. " Yes, I see. Yon may have either the soft gingerbread or the pies for your share. Which will you take? ' " Oh, the pies, if I may make them all alone ! May I go into the cellar and do it all by myself ? " " Yes, if you want to," said Mrs. King. " But wouldn't you rather have a little oversight and advice?' " No, I just want to take all the responsibility myself. I don't want anybody to see them until they go into the oven." " Yery well, just as you like. The berries are all nicely looked over and clean ; all you have to do is to be careful not to put in too much sugar, as they are both so sweet." " I wish pie-crust could be measured instead of weighed," sighed Grace. " It's so much trouble." " Oh, I can give you a nice receipt for measuring if you are not afraid to try it for the first time by yourself. Here it is:" No. 105—CUP PIE-CRUST. One cup butter, one of lard, four cups flour. "Is that all?" said Grace. "What a comical little recipe!'