XIV A Sunday Evening Tea

2 T-flour 1 C-milk

Place the butter in a frying-pan, and when the pan is hot and the butter is melted, add the beef separated into small pieces. Allow it to frizzle. Add the flour, mix thoroughly with beef and butter, allowing the flour to brown a little. Add the milk slowly, cooking until thick and smooth. Pour over rounds of toast. Garnish with parsley.

CHAPTER XVIII

BETTINA GIVES A PORCH PARTY

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"I'

M so glad that you girls have come, for I've been longing to show you the porch ever since Bob and I put on the finishing touches." "O Bettina, it's lovely!" cried all the guests in a chorus. "But weren't you awfully extravagant?" "Wait till I tell you. Perhaps I ought not to give myself away, but I am prouder of our little economies than of anything else; we've had such fun over them. This is some old wicker furniture that Mother had in her attic, all but this chair, that came from Aunt Nell's. Bob mended it very carefully, and then enameled it this dull green color. I have been busy with these cretonne hangings and cushions for a long time, and we have been coaxing along the flowers in our hanging baskets and our window boxes for days and days, so that they would make a good impression on our first porch guests. Bob made the flower boxes himself and enameled them to go with the furniture. This high wicker flower box was a wedding gift, and so was the wicker reading lamp. This matting rug is new, but I must admit that we bought nothing else except this drop-leaf table, which I have been wanting for a long time. You see it will make a good serving table, and then we expect to eat on it in warm weather." "What are we to make today, Bettina? The invitation has made us all curious. "'The porch is cool as cool can be, So come on Thursday just at three, To stay awhile and sew On something useful, strong, and neat, Which, with your help, will quite complete Bettina's bungalow!'" "What about the little sketches of knives and forks and spoons in the corners?" "Bob did that. He wrote the verse, too, or I'm afraid I should have telephoned. Are we all here? Wait a minute."

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And Bettina wheeled out her tea-cart, on which, among trailing nasturtiums, were mysterious packages wrapped in fringed green tissue paper. "What is in them? Silver cases—cut and ready to be made! Oh, how cunning! Shall we label them, too? What is the card? "'I'll not incase your silver speech, For that is quite beyond my reach!'" "Did Bob do that, too? The impudence!" and Ruth threaded her needle in preparation. "You see," said Bettina, "I hadn't found time to make cases for my silver, so I just decided to let you girls help me! The card tells what to label them, in outline stitch in these bright colors. I used to open ten cases at home before I found what I wanted, so I am insuring against that."

Talk and laughter shortened the afternoon, but at five o'clock Bettina wheeled out her tea-cart again. The dainty luncheon was decorated with nasturtiums. The girls laid aside their work while Bettina served: Sunbonnet Baby Salad Nut Bread Sandwiches Iced Tea Mint Wafers Lemon Sherbet Tea Cakes

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level) Sunbonnet Baby Salad (Ten portions) 10 halves pears 20 cloves, whole 20 almonds 10 thin slices pimento 10 T-salad dressing 10 pieces lettuce

Arrange the halves of canned pears, round side up, on lettuce leaves, which curl closely about the pear and have the effect of a hood. Place cloves in the pear for eyes, blanched almonds for ears, and slip thin slices of canned pimento into cuts made for nose and mouth. The expressions may be varied. Put salad dressing around the outside of the pear to represent hair and arrange a bow of red pimento under the chin of the sunbonnet baby. These salads are very effective and easy to make.

Nut Bread (Twenty-four sandwiches) 1½ C-graham flour 2 C-white flour 4 t-baking powder 1 C-"C" sugar 2 t-salt

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1½ C-milk 2/3 C-chopped nut meats, dates or raisins

Sift together all the dry ingredients, add the nut meats and fruit. Add the milk. Stir well, and pour into two well-buttered loaf pans. Allow to stand and rise for twenty minutes. Bake three-fourths of an hour in a moderate oven. Use bread twenty-four hours old for the sandwiches. "C" sugar is light brown sugar and gives food a delicious flavor.

Lemon Sherbet (Ten portions) 4 C-water 2 C-sugar ¼ C-lemon juice 1 egg white

Boil sugar and water ten minutes. Cool, add lemon juice and strain. Freeze, and when nearly stiff, add beaten egg white and finish freezing. Icing (White Mountain Cream) 2 C-sugar ½ C-water 2 egg whites ½ t-lemon extract

Boil the sugar and water without stirring until it threads when dropped from the spoon. Pour slowly into the whites of the eggs beaten stiffly. Beat until it holds its shape. Add the flavoring and spread on the cake.

Bettina's Suggestions

Arrange the sunbonnet babies on a salad platter, and let the guests help themselves. The salad is light and attractive. The stem end of the pear represents the neck. Cream the butter to be used for sandwiches. It spreads more evenly and goes farther. Sandwiches taste better if allowed to stand for several hours, wrapped securely in a napkin which has been well dampened (not wet). Cut the slices very thin and press together firmly. Cut into fancy shapes.

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CHAPTER XIX

BETTINA AND THE EXPENSE BUDGET

"R UTH asked me today how we manage our finances," said Bettina over the dinner table. "She said that she and Fred were wondering what plan was best. I'm so glad I have a definite household allowance and that we have budgeted our expenses so successfully. The other day I was reading an article by Carolyn Claymore in which she says that three-fourths of the domestic troubles are caused by disagreements about money."

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