Six little cooks

" In a cold place, and hardly touching it with your hands." " And when there is more than one layer of it? r "Wet the parts that touch each other with ice-water." " What do you do with tea-pots and coffee-pots? ' " Scald them before you begin, and empty and wash and wipe them as soon as they are done with." " Is there anything else that you heat before using it? ' " All sorts of tins to bake cake in." " What is your rule in regard to seasoning and flavoring?" "Better put in too little than too mnch; you must keep trying it unless there is an exact quantity mentioned." " What must you be sure to do when you are cooking for sick people?'1 "Have everything ready at the time it is ordered, and be very neat and nice about serving it." " How do you keep flour from getting lumpy ?* " By mixing it very smooth, first with a little milk or water, and afterward adding the rest to it slowly." " When you want to put eggs into boiling milk what do you do?" " Take the milk off the fire and pour it into the eggs, stirring them all the time." " What is your rule for baking cake nicely? ' " Not to open the oven doors any more than you can help after the cake is in; only you must be sure not to let it burn." " How can you keep things from burning that are on top of the stove?" "Cook them inside another thing that has boiling water in it." " When you are poaching eggs or boiling them in their shells, how should the water be ? ' " Only simmering and not boiling violently." " How can you keep Indian meal from having that raw taste that is so common in things made with it? ' " By scalding the meal so that no part of it is wet with the boiling milk or water." " How can you make pie-crust look nice and as if it had been freshly baked ? ' " By heating it a little in the oven just before it is sent to table." " I must say," said Aunt Jane when all these questions had been asked and answered, " I think you stand examination very well. I hope you won't let your knowledge rust out for want of practice. Now you know I've given you a mere sprinkling of recipes from among the thousands you might make if you had time and opportunity. Is there anything else you would like to have directions for ? ' "Doughnuts," exclaimed two or three voices at once. "Fortunately," said Aunt Jane, " I have an excellent recipe for them. When I was a little girl we didn't know that doughnuts could be made in any other way than raised with yeast ; but you can make such good ones with soda that one doesn't miss the yeast at all, and it is much less trouble." No. 197 — JENNY'S DOUGHNUTS. Two cups sugar, four tablespoonfuls melted lard, four eggs, one pint sour milk, one heaping teaspoonful soda and one of nutmeg; flour enough to roll out with. " I ought to tell you also that risen bread dough with a lump of butter kneaded into it makes very nice crust for dumplings ; and in my young days we used to think that plain dough made into balls about the size of an apple and boiled a long time, made the most delicious dumplings in the world when they were eaten hot with molasses."