One of the things Peggy and Betty and Dot liked best to do was to watch Mrs. White skim the rich cream from the great pans of milk in the dairy. The dairy was down by the brook and the pans of milk were on shelves near the water, so that they were kept fresh and cool.
One very warm day Mary said, "Let's play dairy."
"All right," said Betty.
"All right," echoed Peggy and Dot. "You show us how."
So Mary brought two big pans and two pieces of soap from the kitchen. She filled the pans with water and put a piece of soap in each pan. Then she told the other children to watch the cream rise. She began to shake the soap about in the water, and the suds rose higher and higher.
"It's rather white cream," she said, "but we can play it comes from a cow named Snowball."
"It's splendid cream," cried the three little girls. "May we help make it?"
"I wonder whether Molly will let us use her cream skimmers," said Mary.
Molly heard her name and came to the kitchen door to see what mischief those blessed children were up to now. She saw the pans on a seat built round a big maple tree and the four little girls bobbing about, very busy indeed.
"Molly, will you please let us have the skimmers?" Peggy cried.