very warm in the
kitchen, too, for Mrs. Jameson had herself started the hearth fire in
order to exemplify to the utmost the old custom. The kettles on the
crane were all steaming. Flora Clark said it was nonsense to have a
hearth-fire on such a hot day because our grandmothers were obliged
to, but she was in the minority. Most of the ladies were inclined to
follow Mrs. Jameson's lead unquestionably on that occasion. They even
exclaimed admiringly over two chicken pies which she brought, and
which I must say had a singular appearance. The pastry looked very
hard and of a curious leaden color. Mrs. Jameson said that she made
them herself out of whole wheat, without shortening, and she
evidently regarded them as triumphs of wholesomeness and culinary
skill. She furthermore stated that she had remained up all night to
bake them, which we did not doubt, as Hannah Bell, her help, had been
employed steadily in the old Shaw house. Mrs. Jameson had cut the
pies before bringing them, which Flora Clark whispered was necessary.
"I know that she had to cut them with a hatchet and a hammer,"
whispered she; and really when we came to try them later it did not
seem so unlikely. I never saw such pastry, anything like the
toughness and cohesiveness of it; the chicken was not seasoned well,
either. We could eat very little; with a few exceptions, we could do
no more than taste of it, which was fortunate.

I may as well mention here that the few greedy individuals, who
I fancy frequent all social functions with an undercurrent of
gastronomical desire for their chief incentive, came to grief by
reason of Mrs. Jameson's chicken pies. She baked them without that
opening in the upper crust which, as every good housewife knows, is
essential, and there were dire reports of sufferings in consequence.
The village doctor, after his precarious drive in the ancient sulky,
had a night of toil. Caleb--commonly called Kellup--Bates, and his
son Thomas, were the principal sufferers, they being notorious eaters
and the terrors of sewing-circle suppers. Flora Clark confessed to
me that she was relieved when she saw them out again, since she had
passed the pies to them three times, thinking that such devourers
would stop at nothing and she might as well save the delicacies for
the more temperate.

We were so thankful that none of the out-of-town celebrities ate Mrs.
Jameson's chicken pies, since they had a rather unfortunate
experience as it was. The di