A TOY COLONIAL KITCHEN WITH FAC-SIMILE COLONIAL FURNISHINGS.
WOULD it not be fun to see a yoke of real live oxen come slowly walking
into the kitchen dragging a load of logs? That is what many of the
colonial boys and girls saw every day, and frequently the boys helped
their fathers cut the logs which were for the big kitchen fireplace. And
such a fireplace! Large enough for the huge, roaring fire and the
chimney-seats also. These were placed close against the sides of the
opening, making fine places for the boys and girls to sit and listen to
thrilling tales of adventure or delightful fairy stories.
[Illustration: A LITTLE COLONIAL KITCHEN, DRAWN FROM ONE MADE BY THE
AUTHOR.
Fig. 204.]
The kitchen in those days was the chief apartment and the most
interesting room in the house. Who would want to go into the stiff, prim
"best room" when they could be so much more comfortable in the spacious
kitchen where everyone was busy and happy, and where apples could be
hung by a string in front of the fire to roast and made to spin cheerily
when the string was twisted, that all sides might be equally heated? Any
girl or boy to-day would be only too glad of a chance to sit on a log
in front of such a fire and watch red apples turn and sputter as the
heat broke the apple skin, setting free the luscious juice to trickle
down the sides.
As the Indian's first thought was for shelter, and he put up his wigwam,
so the early settler's first thought was for shelter, and he built, not
a wigwam, but a log-house with a kitchen large enough to serve as a
general utility room. It was filled with various things, and all
articles in it were used constantly. Everything not brought from the
mother country the settlers made by hand. The colonial kitchen you can
build may be of gray or white cardboard. Old boxes, if large enough,
will answer the purpose.
[Illustration: Fig. 205.--Kitchen floor.]
I will tell you exactly how I built the colonial kitchen seen in Fig.
204. I made the floor (Fig. 205), the two side walls both alike (Fig.
206), the back wall (Fig. 207), and the interior of the fireplace (Fig.
208) of light-gray cardboard. I cut all the heavy lines, scored and
then bent all the dotted lines.
[Illustration: Fig. 206.--Side wall.]
[Illustration: Fig. 207.--Back wall.]
Now you do the same thing. Get your measurements correct and be careful
to make the lines perfectly straight. Before putting the kitchen
together, fasten the rustic brackets, cut from a branching twig (Fig.
209), on the wall above the mantel-piece to support the flintlock gun.
Take two stitches through the wall around each twig, as shown in Fig.
210, at the dots A and A and B and B (Fig. 207).
[Illustration: Fig. 208.--Interior of fireplace.]
Every colonial fireplace boasted of
A Strong Crane
upon which to hang the pots and kettles over the fire. One end of the
crane was bent down and attached to the side chimney wall by iron rings.
These rings allowed the crane to turn so that the extending iron rod
could be swung forward to receive the hanging cooking utensils and then
pushed back, carrying the pot and kettles over the fire for the contents
to cook. The crane was black and of iron. A hair-pin (Fig. 211) makes a
fine crane. Bend yours, as shown in Fig. 212, then with two socket-rings
made with stitches of black darning-cotton fasten the crane to the side
of the chimney at the dots C and C (Fig. 207), and tie a piece of the
darning-cotton on the little crane immediately below the lower
socket-ring; bring the thread diagonally across to the top arm of the
crane an inch and a quarter from the free end and again tie it securely
(Fig. 213).
[Illustration: Fig. 209.--A forked twig for the bracket.]
[Illustration: Fig. 210.--Put the brackets up in this way.]
[Illustration: Fig. 211.--The crane is made of a hair-pin.]
[Illustration: Fig. 212.--The crane.]
Bend the two sides of
The Fireplace
F and F (Fig. 207) as in Fig. 213. Bend forward the interior of the
fireplace (Fig. 208) at dotted lines, and fit Fig. 208 on the back of
Fig. 207 to form the inside of the fireplace and the mantel-piece. Slide
the slashed top strips of the sides of the fireplace D,D,D,D (Fig. 207),
back of the slashed strips D,D,D,D (Fig. 208), which will bring the two
centres E and E of the sides in Fig. 208 behind F and F in Fig. 207,
and will thus form two layers on the sides of the chimney. Push the edge
G and G of Fig. 208 through the slit G and G in Fig. 207 to form the
mantel-piece, then bend down the edge of mantel-piece along dotted line.
[Illustration: Fig. 213.--Back wall, showing crane hung and oven door
open.]
You must have
An Oven
at one side of the great fireplace for baking the wholesome "rye and
Indian" bread, and the delicious home-made apple, pumpkin, rice and
cranberry pies. In colonial days thirty large loaves of bread or forty
pies would often be baked at one time, so spacious were the ovens. These
side-ovens used to be heated by roaring wood fires built inside of them
and kept burning for hours. When the oven was thoroughly hot the cinders
and ashes were brushed out and in went the pies with a lot of little
ones called "patties," for the children. When these were cooked to a
golden brown each child was given his own piping hot "patty."
Make your box-like oven according to Fig. 214, cut the heavy lines,
score and bend the dotted lines. Bring the side H to the side I; lap I
over H so that the two slits, J and J, will exactly fit one over the
other; then bend the back down and run the flap J on the back through
the two slits J on the side, and the flap K through the slit K.
[Illustration: Fig. 214.--The oven.]
Adjust the oven back of the oven door L (Fig. 207), and fasten it tight
on the wall by sliding the flap M of the oven (Fig. 214) through the
slit M (Fig. 207) above the oven door; bend it down flat against the
wall. Bring the bottom oven-flap N in through and over the lower edge of
the oven door-way N (Fig. 207) and bend that also flat against the wall
(Fig. 213). The two side oven flaps will rest against the back of the
wall on each side of the oven door-way.
Now that is finished firm and strong, and you can
Put the Kitchen Together
in a few moments. Lay the floor (Fig. 205) down flat on a table; bend up
the two diagonal sides O and O, and slide the slit P in the side wall
(Fig. 206) down into the slit P of the floor (Fig. 205), bringing the
wall (Fig. 206) in front of the upturned floor-piece O (Fig. 205). In
the same way fasten the other side wall on the floor. Slip the two slits
Q and Q of the back wall (Fig. 207) down across the top slits (Q, Fig.
206) of the side walls. While bringing the back wall (Fig. 207) down to
the floor, slide its outside strips S and S over and outside of the
upturned pieces of the floor, S and S (Fig. 205), to hold them in place.
[Illustration: Fig. 215.--Pattern for andiron.]
As soon as the Indian's wigwam was up, he had a brisk fire to cook by,
for after shelter came food. The white man did likewise after his house
was built. Though he had andirons to help with his fire, even then to
Lay the Fire
in the immense fireplace required some skill. Cut two andirons of
cardboard (Fig. 215), bend at dotted lines, paint black, and the
andirons will stand alone and look like real ones (Fig. 216).
[Illustration: Fig. 216.--The andiron.]
[Illustration: Fig. 217.--The flames.]
Cut from red, orange, yellow, and black tissue-paper flames like Fig.
217; bend at dotted line and paste the mingled flames one at a time and
turned in varying directions on a piece of cardboard made to fit the
bottom of the fireplace. Adjust the little black andirons to the fire
and glue them in place; select a large log for the "back-log," and a
more slender one to lay across the front of the andirons. Place smaller
wood in between with the flames, and scatter a few bits of black paper
on the hearth underneath to appear like fallen charred wood. When
finished the fire should look as if it were actually sparkling, roaring,
and blazing (Fig. 218).
[Illustration: Fig. 218.--The flames leap up the chimney.]
[Illustration: Fig. 219.--Cut the shell in half.]
Your fire is ready, so you must hurry and get the
Great Iron Pot
to hang over the flames. Break an egg in halves as indicated by dotted
lines in Fig. 219; even off the edge of the larger half shell with a
pair of scissors, paste a strip of tissue-paper over the edge and glue
on a stiff paper handle (Fig. 220). Cut three pieces of heavy, stiff
paper like Fig. 221, bend at dotted line and pinch the two lower corners
on part T together to form the pot legs (Fig. 222). Turn the egg-shell
upside down and fasten the legs on by gluing the flap U (Fig. 221) on
the bottom of the shell; the legs should enable the pot to stand
upright. Turn the egg-shell into iron by painting the handle and outside
of the pot jet black (Fig. 223). Swing the crane forward, hang on the
pot, pretend you have something to cook in it, then move the crane back
over the fire.
[Illustration: Fig. 220.--A strip of paper for the handle.]
[Illustration: Fig. 221.--Cut the pot leg like this.]
[Illustration: Fig. 222.--Bend the pot leg like this.]
[Illustration: Fig. 223.--Paint the pot black.]
Remember all the time you are playing, that this is the way your
colonial ancestors cooked.
In days of long ago, they had many other
Odd Utensils
One of the easiest for you to make is the long-handled iron shovel
called a "peel" (Fig. 224), used to place bread and pie in the great
oven. Cut the peel from stiff cardboard, paint it black and stand it up
by the side of the chimney (Fig. 204). Trace the toaster (Fig. 225) on
cardboard, paint it black, bend up the four semicircular rings and bend
down the two feet, one on each side (Fig. 226).
[Illustration: Fig. 224.--A queer shovel called the "peel."]
[Illustration: Fig. 225.--Make the toaster by this pattern.]
Chicken and other eatables were placed between the front and back rings
on the toaster and broiled before the fire, which was so hot that it
was necessary to have long handles on all cooking utensils.
[Illustration: Fig. 226.--The toaster.]
[Illustration: Fig. 227.--Make a pot-hook like this.]
Several pieces of iron of varying lengths, generally made into the shape
of the letter S, were called "pot-hooks"; they hung on the crane. Make
two or three pot-hooks of cardboard and paint them black (Fig. 227).
When you are not using the little toaster, bend up the handle and hang
it on a pin stuck in the wall (Fig. 204).
[Illustration: Fig. 228.--The spinning-wheel and jointed doll
spinning.]
[Illustration: Fig. 229.--Spokes.]
Just look at your little colonial friend, Thankful Parker! (Fig. 228).
The tiny maid seems almost to be stepping lightly forward and backward
as she spins out long threads of the soft, warm yarn, singing softly all
the while a little old-fashioned song. How busily she works, and listen!
you can all but hear the wheel's cheery hum, hum, hum! That's the way
the real colonial dames used to spin. Such a
Spinning-Wheel
belonged to every family, for all had to do their own spinning or go
without the yarn, as they could obtain no assistance from others.
[Illustration: Fig. 231.--Small wheel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 232.--Stand.]
[Illustration: Fig. 233.--Wheel brace.]
Cut from cardboard the spokes (Fig. 229) for your miniature colonial
spinning-wheel, the tire (Fig. 230), and the two small wheels (Fig.
231). Bend forward the fan-shaped ends of each spoke (Fig. 229) and glue
the tire (Fig. 230) around on them; let one edge of tire lie flush on
the edges of the bent ends of the spokes.
[Illustration: Fig. 230.--Tire of wheel.]
With the exception of the square spaces AA and BB on the stand (Fig.
232) cut the heavy lines and the little holes; score, then bend the
dotted lines. Bend down the long sides and the ends fitting the corners
against and on the inside of the same letters on the sides, glue these
in place and you have a long, narrow box with two extensions on one side
(HH and GG). Bend these extensions, also their ends II and JJ, and glue
the ends on the inside of the opposite side of the box against the
places marked II and JJ.
Turn the box over, bringing the level smooth side uppermost. Cut out the
wheel brace (Fig. 233), turn it over on the other side, then bend AA
backward and BB forward, and glue the brace on the box-like stand (Fig.
232) on the squares AA and BB. See Fig. 228.
[Illustration: Fig. 234.--Upright.]
Make the upright (Fig. 234) of wood; shave both sides of the end, KK,
until it is flat and thin, then glue a small wheel (Fig. 231) on each
side, raising the wheels above the wood that the flat end of the
upright may reach only to their centres. Glue the wheels together to
within a short distance of their edges.
With the red-hot end of a hat-pin bore the hole LL through the front of
the upright, and below bore another hole, MM, through the side. Make the
screw (Fig. 238) and the block (Fig. 239) of wood. Run the screw through
the side hole MM in the upright (Fig. 234), and push the screw on
through the hole in the top of the block (Fig. 239). Break off more than
half of a wooden toothpick for the spindle (Fig. 236) and pass it
through the hole LL (Fig. 234).
[Illustration: Fig. 235.--Hub.]
Make the hub (Fig. 235) of wood and thread it in through the wheel and
brace (Fig. 233), to hold the wheel in place. Use two wooden toothpicks,
with the ends broken off (Fig. 237), for legs; insert these slantingly
into the holes, GG (Fig. 232), on the under part of the stand, allowing
the top ends to reach up and rest against the under side of the top of
the stand. Spread out the bottom ends of the legs.
[Illustration: Fig. 236.--Spindle.]
[Illustration: Fig. 237.--Leg.]
[Illustration: Fig. 238.--Screw.]
[Illustration: Fig. 239.--Block.]
Run the upright (Fig. 234) through the single hole near one end of the
stand (Fig. 232) and pass it down through the under hole on HH. The
lower part of the upright forms the third leg. See that all three legs
set evenly when the wheel stands, and that the box part is raised
slightly higher at the upright end, slanting downward toward the other
end (Fig. 228). Glue the three legs firmly in place.
Connect the two small wheels (Fig. 231) and the large wheel together by
passing a string between the small wheels and over around the outside of
the tire of the large wheel, fastening it on here and there with a
little glue (Fig. 228). Twist a piece of raw cotton on the spindle and
tie a length of white darning-cotton to the end of the cotton (Fig.
228).
[Illustration: Fig. 241.--Hair-pin.]
[Illustration: Fig. 240.--Do her hair up in this fashion.]
Stretch the thread across to the hand of your colonial-dressed doll,
glue it in place, and the next time your mother attends a meeting of the
Society of Colonial Dames tell her to show your little maid Thankful
Parker and her spinning-wheel. When you
Dress the Doll
coil her hair up on top of her head (Fig. 240) and fasten it in place
with common pins (Fig. 241). Make the straight bang look as nearly as
possible as though the hair were drawn up into a Pompadour such as was
worn in Colonial times.
[Illustration: Fig. 242.--Pattern of cap.]
[Illustration: Fig. 243.--The cap.]
[Illustration: Fig. 244.--Cap band.]
[Illustration: Fig. 245.--Pattern of kerchief.]
Make the cap (Fig. 243) of thin white material cut like Fig. 242, and
the band (Fig. 244) of the same color as the dress. Cut the thin white
kerchief like Fig. 245, and fold it as in Fig. 246. Fig. 247 gives the
design for the dress waist, and Fig. 248 the sleeve. The skirt is a
straight piece gathered into a waistband. The apron (Fig. 249) is white.
When the doll is dressed it should resemble little Thankful Parker (Fig.
228). An
Old-Fashioned Flintlock Rifle
with its long, slender barrel was used almost daily by our forefathers
for securing game as food.
[Illustration: Fig. 246.--Fold the kerchief like this.]
[Illustration: Fig. 247.--Pattern of waist.]
[Illustration: Fig. 248.--Pattern of sleeve.]
[Illustration: Fig. 249.--The apron.]
The gun was kept hanging in plain sight over the kitchen mantel-piece,
ready for defence at a moment's notice, for in those early days wolves
and other wild animals were numerous and dangerous, and enemies were
also likely to appear at any time.
[Illustration: Fig. 250.--Lock and band of tinfoil.]
[Illustration: Fig. 251.--Make this part of pasteboard.]
You should have one of those queer old guns to adorn your kitchen wall.
Get some heavy tinfoil off the top of a bottle, or take a collapsible
tube and from it cut a wide strip like Fig. 250, one narrow, straight
strip and two medium-wide straight strips, four in all. Cut the butt end
of the gun (Fig. 251) of stiff cardboard. Break a piece measuring four
and one-half inches from a common coarse steel knitting-needle for your
gun-barrel and use a slender, round stick, or the small holder of a
draughtsman's pen, cutting it a trifle more than three and one-half
inches in length for the ramrod groove.
[Illustration: Fig. 252.--A pin for a ramrod.]
[Illustration: Fig. 253.--Slide the paper end in the wood like this.]
In the centre of one end of the stick bore a deep hole with the red-hot
point of a hat-pin and insert the pointed end of an ordinary pin for a
ramrod (Fig. 252). Split the other end of the stick up through the
centre not quite half an inch and work the butt end of the gun in the
opening (Fig. 253).
[Illustration: Fig. 254.--Ready for the tinfoil bands.]
Lay the gun-barrel above the wooden part (Fig. 254) and fasten the two
together with the four bands of tinfoil (Fig. 255), allowing the top
part of Fig. 250 to stand up free to represent the flintlock. We must be
content without a trigger unless you can manage to make one by bending
down and cutting a part of Fig. 250. Paint the butt and wooden portion
of the gun brown before binding on the barrel, and you will find that
you have made a very real-looking little rifle to hang upon the rustic
brackets over the mantel-piece.
[Illustration: Fig. 255.--Colonial flintlock made of knitting-needle and
small pen-holder.]
When the fire in your big kitchen fireplace needs brightening, use the
Little Bellows
to send fresh air circulating through the smouldering embers. The
bellows are easy to make. Cut two pieces of pasteboard like Fig. 256,
and cut two short strips of thin paper. Paste one edge of each strip to
each side of one piece of cardboard bellows, fold the strips across the
centre (Fig. 256), and attach the free ends of the folded strips to the
other piece of pasteboard bellows, forming a hinge-like connection on
each side between the two pasteboard sides. Paste the points of the two
sides together up as far as the dotted line (Fig. 256). When thoroughly
dry you can work the bellows by bringing the handles together and
opening them as you would real bellows (Fig. 257).
[Illustration: Fig. 257.--The finished bellows.]
[Illustration: Fig. 256.--Cut the bellows by this pattern.]
Heavy tinfoil must furnish material for your
Pewter Ware;
much of it has the same dull, leaden color and the peculiar look of old
pewter. Should the pieces of tinfoil you find be twisted and uneven, lay
them on a table and smooth out the creases with scissors or the dull
edge of a knife-blade; then cut out round, flat pieces and holding one
at a time in the palm of your left hand, round up the edges by rolling
the ball of a hat-pin around and around the plate; press rather hard and
soon the edges will begin to crinkle and turn upward (Fig. 258). You may
mould some deeper than others and have a row of different-sized pewter
plates on the kitchen mantel-piece, and you can make a wee pie in the
deepest plate, open the oven-door and shove the pastry into the oven
with the little iron peel. Try it.
[Illustration: Fig. 258.--Colonial pewter dish made of tinfoil.]
[Illustration: Fig. 259.--The warp.]
The colonial kitchen would be incomplete without a bright,
Home-like Rag Rug
to place over the bare board floor, and it will be fun for you to weave
it. Take a piece of smooth brown wrapping-paper the size you want your
mat, fold it crosswise through the centre and cut across the fold (Fig.
259), making a fringe of double pieces which we will call the warp.
Unfold the paper and weave various colored tissue-strips in and out
through the brown foundations (Fig. 260), until the paper warp is all
filled in with pretty, bright colors. You can weave the rug "hit or
miss" or in stripes wide or narrow as you choose, only make the rugs as
pretty as possible.
[Illustration: Fig. 260.--Weave the rug in this way.]
Now we must manufacture a fine
Old Colonial Clock
[Illustration: Fig. 261.--Colonial clock with movable weights.]
[Illustration: Fig. 262.--The clock is cut in one piece.]
(Fig. 261). It would never do to forget the clock, for poor little
Thankful would not know how long her many loaves of bread were baking in
the big oven, and the bread might burn. Cut Fig. 262 of cardboard and
score all dotted lines, except NN-OO, which forms the hinge of the door.
Mark this with a pinhole at top and bottom, turn the cardboard over and
draw a line from pinhole to pinhole; then score it on this line that the
door may open properly outward. Try to draw the face of the clock
correctly. Make it in pencil first so that any mistake may be erased and
corrected. When you have the face drawn as it should be, go over the
pencil lines with pen and ink. Begin the face with a circle (Fig. 263).
Make it as you made the circle for the wigwam, only, of course, very
much smaller. Above the circle, at the distance of half the diameter of
the circle, draw a curve with your home-made compass (Fig. 264).
Lengthen the compass a little and make another curve a trifle above the
first (Fig. 265). Connect the lower curve with the circle by two
straight lines (Fig. 266), draw a small circle above the large one (Fig.
267), connect the two circles by two scallops (Fig. 268), and bring the
upper curve down into a square (Fig. 269). The small top circle stands
for the moon; draw a simple face on it like Fig. 270, then make the
numbers on the large circle (Fig. 271) and also the hands (Fig. 272).
Both numbers and hands must be on the same circle on the clock. They are
on two different circles in the diagrams that you may see exactly how to
draw them.
[Illustration: Fig. 263.--Draw the circle.]
[Illustration: Fig. 264.--Then a curve above the circle.]
[Illustration: Fig. 265.--Another curve above the first one.]
[Illustration: Fig. 266.--Connect the lower curve with the circle by two
lines.]
Leave Fig. 269 white, but paint the other portions of the clock a light
reddish brown with black lines above and below the door, and a black
band almost entirely across the bottom edge of the front of the clock
that the clock may appear to be standing on feet. Gild the three points
on the top to make them look as if made of brass.
Be sure that the four holes in the top (Fig. 262) are fully large enough
to allow a coarse darning-needle to be passed readily through them; then
bend the clock into shape, fitting the extension PP over the extension
QQ; the two holes in PP must lie exactly over those in QQ. Glue the
clock together, using the blunt end of a lead-pencil, or any kind of a
stick, to assist in holding the sides and tops together until the glue
is perfectly dry.
[Illustration: Fig. 267.--Draw a small circle above the large one.]
[Illustration: Fig. 268.--Connect the two circles by two scallops.]
[Illustration: Fig. 269.--Extend line of upper circle down to form a
square.]
[Illustration: Fig. 270.--Make this face in the small circle.]
[Illustration: Fig. 271.--Put the numbers on the clock face in this
way.]
[Illustration: Fig. 272.--Make the hands of the clock like these.]
Thread a piece of heavy black darning-cotton in the largest-sized long
darning-needle you can find; on one end of the thread mould a
cylinder-shaped piece of beeswax, cover it with thin tinfoil, then open
the clock-door and hold the clock with its head bent outward and
downward from you. Look through the open door and see the holes on the
inside of the top; run your needle through one of these holes and
across the top on the outside, bringing it down through the other hole
into the clock. Slip the needle off the thread and mould another piece
of beeswax on the free end of the thread, make it the same size and
shape as the first weight, cover this also with tinfoil and you will
have clock-weights (Fig. 273) for winding up the old-fashioned
timepiece. Gently pull down one weight and the other will go up, just as
your colonial forefathers wound their clocks. When the weight is pulled
down in the real clock it winds up the machinery, and the clock
continues its tick, tack, tick, like the ancient timepiece Longfellow
tells us of, stationed in the hall of the old-fashioned country-seat.
[Illustration: Fig. 273.--Weights for winding the clock.]
[Illustration: Fig. 274.--Pattern of the churn.]
[Illustration: Fig. 275.--The churn.]
Do you like real country buttermilk, and have you ever helped churn? If
you live in the city or for some other reason are not able to make the
butter, you can still enjoy manufacturing a little
Colonial Churn
that will look capable of producing the best sweet country butter (Fig.
275).
[Illustration: Fig. 276--Cork lid to the churn.]
[Illustration: Fig. 278.--Dasher.]
[Illustration: Fig. 279.--Push the end of the handle through the
dasher.]
[Illustration: Fig. 280.--Cut end of handle pasted on the dasher.]
[Illustration: Fig. 277.--Handle of the dasher.]
[Illustration: Fig. 281.--Put the handle of the dasher through the lid.]
Cut Fig. 274 of heavy paper or light-weight cardboard; mark three bands
on it (Fig. 275). Make your churn much larger than pattern, have it deep
enough to stand as high as Fig. 275. Glue the sides together along the
dotted lines, turn up the circular bottom and glue the extensions up
around the bottom of the churn. Fit a cork in the top for the churn-lid
and make a hole through the centre of the cork for the handle of the
dasher (Fig. 276). Make the handle by rolling up a strip of paper as you
would roll a paper lighter. Glue the loose top end of the handle on its
roll; then cut the large end of the handle up a short distance through
its centre (Fig. 277). Cut the dasher (Fig. 278) from cardboard, slide
it over the divided end of handle (Fig. 279), bend the two halves of the
handle-end in opposite directions, and glue them on the dasher as shown
in Fig. 280. Slip the handle of dasher through the cork lid (Fig. 281),
and fit the lid in the churn (Fig. 275). Paint the churn and handle of
dasher a light-yellow-brown wood color, the bands black, and when dry
you can work the dasher up and down the same as if the churn were a real
one. Stand the churn in your kitchen not far from the fire so that
little Thankful may attend to the cooking while she is churning.