Text 3 At the Kitchen

(A Mother to Her Daughter)

I need your help badly, Mary. There is so much to do for to-night’s party – a salad to be prepared, various pies and cakes to be backed, a goose to be roasted, and a heap of other things to be cooked. Please get the mincing machine down from the rack and mince this bit of meat while I am scraping and slicing the carrots.

Will you peel these potatoes and onions? I’ll make some potato chips and you set up the rest of the potatoes to boil. When they are soft, mash them with butter. So, we’ll have mashed potatoes and vegetables with meat. Now, please clear the peelings off the table.

My! Isn’t there a smell of meat burning? I believe the goose in the oven! For goodness’ sake, get it out, quick!

What a relief! I’ve never yet had such a perfect roast, well-done all over, a beautiful golden brown. It makes one’s mouth water just to look at it.

Won’t you please get me the baking sheet. We’ll bake a layer-cake and a pie with jam filling. I’ll beat the eggs for the dough. Look, the rice is boiling over, turn the gas down a little, will you? Please stir the rice to prevent it from sticking.

Now, be a good girl and whip the whites of these eggs. Here is some powdered sugar to mix with the whites when you are through… That’s about all, I think. Thank you, dear, you’ve been a great help to me. Only put the fish jelly and the salad with mayonnaise into the refrigerator, and then you may be free till evening.

Text 4 Mr. Jones’ Visit

Mr. Jones wrote to his brother Robert: “Would you like to come to the country with us on Sunday? We have a good cook and I think you’ll have a good time and good food. I’ll meet you at the bus.”

Robert was a shy man. He did not like to cause trouble to others, but he came. The bus arrived late in the evening on Saturday evening. Mr. and Mrs. Jones had already had supper but Robert had not even had time for lunch, but he was too shy to say so. He said he had eaten a good supper before he took the bus and was not hungry. He was so tired after the bus ride that he slept late on Sunday morning.

“Don’t forget to give Robert a good breakfast”, Mrs. Jones said to the cook. But the cook forgot, and Robert was too shy to ask her. They spent half of the day in the open air and arrived back at 2 o’clock. “We aren’t going to eat until 4 o’clock because we had such a large breakfast,” Mr. Jones said to Robert. “Would you like to go swimming?” “No, I don’t think so,” Robert said. “In fact, I don’t feel very well. I haven’t felt good for several hours.” Mr. Jones got worried and insisted that Robert should see a doctor. Robert didn’t want to cause any trouble, but they went.

The doctor could not discover the trouble. The doctor said the symptoms Robert had were sometimes the result of wrong food. “You’d better not eat much supper,” he said to Robert. Robert was too weak to protest. The cook gave him some thin soup for supper.

He said good-bye to his brother at 8 o’clock, and immediately ate two meals, one after the other, in a restaurant. While he ate, he wrote a note to thank his brother for a good time. “I had fun,” he wrote while he ate a second dessert. “You’re lucky to have such a good cook. I shall never forget her meals.”