St Nicholas [serial] . sual wisdom, hadavoided this difficulty by cast-ing lots. Thus, those whowere not on the white sidehad no reason to complainof oppression. And truly,when all was done, the whitesand the yellows were equallytired. All had cramps intheir hands. Now began the real laborof Mother Mitchel. Till now,she had been the commander-in-chief—the head only; now, she put her ownfinger in the pie. First, she had to make sweet-meats and jam, out of all the immense quantityof fruit she had stored. For this, as she couldonly do one kind at a time, she had ten kettles,each as big as a dinne
St Nicholas [serial] . sual wisdom, hadavoided this difficulty by cast-ing lots. Thus, those whowere not on the white sidehad no reason to complainof oppression. And truly,when all was done, the whitesand the yellows were equallytired. All had cramps intheir hands. Now began the real laborof Mother Mitchel. Till now,she had been the commander-in-chief—the head only; now, she put her ownfinger in the pie. First, she had to make sweet-meats and jam, out of all the immense quantityof fruit she had stored. For this, as she couldonly do one kind at a time, she had ten kettles,each as big as a dinner-table. During forty-eighthours the cooking went on; a dozen scullions blewthe fire and put on the fuel. Mother Mitchel, with a spoon that four modern cooks could hardlylift, never ceased stirring and trying the boilingfruit. Three expert tasters, chosen from the mostdainty, had orders to report progress every halfhour. It is unnecessary to state that all the sweetmeatswere perfectly successful, or that they were of. MOTHER MITCHEL TASTES THE SWEETMEATS. exquisite consistency, color, and perfume. WithMother Mitchel there was no such word as each kind of sweetmeat was finished, sheskimmed it, and put it away to cool in enormousbowls before potting. She did not use for this theusual little glass or earthen jars, but great stoneones, like those in the Forty Thieves. Not onlydid these take less time to fill, but they were safe 1876.] THE KINGDOM OF THE GREEDY. from the children. The scum and the scrapingswere something, to be sure. But there was littleToto, who thought this was not enough. He wouldhave jumped into one of the bowls, if they had notheld him. Mother Mitchel, who thought of everything, hadordered two hundred great kneading-troughs, wish-ing that all the utensils of this great work shouldbe perfectly new. These two hundred troughs,like her other materials, were all delivered punctu-ally and in good order. The pastry-cooks rolledup their sleeves, and began t
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
