"
The following Saturday morning proved to be the first of a long
series of similar meetings. The girls entered into the subject
enthusiastically, delighted with the new interest which bade fair
to rival Bridget in their estimation; and week after week they
gathered in Mrs. Adams's great kitchen to mix and to stir, to bake
and to brew. Mistakes were numerous and failures frequent; but
Mrs. Adams was an admirable teacher, praising the girls when she
could, encouraging them when her conscience forbade her to praise,
and they toiled on, regardless of burns, and not even deterred by
the prospect of the dish-washing, which always ended their
morning's work. Alan was not permitted to cook, but he acted
alternately in the capacities of errand-boy and taster-in-chief,
and his hearty boy appetite carried him through the operation,
unharmed. Polly's experiments were, perhaps, the most original and
striking of any that were made. On one occasion, she neglected to
sweeten her muffins till they were in the oven and began to bake.
The rule called for sugar, and most cooks would have regarded the
attempt as a failure; not so with Polly. Slyly opening the oven
door, she added a generous teaspoonful of sugar to every separate
muffin, greatly to the surprise of the others, when they broke
them open, to find a solid lump mysteriously arranged in the top
of every one.
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