“Too much sweet may spoil the short bread.”
“Weak yarn is not worth the knitting.”
“A pound for pound loaf was never known to fail.”
“A basting but toughens an old goose.”
These and many others like them were used by her in a figurative sense, but they reveal an intimate knowledge of the household arts and appliances of a forgotten time. If she knows anything of stoves or ranges, of fireless cookers, of refrigerators, of any of the thousand and one utensils which are familiar to the modern housewife, she has never once let slip a word to betray such knowledge.
At one time, after she had delivered a poem, the circle fell into a discussion of its meaning, and after a bit Patience declared they were “like treacle dripping,” and added, “thee’lt find the dishcloth may make a savory stew.”
“She’s roasting us,” cried Mrs. Hutchings.
“Nay,” said Patience, “boiling the pot.”
“You don’t understand our slang, Patience,” Mrs. Hutchings explained. “Roasting means criticising or rebuking.”
“Yea, basting,” said Patience.