CHAPTER III.

A FAIR WHITE LOAF.


"It's very well," said Miss Clem Downing, Marjorie's sister, "for you
little housekeepers to make cakes and creams; anybody can do that; but
you'll never be housekeepers in earnest, little or big, my dears, till
you can make good eatable bread."

"Bread," said Mr. Pierce to Amy, "is the crowning test of housewifery. A
lady is a loaf-giver, don't you know?"

"When Jeanie shall present me with a perfect loaf of bread, I'll present
her with a five-dollar gold piece," said Jeanie's father.

"I don't want Veva meddling in the kitchen," observed Mrs. Fay, with
emphasis. "The maids are vexatious enough, and the cook cross enough as
it is. If ever Veva learns breadmaking, it must be outside of this
house."

"Don't bother me, daughter," said Mrs. Partridge, looking up from the
cup she was painting. "It will be time for you to learn breadmaking when
the bakers shut their shops."

As for the writer of this story, her mother's way had been to teach her
breadmaking when she was just tall enough to have a tiny moulding-board