ng horns most, but they have another pair of very small ones as
well. In winter they sleep all the time in some crevice of an old garden
wall, or in a little hole in the ground covered with moss and leaves.

We often hear of "fattening-up" geese and turkeys, but how funny it
sounds to talk of fattening up a snail. The Romans, long, long ago, kept
snails in special gardens and fattened them on meal and boiled wine, and
ate them at their feasts. There are still snail-gardens in many places
on the Continent, but they are not fed on boiled wine now. In England,
as late as James the First's time, they were made into a favourite dish
with sauce and spices. The Italian peasants think large brown snails a
great treat; and the gipsies in many places make dinners and suppers of
the common little "shell-a-muddies." A larger kind are sold still at
Covent Garden Market, London, to be taken as a cure by people who are
ill.

LITTLE MARGARET'S KITCHEN, AND WHAT SHE DID IN IT.--X.

_By_ PHILLIS BROWNE, _Author of "A Year's Cookery," "What Girls can Do,"
&c._

"Apple fritters to-day," said Margaret.

"Yes, apple fritters to-day," replied Mary. "Won't it be delightful,
miss?"

"Let me see," said Mrs. Herbert, coming into the room at the moment, "we
are going to make something special to-day. Whatever is it?"

"Apple fritters!" said both the children in one breath.

"Oh yes, to be sure! It is apple fritters. You would not like to broil a
mutton chop instead, would you, Margaret?"

"Certainly not, mother!"

"Then we must take broiling for our next lesson. It will be all the
better, for I see cook has put the apples and the materials for the
batter ready for us. So let us set to work."

"But, mother, what do you think?" said Margaret, as she came up to the
table and looked round, "cook has made the batter for us; and we wanted
to make it ourselves. Is it not a pity?"

"Cook has partly made it, dear, because I told her to do so. Batter is
best when mixed some time before it is wanted. The whites of eggs,
however, are not put in until a few minutes before the batter is used;
so that part of making the batter has been left for you."

"It does not signify very much," said Mary; "we learnt how to make
batter when we made pancakes."

"This batter is not made in the same way, though, as pancake-batter,"
said Mrs. Herbert. "This is frying-batter, and it is mixed differently.
I will tell you how to mix it, and you must try to