"Per'aps not. You've not told him, then, that your mother is
Vice-President of the Mother Goose Auxiliary of the Amalgamated
Associations of Notable Ladies?"

"No, mother," said Tom, bending his head in shame.

"Well, at all events . . . the President went on to say that the dinner
table was a relic of barbarism. And she was quite right. She cited
cases known to all we ladies . . ."

Mr. Literal, from his place in the background, could not help saying to
the Masked Lady, "Why is it that ladies with baritone voices _always_
have trouble with their objective case?"

But the Masked Lady did not reply, and Old Mother Hubbard continued:
"There was the case of Mrs. Horner's son--her dear, dutiful little
Jack. When he ate his Christmas pie, where was he sitting? _In a
corner_! No dinner table there to cause a lot of work and worry. And
please note that he was delighted when he _pulled out a plum_. Yet the
plum is one of the simplest forms of--of sustenance. And there was
Miss Muffet, daughter of the highly honored Mrs. Alonso Muffet. During
that meal which has become historic, where did she sit? _On a tuffet_!"

Everychild could not help asking, "What _is_ a tuffet?"

But Old Mother Hubbard only regarded him blankly, as if there had been
no interruption, and then she proceeded. "And you will note what she
was eating. _Curds and whey_--perfectly simple yet nutritious fare.
There were other instances showing that the wasteful dinner table must