"When I was your age, child, I could cook 'most everything and piece patch-work for quilts,"—and she kept Mary Frances on the porch ten minutes, telling her that little girls weren't brought up any more to be useful the way they were when she was a little girl.
* * * * * * *
"Oh, my lid!" sang Tea Kettle, as Mary Frances stepped back into the kitchen. "Oh, my aunt!—has the old lady went?"
"Gone!" said Big Iron Pot from the back of the stove.
"Who dares correct me?" simmered Tea Kettle.
"I dare," sputtered Iron Pot. "I dare,—and I dare tell you other things, too!"
