f the children should speak 'em! So the children have all
written their pieces to read aloud and----"

"But as long as Carol wasn't able to read his aloud," cried my Mother,
"it didn't seem fair that any of 'em should read theirs aloud! So the
children's father is going to read 'em. And----"

"Without giving any clue of course," said my Father, "as to which child
wrote which. So that you won't be unduly influenced at all--in any way
by--gold-colored hair, for instance or--freckles----"

"Or _anything_!" said my Mother.

"U-m-m-m," said the Blinded Lady.

"Understanding of course," said my Father, "that we ourselves have not
seen the papers yet!"

"Nor assisted in any way with the choice of subject," said my Mother.
"Nor with the treatment of it!"

"U-m-m," said the Blinded Lady.

"I will now proceed to read," said my Father.

"So do," said the Blinded Lady.

My Father so did.

He took a paper from his pocket. He cleared his throat. He put on his
eye-glasses. He looked a little surprised.

"The first one," he said, "seems to be about 'Ginger-bread'!"

"_Ginger-bread?_" said the Blinded Lady.

"Ginger-bread!" said my Father.

"Read it!" said the Blinded Lady.

"I will!" said my Father.

Ginger-bread is very handsome! It's so brown! And every time
you eat a piece you have to have another! That shows its
worth as well as its handsomeness! And besides you can smell
it a long way off when you're coming home! Especially when
you're coming home from school! It has molasses in it too.
And that's very instructive! As well as ginger! And other
spices! The Geography is full of them! Molasses comes from
New Orleans! Spices come from Asia! Except Jamaica Ginger
comes from Drug Stores! There are eggs in ginger-bread too!
And that's Natural History and very important! They have to
be hen's eggs I think! I had some guineas once and they
looked like chipmunks when they hatched. You can't make
ginger-bread out of anything that looks like chipmunks! It
takes three eggs to make ginger-bread! And one cupful of
sugar! And some baking soda! And----

"Oh Tush!" said the Blinded Lady. "That isn't a picture! It's a
recipe!--Read another!"

"Dear me! Dear me!" said my Mother. "Now some child is suffering!" She
looked all around to see which child it was.

Carol kicked Rosalee. Rosalee kicked me. I kicked Carol. We all looked
just as queer as we