gave that poor dough. But the dough must have enjoyed it, for it seemed
to grow lighter every minute.

After a full twenty minutes of this process the bread was set near the
fire for a second rising. A half-hour passed. Miss Muffet took it in
hand again, and again she pounced and patted, beat and pounded the
helpless mass, this time dividing it into three small loaves, which she
set near the fire for the final rising.

"Bread is nicer made in little loaves," she told us. "More convenient
for use on the table, easier to bake, and less likely to become dry."

And now let me give you a receipt for Ingleside waffles. Mother
considers these very good, and so do we girls who have tried them.

"Make one pint of Indian meal into mush the usual way, which is by
stirring the meal into boiling water and letting it boil until it is
thick. While hot put in a small lump of butter and a dessertspoonful of
salt. Set the mush aside to cool. Beat separately the whites and yolks
of four eggs until very light; add the eggs to the mush, and cream in by
degrees one quart of wheat flour; add half a pint of buttermilk or sour
cream, in which you have dissolved a half-teaspoonful of bicarbonate of
soda; add sweet milk enough to make a thin batter.

"Have the waffle-irons hot. They should be heated in advance, not to
keep the batter waiting. Butter them thoroughly and half fill them with
the batter. Bake over a quick fire."

I never eat waffles without thinking of a pleasant home where two girls
and a boy who read this paper have good times every summer. They often
go out on the bay for an afternoon sail, and come home in the rosy
sunset in time for waffles. Waffles, with sugar and cream, are a very
nice addition to a supper table.

Another receipt of Miss Muffet's:

_Delicious Corn Muffins._--One pint of corn meal sifted, one egg, one
pint of sweet milk, a teaspoonful of butter, and half a teaspoonful of
salt. Pour this mixture into muffin-rings and bake in a very quick oven.

This receipt is one that mother sometimes uses on a cold winter evening
when she has nothing else hot for supper. They are great favorites in
our household.

CHAPTER IV.

HOW TO SWEEP.

In the first chapter of this story I spoke of the trouble housekeepers
in Bloomdale had to get and keep good servants.

We Clover Leaf girls made up our minds that we would learn to be
independent. We resolved to know how to do every sort of housework, so
that we mi