* * * * *
As may be gathered from the foregoing letter, William Henry did not go
back to school with the rest. He was taken ill just at the close of
vacation, and remained at home until spring. Grandmother said it was
such a comfort that it didn’t happen away. And it seemed to me that this
thought really made her enjoy his being sick at home.
Indeed, the people at Summer Sweeting place seemed ready to get
enjoyment from everything, even from gruel, which is usually considered
flat. I passed a day there at a time when William Henry was subsisting
on this very simple but wholesome food. Aunt Phebe and Uncle Jacob came
in to take tea at grandmother’s. The old lady was bringing out her nice
things to set on the table, when Aunt Phebe said suddenly, I suppose
seeing a hungry look in Billy’s eyes. She said,--
“Now, Grandmother, I wouldn’t bring those out. Let’s have a gruel
supper, and all fare alike! We’ll make it in different ways,--milk
porridge, oatmeal, corn-starch,--and I think ’t will be a pleasant
change.”
“Gruel is very nourishing, well made,” said Grandmother; “but what will
Mr. Fry say?”
“Mr. Fry will say,” I answered, “that milk porridge, with Boston
crackers, is a dish fit for a king.”
“I’m afraid Jacob won’t think he’s been to supper,” said Grandmother.
“O yes,” said Uncle Jacob, “I’ll think I have at any rate. But I like
mine the way the man in the moon did his, or part of the way.”
“Yes,” said Aunt Phebe, “I understand! The last part--the ‘plum’ part!”
“O, don’t all eat gruel for me,” said Billy. “Course I sha’ n’t be a
baby, and cry for things!”
But Aunt Phebe seemed resolved to develop the gruel idea to its utmost.
She made all kinds,--Indian meal, oatmeal, corn-starch, flour, mixed
meals, wheat; made it sweetened, and spiced with plums, and plain. One
kind, that she called “thickened milk,” was delicious. “Course” we had
one cup of tea, and bread and butter, and I can truly say that I have
eaten many a worse supper than a “gruel supper.”
Here is a letter from William Henry to Dorry, written when he began to
get well:--
* * * * *
_William Henry’s Letter to Dorry._