“Peggy, do attend to your work.”
“Mother, you can’t expect me to work all the time on such a sunshiny day. It is just as important to watch squirrels and birds.”
“Well, perhaps it is for you, but not for me. I can’t put up squirrels for my neighbors by the cold-pack process.”
When it came to the preserving of the strawberries, Peggy and Alice were so interested that they went out into the kitchen so as to watch the whole process.
“Children, you mustn’t eat any more of the strawberries,” said their mother. “Remember, I am putting them up for other people.”
“But, mother, you’ve got lots and lots of them,” said Peggy. “I didn’t know we picked so many.”
“I had to buy a great many more to fill my orders,” said Mrs. Owen, “and even now I shan’t have as much wild strawberry preserve as Mrs. Horton and Mrs. Carter wanted; remember the strawberries represent just so much money.”
“But, mother,” said Peggy, “I think it would be so much nicer to keep the strawberry preserve for ourselves than to have the money. We can’t eat that.”
“Children, do keep out of this kitchen.”
“Mother, I don’t see why it is called the ‘cold-pack’ process, when you heat the jars,” said Peggy.