I may as well just tell you a few of the things I like, and then
whenever you want to give me a birthday present (my birthday comes once
every seven years on the fifth Tuesday in April) you will know what to
give me.
Well, I like _very_ much indeed, a little mustard with a bit of beef
spread thinly under it; and I like brown sugar--only it should have
some apple pudding mixed with it to keep it from being too sweet; but
perhaps what I like best of all is salt, with some soup poured over
it. The use of the soup is to hinder the salt from being too dry; and
it helps to melt it. Then there are three other things I like; for
instance, pins--only they should always have a cushion put round them
to keep them warm. And I like two or three handfuls of hair; only they
should always have a little girl’s head beneath them to grow on, or
else whenever you open the door they get blown all over the room and
then they get lost, you know.
[40] From a letter to Miss Jessie Sinclair, 1878.