There were ten thousand dolls at the doll show, and the day before Christmas the police force and the members of the charity organizations distributed them, and on Christmas morning there were many happy doll mothers in Buffalo who, for the first time in their little lives, tended doll babies—thanks to the News Doll Show at Music Hall.
[A PATIENT TUSSLE.]
If I were you I wouldn't mind
A tussle with my Latin verb;
I'd rule myself in study hours
As if with steady rein and curb.
One day you'll find that Latin text,
If you'll have patience, just superb.
[AMATEUR COOKING FOR LITTLE GIRLS.]
The amount of pleasure that a little girl can have with a cooking-stove that will really and truly cook is difficult for any one who has not tried it to realize. In these days toy cooking-stoves are so made that a real true fire can be made in them, and very good meals can be cooked, even if the stove is a small one.
Two little children, a boy and girl aged respectively six and eight, think there is no fun in the world like that of cooking their supper on their stove, which stands on the hearth in their nursery. Their mamma is a good housekeeper, and has a wonderful old-fashioned receipt-book, in which she has written receipts for grown-up people's food, but which she finds can be used by the children if only a third of the materials are taken. Last week these two children—we will call them Howard and Marion, although these are not their real names—were allowed to invite their cousin Ruth to take supper with them, and to cook the supper themselves. Howard made the fire very carefully, with only just enough paper to start the shavings of wood. Then when it blazed up and the draught was good he put in some more wood and some very fine coal. Marion in the mean time was busy preparing the materials for cooking; she had to get ready creamed chicken, creamed potatoes, and cup-cake. The chicken had already been roasted and the potatoes boiled, but she had to cut up both the meat and vegetable into small pieces.
The cream sauce had to be made by adding two teaspoonfuls of flour to a half-cup of cream, and stirring it well before putting on to warm. When the sauce was ready to heat, two saucepans were filled, one with the chicken and the other with the potatoes, and the sauce was poured over them. A pinch of salt was added, and they were left on the fire until thoroughly cooked. As the fire was burning well, this was about five minutes. Served hot, these were two delicious dishes, I can assure you.
The cake both children helped to make from the following receipt, called cup-cake: 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of milk, 4 eggs, 1 teaspoonful of soda. This receipt is for grown-up people, so the children only used a third of it; but it was quite as good. Marion beat the sugar and butter together until it looked like thick cream, while Howard was beating the eggs. Then the flour and beaten eggs were stirred up with the sugar and butter, and the soda (dissolved in milk) was added as a finishing touch. Then it was poured into the cunningest little patty-pan imaginable, all buttered so it would not stick to the bottom, and was put in the oven, where it only had to stay fifteen minutes, as the fire was burning just right.