“Um-m! I want this recipe from someone to put in our book. These are the best cookies I ever tasted,” said Elena.
“Someone can tell you the recipe right now, Elena. It happens to be my own that Mrs. Remington tried,” laughed Miss Miller.
“Tell us, then, while I write it down,” urged Elena, with a pencil and scrap of paper ready for use.
“To one-half cup of butter I use one-half cup of lard and one-half cup of sugar. Two eggs, one level tablespoon each of ginger, cinnamon, and soda, with enough flour to roll out the dough easily.
“Cream the butter and lard together first, then add the sugar gradually. When the eggs are well beaten I add them. The spices and soda are mixed with two cups of flour and sifted into the batter. I use enough flour so the dough will roll out well. Cut them with a biscuit cutter and bake in a quick oven. Last of all, lock safely away in a secret vault where children cannot follow the scent and eat them up before the cook has washed the tins that the cookies were baked in.”
The girls laughed at the last part of the recipe and Fred said it was the most important if cookies were to be kept on hand.
After the stolen provender was thoroughly enjoyed by the hosts and guests in camp, the boys entertained the girls with relay races, Deer Hunts, Bat Ball, and a Bear Spearing Contest.
Just as the bear was killed by Fred, the gong sounded from the house calling the people to the Thanksgiving Dinner—the greatest contest of the day, Billy said.
The wide rear verandah of the Remington house was inclosed in glass in the Winter, and being ten feet wide and extending across the entire back of the house, it afforded an excellent place for the dinner. The table, made of four fifteen-inch-wide planks eighteen feet in length, placed on wooden horses, was covered with two long table-cloths. Benches made of wide planks also resting on boxes provided enough seats for all.
Mose, the family fixture who plays so important a rôle in the “Woodcraft Boys at Sunset Island” (the island being the Remingtons’ Summer resort off the coast of Maine), bossed the serving of the dinner. He had been given charge of Mary, the upstairs girl, and Katy the kitchen maid, and these, with Anna the governess, proved efficient to wait on the hungry horde of children.