“I saw it all,” said Miss Belle, nodding her head thoughtfully, “and it worried me a great deal at first. I just had to get hold of those people and help them—I had made up my mind to that. Impatience wouldn’t do, though, so I said to myself, ‘Now, my dear, don’t you be in any hurry. You can’t do anything with the old folks, they’re too proud. If you succeed at all it’s got to be through the children.’ So I just waited, keeping my eyes open, and teaching school all of the while, until, the first thing I knew, the way opened up—you never would guess how—it was through biscuits.[">
III Beginning on Muffins
“The folks around here never had seen anything except white bread. There wasn’t a piece of cornbread or of graham anywhere. You know what their white bread is, too—heavy, sour, badly made and only half cooked. The old folks were satisfied, though, and there didn’t seem to be any way to go at it except through the youngsters. Day after day I saw them take raw white biscuits and sandwiches made of salt-rising white bread out of their baskets, wondering how they could eat them. Still I didn’t say anything, but every lunch time I ate corn muffins or graham wafers, with all of the gusto I could master. One day a little girl up and asked me:
“‘Say, Miss Belle, what may you all be eatin’?’
“‘Corn muffins,’ said I. ‘Ever taste them?’
“‘Well, wouldn’t you like a taste?’
“‘Sure I would.’
“She took it, and a great big one, too. ‘Um,’ says she, smacking her lips, ‘Um.’
“‘Like it?’ I asked.