NTL BR6KDW1NN6RS
 
 OF CALIF. LIBRAHY, LOS AMGELtt
 
 by Catherine <tom, 
 
 TEN DOLLARS ENOUGH. KEEPING HOUSE 
 WELL ON TEN DOLLARS A WEEK. i6mo, 
 $1.00. 
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. i6mo, $1.00. 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS 
 
 THE STORY OF ONE OF THEM 
 
 BY 
 
 CATHERINE OWEN, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "TEN DOLLARS ENOUGH," ETC. 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 1888
 
 Copyright, 1887, 
 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge: 
 Eectrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Co.
 
 To 
 MRS. EDWARD WARING, 
 
 WHO WOULD SUCCEED 
 IN EVERYTHING SHE MIGHT UNDERTAKE TO DO, 
 
 AND IS EVER READY TO HELP 
 THOSE WHO WOULD HELP THEMSELVES, 
 
 QLtys little Book 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 
 
 21318C8
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THIS little book does not pretend to put 
 an end to the distresses of indigent gentle- 
 women. It only tells the story of an effort 
 to earn a living actually made with a suc- 
 cessful result, under far more difficulties 
 than could be detailed in so short a space. 
 
 If there is any moral to be drawn from 
 this true tale, it is that pluck, perseverance, 
 and punctuality will succeed, where good in- 
 tention and a faint heart, or brilliant abili- 
 ties and lack of perseverance, will surely fail.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE QUESTION OF A LIVELIHOOD ... 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MRS. BEVAN'S PONES. DOROTHY AS A DRESS- 
 MAKER 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 DOROTHY TRIES A NEW BUSINESS ... 34 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FRENCH ICING. GENOA CAKE. STUMBLING- 
 BLOCKS IN DOROTHY'S WAY .... 48 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MACAROONS. VENETIAN CAKES. CUCUMBER 
 RAGOUT. AMERICAN WALNUT CATSUP. 
 CANNED APPLE SAUCE 62 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 NEW IDEAS AND NEW OPENINGS. ... 77 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MINCE MEAT. MINCE PIES. CANDIED LEMON. 
 
 ORANGE PEEL . .... 90
 
 vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 GATEAU DE Riz. BEVANS. BOUCHE'ES DE 
 
 DAMES, ETC 102 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 PORTABLE CHICKEN BKOTH AND CONSOMME*. 
 
 SPANISH MACAROONS. VANILLA PASTE . 115 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 EXPERIMENTS AND PERPLEXITIES . . . 129 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 CANDY -MAKING. CAPRICES OF SUGAR AND 
 
 SYBUP. FAILURES, AND HOW TO AVOID THEM 143 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 DOROTHY WINS A HOME AND A HUSBAND. 
 
 MRS. OAKLAND AS A BUSINESS WOMAN . 152 
 
 CONTENTS OF DOROTHY'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 MOCK HAGGIS. STUFFED LAMB'S OR SHEEP'S HEART. 
 HASHED LIVER. BEEF HEART ROASTED. 
 STEWED KNUCKLE OF VEAL. BRAISED BEEF. 
 PEA SOUP WITHOUT MEAT. To FRY BREAD. CEL- 
 ERY SOUP. CUCUMBER SOUP. POTATO HASH. 
 MRS. BE VAN'S CREAM TOAST. CHEESE PUDDING. 
 BOTTLED MIXED SPICE 165-183
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE QUESTION OF A LIVELIHOOD. 
 
 " DOROTHY, what can we do ? " 
 It was a question that had risen to the 
 lips of the speaker many times that week, 
 and each time it was asked in a tone of 
 deeper dejection, only to be answered by 
 Dorothy with the same, " I can't tell, May ; 
 but something has to be done." 
 
 This time she added : " And very soon." 
 Their father had died a few days before, 
 and instead of the fortune he was supposed 
 to leave behind him there was not a dollar. 
 Unfortunate speculation had ruined him, 
 and his efforts to conceal the wreck for a 
 few months had eaten up the salvage there 
 might have been ; so that to satisfy the
 
 8 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 tradesmen's debts the furniture had to be 
 sold ; and not one word of warning had been 
 given to the girls, who were now left with 
 handsome wardrobes of a kind that would 
 be of very little use in the life they might 
 be forced to lead for the future, a little 
 jewelry, and not twenty dollars to call their 
 own, and oh, so little preparation of any 
 kind for the future before them. 
 
 Dorothy had been her father's house- 
 keeper ever since she was seventeen. She 
 was now twenty-five, and had prided herself 
 far more on the perfect ordering of her 
 father's house than on the accomplishments 
 usual to ladies of her social position. She 
 could play a little, and paint also a little, 
 and spoke French with a New York accent, 
 of which she was quite aware ; one good 
 point about Dorothy, she knew her limita- 
 tions. 
 
 May was very pretty, and five years 
 younger. She looked fragile, yet really was 
 not so ; Dorothy had always so petted and 
 loved her that she could not bear to think
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 9 
 
 of May battling alone. But for this she 
 would have settled that the one thing for 
 her to do would be to seek a position as 
 housekeeper. Not an easy thing to find, yet 
 it would have been worth the effort, if she 
 could have made up her mind to leave 
 May. 
 
 As for the latter, she felt if Dodo would 
 only decide, there would be very little diffi- 
 culty about their making a living. She 
 could paint, she was quite sure, a great deal 
 better than many people. Had n't all their 
 friends always admired her work ? Would 
 not they be glad to buy it now, if Dorothy 
 would give her a little encouragement in- 
 stead of always saying : 
 
 " My dear May, it is no use to think of 
 it ; you paint prettily enough for an ama- 
 teur, and a few people who want to bestow 
 charity on us delicately " (Dorothy's 
 lips curled) "would take your work, but 
 that would only be for a time ; and for 
 Heaven's sake let us steer clear of charity, 
 even if we have to become kitchen maids."
 
 10 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " Oh, Dorothy, how horrid ! " May's 
 eyes filled with tears. She thought Dorothy, 
 dear and good as she was, rather unjust. 
 
 " Dear Dorothy knows so little of art ; 
 she is not a good judge," she thought. 
 
 And when the thought was hinted, Dor- 
 othy said gravely : 
 
 " May, I have thought of these things 
 with regard to other people, never supposing 
 the result of my thoughts could have any 
 bearing on my life or yours. I have known 
 and tried to help several reduced young 
 ladies, but have always noticed one fact, that 
 very few could do one thing thoroughly 
 well, nor could they be induced to see that 
 they must do it so, or their efforts would 
 fail. So far as I know, neither I nor you 
 can do anything, not even plain sewing, 
 better than the average, and average work 
 will be starvation, or, what 's worse, genteel 
 begging. No one shall pay me for work 
 that is not as good as he can buy elsewhere ' 
 for the same money. What I want is time 
 to learn one thing well a shelter while I
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 11 
 
 can perfect myself in something, if it is 
 only dressmaking." 
 
 " Oh, Dodo " 
 
 " I am serious. I have rather a knack at 
 draping and fitting. I dare say even now I 
 could make a dress as well as a fifth-rate 
 dressmaker. It is true that would only 
 bring us dry bread, so slow as I should be 
 at the unaccustomed work, but I think in 
 six months I could become expert. You 
 could help, and we could be together : now 
 how to live that six months ! " 
 
 It must not be supposed there were no 
 well-meaning friends at hand to advise the 
 destitute girls, or to offer them more sub- 
 stantial aid than advice, but this was not 
 what Dorothy wanted. To accept shelter 
 with prosperous people to whom she and 
 her sister could be of no use whatever in 
 return, was something she prayed to be 
 spared. 
 
 " My dears," said the rector's wife, " I 
 am sure I try to think of some plan night 
 and day. If I could only hear of some one
 
 12 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 needing a companion or governess ! I have 
 written everywhere, and yet I have so often 
 known of nice positions and none to fill 
 them, but it 's always so ! " 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Emery, we are neither of us 
 fitted for governessing, and I fear there is 
 little hope of finding a position as compan- 
 ion, such places are so rare. In fact, I am 
 willing to do something much more plebeian. 
 Gentility shall not restrain me, but I am not 
 fitted for anything at all." 
 
 " Well, that is so sensible, Dorothy. 
 There are so many nice things if you do not 
 let pride stand in the way ; something in a 
 dentist's office now, or at a photographer's. 
 Something surely will turn up! " 
 
 " I fear such places also are very rare ; 
 if I could only induce some store to give 
 me just enough to live, while I learn to be 
 of use but unfortunately stores are not 
 kept for missionary purposes. Oh, what a 
 humiliation it is to think, Mrs. Emery, that 
 we two girls, brought up with all advan- 
 tages, are not fit to earn a dollar ! Oh, if
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 13 
 
 I ever have daughters they shall learn to do 
 one thing well." 
 
 That evening, however, brought help 
 from an unexpected quarter. 
 
 " A letter from poor Aunty Be van," said 
 May, handing it to Dorothy, who opened it 
 and read : 
 
 DEAREST GIRLS, I have been thinking 
 about you and your affairs ever since I 
 knew of them : thinking is n't much good if 
 one cannot help ; but since your letter came 
 telling me you are willing to work at any- 
 thing, I have decided to make a suggestion. 
 It is that you and May should come to us 
 till something turns up. You may feel quite 
 independent, for you could both more than 
 earn your board by what you could do to help. 
 You know my eyesight is very bad ; I can't 
 sew. Your uncle is too great an invalid to 
 do much, and to have a young pair of eyes 
 and hands would be a great deal to us. But 
 and I beg you to take this "but" into 
 consideration we are far poorer, live more 
 plainly, than you can imagine. You knew 
 we were poor, but not how poor that, 
 without much intention, I have always con-
 
 14 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 cealed. If you come to us you would see 
 for yourselves. Of such food as there is, 
 there 's plenty, but it is excessively plain, 
 indeed ; just what we can raise ; such things 
 as we can't produce we go without. Now, 
 can you and May face such a life ? You 
 will not be tied in any way, and can leave 
 us the moment something better turns up. 
 Think it over and let me know. 
 Your affectionate aunt, 
 
 MARGARET BEVAN. 
 
 " Oh, poor Aunt Bevaii, what a terrible 
 life for her ! " cried May. 
 
 " Yes ; yet, May, this is the first thing that 
 seems to offer a gleam of light to me." 
 
 May shivered. 
 
 " Do you think we could stand it ? " 
 
 " Easily," said Dorothy. " Aunt has 
 been as gently bred as we. I plainly see 
 we really need not be dependent there, and 
 I think, May, we must be thankful for such 
 a refuge while we try to solve some way of 
 living." 
 
 A week later found the two Miss For- 
 tescues under their aunt's roof.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 15 
 
 Although I want to hurry over the part 
 of my story which tells only of Dorothy's 
 initial steps and her false starts before she 
 found out the secret, in which all women 
 placed in her position may be interested, I 
 yet must explain exactly how Mrs. Bevau 
 lived, in order that the narrative of Doro- 
 thy's struggle may be understood. 
 
 The Bevans had once been wealthy. Then 
 Mr. Bevan had speculated and lost every- 
 thing but some farming land about twenty- 
 five miles from the city and three from the 
 railroad. On the land was an old house, 
 and as neither he nor his wife understood 
 very much about country life, he had tried 
 to sell the property, even for half its value ; 
 but, finding no customer appeared, they 
 went out to live on the farm until a customer 
 should appear. 
 
 This was ten years ago. They were still 
 at the comfortless place, and now little 
 likely to leave it. For two years Mr. Bevan 
 had some trouble with his knee and had be- 
 come very lame. Mrs. Bevan had kept up
 
 16 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 relations with the outside world by means of 
 correspondence, but she rarely had visitors ; 
 even her nieces had only been to the place 
 once, and left it with a profound pity for 
 their poor aunt. Mrs. Bevan's one amuse- 
 ment, and considering how much a dollar 
 was to her her one extravagance, was writ- 
 ing letters to some old friends, some of whom 
 she visited occasionally. 
 
 It was early spring when the girls arrived, 
 and all out-doors wore its best aspect. The 
 trees were just putting forth tender green 
 leaflets ; everything in nature seemed awak- 
 ening and full of promise, but once inside 
 the house, what a contrast ! Mr. Bevan had 
 never had means to put it into proper order, 
 and it was plainly the abode of extreme 
 poverty ; yet the furniture, some of it very 
 handsome still, redeemed it from sordid 
 ugliness, even though it made the walls of 
 broken plaster more hideous. The floors 
 were nearly all uncarpeted. 
 
 But whatever was lacking in comfort was 
 amply made up in the warm welcome from 
 Mrs. Bevan, who said as she kissed them,
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 17 
 
 " Bless you, dear girls ; I shall begin to 
 live, now you are here." 
 
 A feeling of real pleasure filled Dorothy's 
 heart, for, although she had never thought 
 of it before, she could see how they might 
 brighten the days of the lonely woman. 
 
 " Dorothy, I have n't killed a chicken for 
 you, as I might have done, for we have them, 
 but I thought it best to have just our usual 
 tea," said Mrs. Bevan when they met at 
 table. 
 
 " Thank you, aunt ; I am glad you did, 
 and oh, how fresh and nice it all looks ! " 
 
 The tea was neatly laid with pretty china 
 and old-fashioned silver. There was abun- 
 dance of milk and yellow butter, a dish of 
 watercress from the spring, curds, and a little 
 pitcher of cream ; for, farmers as they were 
 (in a very small way), cream was one of the 
 luxuries and had to be sparely used. On 
 the bread board was a dark-looking loaf of 
 bread, and by an appetizing odor of baking 
 it was evident there was some form of hot 
 bread to be expected.
 
 18 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " Will you cut the bread, Dorothy? It 
 is rye bread; we use a good deal of rye 
 bread, because our land isn't suitable for 
 growing wheat " 
 
 " Rye bread, aunt ! but it is delicious. 
 I 've always had a horror of rye bread, be- 
 cause I have seen it when it seemed solid, 
 and other times it was sour ; but this is 
 sweeter than any bread I ever ate." 
 
 "Some people like it very solid. I like 
 mine to be just the same as wheaten bread." 
 Mrs. Bevan left the table as she spoke, and 
 went to the kitchen. She returned with a 
 dish of brown, crisp cakes about half an 
 inch thick and as large as the top of a tea- 
 cup. 
 
 " What are these, aunty ? " asked Doro- 
 thy, as she buttered one, her housewifely 
 instinct on the alert for information. 
 
 " Buttermilk pones I call them ; you must 
 like them." 
 
 " Then I want the recipe, aunty, for my 
 note-book." 
 
 Perhaps some of those who, I hope, may
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 19 
 
 become Dorothy's friends will like also to 
 know a few of Mrs. Sevan's very frugal 
 dishes, and as we go with her on her road 
 to independence I will transcribe here and 
 there a simple recipe by which her aunt 
 contrived to vary and render appetizing a 
 diet that was almost wholly vegetarian. 
 Those for whom happily no necessity for 
 such extreme economy exists may pass them 
 by and wait for better things.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MRS. BEVAN'S PONES. DOROTHY AS A DRESS- 
 MAKER. 
 
 " Do you mean to say, aunt, that there 
 were no eggs in those pones ? " said Doro- 
 thy as she dotted the i's and crossed the t's 
 of the recipe she had just written in her 
 neat little note-book. 
 
 " No eggs, my dear ; in winter I use as 
 few eggs as possible, because they fetch a 
 high price, and as ready money is so scarce 
 I am glad of anything that will add to it, so 
 I sell the eggs and have a few of what I 
 call winter recipes, which do not require 
 eggs. Well, I '11 read this over to see if 
 it's right." 
 
 " BUTTERMILK PONES. To every pint 
 of rich buttermilk, not too sour, allow one 
 small teaspoonful of soda and three coffee
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 21 
 
 cupfuls of cornmeal. Put the soda in the 
 bowl, break all lumps, then pour the but- 
 termilk into it ; stir and add the cornmeal 
 with a small teaspoonful of salt. Taste 
 the batter ; if still sour add a very little 
 more soda; stir briskly. Have the griddle 
 hot, and with rather more grease upon it 
 than for cakes. Drop the batter from a 
 spoon until half an inch thick. When 
 brown on one side turn and bake the other. 
 Split and butter as muffins and serve while 
 very hot." 
 
 " Yes, you have it right, but you may add 
 that if sweetening is liked two tablespoon- 
 fuls of molasses may be added. This makes 
 the crust nicer." 
 
 " Thank you, aunt. This is my first 
 lesson in real economical housekeeping. 
 Cooking was rather a hobby of mine, you 
 know, and I can make a few good things, 
 but they all cost a good deal." 
 
 " Well, my dear, to have real good things 
 you must have the materials for them, but 
 some very nice ones may be made more eco-
 
 22 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 nomically than you would think, by mixing 
 in a little brains." 
 
 The next day Dorothy and May began 
 their new life in earnest, and the difference 
 between the two sisters came out strongly 
 in a conversation they had while dressing. 
 May was yawning sleepily. 
 
 " Dorothy, it 's awful getting up and 
 dressing at this hour. I don't believe aunt 
 expects us to." 
 
 " But, May, you surely could n't lie in 
 bed and let her get our breakfast ? " 
 
 " Well, I don't know ; we can help in 
 other ways. She has to get breakfast, you 
 know, anyhow." 
 
 " Do as you like, May. I hate early ris- 
 ing, but I should hate still more to walk 
 into the breakfast - room as if I were a 
 boarder." 
 
 " Oh, Dorothy, you have such high-flown 
 notions." May was very proud of Dorothy, 
 but she always thought she lacked common 
 sense, although she was clever. 
 
 She was more convinced of this than
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 23 
 
 ever when Dorothy insisted on washing the 
 dishes, pots and all. At this May rebelled ; 
 she dusted the little sitting-room, then took 
 her seat in it, as Mrs. Bevan entreated Dor- 
 othy also to do. May said she would assist 
 in the light work, and meanwhile she was 
 going to try and make a little money, with 
 rather a rebuking air to Dorothy, as she 
 spread her paints before her industriously. 
 
 " I '11 come too, later," said her sister. 
 
 Dorothy found the preparing of the noon- 
 day meal in this frugal house was some- 
 thing very different from dinner getting in 
 any other she had known. The teeming gar- 
 den was gone over, and whatever was ready 
 was brought in to cook. Mr. Bevan grew 
 very little for market, his land was very 
 poor except the garden plot, and he under- 
 stood nothing of farming. He just man- 
 aged to raise fodder, a little corn and rye, 
 and the family vegetables. The prepara- 
 tion of these Dorothy soon found took as 
 much time as cooking a fine dinner, for 
 what they lacked in meat Mrs. Bevan tried
 
 24 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 to make up for by savory and careful cook- 
 ing. 
 
 "I am glad you came just as the early 
 vegetables are coming on," she said. " We 
 have the earliest peas about, and the first 
 are just ready to pull, and we will have a 
 piece of shoulder boiled to eat with them." 
 
 Dorothy felt the shoulder was in honor 
 of them, but said nothing. After she had 
 turned her hand to everything with Mrs. 
 Bevan, and the work was about done she 
 said : 
 
 "Now, aunt, you said you had sewing. 
 I am ready and eager for it." 
 
 " My dear child, it 's true I 've a good 
 many things to make over, but I 'm afraid 
 you won't find it pleasant work." 
 
 "Any work will be pleasant that will 
 help you, aunt." 
 
 " Then I '11 get them down, my dresses, 
 I mean, for I 'm in great need of some- 
 thing to wear." 
 
 Reader, did you ever know an elderly 
 gentlewoman, with ancient dresses, fine in
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 25 
 
 quality, which she reverenced, and which 
 she wanted made into present style? For 
 years she may have ignored the fashion, 
 but now that she has decided to put scissors 
 to these precious relics they must be made 
 into garments most stylish and modern. 
 
 Very timidly, yet showing plainly an ar- 
 dent desire, did elderly Mrs. Bevan inti- 
 mate that she would like those dresses " a 
 bit stylish," something like Dorothy's own, 
 which was "so plain and simple" she had 
 fallen in love with it as just the thing. 
 
 Dorothy's was a princess dress, beauti- 
 fully cut but severely plain. She looked at 
 her aunt, whose form was attenuated and 
 utterly guiltless of contour. Could she 
 mean it ? 
 
 " You would like, of course, some sort of 
 trimming about the upper part?" 
 
 " Well, dear, 1 was thinking not. I Ve 
 been thinking for months how I 'd have 
 these made, but now I've seen yours, my 
 mind's made up if you don't mind an 
 old woman copying you," she said hastily.
 
 26 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 This decided it, but, oh ! the despair with 
 which Dorothy turned over the material! 
 Never mind; at least one princess dress 
 must come out of that gray silk, and Doro- 
 thy remembered a lace fichu in her trunk. 
 If her aunt should recognize that the dress 
 was hardly suited to her style she would give 
 it to her and a graceful result would be at- 
 tained. 
 
 Never will Dorothy forget the trying on 
 of that dress, the disappointed look in dear, 
 innocent Aunt Bevan's eyes as she found 
 that, do what Dorothy would to make it fit, 
 it hung only in straight lines. To get pre- 
 sentable breadths of silk to make this fail- 
 ure, poor Dorothy had planned and joined 
 (invisibly, as she hoped) till her back and 
 head ached. After this Mrs. Bevan said, 
 resignedly : " I expect, Dodo, it takes a 
 pretty smart hand to that style of dress, so 
 don't worry yourself about it ; just do any- 
 thing to make it decent." 
 
 Dorothy, left to her own devices, went to 
 work, and by dint of ingenuity and infinite
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 27 
 
 labor in a couple of months Mrs. Bevan's 
 wardrobe was renovated. 
 
 Dorothy had from the first set herself 
 against swelling the army of women who 
 struggle to gain their bread genteelly. She 
 meant to use the shelter she had to enable 
 her to become more expert at dressmaking. 
 True, she was under the disadvantage of be- 
 ing out of the city, yet in the neighboring 
 town there were fashionable women hand- 
 somely dressed, stores where there were pat- 
 terns, and she could write for other things. 
 
 Mrs. Be van, although she lived so plainly, 
 was on visiting terms with most of her 
 richer neighbors, and carefully kept up her 
 social interests as well as the circumstance 
 of having but one horse, which was often 
 engaged agriculturally, allowed. As soon 
 as her wardrobe was in order, she started 
 forth at Dorothy's request to proclaim the 
 fact that her niece would do dressmaking. 
 
 " Shall I say, dear, that you, having a 
 knack that way, and I 'm sure you have, for 
 this dress is lovely, are going to make a lit- 
 tle pocket money ? "
 
 28 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 "No! aunt; say I have to earn my liv- 
 ing, and will do it by dressmaking." 
 
 After this Dorothy had work. She found, 
 however, that the ladies who could afford to 
 pay well had their work done in the city and 
 only gave her old dresses to make over, or 
 house dresses, for which they expected to pay 
 very little, although the making over of a 
 well-worn, old dress into something stylish 
 took far more brain work and time than the 
 new work would have done. After she spent 
 a whole week over a dress, doing miracles, 
 as she knew, with the materials, if the result 
 was not exactly that of a new dress, she 
 could see that her customer was not pleased, 
 and by such work as this she would have to 
 sit very close to make four or five dollars a 
 week. But this was all easy to the wonder- 
 ful tasks expected of her by some of the far- 
 mers' wives. A limp and much made over 
 black silk was required to be made into a 
 modern " polonay " with the drapings, etc., 
 and if doubt was expressed as to the possi- 
 bility,
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 29 
 
 " Why you don't say ? All that whole 
 silk dress not make a polonay ? Well, then, 
 you '11 have to do the best you can," etc., etc. 
 
 But even these cases were not so bad as 
 the new dresses, generally sleazy twenty-cent 
 representations of something that would cost 
 a dollar, materials which frayed at every 
 touch ; generally the pattern was short, and 
 invariably the customer had in her mind's 
 eye the rich or graceful draperies of some 
 well-dressed woman,. whose gown she fondly 
 hoped her own would resemble. So when 
 these draperies did not drape, and the folds 
 would not flow, Dorothy's cheeks had to 
 burn under the disappointment of the too 
 often angry woman. 
 
 And so six months passed, during which 
 her experience in ultra-economical cooking 
 had grown apace, and her note-book had sev- 
 eral additions which her friends shall be 
 made acquainted with later. But her hope 
 of earning anything more than bread by 
 dressmaking was fading. She could just pay 
 her own and May's way at her aunt's, and
 
 30 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 that was all. She recognized the fact that, 
 although she knew with good materials she 
 could make a dress fairly well, better than 
 many dressmakers, to do any good in it as a 
 business she must make a dress letter than 
 most, and as well as any. This she began 
 to see she never would do. She was too old 
 to begin at the very beginning, and sewing 
 was not her forte. 
 
 " I should never do much at it, and, like 
 everything else, unless you can compete 
 with the best you must not expect to make 
 more than a bare subsistence." 
 
 May had during this time painted dinner 
 cards, exactly like those ordered in their first 
 need by some of their friends, and full of 
 confidence had taken them to a dealer in 
 New York, who had very gently told her 
 that they were not up to his mark. She 
 learned also at the same time that the price 
 he could pay even for work that suited him 
 was about one third what was paid by her 
 friends. Then she had met a young lady 
 friend of Mrs. Bevan's who eked out her
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 31 
 
 income by doing art work for the Woman's 
 Exchange and advised May to send work 
 there. Dorothy, willing that May should 
 have a chance if possible, bought a ticket, 
 and May, once more hopeful, painted cards 
 and plaques and menus and sent them in, 
 and then confidently awaited the result. 
 Her efforts were not above the average, and 
 in six months her returns had been under 
 ten dollars. 
 
 Dorothy was discouraged. She kept 
 bravely at her work, and her aunt declared 
 her life was made bright by her, yet she be- 
 gan to see she had better leave May and 
 seek a position as housekeeper, but, as even 
 that must first be found, she spent some of 
 her precious dollars and advertised every 
 week for two months and nothing came 
 or seemed likely to come of it. Mrs. Bevan 
 had felt very sure, when Dorothy first spoke 
 of her plan, that among some of her corre- 
 spondents, most of them rich people, there 
 would be one who would jump at the chance 
 of having her niece, and then followed a
 
 82 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 vigorous course of letter-writing ; but as is 
 always the case, one had known of some- 
 thing just suitable a few months ago, an- 
 other might soon require assistance, but no 
 one at this time seemed to need Dorothy. 
 
 One day May returned from the city, 
 where she had been to see after her interests 
 at the Woman's Exchange, and said, petu- 
 lantly flinging down a package of her paint- 
 ings, returned unsold : 
 
 " I declare I don't believe anything sells 
 at that place but cakes ! I went to the cake 
 counter and bought my lunch, and I heard 
 the attendant say they could sell any amount 
 of really fine cake ! And that in an artistic 
 place, supposed to be for the encourage- 
 ment of lady's work ! " 
 
 Dorothy had started up. 
 
 "Cake, May?" 
 
 "Yes, and I believe the business is 
 brisker there than in any other part of 
 the exchange." 
 
 " Cake 1 Well, at least, I can make cake 
 as well as any one."
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 33 
 
 Dorothy's eyes shone brilliantly, and she 
 lost the languid air that she had lately 
 worn. 
 
 " You don't mean to tell us, Dorothy, that 
 you 're going to cook for a living ? " cried 
 May. This was even worse than dressmak- 
 ing. 
 
 " Indeed I will, if I can get it to do, for 
 that at least I can do better than most, and 
 what I can't do perfectly now I can easily 
 learn."
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 DOROTHY TRIES A NEW BUSINESS. 
 
 MAY'S petulant remark had stirred up 
 new thoughts in Dorothy's mind. She sud- 
 denly remembered a visit she had made 
 months before to a lady boarding in a hotel 
 in the city, and some remarks of hers apro- 
 pos of cake. 
 
 The lady made tea with a gas kettle in 
 her room, and, handing a cup to her visitor, 
 said, as she passed it : 
 
 " I wish I could say this cake is decent. 
 I sent for it to the Woman's Exchange in- 
 stead of to a first-rate confectioner's, think- 
 ing my few cents might help to encourage 
 more deserving women than myself, and this 
 is my reward," she said, handing a slice to 
 Dorothy. 
 
 " Why, this is not bad cake, is it ? " said
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 35 
 
 Dorothy, to whom it seemed fairly good if 
 it had been fresh. 
 
 " Not bad cake ! " cried her friend ; " do 
 yon realize, my dear, that I paid a dollar 
 for this tiny cake ; that I asked for pound- 
 cake, because that would keep for months, 
 and I get a sort of extra good cup-cake made 
 with baking powder, such as I could buy at 
 any bakery for half the money ! I was speak- 
 ing of it to another friend, who said she had 
 tried to get really fine sponge-cake and paid 
 the price for it, but it was simply like com- 
 mon bakery sponge-cake as dry as sawdust 
 talk of women's work ! How can one help 
 women except as a matter of charity? If 
 ever I buy cake again at the Exchange it 
 will be because I want to bestow my money, 
 not because it suits me to buy there." 
 
 In better days Dorothy had often gone to 
 this particular Woman's Exchange to make 
 Christmas presents, and she knew some of 
 the ladies connected with it. She made up 
 her mind to go there now on a different 
 errand.
 
 36 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 The next morning she started off. The 
 city was some twenty miles from Plump- 
 stead ; it had been much nearer her old 
 home, which, perhaps I have not said, was a 
 fashionable suburban town about an equal 
 distance from two great cities. 
 
 When she arrived at the quiet house in 
 which the Exchange had its quarters, she 
 could not help contrasting her present er- 
 rand with many former ones. May's artistic 
 efforts had of course left nothing of their 
 present circumstances in doubt. 
 
 She went straight to the department de- 
 voted to prepared food, and spoke to the 
 attendant in charge of it. 
 
 " I want you to be kind enough to tell me 
 what articles you have a ready sale for." 
 
 " We have a ready sale for almost any- 
 thing that is very good." 
 
 " Do you mean good of the kind ? " 
 
 " Not that exactly, because ladies who pur- 
 chase here like to find something better than 
 ordinary ; for that reason we have less de- 
 mand for things in the way of cakes that
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 37 
 
 can be bought cheaply anywhere ; less 
 demand for cookies and plain home-made 
 things than for the finer cakes. Indeed, we 
 could sell more really fine cake than we get." 
 
 u I should like to make and send in some 
 really fine cakes that I know of. How can 
 I tell about prices ? I know you require 
 people to put their own prices." 
 
 "Yes, and we charge ten per cent, com- 
 mission. If the articles are just what they 
 should be, we find no difficulty in getting 
 good prices for them." 
 
 " Do you suppose you could sell marzi- 
 pan ? " 
 
 " Oh dear me, yes ; we have so many Ger- 
 man ladies who come to buy, and at holiday 
 time we could sell a great deal of that. But 
 you must remember that it may be some 
 little time before it gets known that we have 
 such a thing, and it will be better to send 
 very little of anything at first ; then if the 
 articles are found to be really good, ladies 
 will order." 
 
 Dorothy thanked the attendant for her 
 courtesy and left.
 
 38 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 She was very full of hope that she had 
 at last found something which she could 
 really do, and which was wanted, but she 
 was so short of money that she did not dare 
 to buy more than just enough ingredients 
 for the trial effort. 
 
 She had decided to send in a loaf of a cake 
 that had always been a great success when 
 she made it at home, and was indeed in- 
 vented by herself for her father, who did 
 not like fruit-cake, yet was very fond of 
 almonds and citron, and which she called 
 Genoa cake, because, while differing from 
 the usual Genoa cake, it yet had the outward 
 appearance of one. 
 
 For this cake she required : 
 
 One half pound of shelled almonds. 
 
 One half pound of citron. 
 
 One half pound of powdered sugar. 
 
 One half pound of butter. 
 
 One half pound of flour. 
 
 Five eggs. 
 
 A small wine-glass of sherry. 
 
 One (or two, if not strong) tablespoonf uls 
 of rose-water.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 39 
 
 For the marzipan, too, she needed almond 
 paste ; she could not afford to buy a box 
 from the grocer, and to get less she knew 
 she must send or go to the maker. It was 
 a long car ride out of her way, and as she 
 had learnt from Aunt Bevan shrewdly to 
 count the five-cent expenses, it added at 
 least ten cents a pound to her material. 
 
 " But then, as the almonds there are only 
 thirty -three cents a pound, and forty -five 
 cents elsewhere, that will balance, and if 
 these things sell I will at once put the money 
 they bring into more materials." 
 
 The citron also must be bought in town, 
 and a little fine flour. 
 
 Dorothy had, when she went to Mrs. 
 Bevan, twenty dollars and some jewelry. 
 Her mourning had been unnecessarily hand- 
 some, for it was not till after it was ordered 
 that she knew the change in their fortunes. 
 Then the dressmaker had consented to dis- 
 pose of all the more costly garments; but 
 what she was forced to take for herself and 
 May, although the plainest, were the best
 
 40 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 of their kind. She regretted this now, but 
 the time came when she learnt the value of 
 being well dressed the buffer that hand- 
 some dress forms between a woman and the 
 jostling world. 
 
 The twenty dollars had been diminished 
 by May's car fares, painting materials, and 
 their joint necessities, and the subscription to 
 the Woman's Exchange, until but five dollars 
 remained to her. The little she had made by 
 dressmaking had just sufficed to pay her own 
 and May's share of Mrs. Sevan's expenses, 
 and she had seen with terror the prospect 
 of being penniless. She was not sufficiently 
 familiar with poverty to remember that sell- 
 ing her jewels would give her funds. She 
 was nervously anxious now to reserve as 
 much as possible of this tiny capital. Sup- 
 pose the cake did not sell, it would not be 
 wasted, because they could eat it, for, hap- 
 pily, it would keep, but she would have so 
 much less money to try other things. She 
 had not offered sponge-cake, for which she 
 also had been famous, among their friends,
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 41 
 
 because it would not keep well, and would 
 require replenishing frequently if not sold. 
 Butter and eggs she could get in the coun- 
 try, but her aunt's flour was not adapted for 
 fine cakes, so she must take that from town 
 with her. She smiled as she thought that 
 four pounds of pastry flour, one of almonds 
 and one of almond paste, with the citron and 
 sugar, would be rather unsightly bundles 
 and accord ill with her stylish appearance ; 
 but Dorothy had cast away from her, so far 
 as she could, the burden of unnecessary 
 pride, and contentedly trudged to the depot 
 with her very evident grocery packages. 
 She had bought on her way ten cents' worth 
 of rose-water, and saw by the very little she 
 got how much dearer things must be to the 
 working poor than to the rich, for it was 
 not the sixth part of a thirty-five cent bottle. 
 
 The next day Dorothy began to make her 
 cake. She was rather nervous, for, often as 
 she had made it in old times, for a year she 
 had not thought of it. 
 
 " Oh, aunt, I once made this cake and it
 
 42 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 had a heavy streak in the centre. I knew 
 the cause, but this oven is strange to me ; 
 suppose this one should have it; I can't 
 know it, for I dare not cut it." 
 
 " What was the cause of the streak ? " 
 " It was taken out of the oven too soon. 
 I gave orders about the baking, saw the heat 
 of the oven, and my wise cook thought I 
 must be mistaken in the time, and that it 
 could not need more than an hour ; so she 
 heated up the oven, and took it out when it 
 was brown. I should not have known it 
 had I not accidentally seen the cake was out 
 of the oven long before its time." 
 
 Dorothy first separated her eggs and beat 
 both whites and yolks, weighed and put to 
 get dry and warm half a pound of flour, 
 weighed butter and sugar and almonds of 
 each half a pound ; then she blanched the 
 almonds by pouring boiling water on them ; 
 then slipping them out of the skins, which 
 are quite loose when scalded, she laid them 
 between a cloth to dry while she cut the cit- 
 ron, first in thin strips, then in half inch
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 43 
 
 r 
 
 pieces. The almonds were divided into two 
 equal parts, the first chopped as small as 
 peas and put to the citron, the other chopped 
 a little finer and set aside ; she dredged a 
 little flour among the citron and large 
 chopped almonds, shook them together and 
 put them to warm, but not get hot. Dor- 
 othy had everything she needed round her, 
 and put away everything she did not want 
 before she got her hands into the cake. 
 Mrs. Bevan had contributed a glass of a 
 treasured bottle of sherry, and then the 
 work began. 
 
 The butter and sugar (the latter slightly 
 warmed) were put into a bowl, and Dorothy 
 with her right hand at first worked, then 
 beat them back and forth, until they were 
 nearly white and like cream, then the beaten 
 yolks of the eggs were gradually added, 
 beating all the time ; the wine was poured 
 in little by little, then the rose-water. 
 
 " That is one thing, one can't depend on 
 measuring rose - water, I find. I dare say 
 this, bought by the small quantity, is weak,
 
 44 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 so, aunty, you must help me to taste ; the 
 flavor goes off a little in baking, therefore it 
 must really be perceptible now." 
 
 A tablespoonful was used and pronounced 
 not perceptible, and more added till one 
 could just tell rose-water was there. After 
 five minutes' more beating, the flour was 
 gently sifted in, and the whites of the eggs. 
 It was now a very stiff batter, which Dor- 
 othy beat five minutes more, and then the 
 almonds and citron were added, and just 
 stirred in, but not beaten at all. The whole 
 was now poured into the pan, which was 
 lined with buttered paper, and the remain- 
 der of the almonds sprinkled very carefully 
 and evenly over the surface until the batter 
 was nearly hidden by them. The cover of a 
 cardboard box was laid lightly on the cake 
 and it was put into the oven. 
 
 " You are sure you want the oven as cool 
 as that, Dora?" asked Mrs. Bevan, who 
 was a deeply interested looker-on. 
 
 " Yes, aunt ; it must be what you would 
 call a cool bread oven, about 230, if we
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 45 
 
 had an oven thermometer, which if I do 
 much cooking I shall get. I shall leave the 
 cover on for one hour, then let it brown, or 
 rather become a fine salmonish yellow ; if it 
 shows signs of getting darker before the 
 cake is done the cover goes on again, but 
 with a steady oven I don't believe it will. 
 While it bakes I shall make just a little 
 marzipan. But as I was told that it may 
 not sell, because they have never had it be- 
 fore, I shall only use six ounces of almond 
 paste for it." 
 
 " Marzipan ! what is that ? " 
 
 " Oh, a favorite German goody. I know 
 of Germans in New York who send to 
 Hamburg for it, and others who get it at 
 the German bakeries, but sugar being 
 cheaper than almonds it is apt to have too 
 large a proportion, and to be like plaster." 
 
 Dorothy put one pound of white sugar 
 into a small, thick saucepan with a gill of 
 water, and let them boil till the syrup hung 
 in a long thread ; then she set the saucepan 
 to cool while she weighed six ounces of al- 
 mond paste and cut it small.
 
 46 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 When the syrup was a little cool she beat 
 it, at first with a spoon, then worked it like 
 dough between her hands, then laid aside 
 one third ; the other two thirds she put back 
 into the saucepan with the almond paste and 
 a tablespoonf ul of rose-water, and stirred it 
 over the fire till the sugar had melted to 
 cream and the paste blended with it. She 
 had to be very careful to prevent burning. 
 When the mass got stiff like dough and no 
 longer clung to the saucepan, but left it 
 white, the marzipan was done ; she put it 
 to cool. When cool enough to handle she 
 sifted powdered sugar on a pasty board and 
 kneaded it a minute like bread, then formed 
 it into a square cake two inches thick ; it 
 was now ready for icing. 
 
 The cake, after it had been baking an 
 hour and three quarters, was tried by insert- 
 ing a broorn twig, which came forth dry. 
 "It is done, aunty, and looks pretty." 
 " Dear me, my dear, that is a picture ! " 
 And so it was in the way of cake. It had 
 not risen very much, but very evenly ; the
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 47 
 
 cake and almonds were all the color of a 
 finely baked macaroon, not a bit brown, but 
 all a fine deep yellow. 
 
 " Oh, aunt, what would I give to cut that 
 and know that it is just right." 
 
 " Oh, my dear, it must be right." 
 
 " I think so." 
 
 Nevertheless, half a dozen times Dorothy 
 looked and doubted and weighed it in her 
 hand sometimes thinking it was heavy, at 
 others that it was not. 
 
 " I shall feel as if I were in the dentist's 
 chair till I hear from it," said Dorothy. 
 
 "You need not fear, my dear; I know 
 enough of pound-cake, which that is, all but 
 the fruit, to feel sure it is just right," said 
 kind Mrs. Bevan, who has great faith in her 
 niece.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FRENCH ICING. GENOA CAKE. STUMBLING- 
 BLOCKS LN DOROTHY'S WAT. 
 
 " I 'M waiting to see, Dora, how you are 
 going to ice that marzipan with that stuff ; 
 why, it 's as hard as cheese," said Mrs. Be- 
 van, who had just given another admiring 
 peep at the Genoa cake ; " I declare, that 
 cake looks just like a great big macaroon ! " 
 
 "This icing is what the French call fon- 
 dant or ' melting icing,' and although it 
 won't do for plum-cake so well as regular 
 frosting, it is far pleasanter to eat, and is 
 the fashion for all other cakes just now, 
 and the beauty of it is you can make a good 
 deal of it, put it in a jar and cover it with 
 oiled paper, and it will keep for months. I 
 found this out for myself, accidentally, for 
 I never have seen the fact mentioned in 
 books."
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 49 
 
 As she spoke, Dorothy took the third 
 part of the boiled sugar she had laid aside, 
 aud put it in a small bowl, which she set 
 into a small saucepan of boiling water over 
 the fire, and then stirred until the mass be- 
 came soft and creamy. " But, surely, that 
 will go back to clear syrup, Dora." 
 
 " No, aunt, not if it is kept stirred ; but 
 if it were left alone that is just what it 
 would do." 
 
 When quite liquid she added a few drops 
 of rose-water to it, stirred it, and then 
 poured it over the marzipan, using a warm 
 knife to spread it, till it looked like enamel. 
 
 " Now about the price to ask ? " 
 
 " I have bought pound-cake and had to 
 pay seventy-five to eighty cents, but I think 
 if I can make a very good thing a little 
 cheaper than the large stores, it will be bet- 
 ter, they have such enormous expenses ; 
 but let me first see what the cake has cost, 
 and on account of the almonds this cake 
 costs more to make than pound-cake." 
 
 She reckoned her cost, allowing for the
 
 50 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 thirteenth part of a bottle of sherry seven 
 cents, and three cents for rose-water : 
 
 Cents. 
 Half pound of almonds at thirty-two cents 
 
 per pound 16 
 
 Half pound of citron 15 
 
 Half pound of sugar 5 
 
 Half pound of butter 13 
 
 Half pound of flour 2 
 
 Five eggs 12 
 
 Sherry and rose-water 10 
 
 Total 73 
 
 "Of course, eggs and butter will get 
 dearer, so I must charge now to cover that. 
 Now we must weigh the cake." 
 
 It weighed two ounces less than three 
 pounds. 
 
 Dorothy considered, then said : 
 
 " If I charge seventy cents a pound that 
 will give me fl.85 for three pounds and 
 allow for the commission ; this is doubling 
 niy money and allowing for extra cost in 
 winter." ,. 
 
 "You forget expressage," said Mr. Be- 
 van.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 51 
 
 " No, I do not ; that takes two articles, 
 and will, I hope, in future take more. The 
 marzipan cost me twenty-two cents (eleven 
 cents almond paste ; ten cents sugar ; rose- 
 water, one cent), and it cannot be bought 
 under sixty cents a pound. I will charge 
 fifty outside the commission." 
 
 " Well, you '11 come out with your money 
 doubled, I guess, even if eggs and butter 
 go up ten cents, if your articles sell," said 
 Mr. Bevan. " But if you had gone prop- 
 erly to work and bought things sensibly, 
 you would have made more." 
 
 " Next time, uncle," laughed Dorothy. 
 
 The next thing Dorothy had to think of 
 was the packing, and this apparently simple 
 matter was one of such difficulty that she 
 resolved never to be caught so unprepared 
 again. 
 
 " How in this world that cake is to be 
 packed without breaking off the almonds I 
 can 't see, Dora ? " 
 
 " I must manage, aunt ; if I had only 
 some cotton batting."
 
 52 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " If that '11 help I have a bundle in the 
 garret, new and white, that I bought for a 
 quilt and haven't used." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, aunt," cried Dora, in- 
 finitely relieved and feeling as if the ques- 
 tion was solved. She had decided to pack 
 the cake in a cardboard box she had brought 
 in her trunk which had once covered some 
 choice books, but now had been used for 
 ribbons and odds and ends ; this Mr. Be van 
 had promised to nail up in slats to prevent 
 crushing. From the same trunk came sev- 
 eral sheets of soft white paper, which she 
 meant to wrap around the cake : they were 
 taken down to the kitchen and laid in readi- 
 ness; a window was open and one of the 
 thin sheets blew up against Dorothy's face. 
 
 " Oh, aunt, what shall I do ? This paper 
 actually smells perfumed." 
 
 "Why, my dear, how can that be?" 
 
 "Oh, I hardly know; everything in my 
 trunk has a certain perfumery odor, though 
 I have never deliberately perfumed it." 
 Then struck by a thought, she seized the
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 53 
 
 box. Yes, that too had the same fragrance, 
 very sweet, but not to be used for packing 
 eatables. It was perfectly absurd, but they 
 were three miles from a store, and for the 
 sake of a few sheets of paper and a box a 
 clay must be lost, and she wanted the cake 
 to go at its freshest, or else some one must 
 drive there and back, and then go again in 
 order to express it. 
 
 Mr. Bevan was peculiar, and she did not 
 know whether he would care to take the 
 horse out twice, but to her relief he offered 
 to go, and now instead of the cardboard 
 box, a small grocer's box was to be brought. 
 
 May was meanwhile painting steadily in 
 the parlor ; she did not approve of the cook- 
 ing idea, and felt convinced that Dora 
 would lower herself for nothing, for it was 
 not likely that cake-making could pay as 
 well as painting. Why, as a matter of fact, 
 any common, uneducated woman could make 
 cake ! 
 
 When Mr. Bevan returned, the cake, with 
 the paper it was baked in, was laid on a
 
 54 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 sheet of the new white paper and another 
 laid over the top, and then a thick layer of 
 cotton batting, then another sheet of paper, 
 and then the marzipan was laid on that; 
 with more cotton batting to preserve the 
 icing, the box carefully packed with old 
 newspapers until the cake would not move, 
 the cover was nailed on, addressed, and Mr. 
 Be van started for the express office, so that 
 it might go out with the next train. 
 
 " Oh, aunt, if that only sells, and I can 
 get orders for other things! I know sev- 
 eral things I used to try to make for fun 
 that would be salable, I think." 
 
 " How ever did you learn that marzipan 
 and icing ? " 
 
 " The icing I got from Gouffe's book. I 
 used to have orange and lemon peels can- 
 died at home, and I saw in Gouffe' that 
 boiled sugar allowed to cool, then beaten, 
 made what he calls tablettes fondant. Once 
 I had a full cup of the candy left from 
 peels, and thought I would see if that was 
 true ; for he says, ' when well beaten it can
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 55 
 
 be rolled out like dough.' This I could 
 hardly believe, but so it proved. When I 
 saw small expensive cakes were iced with a 
 waxy sort of icing, I put two and two to- 
 gether, and I saw it was the same thing. A 
 German governess showed me the marzipan, 
 and through that I learned to make maca- 
 roons, but the way in which I found out 
 how to save beating almonds I have always 
 been rather proud of. I no sooner discov- 
 ered I could make macaroons than a recol- 
 lection came into my mind of a large green 
 cart I had seen in the city some time be- 
 fore, and as it drove along I read in large 
 gold letters, ' Almond Paste ; ' that was 
 all, but along the roof was a board, with 
 ' For Confectioners' Use.' I got papa to 
 look the matter up in the directory, and he 
 found out the maker. I sent for a box and 
 it proved excellent, not only for macaroons, 
 but marzipan and many other things. That 
 is several years ago ; now it is sold in many 
 stores." 
 
 "You talk of putting two and two to-
 
 56 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 gether. When you sent me a box of orange 
 and lemon peel, although I could n't see 
 how you had done them, I knew that one 
 could just as well do fruit that way as not." 
 
 " Why, of course ! what a good idea, 
 aunty, and surely candied fruit would be 
 salable! What a pity the season is over; 
 I would practice." 
 
 " Well, as far as that goes you can prac- 
 tice on pears. We 've a tree of preserving 
 pears just ready to gather, and I 'm going 
 to do some up this week." 
 
 " The very thing ! and I 've other practi- 
 cing in my head which will prevent any wor- 
 rying till I hear from the Exchange. I am 
 almost sorry I was so prudent and did not 
 take your advice." 
 
 It had been discussed whether Dorothy 
 had not better spend the railway fare and 
 take her parcel to the Exchange, but there 
 was very little money in her purse, and if 
 this should not sell it would be so much 
 added loss. Mr. Bevan had pooh-poohed 
 and told Dorothy she was not fit for busi- 
 ness if she would risk nothing.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 57 
 
 " You might just as well, Dorothy, begin 
 comfortably, and order in a decent supply 
 for what you need, instead of doing things 
 in this peddling way ; you can pay when 
 things are sold; why, look at the waste! 
 twenty -five cents expressage on one cake, 
 and the extra price you had to pay for what 
 you bought to make it ! That is the way 
 women do business." 
 
 " It 's a safe way, uncle. I know just 
 what I lose, but if I bought in quantity I 
 might not be able to pay. At all events, 
 I '11 creep before I walk, and we '11 hope I 
 may be able to run some time." 
 
 Next day Dorothy was peeling pears 
 bright and early, dropping each one into 
 water as she did so to prevent discoloring. 
 When ready she took the same water and 
 put to one quart of it a pint of sugar, 
 dropped into a small preserving kettle a 
 dozen pears, which she meant to experiment 
 with, poured the sugar and water over them 
 and let them gently boil, skimming often, 
 till she could run a straw through the pears ;
 
 58 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 then she took them out and put the syrup 
 where it would boil very fast, and added to 
 it another pint of sugar. When it was 
 thick, clear, and well skimmed, the pears 
 were put back and left to boil slowly until 
 very rich and clear, but she watched for any 
 sign of breaking. When done they were 
 left in the syrup till next day. 
 
 " Aunty, I am enthusiastic ; now have n't 
 you some nice firm peaches preserved ? " 
 
 " Of course I have." 
 
 " Then let me have a few. I am so eager 
 I can't wait for the pears. I have just been 
 reading up 'French Dried Fruits,' and it 
 says, take them out of rich syrup and lay 
 them on a sieve." 
 
 " My dear, I 've been through all that, and 
 I 've failed over and over. They never will 
 dry, they seem to run juice forever ; at least, 
 I 've left them in a cool oven for days." 
 
 " Then that 's just because there 's some- 
 thing left out of the recipes." 
 
 " I 've got some noted cook books, and all 
 say the same, as if it was the easiest thing 
 to do."
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 59 
 
 Then ensued a comparison of cooking 
 books. Dorothy knew if her aunt said she 
 had followed directions strictly that she 
 really had done so, but the directions were 
 the same in all. 
 
 " Then I 'in going to try several ways." 
 
 She took half a dozen halved peaches, 
 beautifully clear and firm ; two she covered 
 thickly with sugar, thinking to absorb juice ; 
 from two she wiped the juice with a wet 
 cloth ; the other two she passed quickly 
 through boiling water, laid them on a clean 
 cloth and gently dabbed the water away. 
 She put all six on a sieve on the back of 
 the stove (the oven^was too hot); at night 
 they were put in the oven with the door 
 open. 
 
 The next morning Dorothy uttered a little 
 cry of pleasure. Two pieces of peach were 
 as wet as ever and much smaller ; two others 
 had a circle of candy around them ; the 
 other two that had been washed and dried 
 were nearly dry on the upper side, adhering 
 very slightly to the finger when touched.
 
 60 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " Eureka ! Aunty, I 've solved the prob- 
 lem, I think." She turned the pieces of 
 half-dried peach and took the pears out of 
 the syrup, clipped each one by the stem into 
 boiling water, dried it ; then it occurred to 
 her that if she laid a napkin over the sieve 
 it would help still better to absorb mois- 
 ture. She covered the napkin with pow- 
 dered sugar, and stood the pears, stem up 
 and not touching each other, on it. During 
 that day and the next the oven was given 
 up to the experiment, the door kept open, 
 and the fruit turned frequently. The sec- 
 ond day Dorothy made a syrup of a pint 
 of sugar and one gill of water, boiled it to 
 a thread, stirred the syrup while hot till it 
 looked a little milky, and then dipped each 
 pear into it ; the sieve was thickly powdered 
 with sugar, and the pears, after she had 
 drained as much candy as possible from 
 them, were laid on it, and it was again put 
 in the cool oven and the pears often turned. 
 This was how Dorothy learned to candy 
 fruit. It was so expensive to buy, and she
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 61 
 
 felt so sure she could find a ready sale for it 
 at the Exchange, that she was delighted. 
 
 This day, too, brought her a letter from 
 the Woman's Exchange. 
 
 " Ah, aunty, I am afraid to open it," said 
 Dorothy, as she saw where it came from. 
 
 "Never mind, dear; if it's bad news 
 you 've only to try again," said Mrs. Bevau.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MACAROONS. VENETIAN CAKES. CUCUMBER 
 
 RAGOUT. AMERICAN WALNUT CATSUP. 
 
 CANNED APPLE SAUCE. 
 
 BUT Dorothy's fears were groundless ; 
 the note ran thus : 
 
 "DEAR MADAM, The Genoa cake is 
 sold. We have an order for another. You 
 might send two. Do you make macaroons ? " 
 
 It may seem as silly to some readers as 
 it did to May, but Dorothy felt a glow of 
 triumph akin in a small way, perhaps, to 
 that which a young author may feel the 
 first time he is accepted (No, no other 
 rapture of success can ever be akin to 
 that.) She glowed and laughed, and 
 dreamed dreams prosy dreams, if you 
 like but Dorothy's highest ideal of good 
 at this time was independence for herself 
 and sister.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 63 
 
 No such feeling of satisfaction and hope 
 as this had come to her when she received 
 four dollars for the first dress she had made 
 but she felt now that she had a fairer 
 field. Dressmakers were everywhere, but 
 she could do three or four things in the way 
 of cooking that few but professional pastry 
 cooks would be likely to do, and she blessed 
 the girlish " hobby " that had led her to try 
 to excel in this direction. 
 
 " I think now, aunty, I may risk the 
 money and go to the city. I shall have 
 more courage now. I will write a large 
 card, and if I find they have not made it 
 conspicuous at the Exchange that they have 
 marzipan, I will ask them to lay the card on 
 it, and, to make it more likely to catch the 
 eye, I will put a bow of scarlet satin at 
 the top corner." 
 
 " Dorothy, I do believe you were cut out 
 for a business woman," said Mrs. Bevan. 
 
 " Don't say so ; I hope, if I do business, 
 I shall do it promptly and properly ; but the 
 two or three ' business women ' I have met,
 
 64 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 in spite, sometimes, of good manners, have 
 been pushing, hard, and unscrupulous, where 
 their own interests were concerned. It has 
 seemed to take away all nobility of feel- 
 ing. I pray money-making may never make 
 me do a thing for business' sake that I 
 should shrink from doing as a private 
 lady." 
 
 " You are young and generous, dear, but 
 you know what Goldsmith says : ' Oh, the 
 meannesses poverty makes us guilty of ! ' 
 
 "Yes, but it is not poverty; it seems to me 
 that it is after prosperity sets in that the 
 eager desire to make money causes people 
 to forget all but bare honesty. Honor and 
 delicacy become mere romance. I suppose 
 it is so with prosperous men also, but one 
 notices it less." 
 
 " I hope, dear Dorothy, you will have an 
 opportunity of resisting the hardening effect 
 of prosperity." 
 
 Dorothy laughed as she said, " I think I 
 will make a few macaroons, and take them 
 with me this afternoon. I have almond
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 65 
 
 paste and sugar in the house, and you have 
 eggs you will have a market at home 
 now." 
 
 ALMOND MACAROONS. Half a pound of 
 almond paste, whites of three eggs, three 
 quarters of a pound of sugar (sugar and 
 almond paste very carefully weighed). 
 
 As Dorothy separated the whites from the 
 yolks of the eggs, she looked at the latter 
 a minute, then said to her aunt, 
 
 " Those yolks will dry up if they are not 
 used at once, and you are so busy with your 
 apples I believe I '11 use them for Vene- 
 tian cakes and not go to town till to-mor- 
 row morning when I can take both." As 
 she spoke she put two teaspoonfuls of water 
 to the yolks, and beat them to prevent the 
 dry skin which so soon forms on them. Then 
 she set them in a cold place and proceeded 
 to make the macaroons. She first chopped 
 the almond paste in a chopping bowl (this 
 was only to save the labor of breaking it 
 all with a fork). Then the whites of eggs 
 and sugar were beaten as for icing, and
 
 66 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 the chopped almond paste added to it and 
 mashed against the side of the bowl with the 
 back of a fork ; when all was well mixed, 
 and looked like very soft biscuit dough, she 
 put a small piece of buttered paper in a 
 patty pan and half a teaspoonful of the 
 macaroon mixture on it, and set it in the 
 oven, both to try the heat and also the consis- 
 tence. Sometimes if the whites of the eggs 
 are very large or very small, the mixture 
 will be too thin or too stiff ; in the latter case, 
 the macaroon will not melt down in the oven 
 to a good shape, but will be " rocky " look- 
 ing ; if too thin it will run too much, and be 
 too flat and brittle, like "kisses " when cold. 
 
 While the macaroon was baking, Dorothy 
 cut some sheets of thin wrapping paper the 
 size of the dripping pans, greased the sheets 
 with lard, and laid one in each of them ; 
 she blanched the rest of the almonds, and 
 chopped a tablespoonful of them till they 
 were about the size of split peas. 
 
 The macaroon in the oven proved a little 
 soft ; there were two ways of remedying it,
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 67 
 
 by stirring in more sugar, or using a tea- 
 spoonful of flour. Dorothy chose the flour, 
 sifting it in gently. Then with a spoon she 
 dropped pieces as large as a nutmeg, an 
 inch and a half apart, in rows on the greased 
 papers, using a fork to push the paste from 
 the spoon ; on the centre of each she placed, 
 with just enough pressure to keep it, a pinch 
 of the chopped almonds in melting down 
 they would spread and arrange themselves. 
 One pan was put in the oven, which was 
 moderately hot (not cool, as many books 
 direct), while she dropped another panful. 
 Then she opened the oven door ; the maca- 
 roons had been ten minutes in the oven, had 
 risen, and she very gently lifted them to the 
 upper shelf, carefully shielding them from 
 draught or cold air, and put the other pan- 
 ful in. Now she had to watch carefully, for 
 they must not be much darker than straw- 
 color, and while she watched she sliced four 
 ounces of the blanched almonds for the 
 Venetian cakes. When these were finished 
 her first panful of macaroons was done.
 
 68 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " Why, Dorothy," said Aunt Bevan, 
 " these are as handsome as any I ever saw 
 at the best confectioner's." 
 
 " Of course they are," said Dorothy ; " I 
 should never be satisfied if any one could 
 tell they were not 'boughten.' I like home- 
 made things, but I don't want them to look 
 home-made, nor even as if they were bought 
 at a cheap confectioner's." 
 
 She put the pan on the table out of a 
 draught with greatest care, for while hot the 
 least jar will cause macaroons to sink. Nor, 
 although she was waiting for the pan, could 
 she take them off it till a little cool, but she 
 had a sheet of paper ready and dropped 
 more on that, while she waited, then attended 
 to those in the oven, and by that time the 
 macaroons could be lifted gently, paper and 
 all, from the pan, but she made no attempt 
 even now to remove them from the paper. 
 That could only be done when nearly or 
 quite cold. She threw a cloth over the part 
 of the table on which they lay, to prevent 
 them becoming brittle, and having put more
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. G9 
 
 macaroons in the oven, she proceeded to 
 make Venetian cakes. 
 
 VENETIAN CAKES. A quarter of a pound 
 of butter, washed free from salt, the same 
 weight of powdered sugar beaten till like 
 hard sauce, the yolks of three eggs then 
 added ; when well mixed the four ounces of 
 sliced almonds were stirred in and well- 
 beaten ; last of all six ounces of very dry 
 flour was sifted in and the mixture stirred, 
 not beaten. This paste should be like very 
 soft biscuit dough ; if too sticky to handle, 
 dredge in more flour, and instead of flour, 
 sugar must be used in making it into little 
 balls the size of a hickory nut. 
 
 Every now and then Dorothy had stopped 
 her work to attend to the macaroons, which 
 were now all done and the pans free for 
 Venetian cakes. As Dorothy made them 
 into balls she set them an inch and a half 
 apart. They had to be very carefully han- 
 dled, being so soft ; and the adding of more 
 flour is to be, if possible, avoided. She wet 
 the top of each, sifted sugar over them, and
 
 70 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 put half of an almond in the centre of each. 
 When they were baked straw-color they 
 were done. By this time the macaroons 
 could be removed from the paper. Nearly 
 all came off easily, but there were a few 
 here and there that had baked a little too 
 slowly on the bottom, and stuck. The rem- 
 edy was to moisten the paper slightly on 
 the wrong side. There were between seventy 
 and eighty macaroons and nearly a dozen 
 of these did not look to Dorothy's fastidious 
 eye quite so handsome as they ought ; some- 
 times one or two on a sheet would have 
 sunk in and a few were too dark for per- 
 fection, being almost brown. All these Dor- 
 othy laid aside for home use, the rest she 
 carefully packed into a little fruit basket. 
 She had weighed them and found she had 
 one or two over a pound, and the Venetian 
 cakes which she packed into another basket 
 weighed about the same, after she had re- 
 moved those that were misshapen. 
 
 " Now I must reckon cost," she said, tak- 
 ing pencil and paper. " For macaroons :
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 71 
 
 Cents. 
 
 Almond pasts, half pound 1G 
 
 Sugar, three quarter pound 7 
 
 Eggs (3) 7 
 
 " The best macaroons are eighty cents a 
 pound, and I can get seventy-five cents ; 
 that will pay commission and more than 
 double my money, and so allow for eggs 
 becoming dearer." 
 
 " And the yolks go into the other cakes." 
 " Yes. I must always manage to make 
 something that needs no white of egg ; the 
 same as macaroons. The cost of the Vene- 
 tian cake is : 
 
 Cents. 
 
 One fourth pound butter 7 
 
 One half pound almonds 8 
 
 One fourth pound sugar 2 
 
 Six ounces of flour 2 
 
 Total 19 
 
 " But no one would believe they were fine 
 
 cakes if I ask only forty cents a pound. I 
 
 must consult the attendant." 
 
 Mrs. Bevan had a great basket of apples 
 
 by her side, which she was paring with a 
 
 machine fastened to the table.
 
 72 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " Tell me what is for dinner, aunt. I 've 
 done now, and will cook it so that you need 
 not leave off." 
 
 " Thank you. I was thinking we might 
 have something- savory. We Ve had the 
 vegetables dressed with butter and flour 
 several days, so if you '11 attend to them we 
 might have fried cucumbers and onions. I 
 peeled the cucumber and put it to drain 
 before I began these apples." 
 
 Dorothy prepared the other vegetables for 
 dinner, and then made the dish which was 
 always a favorite one in that frugal house- 
 hold, which Mrs. Bevan called 
 
 CUCUMBER RAGOUT. An equal quan- 
 tity of cucumber, sliced (as thick as a silver 
 dollar) and drained, and of onions and 
 tomatoes also sliced. Put a tablespoonful 
 of lard or nice drippings in a frying-pan ; 
 lay in the onions. When the fat is very hot, 
 flour the slices of cucumber, lay them in 
 also, and let both onions and cucumber 
 thoroughly brown ; they will shrink con- 
 siderably. When they are brown, not be-
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 73 
 
 fore, lay in the sliced and peeled tomatoes, 
 a tablespoonful of flour and one of butter 
 blended, and half a pint of water, a tea- 
 spoonful of salt, and as much pepper as 
 would go on the end of a knife. All to 
 stew together for half an hour ; when done 
 a tablespoonful of home-made walnut catsup 
 was added. Dorothy took the precaution of 
 peeling the onions in a pan of cold water 
 that her hands might be neither stained nor 
 affected by the odor of onions. 
 
 Mrs. Be van's walnut catsup was made 
 from the black walnuts that grew in their 
 door-yard, and was so good a substitute for 
 the imported article, and gave so pleasant a 
 zest to many of her frugal dishes, that I 
 transcribe it from Dorothy's note-book for 
 the benefit of those who may like to make 
 their own store sauce. 
 
 AMERICAN WALNUT CATSUP. Take 
 100 green walnuts while you can run a knit- 
 ting-needle through them. Sprinkle half 
 a pound of salt over them, after bruising 
 them. Let them remain in a wooden vessel
 
 74 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 six days or eight, beating and mashing them 
 well every day. When they are soft and 
 pulpy, press them well, pile them up on one 
 side the tub, and tilt it so that the juice runs 
 to the other side ; take this out from day to 
 day, always pounding the nuts afresh and 
 pressing them to the side till the liquid 
 ceases to flow ; simmer the liquid till no 
 more scum rises ; then to every three quarts 
 of it add two ounces of best ginger, two 
 ounces of allspice, one of whole pepper, one 
 of cloves, all bruised ; boil slowly half an 
 hour; bottle when quite cold, dividing the 
 spice so that each bottle may get its own 
 proportion. They must be quite full, tightly 
 corked and dipped into melted resin, or 
 bottle wax ; lay them on their sides in a 
 dry, cool place. It is good in six months, 
 but better in a year. 
 
 " What ever are you paring such numbers 
 of apples for, aunt ? " asked Dorothy, when 
 she had set the dinner going. 
 
 "To dry, my dear. These fall pippins 
 don't keep ; none of our apples do, and the
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 75 
 
 only way I can have any in winter is to dry 
 them. I make a little jelly, but I never suc- 
 ceeded in canning them to keep well." 
 
 " But, aunt, we boarded one fall in a New 
 England village, and the farmer's wife used 
 to make the most delicious apple sauce for 
 winter, without sugar. It cost nothing but 
 the trouble and the cans. I could not believe 
 it would keep without sweetening, but she 
 gave me some to take home. It was just 
 like fresh-made sauce in January better, 
 indeed, than I have made from late winter 
 apples." 
 
 Mrs. Bevan looked up from her paring, 
 her eyes quite wistful. 
 
 " If I was sure of that I would n't dry 
 one ? If there 's anything I dislike it 's dried 
 apples. Yet they are better for health's sake 
 than nothing in the way of fruit." 
 
 " At least, aunt, let 's risk it and try ; why 
 not use these very apples ! I '11 help you 
 core and cut." 
 
 " Just as you say, child, but I must say I 
 can't see if apple marmalade keeps badly 
 why this will not."
 
 76 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " All I know is that it does n't." 
 APPLE SAUCE THAT WILL KEEP. " The 
 apples are cut into slices with just as little 
 water as will keep them from burning, cov- 
 ered the first half hour to steam them soft, 
 then uncovered and stewed two or three 
 hours slowly till they are smooth and the 
 juice has boiled down and the sauce rather 
 thick; then it is put into hot cans, brim- 
 ming full, pushed down to let out air ; the 
 tops must also be hot, screwed on quickly 
 and as tightly as possible, and that is all ! " 
 The apple sauce was made that after- 
 noon ; the next morning Dorothy went to 
 town. What befell her there must be left 
 for the next chapter.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NEW IDEAS AND NEW OPENINGS. 
 
 DOROTHY left Plumstead very early, that 
 she might have a long day in town, and 
 reached the Exchange while the attendant 
 of the cake counter was arranging the show- 
 case, brushing out crumbs, rearranging the 
 cakes, etc. She smiled on seeing Dorothy. 
 
 " Your cake took every one's eye. I was 
 sorry for your sake that it sold at once, for 
 I am sure others would have been ordered. 
 One of our managers bought it." 
 
 " Have you heard how it was liked ? " 
 asked Dorothy. 
 
 " Yes, the same lady wants another next 
 week, and the one for which I sent you an 
 order was for a friend of hers. I think if 
 you made one to be cut and sold by the 
 pound it would be a good idea, because one 
 can then see what kind of cake it is."
 
 78 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 Dorothy was infinitely relieved to find 
 that the cake had been approved. 
 
 " I will not only make one to cut for sale, 
 but if you like you may give any one who 
 wishes a sample." 
 
 " I would advise you, then, to have a 
 pound cut and distributed among the lady 
 managers ; they are excellent judges of real 
 good things," she said smiling. 
 
 " Certainly ; I am only too thankful to 
 you for your suggestion," said Dorothy. " I 
 have brought you a few macaroons and Ve- 
 netian cakes if you think they will sell " 
 
 " Oh, those will sell readily enough," said 
 the attendant, whom I will call Miss Cox. 
 " Macaroons are always in demand, and such 
 as we have had were not nearly so handsome 
 as these, yet they sold because they were 
 home-made. Those little cakes will sell, too, 
 if they are as good as they look. We can 
 sell anything that is really good." 
 
 " And what price do you think I ought to 
 ask?" 
 
 "You can get sixty to seventy-five cents
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 79 
 
 for all fine small cakes, but of course you 
 must put your own price." 
 
 "Sixty cents then, and seventy for the 
 macaroons." Dorothy had looked through 
 the cake case in search of the marzipan, but 
 saw nothing of it, and congratulated herself 
 that it was sold. 
 
 " Did the marzipan go, too ? I brought a 
 card, as you said ladies might not think to 
 ask for what they would not expect to find, 
 and meant to ask you to put it on." 
 
 " The marzipan ? Oh, I remember. No, 
 it is not sold." She turned hastily to the 
 shelves behind glass doors at her back, on 
 which were sundry stale cakes and pack- 
 ages'. She moved one or two and brought 
 forth the marzipan, and Dorothy shrewdly 
 concluded that it had not been in the case, 
 but had been completely overlooked. It was 
 vexatious, but Dorothy knew she must ex- 
 pect mischances and vexations ; so, when the 
 marzipan was now laid in front of the case 
 by the friendly attendant, its icing not quite 
 so pearly as when fresh, she concealed all
 
 80 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 trace of annoyance and saw her card laid 
 on it. Then remembering Miss Cox's hint, 
 she said : " I would like to lay a plate of 
 these macaroons and Venetian cakes aside, 
 to be given to the ladies for samples ; and 
 now I have brought a list of things I can 
 make, which I will read over, if you will tell 
 me what might be salable : 
 
 " English mock turtle soup. 
 
 " Solid consomme for traveling invalids. 
 
 " Mince meat. 
 
 " Rich plum-cake. 
 
 " Sponge-cake. 
 
 " English Twelfth cake." 
 
 Miss Cox asked to take the list and went 
 to consult some one else ; when she- returned 
 she said : 
 
 " The mince meat, as Thanksgiving is 
 near, no doubt we could sell, and we will 
 keep a note of the other articles. We 
 have been asked again and again for con- 
 somme, but as it will spoil it would be bet- 
 ter to supply ordsrs only." 
 
 " The solid consomme" keeps much better
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 81 
 
 than the liquid, and will remain good in a 
 cool place some, weeks." 
 
 " You might send some if you chose, but 
 it is a risk ; the plum-cake and sponge-cake 
 will sell too but of course you stand a 
 better chance of losing nothing by sending 
 only things that will keep well." 
 
 Dorothy thanked her and left. As she 
 reached the door a lady who had been at 
 the counter when first she arrived was also 
 leaving, smiled and said : 
 
 " We have both been on the same errand. 
 I also have taken some crullers and jumbles 
 for sale." 
 
 " I hope you succeed," said Dorothy. 
 
 " Well, they sell sometimes readily enough, 
 then again I send two or three lots and the 
 first are not sold." 
 
 "But," said Dorothy, "do they not let 
 you know that no more are required for the 
 present." 
 
 " No, that is the only trouble. This Ex- 
 change has not been long started, so I sup- 
 pose they don't manage very well ; but I find
 
 82 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 I do well enough if I drop in each day to 
 find out what are sold, bring away the stale 
 things, and take fresh." 
 
 "And do you find it pays you, may I 
 ask." 
 
 "Well, I make very little, two or three 
 dollars some weeks, but I am not good at 
 fancy work and it helps ; it is all I can do 
 without leaving home, and then I send to 
 two other exchanges," which she named, 
 " and at one of them I do quite well ; you 
 see I make very good crullers, but no one 
 wanted to give more than thirty cents a 
 dozen, so I need to make a great many to 
 bring in a few dollars." 
 
 " Don't you think articles that sell for a 
 higher price would pay better ? " 
 
 " Yes, I make a jelly-cake for fifty cents ; 
 in fact, I ring changes on cup-cakes, crul- 
 lers, jelly-cakes, and cookies." 
 
 After a few more pleasant words Doro- 
 thy parted from her, with a conviction that 
 if money was to be made in cooking it must 
 be by articles for which the public were ac-
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 83 
 
 customed to pay high prices, and not for 
 articles they could buy on every block ; and 
 she had gleaned a new idea. The two other 
 exchanges mentioned were as accessible 
 from Plumstead as the one she had left. 
 She was not so sanguine as to expect that 
 her work was going to be a sudden success ; 
 the most she hoped was that it might be 
 enough to support herself and May while 
 she perfected herself in certain things that 
 were to be her specialties. She was clear- 
 sighted enough to see, and experienced 
 enough to remember, several instances of 
 certain articles becoming the fashion for a 
 year or two, and which could only be ob- 
 tained from one certain store or person. 
 As if to emphasize this fact, she saw a 
 crowd of people blocking the door of a 
 small store on the thoroughfare a few yards 
 ahead of her, and knew it was one which 
 made a specialty of old-fashioned molasses 
 candy, where she had one day herself waited 
 patiently to get near the counter to pur- 
 chase. As she was turning over in her
 
 84 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 mind what, aside from the Genoa cake, she 
 could make as a specialty, a thought came 
 to her. When she had been in London 
 the year before her father died, she remem- 
 bered a certain fancy cake, or it might be 
 called "garnished bread," which was the 
 fashion at the five o r clock teas, to many of 
 which she had been, and which were then 
 just coming into vogue in this country. 
 Why should not this novelty, meeting a 
 want as it was said to do, being less dry 
 than cracker, less sweet than cake, more 
 dainty and more appetizing than bread, and 
 withal most ornamental and quite unknown, 
 be successfully introduced by herself ? She 
 did not even know a name for them ; in 
 London they had always been called by the 
 name of the well-known baker who had 
 brought them into vogue. She smiled to 
 herself as she thought they might be called 
 " Fortescues " or " Dorothys." " No, if I 
 succeed in making them I will call them 
 * Bevans,' after dear aunt." 
 
 She had not much doubt she could sue-
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 85 
 
 ceed, for she had decided in her own mind 
 how they were made, and had always in- 
 tended to try them. Now she would lose no 
 time. She had turned back as soon as the 
 idea of the "Bevans" came to her, and re- 
 traced her steps to a celebrated English 
 baker's, bought a Sally Lunn, and then 
 took the car down town, went to the almond 
 paste maker, who also had general confec- 
 tioners' supplies, and ordered a box of paste, 
 five pounds of shelled almonds, and there 
 found waxed paper, which she had seen at 
 confectioners' stores, and had wished for for 
 icing. In a short talk with the young Ger- 
 man she learned several things destined to 
 be useful to her, as will be seen ; principally 
 she learned where to buy various articles 
 she needed. She took with her to Plum- 
 stead four ounces of pistachio nuts and half 
 a pound of Angelica, all of which she ob- 
 tained from an'other dealer in confection- 
 ers' supplies whose address he gave her, at 
 much less price than she could have obtained 
 them up town. There were other things she
 
 86 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 wanted to buy, but must wait for more 
 money. She had invested almost all she 
 had now in supplies. 
 
 During Dorothy's visit to the city Mrs. 
 Bevan had been busy too : she had taken 
 the horse and buggy and made several visits 
 to her most prosperous and fashionable ac- 
 quaintances. In her reticule had gone a lit- 
 tle box with three or four of the macaroons 
 fastidious Dorothy had rejected, and which 
 Mrs. Bevan knew would be far better, both 
 in appearance and taste, than any obtain- 
 able at the country bakeries; several had 
 said at once they would like some maca- 
 roons ; it was a very easy way of obliging 
 Mrs. Bevan, for whom there was strong 
 liking among many of her friends, and one, 
 Mrs. Bissell, ordered a pound of macaroons 
 and Venetian cakes, or any others Dorothy 
 might make, without for a moment believ- 
 ing that what they said out of kindness and 
 good will could come to pass. 
 
 " It will be so nice not to have to send to 
 the city when we want extra fine things."
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 87 
 
 Mrs. Bevan drove to the station to meet 
 Dorothy with six orders in her pocket-book, 
 but when she saw Dorothy appear she deter- 
 mined to hear her adventures first. When 
 she had told them with a good deal of eager- 
 ness she said, " And aunt I do think in a 
 year from now I may have quite a business. 
 At first there will be plenty of hard work, 
 for I have a great deal to learn, and of 
 course I must expect failures and draw- 
 backs, but nothing that is not as perfect as 
 I can make it shall leave my hands. I 
 make that law to myself." Then, as a 
 merry thought struck her, she laughed, 
 "You may pray that my failures may not 
 be too many, aunt, for we shall have to eat 
 them." 
 
 " And you think you will send things 
 without orders." 
 
 " Yes, I must risk that much. Thanks- 
 giving will soon be here, so I want as soon 
 as possible to send mince meat, and I think 
 I will send some small English mince pies, 
 so that those who like may try the mince
 
 88 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 meat before ordering. I will make some 
 solid consomme ; the mince meat keeps in- 
 definitely ; so will rich cake ; so the only 
 risk is with the consomme, and I will not 
 make much. Then I have two more cakes 
 to send, and I want to send a third to be 
 cut and sampled or sold by the pound." 
 " When is all this to be done ? " 
 "At once, aunt; because the mince meat 
 ought to be there now; and now, as I have 
 come to the end of my money, I must ask 
 you to order from your grocer what I shall 
 need for the first, and we will do it at once 
 if you don't mind." 
 
 " No, my child ; anything I can do you 
 know will be done gladly. But I 'in afraid 
 your hands will be full ; for to tell the truth, 
 Dorothy, I have told some friends of your 
 lovely macaroons (not for the world would 
 the dear old lady have revealed that she had 
 exhibited Dorothy's refuse macaroons), and 
 they nearly all want to try them. I have 
 six orders three for pounds and three for 
 half pounds."
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 89 
 
 It did seem to the then inexperienced 
 pair as if there was a good deal to get done 
 in a few days, especially as Dorothy was 
 anxious to make experiments as well, and 
 she now told her aunt about the other ex- 
 changes and her desire to become a member 
 as soon as what she made enabled her to 
 pay the fee. 
 
 " That need not delay, you can sell some 
 pieces of your jewelry that you don't cling 
 to, or I can lend you the money ; we are 
 never quite without, although we are obliged 
 to live so poorly. There is always enough 
 for an emergency." 
 
 " Thank you for the thought, aunt, but I 
 never thought of jewels ; what do I care for 
 them ? I '11 sell them all." 
 
 " No, dear, you '11 not get quarter the 
 value, and will regret it some day. Sell 
 just what will bring you twenty dollars, and 
 subscribe at once to the exchanges." 
 
 And this she did; that is, she sold a 
 bracelet, but found one of the two ex- 
 changes required no introductory fee.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MINCE MEAT. MINCE PIES. CANDIED LEMON. 
 
 ORANGE PEEL. 
 
 DOROTHY first began the mince meat, 
 which was from an old manuscript book of 
 her mother's. The recipe was as follows 
 (I give prices at once to avoid repetition) : 
 
 OLD-FASHIONED MINCE MEAT. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 1 pound of lean beef (allow four ounces 
 loss in boiling) 20 
 
 2 pounds best Valencia raisins 26 
 
 2 pounds currants , 20 
 
 4 pounds tart apples 15 
 
 2 pounds beef kidney suet 14 
 
 2 pounds moist sugar 14 
 
 pound candied orange peel 16 
 
 ^ pound candied lemon peel 12 
 
 \ pound citron 15 
 
 One brimming pint of California sherry 25 
 
 Half a pint of brandy 19
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 91 
 
 One teaspoonful each of powdered cloves, 
 cinnamon, nutmeg, and one teaspoonful 
 of powdered sugar 10 
 
 1 level teaspoonful of sifted salt. 
 
 $2.06 
 
 When Dorothy had money from the pro- 
 ceeds of her bracelet, she asked Mr. Bevan 
 to write to a friend of his to send her out 
 a gallon of California sherry and one of 
 brandy. The wine cost two dollars, the 
 brandy three dollars a gallon, which was 
 the wholesale price. 
 
 Orange and lemon peel candied were 
 dear, and not found at the country store ; 
 therefore Dorothy decided, although the 
 fresh oranges were dear at that season, she 
 must candy some for her mince meat. Lem- 
 ons were cheap, and she candied more than 
 she needed of them, for future use. 
 
 Dorothy found later, when she came to 
 buy more largely, that she could buy both 
 orange and lemon peels at wholesale for 
 little more than it would cost to do them if 
 she had to buy the fruit for the purpose,
 
 92 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 but they were not so fragrant as those she 
 did herself, nor so handsome ; therefore after 
 she was prepared for it she took care to save 
 the lemon peels from lemonade. Orange 
 peels were carefully laid aside before the 
 fruit was eaten, and lemon and orange peels 
 were thrown into a separate jar of strong salt 
 and water. When the jar was full she can- 
 died them. 
 
 This time, however, there was no time to 
 let them lie in salt and water, and Dorothy 
 had to give them extra boiling in clear water 
 instead. 
 
 I will here tell how they were done, as 
 where many oranges are eaten or much lem- 
 onade used they make quite a difference in 
 one's Christmas fruit bill. 
 
 If fresh lemon peels are used they require 
 longer boiling than those which have lain in 
 the salt and water ; the water in both cases 
 needs changing while boiling till it no longer 
 tastes salt or bitter. 
 
 To CANDY LEMON OR ORANGE PEELS. 
 Remove all loose skin and pulp, but do
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 93 
 
 not touch the white inner skin ; cut them in 
 quarters, and boil till very tender, but not 
 until they break. They take from three to 
 four hours ; lemon peels sometimes more. 
 Remember if not thoroughly tender before 
 they go into syrup, they will harden in it. 
 When you can run a straw through them 
 take them up, drain them on a cloth or sieve, 
 and prepare a syrup with a pound of granu- 
 lated sugar and a pint of water ; boil and 
 skim it, then throw in the peels and let them 
 slowly boil till clear, then boil fast till the 
 syrup is thick, take them up and lay them 
 on a dish. Make a syrup of a pound of sugar 
 and a half a pint of water ; when it has boiled 
 till a long thread hangs from the end of a 
 fork, take it from the fire, work it while hot 
 with the back of a spoon against the sauce- 
 pan until it begins to look cloudy, then each 
 piece of lemon peel must be dipped into the 
 candy and laid on a dish sprinkled with 
 sugar, and set in a warm place to dry. 
 
 As Dorothy was going to cut hers up and 
 use at once, she simply took the peels out of
 
 94 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 the rich syrup, but to keep them they must 
 be candied. 
 
 To Dorothy, who had plenty of work to go 
 on with while watching the peels, they were 
 no trouble. 
 
 To SEED KAISINS AND CLEAN CURRANTS. 
 Mrs. Bevan volunteered to help seed rai- 
 sins, and Dorothy asked May to do so. All 
 three sat down; a long, damp cloth was 
 spread on the table before them, and a bowl 
 of warm water placed near in which to dip 
 sticky fingers occasionally. Dorothy and 
 May split the raisins with a knife and re- 
 moved the seeds. Mrs. Bevan preferred to 
 press the" raisin between her fingers and take 
 them out ; either way is good, the only thing 
 needful being that the seed should be effec- 
 tually removed. Sometimes, even after the 
 seed is out of the raisins, they cling to the 
 finger and so go into the bowl with the 
 seeded ones, hence the use of the damp cloth 
 to receive them. When tke raisins were 
 stoned the currants were washed, first in a 
 quite warm water to dissolve the sugar which
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 95 
 
 held them and the dirt in masses, then the 
 colander containing them was set in a pan 
 and abundance of lukewarm water poured 
 over them, the currants rubbed gently be- 
 tween the hands, and the colander lifted up 
 and down ; that water was thrown away then. 
 More water was poured through the fruit 
 until it ran with only a reddish tinge, with- 
 out dirt ; then they were left to drain and 
 put on a coarse cloth to dry, and from that 
 into dripping pans, a thin layer in each, and 
 set back of the stove, where they would not 
 burn, and every now and then they were 
 shaken up. 
 
 The apples were then carefully pared, 
 cored, and chopped, the suet freed from skin 
 and chopped very fine, Dorothy was very 
 particular to get the suet from the kidney, 
 which will chop almost as fine as flour and 
 is very free from membrane. She was care- 
 ful in chopping to do only half a pound at 
 a time, and to keep the bulk in a cold place. 
 Then the raisins were chopped, the beef also 
 till it was as fine as oatmeal. Then the cur-
 
 96 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 rants, now dry, were searched most carefully 
 for stones or twigs ; the peels were shredded, 
 and then all the ingredients were mixed to- 
 gether. The wine and brandy added, and 
 spices. For these last, although she began 
 with the stated quantity, Dorothy knew she 
 must go by taste, a teaspoonful of freshly 
 ground fine spice being equal to much more 
 of inferior quality. When the whole was 
 well stirred the mince meat was ready, al- 
 though it would be much better in a month 
 than now. 
 
 There were fourteen pounds of mince meat, 
 and Dorothy knew, although there are many 
 recipes there is no one more rich, and that 
 her mince meat had been considered so rich 
 that some to whom she had given it in times 
 past had added apple. It cost fifteen cents 
 a pound, and the best confectioner's mince 
 meat sold at fifty cents. She had made a 
 sort of rule about doubling her money on 
 what she made, but in the case of work 
 which took more time she thought she was 
 justified in doing more than this; indeed
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 97 
 
 she would not sell more by selling too cheap. 
 She would fix the price at forty-five cents, 
 with the commission off that would insure 
 her forty cents. The profit, she knew, 
 should her mince meat sell well, would be 
 more when she could buy at wholesale, and 
 the peels used this time were several cents 
 dearer than they would be at another. 
 
 She packed the mince meat into glass self- 
 sealing jars, three pounds in each, and then 
 she made a few English mince pies. 
 
 "As these are only as samples of the 
 inside I don't think I will make real puff 
 paste, but use ' rough puff,' rather less ex- 
 pensive, and that takes less time." 
 
 " I would make that paste for you, Dora, 
 only it is never the least like puff paste with 
 me but only nice flaky short paste." 
 
 " I know, aunt, I can't imagine why 
 but you '11 see it will rise almost as much as 
 real puff if the oven is nice and hot." 
 
 QUICK OR ROUGH PUFF PASTE. Twelve 
 ounces of butter, sixteen of flour, the yolk 
 of one egg, and a teaspoonful of lemon
 
 98 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 juice, ice water. Dorothy put the flour into a 
 chopping-bowl, and, as it had been in rather 
 a warm closet, she had set it and the knife 
 on the ice to get thoroughly cold the 
 butter also was cold and firm she chopped 
 butter and flour together till the butter was 
 about as large as white beans ; then she 
 added half a saltspoonful of salt and made 
 a hole in the centre and put into it the egg 
 yolk, lemon juice, and ice water to make a 
 firm paste ; she handled it very lightly and 
 did not knead it at all so that when the 
 contents of the chopping-bowl were turned 
 on the board there were loose pieces of but- 
 ter, and the paste was but just holding to- 
 gether ; she floured the rolling-pin, rolled 
 the paste till it was half an inch thick, keep- 
 ing it as square as possible ; now she gath- 
 ered all loose crumbs, placed them in the 
 centre of the paste, and folded it in three, 
 very evenly, turned it with the rough edges 
 toward her and rolled it out again, dredged 
 a little flour over it, folded again in three 
 and rolled ; this she repeated once again.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 99 
 
 The process had been gone through at an 
 open window, so that it might not be neces- 
 sary to set the paste 011 ice between the roll- 
 ing, as must have been done had the warm 
 kitchen softened the butter. Now, however, 
 it was getting soft and sticking to the board ; 
 therefore, to the ice-box it went for half an 
 hour, while Dorothy prepared ingredients for 
 three Genoa cakes she had to make. 
 
 When the paste was firm she cut a third 
 of it, leaving the rest on ice; rolled it an 
 eighth of an inch thick, turned a small, plain, 
 round patty pan on it, and cut round it, al- 
 lowing the knife to slope outward, so that 
 there was a narrow margin. 
 
 When she had cut a dozen, she laid each 
 piece on a patty pan, pressed the bottom 
 gently, taking care not to touch or smooth 
 the border in any way ; then into the centre 
 of each patty, she put a large spoonful of 
 mince meat, not spreading it, bat leaving it 
 in a high mound and quite free from the 
 border; now the rest of the pastry was 
 brought and rolled out a shade thicker, as
 
 100 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 many rounds cut, allowing a trifle larger 
 margin, a narrow cut made with the end of 
 a knife in the centre of each, and the border 
 slightly moistened ; each cover was then put 
 on the patty, plenty of room allowed for the 
 centre, and the moistened border (not the 
 edge) made to adhere by gentle pressure 
 with the little finger round the bottom of the 
 mound of mince meat, leaving the edge quite 
 unpressed ; each patty was slightly brushed 
 all over with white of egg, beaten with a 
 tablespoonful of water, the edge again care- 
 fully left untouched. The reason for this 
 care was that if pressed, pastry is deadened 
 and cannot rise ; if brushed with egg the 
 edges would be glued together, and could 
 not rise in leaves as it should do. 
 
 These " pies," or patties, as we would call 
 them, were baked in a quick oven, and 
 watched that they took no deeper tint than 
 that of ripe corn, and that every one was the 
 same, and when they were taken out one that 
 was not indeed burned, but had a darker 
 side, was rejected as not perfect enough to
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 101 
 
 send ; although Dorothy had no intention of 
 getting orders for the patties, but merely to 
 introduce her mince meat, it was not in her 
 nature to send anything less than perfect. 
 
 While these were baking she had been 
 getting the Genoa cake materials ready, and 
 by night they also were baked. 
 
 " Now, aunty, I shall make a pound of 
 macaroons to-morrow for this Exchange, and 
 send them all off. Then I will go on with 
 samples for the other two exchanges and the 
 orders you got me. I want to put forth 
 all my strength on those fancy cakes Mrs. 
 Bissell told you she wanted for her whist 
 club."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GATEAU DE RIZ. BEVANS. BOUCHEES DE 
 
 DAMES, ETC. 
 
 THE next day Dorothy made macaroons 
 three times, resulting in over seven pounds 
 (she used a pound of almond paste, a pound 
 and a half of sugar, and six eggs each time). 
 The making was light work, but the baking 
 of pan after pan of them would have been 
 tedious, had she not felt that it was just the 
 work that she had to do, and made up her 
 mind that it was not a bit more so than to 
 sit sewing all day. She had eighteen yolks 
 of eggs now she had carefully separated 
 the whites from them without breaking the 
 yolks, and left six in each bowl, then poured 
 over the latter a little cold water to prevent 
 them thickening until she could use them. 
 
 " There will be the difficulty, aunt, to find 
 a variety of cakes to use up the yolks. I
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 103 
 
 must look up recipes and try experiments 
 with a dozen of these, but I have to get my 
 Be vans ready ; the Salty Lunn is three days 
 old, but it needs to be stale." 
 
 " Yes, I don't see how you are to use the 
 yolks of eggs, dear, unless you make gold 
 cake." 
 
 Dorothy laughed. " That will never do, 
 aunty dear ; we have to have something 
 much finer than that. I do know a French 
 gateau de riz, but I hardly think it is por- 
 table. I must look up all my cake recipes 
 and some that require many yolks, but the 
 gateau is a delicious dessert, and I really 
 think we might give ourselves a treat and 
 use half a dozen yolks for it. You make it 
 and I '11 give you the recipe. Although 
 called cake it is a great deal more like a 
 cold padding." 
 
 GATEAU DE RIZ. Boil a small cup of rice 
 with plenty of milk till it is like mush ; add 
 half a saltspoonful of salt ; let it cool ; then 
 add to it the grated rind of a lemon, the yolks 
 of six eggs well beaten, and about three table-
 
 104 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 spoonfuls of sugar (less if not liked very 
 sweet), and a teaspoonful of vanilla, more 
 if not strong ; be guided by taste in this ; 
 pour the whole into a well-buttered shallow 
 pan, square or oblong in shape if possible. 
 The rice should not be more than an inch 
 and a half thick ; now melt a large table- 
 spoonful of butter to oil, let it run over the 
 whole surface of the rice, and sprinkle 
 thickly with powdered sugar, at least a quar- 
 ter of an inch thick. Set in a good but not 
 fierce oven for an hour, or until the sugared 
 surface is golden brown. When quite cold 
 cut into pieces three inches by one and a 
 half ; they must be kept in a dry place, but 
 may be set on ice before serving. 
 
 " If the Bevans should ' take,' I must 
 practice making Sally Limn dough, because 
 it would never do to send to the city every 
 time I needed them." 
 
 " But, Dorothy dear, you are not really 
 going to call them ' Bevans,' " said the elder 
 lady, almost blushing at the thought of such 
 fame.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 105 
 
 " Yes, dear aunty, unless you object ; if 
 they should become the ' rage,' as they were 
 in London, you will have greatness thrust 
 upon you." 
 
 As she talked and laughed at her aunt's 
 half - gratified consternation, she cut the 
 Sally Lunn downward in inch-thick slices ; 
 then rejecting the top brown crust, she cut 
 these slices into pieces just over an inch 
 broad, and put them into the oven to get a 
 pale golden color without drying too much ; 
 then they were taken out and allowed to 
 cool while the following mixture was made : 
 four ounces of almond paste was chopped 
 as for macaroons, the whites of two eggs 
 were mixed with four ounces of powdered 
 sugar ; the almond paste was mashed into 
 this icing. It formed a paste that would 
 almost run, yet not quite. A large tea- 
 spoonful of this was placed on each piece 
 of baked Sally Lunn on the broadest side ; 
 when it did not entirely cover each crust 
 about the sixth of an inch thick and allow a 
 little to run over the sides (not plastered
 
 106 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 over, however), she added more. When a 
 baking sheet had as many as it could hold 
 without one cake touching the other, it was 
 set in a moderate oven, and the crusts were 
 carefully watched, that none should take a 
 darker shade than that of a pale macaroon. 
 The icing rose considerably, and some had 
 to be turned about with a fork so that the 
 sides might not be white; of course they 
 were never turned upside down, and Dor- 
 othy took great care- not to touch the icing 
 while they were hot. They looked very 
 handsome when they came from the oven. 
 
 " That is just as I saw them in England ; 
 now I am going to put a Yankee improve- 
 ment on the next batch." 
 
 She had prepared another panful, and on 
 these she sprinkled finely chopped pistachio 
 nuts (after blanching them like almonds) 
 and almonds sparsely over them. When 
 they were baked the same pale yellow, the 
 green nuts gave a very chic air to them. 
 
 " They do look beautiful, indeed, but it 
 seems a strange fancy to put almond icing
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 107 
 
 on crusts of bread I must say," com- 
 mented Mrs. Bevan. " I should think cake 
 as a foundation would be better." 
 
 " Sample the cool ones, you will see they 
 are a pleasant combination, sweet and not 
 too sweet, crisp yet not hard, and although 
 not rich they are anything but dry ; they 
 are, I think, just the thing for gentlemen 
 and others who do not care for cake. Now 
 if cake were used, the result would be quite 
 different ; they would be very sweet, and 
 fall to crumbs. If bread were used, it would 
 be like cold toast, tough under the icing ; the 
 Sally Lunn being very delicate, and, having 
 shortening, grows crisp when baked." 
 
 "Yes, I see they are just about to my 
 taste," said her aunt, eating one with enjoy- 
 ment ; " I have often thought I would like 
 something between cake and cracker." 
 
 " Your friend, Mrs. Bissell, who wants 
 fancy cakes, will like a few of these put 
 among them, perhaps. I want to send her 
 some very lovely cakes, because you say she 
 is fashionable, and she may be so well pleased 
 as to recommend them."
 
 108 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " If she does you will have plenty of or- 
 ders, for she is a member of a reading club 
 of forty members, who have weekly enter- 
 tainments, and vie with each other in having 
 the most unique things, and naturally they 
 will be only too glad to get them here, for 
 they always have to send to the city." 
 
 BOUCHEES DE DAMES. Dorothy made 
 first some cup-cake batter, using half a cup 
 of butter, one of sugar, one and a half of 
 flour, and two eggs, with half a saltspoonf ul 
 of salt, a small teaspoonful of baking pow- 
 der, sifted into the flour, and enough milk 
 (about three-quarters of a cup) to make a 
 thick batter. This was mixed in the same 
 way as the Genoa cake, adding the flour last. 
 As soon as all was mixed, it was dropped in 
 small drops the size of half a dollar on a 
 buttered paper ; laid on a tin pan, they were 
 then baked till they just changed color no 
 longer. When they were done each one was 
 trimmed to a perfect circle with a very small 
 tin box lid. As they were things which, when 
 finished, weighed heavily and very few could
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 109 
 
 be put in a pound of mixed cakes, she had 
 only made three dozen, and baked the rest of 
 the batter in a flat sheet. She divided the 
 drop-cakes into separate dozens, and six she 
 spread with a thin layer of red currant 
 jelly, then laid six cakes on these, making 
 half a dozen round sandwiches. She treated 
 another half dozen in the same way, using 
 peach jam, and the third with raspberry. 
 She had now a dozen and a half small 
 " Bouchees ; " she was careful to lay each 
 half dozen separate. Then she proceeded 
 to boil a pound of sugar to the thread with 
 a gill of water and half a small teaspoon- 
 ful of cream of tartar, and set it in ice 
 water to cool; when she could bear her 
 hands in it she beat it till it was like lard, 
 using her hands at last just as she had done 
 for the marzipan. She then broke off one 
 half, set it in a bowl in a small saucepan of 
 boiling water, and stirred it (flavoring with 
 vanilla) till it was like thin cream. She 
 took two forks, rubbed them with lemon 
 juice, and dipped each little cake, with the
 
 110 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 peach jam, quickly into the icing with one 
 fork and took it out with the other, taking 
 care to give a sharp rap on the edge of the 
 bowl to disengage all superfluous candy. 
 As each was dipped, it was neatly turned on 
 to wax paper ; Dorothy had done the work 
 near the fire so that the icing might not 
 chill (although of course it was standing in 
 boiling water). When six cakes were iced 
 she set the candy to get hot again, stirring 
 it constantly. She had, meanwhile, put an 
 ounce of unsweetened French chocolate in 
 the oven with a teaspoonful of water. When 
 the candy was once more hot, she added 
 the soft chocolate, and when quite blended, 
 seeing it was too thick to manage, for choc- 
 olate always tends to thicken, she added a 
 few drops more boiling water. The vanilla 
 having been the first flavor, she could add 
 chocolate to the same candy, as the flavors 
 agreed ; this saved time and work. 
 
 She now iced with the chocolate as quickly 
 as possible the six in which was the red 
 currant jelly. There now remained six with
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. Ill 
 
 raspberry filling. For these she took fresh 
 icing, melting it by stirring in a bowl set in 
 the boiling water as before. She colored 
 it, when it was quite thin, like cream, with 
 a few drops of cochineal, to a bright pale 
 pink, and flavored it very faintly with oil 
 of bitter almonds. This powerful flavoring 
 she only used by tilting the bottle against 
 the end of a knife and stirring it in the 
 candy. If the oil is strong it is difficult to 
 get the flavor faint enough. The cakes 
 were now dropped into the icing and turned 
 on to waxed paper as were the others. 
 
 They were now pink, chocolate, and white 
 bouchees half a dozen of each. 
 
 Mrs. Bevan was looking on ; she said 
 nothing, but she looked volumes of admira- 
 tion at her niece's work. 
 
 AFRICAINES. " Wait a moment, aunty. 
 I 'm going to turn those white ones into 
 ' Africaines,' as they call them." She had 
 just about a half teaspoonful of the pistachio 
 nuts, very finely chopped, left from the 
 Bevans. She took a lump of sugar and
 
 112 GENTLE BREAD WINNERS. 
 
 chopped it into grains as large as coarse oat- 
 meal ; it should not be pounded or it will 
 not sparkle. She lightly moistened the tops 
 of the white bouche'es with white of egg 
 (enough remained in the shells of the eggs 
 she had used for this purpose), and sprin- 
 kled them with a pinch of pistachio nuts and 
 grains of sugar. It required some care to 
 perform this simple operation ; the specks 
 of green had to be well scattered, not in 
 a bunch ; the sugar, too, had to be equally 
 distributed. Dorothy knew it was just these 
 trifles that would betray " a prentice hand " 
 if not well done, and give the " home-made " 
 look she wished to avoid. 
 
 If I have described Dorothy's bouche'es 
 rightly the. reader will understand that they 
 no longer looked like cakes, but like flat- 
 tened balls of cream candy, rather large in 
 size. 
 
 Dorothy had laid in a supply of paper 
 boxes from the dry goods stores in town, 
 and she selected a small flat one that had 
 held ruching, lined it with waxed paper,
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 113 
 
 then laid on it half a dozen of the bouchdes, 
 covered them with waxed paper, a thin layer 
 of cotton batting on that, and then put on 
 the cover. These were for Mrs. Bissell ; 
 they weighed six ounces ; the other ten 
 ounces of the pound was made up of mac- 
 aroons, the Venetian cakes which she had 
 made, and Bevans ; but to prevent one from 
 disfiguring the other, the Venetian cakes 
 were laid at the bottom of the box, then 
 waxed paper, macaroons next, then more 
 waxed paper, and on top the Bevans. I 
 may as well say here that in all Dorothy's 
 after work this care in small things was 
 never relaxed. She knew that a great or 
 well-known confectioner might put his 
 choicest products in a paper bag, and if 
 they crumbled or were disfigured no one 
 would blame the article, only the bag and 
 circumstances. But her reputation had to 
 be made, and she dared not risk the beauty 
 of her wovk. 
 
 " I would like to send these remaining 
 bouche'es to the Exchange just as samples,
 
 114 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 and I should like if I could to withdraw the 
 marzipan if not sold ; it would not sell now, 
 for the icing by this time must look like 
 chalk. 
 
 "The only trouble about the Exchange 
 seems to me to be that there ought to be 
 some way of letting out-of-town contributors 
 know when their work is sold and when too 
 stale to sell. I suppose it would entail too 
 much work for them to write ; in default of 
 that, one ought to have some trusty person 
 living near who would report."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PORTABLE CHICKEN BROTH AND CONSOMM& 
 
 SPANISH MACAROONS. VANILLA PASTE. 
 
 " DOROTHY, I believe I will go to New 
 York, and will take what you want to send, 
 and also bring back the marzipan. I must 
 go before long and will do it now." 
 
 "That will be excellent, and ask Miss 
 Cox about everything, aunt." 
 
 It was decided that Mrs. Bevaii should 
 take with her samples of candied peaches 
 and pears, as well as fancy cakes. Dorothy 
 had been afraid to send them before, because 
 she felt that well as they looked they might 
 not keep more than a day or two, but she 
 found now that over a week had passed they 
 were as dry as ever, and she had no fear in 
 sending them. 
 
 " I think I will stay over night ; it is so
 
 116 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 long since I did so; and with you here I shall 
 know your uncle will not be uncomfortable." 
 
 " Do, dear aunt ; it will do you so much 
 good, and Clara Vanderpool will enjoy your 
 visit so much." 
 
 The next morning Mrs. Bevan, in a black 
 satin gown, made over to look very hand- 
 some by Dorothy, and a charming gray 
 bonnet, made by the same skillful fingers, 
 went off, carrying a neat little strapped Jap- 
 anese basket containing Dorothy's wares. 
 
 Dorothy never suspected the amount of 
 guile concealed under Mrs. Bevan's bland 
 and simple manner. Dorothy had repeatedly 
 said she would never besiege a friend ; if 
 they wanted to buy of her, they might do it 
 when they liked ; her ambition was to make 
 herself so well known through ordinary bus- 
 iness channels that they would buy from her 
 without solicitation. The progress would be 
 slow, of course, but at least no one would 
 say of her, as she had heard many good- 
 natured, well-to-do people say of others, 
 " Oh, we must buy some of Miss so and so's
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 117 
 
 work to help her, but I would a great deal 
 rather give her the money and not be obliged 
 to take the work." No, if any one took her 
 work it must be because they wanted it, not 
 to help her along. 
 
 Dorothy thought women's work should be 
 just as much a matter of business as a man's, 
 and look for no more favor. 
 
 This self-respect would not have been car- 
 ried into obstinate pride; if any friend 
 should send for a list of what she could 
 make, she would have gladly forwarded it 
 and samples, but she knew, had she offered 
 her wares, how difficult it would be for that 
 friend to say no. 
 
 Mrs. Bevan well knew her niece's pecu- 
 liarity, and although a most timid and 
 shrinking woman she found courage for 
 Dorothy. 
 
 When she found herself among her friends, 
 she exhibited the delicious looking wares she 
 was taking to the Exchange, for the artful 
 woman did not go there direct. Mrs. Bev- 
 an's city friends were nearly all well-to-do,
 
 118 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 some of them prominent in society. To 
 these she paid her first visits. She could 
 have disposed several times over of what 
 she had for the Exchange, but she was wiser, 
 and told the would-be purchasers if they 
 would give their orders to Dorothy direct, it 
 would please her better, or if they preferred 
 they could ask for her articles at the Ex- 
 change. This they readily promised, and 
 Mrs. Bevan had no fear but that the quality 
 of Dorothy's work would be recommendation 
 enough after it was once tried. She told 
 every one, however, that Dorothy wanted to 
 place her mince meat with the fine grocers, 
 and by their customers asking for it some 
 might be induced to take it. 
 
 This, also, was enthusiastically promised, 
 and although Mrs. Bevan knew busy society 
 people well enough to feel sure that some 
 would forget, or make one effort and drop 
 the matter, there were two or three steadfast 
 souls eager on the subject of helping women 
 to help themselves, who would do more than 
 they promised ; who would interest others
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 119 
 
 like themselves ; and self-interest and the 
 convenience of having perfectly prepared 
 dainties would do the rest. 
 
 Mrs. Bevan took home with her the money 
 instead of the marzipan, which had sold, 
 an order for consomme*, and a desire from 
 some one to know if chicken broth could 
 also be obtained solid. 
 
 " Of course, aunty ; I have never made it, 
 but the principle is the same, only it would 
 be very expensive ; but I will experiment." 
 
 " I have a very fine recipe for chicken 
 broth," said Mrs. Bevan, " and I '11 kill a 
 chicken when you say so. What have you 
 been making ? You did n't make that Sally 
 Lunn ! " pointing to a fine specimen on the 
 table. 
 
 " I have been using up yolks of eggs. I 
 found these recipes. I had terrible trouble 
 with the Spanish macaroons till I found, 
 what of course the book did not say, that 
 they require the sharpest kind of heat and 
 very close watching ; at first they ran in all 
 directions. The Sally Lunn, too, I made,
 
 120 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 using only yolks of eggs, and I divided the 
 dougli in three parts, tried different ways of 
 rising and consistency, and find that very 
 much working of the dough and rising three 
 times gives just the right texture, but the 
 consistency and long working are the great 
 secrets." 
 
 I give here the recipes for the article for 
 which Dorothy used yolks of eggs also 
 for the solid consomme, which later on 
 brought regular orders from the three ex- 
 changes, and which Dorothy gave into Mrs. 
 Sevan's hands, who, seeing she was not 
 taking what Dorothy needed, thankfully 
 made these and a few other things the 
 source of a small income : 
 
 SPANISH MACAROONS. Boil half a 
 pound of sugar to the thread ; add five 
 ounces of almond paste chopped very fine, 
 half a teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon, 
 and the grated rind of an orange ; let all 
 simmer very gently for ten minutes where 
 they will not burn, stirring occasionally. 
 Then add the yolks of six eggs, stir the
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 121 
 
 paste over the hotter part of the stove until 
 the whole is a firm mass. Let it cool, and 
 roll pieces as large as a walnut between 
 the hands, slightly oiled. Lay them on oiled 
 paper, and bake in a sharp oven, watching 
 closely to prevent burning : three minutes 
 will cook them. 
 
 VANILLA PASTE. Beat four ounces of 
 powdered sugar, one tablespoonful of vanilla 
 powder (extract may be used, but is not so 
 good), and the yolks of four eggs together 
 for ten minutes ; then add four ounces of 
 flour and two of butter, melted ; mix vigor- 
 ously till smooth and light. 
 
 This paste may have a few chopped al- 
 monds worked in, or chopped angelica, and 
 be baked in little balls, or it may be rolled 
 into pipes like a lead pencil. They should 
 be laid on oiled paper so that they will 
 not touch, and baked very lightly. They 
 may then be coated with chocolate (melted 
 in as little water as will dissolve it, then 
 mixed with melted fondant icing) so as to 
 resemble vanilla beans; or they may be
 
 122 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 simply brushed with white of eggs, sprinkled 
 with vanilla sugar, or with grains of loaf 
 sugar, and finely chopped pistachio nuts. 
 
 SALLY LTJNN. Take a pint of warm 
 flour, a scant half pint of warm milk, in 
 which has been dissolved half a cake of 
 compressed yeast, a tablespoonful of butter, 
 and a saltspoonful of salt with a table- 
 spoonful of sugar. Beat into these ingredi- 
 ents one whole egg or two yolks, mix with 
 the flour, and beat very well; the consistency 
 should be between batter and dough, just as 
 stiff as you can stir with a spoon ; when 
 very light beat again for ten minutes with 
 hand or spoon, let rise again, stir down well, 
 and put the paste into tin hoops like very 
 large, deep muffin rings. They should be 
 two inches deep ; a makeshift may be made 
 with stiff paper buttered and pinned into a 
 hoop. 
 
 CHICKEN BROTH (PORTABLE). A fowl 
 weighing four pounds must be carefully 
 cleaned, using every edible part, the head 
 skinned, the feet scalded, and then the
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 123 
 
 whole bird beaten, bones and all, to a mash. 
 (If for a convalescent, a piece of carrot as 
 large as an egg and a stick of celery may be 
 used, but the vegetable would not be al- 
 lowed for a very sick person.) Put the 
 fowl into a saucepan with three quarts of 
 water, simmer it very slowly for three hours, 
 when the bones will probably fall from the 
 meat ; if not, let the broth boil longer, strain 
 and press the meat, etc., between two plates 
 till no more juice will run. Keturn the 
 broth to the saucepan and let it boil fast, 
 skimming often until there is no more than 
 a quart. Have ready a packet of gelatine, 
 soaked in a cup of water for two hours ; stir 
 this into the broth, when you have removed 
 it from the fire, till it is entirely dissolved, 
 then strain the whole through a clean cloth 
 that has been thoroughly scalded. Season- 
 ing not to be added until required for use. 
 
 CONSOMM (PORTABLE). A knuckle of 
 beef weighing five pounds, four pounds of 
 fresh beef from upper part of the leg, or 
 any lean part, eight ounces each of carrots,
 
 124 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 turnips, and onions, four cloves, two bay 
 leaves, and a small head of celery. Cut the 
 meat up in small pieces, break the bones, 
 put it on in a large pot with eight quarts 
 of water, leave it at least four hours to 
 come to the boiling point, skim just be- 
 fore it reaches it, throw in a wine-glass of 
 water, bring to the boil again, and remove 
 scum before it breaks ; repeat, then put the 
 pot just where it keeps at boiling point but 
 does not boil a bubble rising and break- 
 ing slowly in the centre every few seconds is 
 all the ebullition to be allowed. Keep it 
 steadily at this point ; in two hours add the 
 vegetables, bring the pot forward to regain 
 the boiling point, skim as before, and then 
 return where it simmers only ; three hours 
 later, if the cooking has been steady, the 
 meat will drop to pieces, and you can then 
 strain the broth through a colander ; next 
 day remove all fat, pour free from sedi- 
 ment, and boil the consomme* fast and un- 
 covered till three quarts only remain. Have 
 two packets of gelatine soaked as for chicken
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 125 
 
 broth, drop it into the boiling consomm6 as 
 it leaves the fire, and stir till dissolved. 
 
 Both these articles are to be without sea- 
 soning until required for use 5 they may be 
 diluted with boiling water to any required 
 strength, or, if wanted very concentrated, a 
 piece of the jelly can be dissolved by stand- 
 ing it in a cup in boiling water. 
 
 Pour either broth or consomme* into small 
 jars, over which tie, when perfectly cold and 
 solid, a piece of thin muslin ; this will keep 
 in a cool, dry place for some time. If closely 
 covered it will mould. 
 
 A few days later brought the result of 
 Mrs. Bevan's tactics and Dorothy's samples 
 in the shape of many orders, all small, but 
 of such variety, that, unexpected as they 
 were, Dorothy's head was nearly turned. 
 All must be at their destination for Thanks- 
 giving. The orders were for Genoa cakes, 
 macaroons, mince meat, fancy cakes, can- 
 died fruit, and marzipan. They came drop- 
 ping in almost every mail for two or three 
 days, so that she could not even systematize
 
 126 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 her work; for she had no sooner finished 
 one thing of a sort than she found she had 
 to begin again, and most unexpected of all 
 was it to find that the mince pies she had 
 sent only as samples to sell the mince meat, 
 brought orders. " You will simply have to 
 say you cannot do them," said May. 
 " You '11 not make very much after all, and 
 will almost kill yourself." 
 
 " I shall fill every order that comes in 
 time if I sit up half of every night," said 
 Dorothy firmly. And she did sit up until 
 one and two o'clock every morning and rose 
 at six, every hand helped her, even Mr. 
 Bevan, and when the rush was over she 
 felt as though she had been through a siege, 
 and yet she gloried in her work she knew 
 what she did was seldom done by amateur 
 hands, and gave a shrewd guess that the 
 small orders now would bring larger ones 
 for Christinas. 
 
 Nor was she mistaken. The following five 
 weeks were full of hard work experiments, 
 failures, and successes. The last week before
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 127 
 
 Christmas she always looked back upon as 
 a sort of phantasmagoria of work and 
 worry. A servant had to be sought, and 
 was found in the person of a certain Lucy 
 Jones from a neighboring cottage, and other 
 help was offered and accepted. News of 
 Dorothy's work had now got about Plum- 
 stead, and she found several needy ladies 
 were anxious to do as she was doing. They 
 all had some excellent recipes they were 
 sure to succeed with. To all Dorothy said 
 one thing : " I think good cooking is so 
 much needed that we can all make more 
 money by it than any other home work ; 
 that is, if we can offer something that is 
 the best of its kind, and can always be de- 
 pended on for it being so." 
 
 One of these ladies was a widow, very 
 pretty, very vivacious, and of whom Mrs. 
 Bevan said she did the most beautiful things 
 in the way of embroidery. " In fact I never 
 can see why she has not done well. She is 
 so clever, and can do everything so beauti- 
 fully, yet, poor thing, she has a son and
 
 128 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 daughter, and all are dependent on her sis- 
 ter and husband for a home. She some- 
 times makes a little by embroidery or 
 crochet, when she can get it to do. She 
 is always just so gay, but I know she 
 suffers. The life is very sad for such 
 a woman." This Mrs. Garland, Dorothy 
 turned to with a warm sympathy when she 
 came. 
 
 " I so much admire your pluck, but I have 
 not come to compliment. I hear from your 
 aunt that you are very busy. I come to 
 ask if my ignorant, stupid hands will be of 
 service ? I shall be grateful for the experi- 
 ence if you will allow me to help you." 
 
 She held out a pair of fine, shapely hands 
 as she spoke. She was so gay in manner it 
 was difficult to think she had a troubled life, 
 but Dorothy gladly accepted her help, and 
 when they settled (while protesting earnestly 
 she wanted no money) she said she might 
 have worked very hard at her needle for less 
 than half of it.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 EXPERIMENTS AND PERPLEXITIES 
 
 AFTER the New Year Dorothy had breath- 
 ing time. She was happy in the knowledge 
 that independence was before her. With all 
 her work, after all expenses were paid (and 
 as she had occupied Mr. and Mrs. Sevan's 
 time she had insisted on paying every ex- 
 pense of the house), she had $50 left, but 
 she had several articles and utensils that she 
 would not need to buy again, and she had 
 established a business which she knew would 
 grow, because it was owing not to patronage 
 but to the excellence of what she made, and 
 the fact that those who ordered from her 
 actually wanted what they asked for. She 
 had begun very ill equipped, and plainly saw 
 that she might, once she could systematize 
 her work, earn four times as much with half
 
 130 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 the labor, and by degrees she could drop 
 part of her work, and her thoughts flew to 
 pretty Mrs. Garland, and how in the com- 
 ing- fall, instead of refusing orders, she could 
 pass them all over to her, and she would 
 teach her all she might not know. 
 
 During that spring the orders for different 
 articles did not amount to much more than 
 enough to pay expenses. But she was glad 
 of leisure to experiment and prepare for 
 next winter's work. Among other things, 
 with a view to May being possibly interested, 
 Dorothy meant to learn how to make fine 
 candy. She had long felt sure in fondant 
 icing she held the key to the art. When in 
 the city she had noticed in the confectioners' 
 windows men dipping nuts into what seemed 
 to her just the boiled sugar beaten to cream. 
 
 Before she began to make her experiments 
 she paid a few weeks' visit to some city 
 friends, and while there she searched the 
 great public library for books that might 
 help her. But she found confectionery 
 books and information on every branch of
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 131 
 
 the subject, except the modern creams, she 
 wanted. True, one or two confections were 
 spoken of by technical names which she be- 
 lieved might be what she wanted to learn 
 how to make, but they did not tell that. 
 They took for granted that preliminaries 
 were all known. 
 
 At the end of a fortnight spent among 
 dusty cooking and confectionery books in 
 last century French and Italian, as well as 
 modern ones, she carried home to Plumstead 
 a note-book full recipes ; she had gleaned 
 from all her reading only one or two points, 
 and thought she had two or three clews that 
 might help her. But even these clews con- 
 tradicted each other in a maddening way. 
 
 I have not space in this short narrative 
 to follow Dorothy through all her candy 
 experiments, 1 because, although had mince 
 meat and cakes proved less profitable, she 
 would have made it a business, she never 
 did so she learned it in order to be able to 
 
 1 See Catherine Owen's Lessons in Candy Making, for 
 fuller instructions than can be given here.
 
 132 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 to teach May. Her experiments and fail- 
 ures how many disheartening failures 
 and success are only touched upon to show 
 what pluck and perseverance could accom- 
 plish. 
 
 She hoped if she worked through the 
 drudgery and made it all clear sailing, as it 
 was pretty, dainty work, May might look on 
 it with less dislike than other branches of 
 cooking. The mixing of colors might touch 
 her art sense, and the results would be more 
 beautiful to look upon if artistic taste were 
 expended on them ; she also hoped a great 
 deal from the fact that May saw now that 
 she could not make enough to keep herself 
 in gloves by painting. 
 
 When she reached home she began to ex- 
 periment. At first all went well ; it was a 
 fine day; she boiled the candy just as she 
 would for icing, and iced almonds and wal- 
 nuts successfully or so it seemed ; the next 
 day the walnuts still looked all right, but 
 the almonds, of which she had left such a 
 goodly array, what had happened to them ?
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 133 
 
 The delicate pink coating had slid from 
 them, as it were and each almond lay al- 
 most uncovered, the cream candy forming a 
 sort of dish round it. She touched it and 
 found it far softer than it had been five min- 
 utes after she had coated them, and, as the 
 room in which she had laid them was cold, 
 she could not hope they would harden. 
 
 She went to look at the walnuts. They 
 were perfect. Every one left the waxed 
 paper clean. She sat down in front of them 
 dumfounded. The more so that she had 
 no clew to the trouble, the candy on the wal- 
 nuts and the almonds was precisely alike. 
 No, it could not be the candy, it must be the 
 nut itself. Perhaps the almonds required 
 some preparation of their surface before 
 candy would adhere ; she had blanched 
 and dried them in a cloth thoroughly ; per- 
 haps there was an oil in them that prevented 
 the candy remaining on them. She jumped 
 up and went to the kitchen and melted some 
 fondant, then dropped into it a half dozen 
 almonds not blanched. A few hours later
 
 134 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 she looked at them; they were perfectly 
 firm. Yes, she must conclude that blanched 
 .almonds required preparation, for all the 
 almond creams that were bought were 
 blanched. It remained then to find out 
 how to conquer this ivory surface and 
 for hours, while experimenting with other 
 things, she thought over it till her head 
 ached. There was not a clew in any of her 
 notes. After she was in bed that night a 
 new fact came to her mind. It could not 
 be the surface of the nuts after all, for the 
 candy that had come off them was sticky ; it 
 was as if it had been wet. This was a new 
 puzzle, and she lay awake hours trying to 
 solve it. I may as well say here (although 
 it was a long time before Dorothy found it 
 out) that newly blanched almonds, although 
 they may be thoroughly dried with a cloth, 
 still hold dampness enough to affect so deli- 
 cate a thing as sugar. They must be dried 
 with gentle heat. 
 
 After a week of experiment she had made 
 several sorts of candy with success, and be-
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 135 
 
 lieved she had conquered the whole secret 
 Thei-e came a day, however, when all she 
 seemed to have learned came to nothing- : 
 the sugar, boiled just as usual, would not 
 get firm, but became softer and softer the 
 more she beat it. She knew that sugar was 
 affected by wet weather, but on the one wet 
 day there had been, all had gone well 
 this was a bright day ! She, nevertheless, 
 persevered and worked, and everything she 
 did was more or less flabby ; some candies 
 refused to leave the paper at all, other 
 things sent a tiny thread of clear syrup 
 trickling from them ; and then, not to be 
 worsted, she boiled sugar again, this time to 
 a higher degree, but the result was the same, 
 and at night she put away the remains of 
 both the hard-boiled cream and the soft, and 
 with an aching back and head went to bed 
 discouraged and regretting the wasted day. 
 The next morning she went to her fail- 
 ures : they were still in a mushy condition, 
 and she concluded there must be very much 
 yet to learn about sugar, and that she had
 
 136 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 no way to learn it ; possibly it was a trade 
 secret, but when she turned to the two bowls 
 of cream to her surprise and bewilderment 
 she found one firm as cheese, the other so 
 hard she could not make an impression on it 
 with her finger. That day she made candy 
 again and it was all right. It was many 
 months before she found out that her whole 
 trouble was due to the fact that it had been 
 washday and the house full of steam, and 
 that sometimes, but not always, even a ket- 
 tle of water boiling in the same room would 
 give much trouble. 
 
 For the present she had to make up her 
 mind that there was something she had not 
 found out, which placed her entirely at the 
 mercy of the vagaries of sugar, and that, 
 nevertheless, by not minding the days when 
 she would fail because the candy would 
 " grain " and the others when it moist- 
 ened, confectionery was a business that 
 would be profitable for May. She did not 
 broach the subject, however, until she 
 thought she had made sure of being able
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 137 
 
 to teach her, and she met little encourage- 
 ment from her artistic sister, who saw her 
 at her experiments. 
 
 " Well, Dorothy ! what is all this work 
 for ? If you are determined to do cooking, 
 surely you know enough without working 
 over this new kink from morning till night. 
 You look pale and worried with it ; why 
 don't you stick to the things you know? 
 I 've always heard that one should do a 
 few things well." May spoke with an air 
 of superior wisdom ; she still thought Dor- 
 othy very peculiar. 
 
 " I am not sure what we may need ; I may 
 not have time, when business begins, to ex- 
 periment ; yet if there was a sale for con- 
 fectionery I should want to know the art. 
 And I think even you would be interested 
 in learning such dainty work ; you would 
 do it, on account of your artistic taste, 
 much better than I. You would invent 
 new tints and forms." 
 
 May was gratified, yet she said : 
 
 " But, Dorothy, don't you know confec-
 
 138 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 tionery is a regular trade ? How can you or 
 I expect to compete with the trade ; and be- 
 side, although it may be all very well to do 
 cooking for a time, why waste your strength 
 in learning a new thing you will not need ? 
 One would think we were old maids." 
 
 Dorothy recognized her sister's thought 
 that marriage would take them out of the 
 necessity of such work, but she laughed : 
 
 " Most likely I shall be an old maid. I 
 shall be so busy nobody will ever find me 
 long enough unoccupied to learn to like 
 me, and if some one comes along who is 
 persevering enough to ' court ' me between 
 whiles, what I learn now I can teach others." 
 
 Nevertheless May did learn how to make 
 candy. She never pretended to invent a 
 new combination, but contented herself with 
 following Dorothy's directions, and her sis- 
 ter's only hope was that when orders really 
 came the satisfaction of working profitably 
 might awaken her interest. 
 
 In the fall she sent out a list of articles 
 for which she intended to take orders, and 
 candy was included.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 189 
 
 One list went to every one who had sent 
 orders last year, and two or three influential 
 friends in New York, Philadelphia, Brook- 
 lyn, and Newark had so talked of Miss 
 Fortescue's minee meat and preserves to 
 their grocers, that one or two leading firms 
 in each place had consented to receive on 
 consignment, and, what made Dorothy very 
 happy, Aunt Bevan's canned apple sauce be- 
 came that winter very popular. It was so 
 different from anything before offered for 
 sale. 
 
 Dorothy now found herself on the eve of 
 prosperity. 
 
 This coming Thanksgiving week she ex- 
 pected to find herself very busy, but able to 
 accomplish thrice what she had done the 
 year before with less fatigue ; ten hours a 
 day instead of eighteen she hoped would do 
 all. She had what seemed to her a large 
 quantity of raisins stoned in October. Cur- 
 rants were washed, and lemon and orange 
 peels had been candied all through the year. 
 But alas for one's calculations. Although
 
 140 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 she had no extensive orders from any one 
 person or store, she had far more small or- 
 ders than she had prepared for in her mod- 
 esty, and they were very varied : one would 
 order five pounds of mince meat, a pound of 
 macaroons, two pounds of fruit-cake, and a 
 pound of French candy, scarcely an order 
 came from a private person without one for 
 candy; and although a few had been thought- 
 ful enough to send a couple of weeks ahead 
 of time, the orders came thick and fast the 
 week before Thanksgiving, and she found 
 every bit of mince meat she had made was 
 barely sufficient to supply half. She had 
 ordered more fruit than she expected to sell, 
 yet now she must get as much again. 
 
 Once more Mr. Bevan had a quiet scoff 
 on the subject of women's incapacity for 
 business, and how absurd it had been not to 
 take a barrel of currants, etc., etc. 
 
 The mail came Thursday morning that 
 warned her of what she might expect, and 
 time was so precious Mr. Bevan had to go to 
 the city for more supplies. He was told to
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 141 
 
 bring a chopping machine, and Mrs. Bevan 
 ransacked Plumstead for suet. 
 
 There was over thirty pounds of candy 
 ordered. The Exchanges sent for several 
 pounds, for it had come to be understood 
 that whatever Miss Fortescue offered for 
 sale would be good. 
 
 Among the variety of orders came one 
 for a rich fruit-cake, which Dorothy made 
 from the following recipe, which became af- 
 terwards a very profitable branch of her 
 business. 
 
 ENGLISH TWELFTH NIGHT CAKE. One 
 pound of butter washed first in water, then 
 in rose - water ; one pound of sugar, one 
 pound of candied citron, orange and lemon 
 peels in equal proportions ; three pounds of 
 currants, one pound of sultana raisins, three 
 quarters of a pound of almonds, blanched 
 and chopped a little ; the grated rind of two 
 oranges, a gill of sherry, one of brandy, 
 yolks of twelve and whites of six eggs, one 
 pound of flour, very dry and warm ; a small 
 teaspoonful each of cinnamon, grated nut- 
 megs, and cloves.
 
 142 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 The butter and sugar to be beaten with 
 the hand until it will stand ; add yolks of 
 eggs and beat thoroughly ; then the flavor- 
 ing, the whites and flour, the last added 
 gradually. The fruit must be well cleaned 
 and dried, the peels shredded, and then all 
 made quite warm and floured. They must 
 be stirred into the batter last. Line a round 
 pan or hoop with the three thicknesses of 
 buttered paper at bottom, two round the 
 sides, and pour the batter into it. It will, 
 of course, be very stiff. This cake will be 
 quite large if baked in one, and should have 
 five hours' baking in regular moderate heat. 
 The oven should be quite cool at first, and 
 never get very hot ; for the first two hours a 
 thick card cover may be placed on it. The 
 great object is to give long baking without 
 burning. The crust should not form for at 
 least two hours. This is known in England 
 as Twelfth Cake, and is excellent.
 
 CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 CANDY-MAKING. CAPRICES OF SUGAR AND 
 
 SYRUP. FAILURES, AND HOW TO AVOID 
 THEM. 
 
 I DON'T know whether what I have said 
 in this little story of Dorothy and her work, 
 or what I may have to say, will discourage 
 my readers. My object is to do the reverse. 
 
 " I shall give the candy into your hands 
 entirely, for with all this crop of work I 
 could not attend to it, and yet I 'm deter- 
 mined no order shall go unfilled or be late, 
 even if I sit up every night," said Dorothy. 
 
 Dorothy had detected a little mutinous 
 wrinkle about May's lips, and spoke rather 
 sternly. 
 
 " Of course I '11 do anything to help, 
 though I 'm sure I shall make a mess of it. 
 Why don't you select the orders you can 
 comfortably fill, and reject others ? "
 
 144 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 " I dare not. If I had known of this in- 
 flux I would have put only large cakes and 
 mince meat on my list. Then, to be candid, 
 May, I am anxious about your having some- 
 thing remunerative in hand to do, and I 
 thought the candy would be just the thing ; 
 if we refuse orders now, those who send them 
 will not take the trouble to order again." 
 
 Monday brought more orders, and Doro- 
 thy turned almost sick at the mountain of 
 work before her. Happily May could do the 
 candy with Mrs. Garland's assistance. 
 
 How that day went and the next three 
 or four Dorothy never knew ; only that the 
 work steadily progressed. Every hand 
 helped, but no brain worked except her own. 
 Mrs. Garland boiled pot after pot of candy 
 and helped May to work it. But alas ! every 
 bowl seemed to have a separate caprice 
 some had a thick cake of sugar on top and 
 grains all through. Then would come a 
 doleful figure with a bowl and spoon to Dor- 
 othy : " Oh ! what is the matter with this 
 candy." " Granulated, add water and boil
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 145 
 
 again." A few minutes would elapse, an- 
 other figure and another bowl with lovely 
 white creamy contents, which ran, oh ! far 
 too nimbly, from the. spoon. 
 
 " I 've beaten and worked and the stuff 
 gets softer and softer : what is the matter 
 with it?" 
 
 " Ah, May ! Don't you know I told you 
 when this happens it is boiled a shade too 
 low." But then there came troubles that 
 Dorothy could not account for nor cure, al- 
 though she learned after that they all re- 
 sulted from insufficient experience. She 
 had not yet learned the effect of steam on 
 the sugar. Some granulated from mistaken 
 economy on Mrs. Garland's part, who scraped 
 round the saucepan after she emptied the 
 candy from it, and dropped the scraping 
 into the clear syrup ; this formed a nucleus 
 of crystals which affected the whole. How- 
 ever, at midnight there was candy enough 
 boiled and worked to make fifty pounds. 
 
 There 's no denying that when the morn- 
 ing came it seemed to come just after she
 
 146 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 had fallen asleep she would have given a 
 great deal to be able to sleep an hour longer, 
 and she fancied she was even more tired 
 than when she went to bed, but there was 
 no help for it. She must get to work. 
 
 All went well till after dinner ; several 
 pounds of candy stood in lovely pink and 
 white and lemon shades on the table, and 
 chocolates, the most difficult and exasperat- 
 ing of all to the tyro, were about to be made ; 
 the chocolate made the candy harden; by 
 Dorothy's direction a teaspoouful of sugar 
 syrup, kept ready for such emergencies, was 
 added to the chocolate candy. It all went 
 to a carainelish syrup, and every white ball 
 dipped into it came out pinkish white, with 
 brownish flecks. Suddenly May cried : 
 
 " It 's no use, Dorothy ; my head aches 
 and I <jan't go on ; it 's all nonsense killing 
 one's self like this ; no one else does it ! " 
 May threw down her fork, and, pressing her 
 hands to her head, went to her room and 
 threw herself on the bed. 
 
 For a moment Dorothy despaired ; how
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 147 
 
 could she multiply herself further? She 
 was tired enough to sink into a chair and 
 weep, but she did not dare. Mrs. Garland, 
 who was making macaroons, said : 
 
 " I think if you color the candies, and tell 
 me what to do, I can go on with them while 
 I wait for the oven." 
 
 And so it was done. Dorothy found the 
 trouble with the chocolate to be that after 
 the syrup was added to thin it, it was left 
 in the boiling water on the stove without 
 being stirred, and the sugar had gone back, 
 as it always will if left to itself, to clear 
 syrup leaving the chocolate in solution. But 
 notwithstanding that, she had overcome the 
 difficulty, and so arranged that Mrs. Gar- 
 land could do what she had trusted to May ; 
 her sister's sudden breakdown had jarred 
 Dorothy's nerves, and to the dull misery of 
 a cold was added a lively headache, for 
 which there was no remedy. Mrs. Be van 
 tied her head up with a wet cloth tightly, 
 and every now and again came behind her 
 and changed it without interrupting her 
 work.
 
 148 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 Do you think this is overdrawn, reader ? 
 I tell you my difficulty in describing Dor- 
 othy's struggle for independence has been to 
 so understate the whole that I might escape 
 any charge of exaggeration, and it is all un- 
 derstated. The orders she received came 
 more quickly and in greater variety than I 
 have dared to say. The difficulties in the 
 way I have in this limited space been only 
 able to hint at, but every woman living on 
 as near nothing as possible, three miles from 
 a railroad, can judge them for herself. 
 
 Dorothy had many things against her that 
 others may not have : she was miles from a 
 store, she worked for months with the poorest 
 utensils, and she had not the facilities that 
 poor women workers have now. Books have 
 since been written with such precision that 
 they can be followed with ease ; and if books 
 fail there are the cooking schools where in- 
 formation on any doubtful point can be ob- 
 tained. All this has come about within ten 
 years. When Dorothy began to work the 
 books were unwritten, the cooking schools in
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 149 
 
 their infancy, their value unknown except to 
 the select few. 
 
 She had only one thing in her favor that 
 many ladies who seek to make money have 
 with her, but not all. She had friends who 
 were accustomed to live expensively, and 
 anxious to get the best of everything. But 
 the time came when these private orders 
 were far fewer than those that came through 
 the grocers and Exchanges. They undoubt- 
 edly helped her greatly, but had she begun 
 without this advantage her success would 
 have been slower, but it would have come. 
 
 The Tuesday night before Thanksgiving 
 found everything done, and ready for pack- 
 ing, every tray, dish, and plate in the house 
 held its array of candy which was to be 
 packed in a stack of paper boxes. Dorothy 
 had worked off her cold, and May, after 
 her head got better, helped again ; but Dor- 
 othy saw there was no heart in the work. 
 
 This night, however, she was bright, and 
 expressed willingness to work with Dorothy. 
 
 " I shall not go to bed, May, till every-
 
 150 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 thing is packed ready for uncle to take to 
 the express. It will take till dawn." 
 
 It was long past dawn when the two girls 
 had put the last package in the last box and 
 on every wooden packing-box a cover that 
 Mr. Be van was to nail, on before taking 
 away. Everything was expressed, the deliv- 
 ery of which could be guaranteed in time, 
 but Mr. Bevan went to the city with a trunk 
 full of packages, which were delivered, when 
 he arrived there, by hand. This was an item 
 of considerable expense, so much that the 
 margin of profit left on those articles was 
 small, but this was a matter not to be for a 
 moment considered by Dorothy. She re- 
 membered that it was not her customers' 
 fault that she lived out of town. 
 
 " I should think you would make some 
 charge for delivery?" said Mrs. Garland. 
 " It seems dreadful to work hard and lose 
 the profit in expenses." 
 
 " I look at it in this way. If the orders 
 were given to any city confectioner or grocer 
 he would deliver them. Why should people
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 151 
 
 be made to pay for the privilege of buying 
 from me ? And would they do it a second 
 time ? I think not. In the future, which I 
 hope for, when articles I make cannot be 
 obtained in the cities, I shall feel I can 
 charge expressage, but not now." 
 " I think you are over-scrupulous." 
 " It is not scrupulousness, it is prudence, 
 and I would gladly avoid the expense if I 
 could without spoiling my business at the 
 outset."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DOKOTHY WINS A HOME AND A HUSBAND. 
 MBS. GAKLAND AS A BUSINESS WOMAN. 
 
 THE next year Dorothy's fame had spread. 
 Her business justified her in taking that 
 summer a tiny cottage in Plumstead, where 
 she and May lived. The latter was recon- 
 ciled in a certain way to cooking, but per- 
 sistently looked forward to the time when 
 she by a good marriage would relieve Dor- 
 othy from the need of such work. This in- 
 tention of hers soothed her conscience when 
 she left her always the lion's share of the 
 work to do. 
 
 Dorothy made no comment on May's 
 prospects ; time enough to oppose her when 
 the necessity came. Dorothy thought the 
 time might not be far off, for an old friend 
 had returned from Europe bringing fame
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 153 
 
 as a painter with him. May had met him 
 on a visit to one of their New York friends : 
 he had been five years away. May had then 
 been a school-girl and Dorothy a blooming 
 girl of twenty. He, John Lortain, asked 
 after Dorothy, and was invited out to Plum- 
 stead, and now was a frequent visitor. Many 
 an hour did he and May spend under the 
 apple-trees, while Dorothy worked at the 
 window, near enough to call out a word now 
 and then. And sometimes May and the 
 famous artist would hull strawberries for 
 Dorothy to make into preserves. 
 
 The time had come when Dorothy had 
 been able to select the work that was most 
 remunerative, and now she depended mainly 
 on mince meat and rich cakes, although 
 there was a continual demand for chicken 
 broth and bouillon, which Mrs. Bevan 
 made so excellent that they were largely 
 called for. 
 
 Plumstead party - givers always sent to 
 Dorothy for fancy cakes and chicken salad, 
 and often asked her to invent some new
 
 154 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 dainty for them. I wish I could tell you all 
 that she did in this way, but space forbids. 
 One thing she rejoiced over, besides putting 
 a way of making money into Aunt Bevan's 
 hands, she believed she had been able to 
 help Mrs. Garland. 
 
 Eveiy Plumstead person who sent for 
 macaroons she had for months sent to that 
 vivacious lady, Mrs. Garland, who had ea- 
 gerly thanked her. 
 
 "If I thought you would not mind, I 
 would like to do several things that you 
 don't do now. My married sister would get 
 me a good many orders for candies and 
 cakes and patties." 
 
 " Do anything, dear Mrs. Garland, and 
 be sure the better you succeed, the better 
 pleased I shall be." 
 
 For several weeks that winter Dorothy 
 saw nothing of her friend, but had freauent 
 
 O JL 
 
 little notes, asking " How shall I do so and 
 so ? " " Will you be so angelic as to give 
 me a recipe for so and so ? " Sometimes a 
 sample of her work would come ; " Will you
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 155 
 
 please tell me what is the matter with this 
 thing ? Do what I will it won't," etc. 
 Sometimes Dorothy at a glance could solve 
 her difficulties, sometimes not ; but from it 
 all she gathered that Mrs. Garland was 
 prosperous and busy. She herself had sent 
 many customers to her, and she knew Mrs. 
 Garland's own friends had been active. 
 
 After New Year, being comparatively at 
 leisure, Dorothy went to see her. 
 
 " Oh, my dear, of all people you are the 
 very one I wanted to see : do come in." 
 
 " I want to hear all you have been doing. 
 I know you have been busy." 
 
 " Yes, busy, but as usual with me, I may 
 work my fingers off and things will go 
 wrong. I had a letter to-day that is driving 
 me wild to know what it means. My sister 
 in Yonkers rampaged round in her dear, 
 energetic way to get orders for me, and sent 
 me several for Christmas, and I filled them ; 
 then came a batch of others for New Year's, 
 
 * 
 
 and, as they were for her near neighbors, 
 Alfred, my brother-in-law, good-naturedly
 
 156 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 said they might be sent to his office and he 
 would take them out to her. There were 
 six pounds of macaroons. I knew they 
 would go better by hand than by express, so 
 I asked Mr. Phillips, who goes to town every 
 day, if I sent them on the 29th to the con- 
 ductor of his car, if he would take charge 
 of them and engage a messenger for me to 
 carry them to Alfred's office. I sent them 
 punctually, and now comes an exasperating 
 wail from Kate." 
 
 She took up the letter as she spoke and 
 read : 
 
 " Never, never, Clara, so long as I live, 
 will I bestir myself for you again ! Such 
 a mess as I've got into, ever so many of 
 my friends sending all New Year's morn- 
 ing for their wretched cakes and I, who 
 relied on you, had nothing to say. The 
 large cakes came yesterday (the day after 
 New Year's), and I must keep them myself, 
 for I could never have the face to send them. 
 
 
 
 The macaroons have never come. I have 
 enough fruit-cake to last me till next New
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 157 
 
 Year's, but never again will I make such a 
 fool of myself." 
 
 " Now did you ever know anything so 
 maddening ? to be scolded like that after I 
 worked so hard ! It 's just my luck." 
 
 " But your sister must have felt terribly, 
 and it is such a pity to discourage her. 
 Can't you guess how the mistake hap- 
 pened? Did you send word to Mr. Phil- 
 lips the night before to remind him that 
 the box would be on board his car ? " 
 
 " No, of course not : I was awfully busy, 
 and it was only a couple of days before I 
 had spoken to him." 
 
 " Then I would inquire of the conductor 
 if they were claimed ; but how about the 
 large cakes ? " 
 
 " Well, that 's the beautiful express com- 
 pany ! I sent them the day before New 
 Year's, and of course they ought to have 
 arrived New Year's morning." 
 
 " Holiday times are busy ; I would always 
 allow for possible delays." 
 
 " But the cakes were not ready ! My oven
 
 158 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 would not bake, and, to tell the truth, when 
 I took them out of the oven they were white 
 at the bottom, although I had kept them in 
 three hours so instead of icing them they 
 had to go in again next day ; how it will 
 agree with them I could not tell, but I 
 thought it did not hurt plum-pudding to 
 be half done and left, and I could not see 
 how it would hurt rich cake. I had a small 
 one left over and cut it, and I find it deli- 
 cious." 
 
 " How did they look ? " asked Dorothy, 
 bravely keeping her countenance. 
 
 " They did not look on the underside just 
 as they ought, but I cleverly got over that ; 
 I turned them upside down and iced them 
 beautifully, and if they had arrived in time 
 my customers would have had an iced cake 
 for the same price as a plain one and they 
 are always dearer." 
 
 " I know, I never could understand why, 
 as the sugar weighs as much as anything 
 and is the least costly part of the cake." 
 
 Mrs. Garland left the room and returned
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 159 
 
 with a wedge of the richest fruit-cake on a 
 plate. 
 
 " There, I want your opinion : I did not 
 ice the cake I kept home." 
 
 The part of the cake that had been in the 
 pan was a gray color, quite soft and sticky, 
 and Dorothy's heart sank when she saw the 
 large piece she had to eat, and unluckily 
 could not refuse, for she had more than once 
 said to Mrs. Garland that she was very 
 fond of rich fruit-cake which never dis- 
 agreed with her. 
 
 " Is n't that a good cake ? " 
 
 If Dorothy had only not been Dorothy 
 for the time being, then she might have 
 dared to be sincere, but she could not dare 
 to criticise, nor indeed was she asked to do 
 aught but eulogize ; she therefore said, as 
 she swallowed one sticky mouthful, 
 
 " It is very rich " 
 
 "Yes, I know it is one of the richest 
 cakes made, but how about the flavor ? " 
 
 It was really quite devoid of flavor, only 
 sweet and rich, but utterly flat.
 
 160 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 "I think you might safely add more 
 spice." 
 
 Mrs. Garland started up tragically ; spice, 
 spice then she sat down in a paroxysm 
 of laughter. 
 
 " I can't help it, as it is so utterly absurd, 
 but I knew there was something I had for- 
 gotten all the time I was making it ; I could 
 not imagine what. I went over it all in my 
 own mind, and now I remember there 's all 
 my fine druggist spices lying in the papers. 
 I ought to cry, I suppose, instead of laugh, 
 but it does seem so ridiculous that you 
 should sit so seriously there and with a word 
 remind me ; yet I tasted and tasted and 
 missed nothing." 
 
 " Well, it is almost well it did not reach 
 its destination, is it not ? " asked Dorothy. 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! you don't think if I could 
 not miss it they would ? You must re- 
 member that all cake eaters are not like 
 you, always on the qui vive to detect flavors." 
 
 Dorothy's wedge of cake was diminishing 
 but very slowly, crumb by crumb, when hap-
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 161 
 
 pily a ring at the door-bell took Mrs. Gar- 
 land's attention, Dorothy whipped it into 
 her pocket and Mrs. Garland returned. 
 
 " The mystery is solved," she said gayly 
 bringing in a slip of paper. " Here 's a 
 note from Benton, the car conductor : 
 
 " ' Dear Madam : Your box has not been 
 claimed, and has been going up and down 
 with me every trip for the last four days. 
 What shall I do with it?'" 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Garland," cried Dorothy in 
 consternation, " the macaroons will be in 
 crumbs ! " 
 
 " I know it, but it 's no use crying for 
 spilt milk, and if there is one thing Edith 
 and I dote on it 's macaroon custard ; 
 crumbs make it just as well as whole 
 macaroons. Now we shall have to make 
 our dinner on it every day for a week ! " 
 
 " And yet." thought Dorothy as she went 
 home, " she cries her eyes out sometimes 
 that she is so dependent and so penniless. 
 I suppose this is the real reason why, with 
 all her cleverness and accomplishments, she
 
 162 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 cannot get along. Of course she will be 
 asked to make no more cake, and after this 
 I may not dare to recommend her." 
 
 Dorothy, finding that May would not take 
 kindly to candy, would not give attention 
 enough to it to insure it being always per- 
 fect, early in the year had told all she knew 
 to Mrs. Garland, who had seen much when 
 working with her. At first she had taken 
 gladly to it ; orders came, but gradually 
 dropped off. This Dorothy had wondered 
 at, but now understood. She could see that 
 Mrs. Garland's haphazard way would go 
 through everything she did. And yet how 
 pitiable it was ! 
 
 Dorothy was a very happy young woman. 
 She had made a home for herself and sister. 
 She had helped her dear aunt to make a 
 little money. " A fortune to me, Dodo, 
 when you remember that before you came 
 I was thankful to get twenty-six cents a 
 week for my potcheese." The money, little 
 as it was, made the hard farm life compar- 
 atively luxurious; they need not now sell
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 163 
 
 eggs and chickens, nor were they vegetarian 
 in their diet. 
 
 And yet it almost looked as if May was 
 right, and Dorothy's work will not need to 
 last very long, for when she had been three 
 years in " business " John Lortain astounded 
 her by asking her to become his wife. She 
 had looked on him as being in love with 
 May, and laughingly told him she was too 
 busy to marry. He went away to Europe, 
 but he is coining back soon, and Mrs. Bevan 
 knows it is to ask Dorothy again. How that 
 artful woman knows, I cannot guess, but she 
 knows too that Dorothy treasures every bit 
 of paper that contains a notice of his pic- 
 tures, and I 'm afraid some one has betrayed 
 that fact to him. Mr. Bevan has several 
 times carried a letter in his pocket to be 
 mailed, addressed to John Lortain, Rome, 
 and latterly they were addressed "Lon- 
 don ; " but never an idea of this fact does 
 Dorothy have, although it has often crossed 
 her mind, since the struggle, and doubt has
 
 164 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 ceased, and she has anchored her bark in 
 the calm waters of the haven of success, 
 that it would be very pleasant to be making 
 good things for John and his friends.
 
 CONTENTS OF DOROTHY'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 THE reader has been told that Dorothy 
 made a note of her aunt's economies, and as 
 some of her friends may be glad to make 
 money go far, as well as to earn it, I here 
 append the most useful, and, so far as I can 
 tell, the least known. They may help to 
 make savory dinners where they would be 
 otherwise insipid, and meat possible where 
 there are very few cents to buy it. 
 
 It will be borne in mind that Mrs. Bevan, 
 until Dorothy came, had known a lack of 
 money equaled only by that of the poorest 
 laborer's wife, at the same time that she had 
 needs and tastes quite unknown to the lat- 
 ter. She had, besides, the instinct of a lady 
 to hide her extreme poverty. Although the 
 laborers and cottagers around had more to 
 spend per head on food than Mrs. Bevan,
 
 166 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 they never dreamed that such was the case ; 
 and although the Bevans were known to be 
 poor, no one ever suspected how poor. But 
 little as the money Mrs. Bevan had to buy 
 food, other than what grew on the farm, was, 
 by using her brains they did not live coarse- 
 ly or badly. The bit of hard meat fried in 
 fat, or the thick slices of pork, which made 
 the too frequent food of those around her, 
 would have starved Mr. and Mrs. Bevan. 
 They must have savory food or they could 
 not eat ; they must have it nourishing, and 
 it must cost very little. How to attain these 
 ends was the problem Mrs. Bevan had to 
 solve during the first year of their poverty. 
 Her time, of course, was her capital, as it is 
 that of every wife and mother who is not 
 driven by sad necessity to sell her time to 
 some one else for actual money. Mrs. 
 Bevan brought the advantage of an open 
 educated mind to help her, and then recol- 
 lections of observations made during long 
 residence in Scotland and France, both 
 countries of thrifty good living, came to her 
 aid.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 167 
 
 It was useless to remember that peas, 
 beans, and lentils contain more flesh form- 
 ing qualities than three times the weight of 
 meat, that we require so much albumen, so 
 much nitrogen, etc., in our food ; she knew 
 quite well they could not live by chemistry 
 alone, and if the flesh formers, and heat 
 givers, and bone and muscle makers, were 
 not prepared into food that she and her hus- 
 band could enjoy as well as swallow, the 
 chemical qualities would avail them nought. 
 
 But she knew also these qualities must 
 not be disregarded, and set her mind to 
 work to choose and make dishes that would 
 be cheap, furnish highly nourishing food, 
 and yet be very palatable. She remembered 
 that beef suet was as nourishing as roast 
 beef when mixed with flour. Therefore 
 when she made puddings or dumplings she 
 was careful to use suet in place of lard. 
 Beef dripping too is far more nourishing 
 than lard, but of this they had little because 
 roast beef was a very rare dish with them. 
 Then she remembered the excellent Scotch
 
 168 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 haggis, made of materials thrown away in 
 this country, and ox-tails, that dainty of the 
 English, that at the local butcher's brought 
 no price at all ; beef heart, which, if it cost 
 a dollar, would be looked on as a very fine 
 dish, but only costing ten cents, and weigh- 
 ing often three pounds, its good qualities are 
 too often disdained even by the poorest. 
 
 Bread and cheese are very nourishing, but 
 one does not want to eat them too often. 
 Mrs. Bevan, however, had several dishes 
 made of cheese and flour, with sometimes 
 butter and eggs, which made savory meals 
 of otherwise dry ones. So good did their 
 kitchen smell at meal hours, that many a 
 one, plodding home to his ordinary coarse, 
 unsavory fare, would feel a hungry ache. 
 
 One of the best of these dishes was also 
 one of the cheapest, for when Mrs. Bevan 
 and her husband were alone it was so much 
 too large a dish that she often sent, after 
 their own second dinner from it, a comfort- 
 able dish to two very old people who lived 
 near, and scarcely ever tasted well cooked 
 food unless she did send it.
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 169 
 
 This good dish was made of haslet (or 
 pluck), of pig when she could get it, but at 
 other times of lamb or of sheep, which the 
 butcher always sells for ten cents. 
 
 MOCK HAGGIS. 
 
 Detach liver and heart from the windpipe, 
 leave the lights on it, wash all well, and put 
 the lights on in a saucepan of salted water ; 
 leave the pipe hanging out so that the lights 
 may disgorge. They require at least two 
 hours' boiling, and are better prepared the 
 day before ; parboil the liver and heart for 
 twenty minutes, preserve the water ; cut the 
 liver, heart, and half the boiled lights into 
 small dice. Use, if possible, a stone pot 
 with a cover ; lay at the bottom three or four 
 shaved slices of fat bacon, pork, or the fat of 
 boiled ham (unless you have a pig's haslet, 
 when there is a delicious frilled fat that 
 should be with it). Put a layer of the 
 liver, heart, and lights, and then one of 
 forcemeat made of half a pint of bread 
 crumbs, two teaspoonfuls of sage leaves,
 
 170 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 dried and rubbed between the hands very 
 fine, and two large onions, parboiled and 
 chopped fine (after boiling), mixed to- 
 gether with a good teaspoonful of salt and 
 a scant saltspoonful of pepper. After a 
 thin layer of this put another of the liver, 
 lights, and heart, then more forcemeat, and 
 so on until all is in ; then pour in a pint 
 of the water the liver was boiled in, put 
 on the cover, and tie stout brown paper 
 over all, or make flour and water paste and 
 lay around the cover to keep in steam ; set 
 the jar in the oven, and leave it to cook 
 slowly three hours. When the lid is re- 
 moved and the dish turned out, the fra- 
 grance will remove any doubts as to haslet 
 being acceptable food. 
 
 Now it must be remembered that this dish, 
 which at the outside will cost twelve cents, 
 is the identical haggis that Sir Walter Scott 
 loved, Burns sang, and Christopher North 
 took the second prize for making. The 
 same, all but a cup of fried oatmeal, which 
 is mixed with the true Scotch dish, which
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 171 
 
 differs further in being boiled in a bag, or in 
 the thoroughly cleaned stomach of a sheep, 
 neither of which would add to its excel- 
 lence. 
 
 So dear is this dish to the Scotch that 
 in Montreal and other cities with a large 
 Scotch population haggis is imported in 
 cans. Any one willing to try the oatmeal 
 will almost double the economy of the dish, 
 and have the genuine Scotch dainty. 
 
 Another way of cooking liver seemed to 
 Dorothy worth noting down, because it also 
 seemed to make ten cents go a long way. 
 
 It was sheep's liver this time, and the 
 lights were given to the dog. The heart 
 was laid aside but not split. The liver only 
 to be washed, dried, and floured, then holes 
 made through it about two inches apart, 
 and strips of fat pork or bacon as thick as 
 a finger inserted. The liver thus larded is 
 to be put into a dripping-pan, about a tea- 
 spoonful of flour dredged over the bottom 
 of the pan, baked in a quick oven three 
 quarters of an hour. When done put the
 
 172 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 liver on a hot platter, pour a teacup of 
 hot water in the pan, stir over the stove 
 till all the gravy clinging to the pan is 
 dissolved, then add a teaspoonful of walnut 
 catsup (see recipe) and salt and pepper to 
 taste. 
 
 The heart still remains for a second meal. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bevan had always used it for 
 breakfast. 
 
 STUFFED LAMB'S OR SHEEP'S HEART. 
 Trim off the gristly part at the top called 
 the " deaf ear," squeeze out any blood there 
 may be in it, and wash it. Then stuff the 
 three holes full of nice stuffing, made as 
 follows : 
 
 Half a cup of bread crumbs, half a tea- 
 spoonful of finely chopped parsley, and a 
 pinch of thyme (between thumb and fore- 
 finger), half a saltspoonful of salt, and pep- 
 per enough to lay on the end of a penknife. 
 Mix together with a good teaspoonful of 
 butter, cover the top of the heart, to keep 
 the stuffing in, with two slices of fat pork, 
 flour it slightly, and put it into a sharp
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 173 
 
 oven to bake in twenty minutes or half an 
 hour. It should be brown, yet not over done. 
 
 HASHED LIVER. If there is any cold 
 baked liver left, chop it fine, melt a tea- 
 spoonful of butter in a saucepan, add one 
 of flour to it. Let both bubble together 
 over the fire one minute ; put in the liver, 
 and just enough water or gravy to moisten. 
 A teaspoonful of catsup or a dozen drops of 
 vinegar improves this excellent dish. 
 
 BEEF HEART KOASTED. This is pre- 
 pared exactly as lamb's heart, only before 
 stuffing it should be boiled gently half an 
 hour to prevent it chilling. 
 
 STEWED KNUCKLE OF VEAL. The price 
 of this should not exceed fifteen cents or 
 twenty cents, and besides the excellent soup 
 the bone makes, there is usually a good deal 
 of meat left on it. Let the butcher cleave 
 it in several places, and put it to boil with 
 a small carrot, turnip, onion, and a table- 
 spoonful of rice. If there is not more than 
 a pound of meat on it, put to it two quarts of 
 water, and if you have it a tiny slice of lean
 
 174 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 ham. Let it cook two hours and a half so 
 slowly that you can hardly see the water 
 move in the pot. Then remove the meat 
 from the bone, lay it in a hot dish, and 
 make the following sauce to pour over it: 
 Melt together one tablespoonful each of 
 butter and flour, let them cook together one 
 minute, stirring all the time ; then take a 
 half pint of the liquor in which the meat was 
 cooked, and pour quickly to the butter and 
 flour ; then stir in one beaten egg and a few 
 drops of lemon juice, or a teaspoonful of 
 chopped pickled cucumbers. A small piece 
 of boiled bacon or corned pork (boiled sepa- 
 rately) is an excellent accompaniment to this 
 dish. Use the liquor for rice or celery soup. 
 BRAISED BEEF. For this choose any of 
 the cheaper parts of beef, but it is better to 
 choose the chuck rib or some part where fat 
 and lean run together, than a solid part like 
 cross rib. If the latter is to be used, how- 
 ever, it should be larded by making holes 
 through the meat and inserting strips of fat 
 pork ; then flour it. Place this in a saucepan"
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 175 
 
 with a tablespoonful of vinegar, and cover 
 closely ; place the saucepan where the meat 
 will brown, but not burn ; when it has cooked 
 one hour, turn it if it is nicely browned, and 
 add pepper and salt ; cook another hour or 
 more, according to size, allowing half an 
 hour to a pound of meat. When taken 
 from the pot, pour the gravy with it, 
 then pour a gill of boiling water into the 
 saucepan to rinse off the gravy clinging to 
 the sides. 
 
 This makes an excellent substitute for 
 roast beef at half the price, but true braised 
 beef should have vegetables with it ; half a 
 small carrot, onion, and turnip cut fine, a 
 pinch, between thumb and finger, of marjo- 
 ram, and a bay leaf if liked. These are to 
 be added to the beef prepared as described 
 above, but the vinegar may be omitted, and, 
 when half cooked, a small cup of boiling 
 water added. 
 
 PEA SOUP WITHOUT MEAT. Soak at 
 night a quart of peas, then cut small two 
 onions, a carrot, and a head of celery.
 
 176 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 Drain the peas, put them and the vege- 
 tables into three quarts of water; pass 
 through a sieve or fine colander and return ; 
 let the soup boil again, and stir in a table- 
 spoonful of butter, and add two teaspoonfuls 
 of salt and half a saltspoonf ul of pepper. 
 To have this good soup at its best, fried 
 bread must be served with it, which is also 
 a great improvement to potato, bean soup, 
 or other thick soup. 
 
 To FRY BREAD. Cut stale bread into 
 dice half an inch square. Make two table- 
 spoonfuls of nice dripping or lard very hot 
 in a little saucepan or frying-pan and drop 
 in the bread dice ; they should fry golden 
 brown in one minute ; take them up, lay 
 them on butcher's paper, and serve them on 
 a separate dish from the soup, so that they 
 may be dropped in and eaten crisp. 
 
 CELERY SOUP. Cut four heads of cel- 
 ery small, one small onion, and a small piece 
 of carrot; slowly simmer in one quart of 
 water ; in another saucepan have a quart 
 of skiin milk and two tablespoonfuls of
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 177 
 
 rice; simmer these till the rice will mash, 
 add more milk if it is thicker than very thick 
 cream, strain the liquor from the celery, 
 mashing it through a colander ; stir this to 
 the rice milk, add two tablespoonfuls of 
 butter and two teaspoonfuls of salt, and 
 very little pepper ; serve with fried bread. 
 
 CUCUMBER SOUP. Boil half a dozen 
 small cucumbers, or two good sized ones, 
 peeled and cut in quarters, with an onion 
 sliced, in a quart of water, and a teaspoon- 
 f ul of salt, till they are tender enough to go 
 through a colander. Stir, in another sauce- 
 pan, a rounded tablespoonful of flour and 
 one of butter (two if you can spare it) ; 
 when they bubble stir to it the cucumber and 
 onion pulp, and add a pint of milk ; stir till 
 thick and boiling, then add another quart of 
 milk, and let the whole boil together : adding 
 the milk in two portions is only to save time 
 and stirring, for if it all went in together 
 it must be stirred till boiling, and three pints 
 takes longer than one ; if the milk is made 
 boiling hot before being added, then the
 
 178 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 soup is made at once by putting the two 
 together, and, letting them boil once, add 
 a teaspoonful of salt and a sixth of one of 
 pepper. Serve with fried bread. 
 
 POTATO HASH. One pound of potatoes 
 boiled and chopped, one boiled onion also 
 chopped, and a teaspoonful of finely chopped 
 parsley ; put these on the fire with half a 
 pint of milk, a pinch of pepper ; when it has 
 stewed gently five minutes, beat two eggs, 
 stir a tablespoonful of butter into the po- 
 tatoes, and then add the eggs ; stir gently 
 till the whole looks like custard, then remove 
 before the eggs curdle. This may now be 
 put into the frying-pan or oven and browned 
 or eaten white. 
 
 VARIATION ON THE FOREGOING. When 
 the potato hash is made, put it in a greased 
 pie-dish; when half full sprinkle thickly with 
 grated cheese, smooth the top, and grate 
 cheese thickly over ; brown in the oven. 
 
 MRS. BEVAN'S CREAM TOAST. Make 
 cream toast as usual, only when you put the 
 toast in the dish grate a thick layer of cheese
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 179 
 
 over each slice ; stir a teaspoonf ul of grated 
 cheese into the dressing, let it boil once and 
 pour it over the toast, then set in the oven 
 for five minutes. 
 
 CHEESE PUDDING. Make a light batter 
 of two eggs, one cup of milk, one cup of flour, 
 half a saltspoonful of salt, and one teaspoon- 
 ful of sugar. Beat hard, then stir in a cup 
 of grated cheese. Grate a little over the 
 top, drop half a dozen bits of butter over the 
 surface, and bake in a sharp oven one hour. 
 
 For all these recipes good rich American 
 cheese must be used. A poor, dry one will 
 not be good. It must be grated on a large 
 grater (or, to makeshift, may be shaved in 
 the absence of a grater) ; fine cheese that is 
 getting dry or too near the crust is excellent 
 for this purpose. 
 
 In these recipes two points were kept in 
 view by Mrs. Be van, nourishment and econ- 
 omy ; wherever milk is directed, when cream 
 was abundant she would enrich with it, and 
 dishes with eggs were only made when eggs 
 were plentiful ; many a dish is costly at one
 
 180 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 season which at another is the cheapest pos- 
 sible. Butter being so highly nourishing 
 and wholesome, she used as freely as she 
 could when cheap, and only replaced with 
 dripping when very dear. 
 
 It must always be remembered that many 
 things that are expensive to buy in cities are, 
 or may be, cheap enough if you have the 
 ground to grow them, so Mrs. Bevan always 
 took care to have all sweet herbs growing, 
 and also celery ; she spent once in several 
 years five cents for bay leaves, and kept a 
 corked bottle of mixed spices. To cook so 
 that nothing may taste flat and insipid, and 
 yet that nothing be too highly spiced, re- 
 quires intelligence. 
 
 A good natural cook is something of a 
 natural chemist. She is acute about flavors, 
 and will know, if she really cares to think, 
 that there may be something she has that 
 will give just the flavor that is lacking. 
 Sometimes a soup or stew is greatly im- 
 proved by a saltspoonful of sugar. Yet, 
 only a cook's instinct will tell when that is ;
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 181 
 
 sometimes a squeeze of lemon juice, a tea- 
 spoonful of vinegar, or half a tomato, or a 
 pinch of the mixed spices for which I will 
 give a recipe. The great thing for the 
 young cook is to take a little thought as to 
 this matter. But I must on no account be 
 understood as advocating individual changes 
 in standard recipes or in any fine cooking. 
 Mrs. Bevan seldom could use an ordinary 
 recipe, because she had too often to make a 
 meal with "just what she had in the house," 
 often very scanty or very incongruous mate- 
 rials ; and knowing well the great help of 
 flavorings, and the very little they cost, she 
 gave herself every advantage that they af- 
 forded. 
 
 But the great art she showed was that 
 while availing herself of the subtle pi- 
 quancy of spice and herb, she never over- 
 did them. One clove will often give rich- 
 ness while three or four would spoil the 
 dish. The idea in using flavoring is for the 
 eater not to be able to say " this is flavored 
 with thyme, or marjoram, or onion," or any 
 special spice.
 
 182 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 
 
 To be aware of a toothsome something 
 which gives pleasure to the palate, but which 
 brings no certainty to the mind, is what is 
 to be aimed at in cooking. Many people 
 think they dislike spice and herbs, because 
 they have never known them properly used. 
 They are not properly used if the eater can 
 say distinctly that they are present in the 
 dish he is eating. (To this rule there are 
 certain exceptions, as when a dish takes its 
 name from a spice or herb, as spiced 
 meats, or pickles, or parsley sauce, etc. In 
 stews and soups and sauces the rule holds 
 good that the flavoring matter must not be 
 definable.) 
 
 BOTTLED MIXED SPICE. To prepare 
 this properly the ingredients must be thor- 
 oughly dried in order to powder and sift 
 easily. Put into a bowl one teaspoonful of 
 thyme finely powdered, the same of bay 
 leaves and pepper, a saltspoonful each of 
 marjoram, savory, and grated lemon peel, a 
 quarter of an ounce of powdered clove and 
 mutmeg ; sift all together three or four times,
 
 GENTLE BREADWINNERS. 183 
 
 then add to the whole one quarter the quan- 
 tity of salt. That is to say, to every four 
 teaspoonf uls of the powder put one of salt. 
 Keep in a wide mouthed glass bottle well 
 corked. 
 
 A saltspoonful of this mixture to a hash 
 or stew makes a delicious seasoning accept- 
 able even to those who believe they do not 
 like herbs or spices.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Africaines ........ Ill 
 
 Almond Macaroons ...... 65 
 
 American Walnut Catsup ..... 73 
 
 Beef Heart, Roasted 173 
 
 Bevans 105 
 
 Bottled Mixed Spice 182 
 
 Bouche"es de Dames . . . . . .108 
 
 Braised Beef ........ 174 
 
 Browned Potato Hash with Cheese . . . 178 
 Buttermilk Pones . ...... 20 
 
 Candied Lemon Peels ...... 92 
 
 Candied Orange Peels . ..... 92 
 
 Candied Peaches ....... 59 
 
 Candied Pears ........ 57 
 
 Candy-Making .- 144 
 
 Canned Apple Sauce 76 
 
 Celery Soup 123 
 
 Cheese Pudding 179 
 
 Chicken Broth (portable) 122 
 
 Consomme" (portable) 176 
 
 Cucumber Ragout 72 
 
 Cucumber Soup 177 
 
 Currants, to clean . . . . . . .94
 
 186 INDEX. 
 
 English Twelfth-Night Cake . . .141 
 
 Experiments in Candy-Making .... 131-136 
 
 French Icing 48 
 
 Fried Bread 176 
 
 Gateau de Riz 103 
 
 Genoa Cake 42-45 
 
 Haggis 162 
 
 Lamb's Heart, Stuffed 172 
 
 Liver, Roasted 171 
 
 Macaroons - . . . .65 
 
 Macaroons (Spanish) 120 
 
 Marzipan 45 
 
 Mince Meat 90 
 
 Mrs. Sevan's Cream Toast 178 
 
 Pea Soup without Meat ...... 175 
 
 Potato Hash 178 
 
 Puff Paste 64 
 
 Raisins, to seed 94 
 
 Sally Lunn 122 
 
 Stewed Knuckle of Veal 1*73 
 
 Vanilla Paste 121 
 
 Venetian Cakes 96
 
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