shinin' example on cake, and she'll come just t' be critical an' find
fault, if she can. If I can't bake all around her the best day she
ever seen, I'll give up cookin' anything but spuds. She had the
soggiest kind uh jelly roll t' the su'prise on Mary last winter.
I know it was hern, fer I seen her bring it in, an' I went straight
an' ondone it. I guess it was kinda mean uh me, but I don't care--as
the sayin' is: 'What's sass fer the goose is good enough sass fer
anybody'--an' she done the same trick by me, at the su'prise at Adamses
last fall. But she couldn't find no kick about MY cake, an' hers--yuh
c'd of knocked a cow down with it left-handed! If that's the best she
c'n do on cake I'd advise 'er to keep the next batch t' home where
they're used to it. They say't 'What's one man's meat 's pizen t'
the other feller,' and I guess it's so enough. Maybe Mame an' the
rest uh them Beckman kids can eat sech truck without comin' down in
a bunch with gastakutus, but I'd hate t' tackle it myself."

The Little Doctor gurgled. This was a malady which had not been
mentioned at the medical college.

"Where shall we set the tables, if we dance in the dining room?" she
asked, having heard enough of the Beckmans for the present.

"Why, we won't set any tables. Folks always have a lap supper at ranch
dances. At the su'prise on Mary--"

"What is a lap supper?"

"Well, my stars alive! Where under the shinin' sun was you brought up
if yuh never heard of a lap supper? A lap supper is where folks set
around the walls--or any place they can find--and take the plates on their