“I know the very thing,” she said. “Jump onto your wheel and go to each little girl’s house, and tell her to be here at three this afternoon, and to be sure to wear an old dress.”
“You are the darlingest mamma!” Janie cried, as she hugged her and ran away with a delightful feeling of mystery. “It must be lovely if mamma planned it, but what can it be?”
Promptly at three all were on hand. Mamma took them to the kitchen.
“We will make some doll candy, and I will show you how,” she said.
They had to relieve their excited feelings by dancing a jig at this delightful news, and then they settled down to work. They first made some chocolate drops, the weentiest little things you ever saw; then some marshmallows, which were about the size of parchesi dice.
Next they made maple-creams and dear old-fashioned molasses candy, which the children were allowed to pull, and the one who succeeded in getting her piece the whitest was to have a dainty little box of the mixed candies.
It was great fun! When it was finished it looked so good that mamma had to divide a box among them. Then she brought out the popper, and the children went gaily about shelling the corn. This is always a delight to pop, and when they had a heaping dish of it, they made it into popcorn balls about the size of marbles.
While they waited for the candy to harden they ran into the garden to play and to talk over these strange happenings.