COUSIN MATILDA CALLS
"HELLO, is this you, Bettina? This is Mother! I'll have to speak in a
low voice. Who do you think is here? No,--Cousin Matilda! Just between
trains, but she says she must see how you are 'situated'! Clementine has
such a wonderful establishment now, you know! No, of course not, but I
want her to see how happy you are. She seems to have the idea that an
'establishment' is necessary! Just to see the house, you know! I know
the porch isn't ready, but don't worry! About three, then. Good-by!"
That afternoon Bettina looked anxiously through the living room window
across the bare little front yard. If only critical Cousin Matilda had
waited a few months before coming! But then, the only thing to do was to
be as cheerful about it as possible----
"So this is little Bettina!" said a majestic voice at the door. "And how
is love in a cottage? How charmingly simple everything is!"
"They planned it all just as they wanted it," explained Bettina's mother
proudly. "On a small scale, of course, but perhaps some day----"
"But I couldn't ever be happier than I am right now, Cousin Matilda.
What do you think of our big living room? Browns and tans seemed best
and safest in a little house like this, and I knew I shouldn't tire of
them as of any other color! I do so dislike going into a bungalow with
one little room in blue, another in pink, and so on. The walls are all
alike, even in the bedrooms. And the curtains are just simple cotton
voiles, ecru in the living and dining rooms, and white in the bedrooms.
No side curtains to catch the dust and keep out the air. But I beg your
pardon for seeming too complacent; I love it all so that I just can't
help boasting."
"What is this, my dear? A wedding gift?"
"Yes, isn't it lovely? It is a sampler in cross-stitch that Bob's
great-great-grandmother made! His Aunt Margaret had it put under the
glass cover of this tea cart, and gave it to us for a wedding present.
See, the cart is brown willow, and I think it looks well with our
furniture, don't you? This is to be a living porch, but we haven't
furnished it yet except for this green matting rug. And Bob brought that
hanging basket home from the florist's the other day. . . . Oh, yes,
this is my Japanese garden! Bob laughs at me, I have so much fun
watching it."
"What a lovely table decoration those red cherries make in your dining
room, my dear! Like a picture, in that piece of dull green pottery!"
"Yes, Bob says I decorate the table differently for every meal! We use
this breakfast alcove for breakfast, Sunday evening tea, or any informal
meal when we are alone. You see how convenient it is! I do want to put a
round serving table with leaves on our living porch. Then we can eat
there on warm evenings in summer."
"Bettina is very accomplished in economy," said her mother. "You must
let her tell you some of her methods."
"Clementine would be interested, I'm sure," said Cousin Matilda in her
languid way. "Is this your guest room?"
"Yes, and Bob and I are proud of that. We white enameled the furniture
ourselves! It is some that we found in a second-hand store, and it was
certainly a bargain, though it didn't look it at the time. I sewed the
rags together for these blue and white rugs. Bob made that little open
desk out of a small table that we found somewhere. Now that it is white,
too, I think it is cunning. And, Cousin Matilda, I give you three
guesses as to the place in which I keep my sewing machine!"
"Why, I haven't seen it yet. In the kitchen?"
"Goodness, no! Well, I'll tell you! This looks like a dressing table,
but is merely a shelf with a mirror above it. The shelf has a cretonne
cover and 'petticoat' that reaches the floor. And underneath it--behold
the sewing machine! Bob made the shelf high enough and wide enough to
let the sewing machine slip under it! But, Cousin Matilda, you must be
tired of Bettina's economies! Please sit down with mother in the living
room and I will get the 'party.'"
And Bettina wheeled her tea cart into the kitchen, returning with
luncheon napkins, plates, glasses, a pitcher of iced fruit juice, a
plate of little chocolate cakes, and several sprays of wild roses.
"What delicious little cakes, Bettina! At least you can't be called
economical when you serve such rich and dainty food as this!"
"I must plead guilty still, Cousin Matilda. I made these little cakes
partly from dry bread crumbs. The fruit juice is mostly from the
pineapple which Bob had for dessert last night. I cooked the core with
about two cups of water and added it to the lemonade."
"Bettina, Bettina! How did you learn these things? Robert is certainly a
lucky man, and I'm sure that some day he will be a wealthy one! You must
give me the recipes you used!"
And Bettina wrote them down as follows:
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
=Little Chocolate Cakes= (Twelve cakes)
2 eggs
1/4 C-butter
1/2 C-sugar
1 C-dry bread crumbs
3 T-flour
1 t-vanilla
3 squares chocolate
Cream the butter, add sugar, and cream the mixture. Add the beaten eggs
and stir well. Add melted chocolate, bread crumbs, flour and flavoring.
Spread the mixture very thinly on a buttered pan, and bake twenty
minutes in a slow oven. Shape with a tiny biscuit cutter, and put
together in pairs with mountain cream icing between and on top. (Icing
recipe already given.)
=Fruit Juice= (Eight glasses)
1 C-sugar
2 C-water
1-1/2 C-lemon juice
Boil sugar and water ten minutes without stirring, add lemon juice, and
any other fruit juices. Cool and bottle. Keep on ice and dilute with ice
water when desired for use. Serve mint leaves with the fruit juice.
[Illustration]
_JULY._
_The market is full of delights in July:
Fresh vegetables, berries, red cherries for pie!
Good housewives and telephones seldom agree,
So market yourself! You can buy as you see!_