“Meal balls are silly,” sniffed Persis. “Who wants to waste time on stupid names rolled up in a ball of chicken food? I’d rather run around the block with my mouth full of water.”
“What’s that for?” queried Porter.
“Oh, you hear your future husband’s name called, they say. I like the fun of it. It is so hard to run and keep the water in your mouth at the same time. Then salt-cake is fun, too, only I always laugh and nearly always say something when I oughtn’t to speak.”
“I think apple-bobbing will do for to-night,” said Mrs. Holmes. “You can go in the kitchen if you like.”
“Oh! And mayn’t we make some taffy, too, mamma?” pleaded Mellicent. “Grandma will help us; won’t you grandma?”
“To be sure,” was the ready response.
And so it was settled, while the tricksters congratulated themselves that they were let off so easily and that such a pleasant prospect was theirs.
Grandmamma Estabrook was a famous maker of taffy. “She always knows just when it is done,” Persis informed Porter. “And it never gets burnt, and never is the least bit too soft. I am always in such a hurry that I am very apt to take it up before it is done, and it gets, oh, so sticky. This will be fine, I know. We will bob for apples while it is boiling.”
So, although Prue at first looked askance at seeing her kitchen invaded, she was soon ready to lend her services to the furnishing of amusement for “Holly Eve,” and brought in a big tub, which the children filled half-full of water, and the merry game began. After much sputtering and splashing, Porter managed to grasp an apple with his teeth, and Mellicent followed suit.
“They are the slipperiest things I ever saw,” declared Basil, lifting a dripping face from the tub. “Just as I think I have one sure over it rolls and I am cheated. I think I’ll be more of a success at taffy-pulling. My, that looks good!” for Mrs. Estabrook was pouring the seething mass into pans, and the children carried them to the summer-kitchen to cool.