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Thirteenth Day: Mabel

Mabel then began to peel the peaches, while Mrs. King showed Amy how to make a new kind of cake for jelly. No. 166-MARTHA'S CAKE.

Three eggs, one cup of sugar, one of flour, a piece of butter the size of an egg, one teaspoonful cream tartar, half a teaspoonful soda, dissolved in a tablespoonful milk. "This is a very simple cake," said her mother, "and we may think when we come to look at it to-morrow that it is too plain for company; if so, we can make some of Jenny's nice sponge cake, from our No. 6 receipt. Here is another that you may write down."

No. 167-PUFF CAKE.

Two cups sugar, two and a half of flour, half a cup of butter, one of milk, three eggs, a teaspoonful cream tartar and half a teaspoonful soda.

While Amy put the cake together, Mrs. King and Mabel pared, stoned and cut up the peaches. Then Mabel weighed them, and found that there were two pounds.

These her aunt told her to put over the fire in a saucepan with one pound of white sugar and a cupful of water. "We don't stew peaches for ordinary pies," said she, "but as I want this one to look handsome as well as taste nice, I am going to take extra pains with it."

When about half cooked the peaches were taken off the fire and set away for awhile, and by the time Grace's paste was ready to roll out, they were cool enough to use. When a couple of pie-plates had been lined with paste, the stewed peaches were poured into them until even with the top; across this strips of paste were laid in diamond-shaped lattice-work, each strip being twisted like a strand of worsted cord before it was placed over the compote; then a margin of paste just the size of that of the pie-dish was laid on, the under surface being first wet with cold water. "Why did you stew these first, Aunt Jane?" asked Grace. "For several reasons. Unless the peaches had been piled up high in the middle, which would have made the surface uneven, they would have shrunken so much as to have made the top fall in; then they would have taken so much longer to cook than the paste, that it would have become quite brown by the time they were done. (By the way, I'll tell you how to make a beautiful apple-pie when we get through with this.) Now you will see that when the pie is cold there will be a smooth jellied surface, and you musn't forget to have some powdered sugar ready to sift over it the instant it comes out of the oven." "Now tell me about the apple-pie, please."

No. 167-APPLE PIE.

Pare, core and slice very fine, ripe, tart apples; place a layer in the bottom of a pie-dish, then a layer of sugar, over which sprinkle the smallest pinch of ground cloves; repeat this process until the dish is full, pour in a tablespoonful of water, cover with puff-paste not rolled out very thin, and bake. This is far more healthful than pies baked with an under-crust, though the same recipe will answer for that kind also.