The Fun of Cooking A Story for Girls and Boys   By: Caroline French Benton

[Illustration: "Such a Perfectly Lovely Picnic!"]

THE FUN OF COOKING

A STORY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

BY CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON

Author of "A Little Cook Book for a Little Girl," "Margaret's Saturday Mornings," etc.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY SARAH K. SMITH

[Illustration]

NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1915

Copyright, 1914, 1915, by THE CENTURY CO.

To DEAR LITTLE KATHARINE THE FIFTH

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE I THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS 13 II SUPPER AT THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS 27 III JACK'S SCHOOL LUNCHEONS 41 IV THE BIRTHDAY PICNIC 57 V SUNDAY NIGHT SUPPER 72 VI MILDRED'S SCHOOL PARTY 91 VII STRAWBERRY TIME 106 VIII IN CAMP 120 IX IN CAMP, continued 137 X JAMS AND JELLY 151 XI A HALLOWE'EN SUPPER 168 XII WHEN MOTHER BLAIR WAS SICK 180 XIII A DOLL AND LITTLE GIRL PARTY 192 XIV WHEN NORAH WAS AWAY 204 XV THANKSGIVING DAY SUPPER 216 XVI CANDY FOR THE FAIR 228 XVII EXAMINATION DAY 244 INDEX 253

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"Such a lovely picnic" Frontispiece Jack fried the "Cheese Dreams" 38 Brownie and Mildred making "Chocolate Crackers" 47 Making "Orange Baskets" 65 Arranging a small round tray in front of her mother's place 76 She looked carefully in the oven through a tiny crack 85 The refreshments were perfectly delicious, everybody said 99 "Here comes Jack with the berries, just in time" 114 The first supper in camp 123 Jack gets breakfast 134 The next day was perfect for fishing 139 Roasting corn over a bed of coals 145 "But, Norah, if you can't begin till you know how" 156 "I am so proud I want everybody to see my jam" 165 "This candy ought to be at least a dollar a pound" 231 Selling candy at the Christmas fair 241

THE FUN OF COOKING

CHAPTER I

THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS

The Blairs were a particularly nice family. That is what the neighbors always said of them, and, to tell the truth, the Blairs believed it. That is, the father and mother thought the children were particularly nice, and the children thought their father and mother and each other particularly nice; and so, of course, they all must have been very nice indeed.

Saturdays and Sundays and vacation days were all holidays to them, and they did such interesting things, and laughed so much as they did them, that everybody said, "What good times those Blairs do have!"

Jack and Mildred Blair were named after their father and mother, and Brownie, whose real name was Katharine, was named for her grandmother; so to avoid getting everybody mixed, the children were called the Junior Blairs by everybody.