At the Little Brown House

by Edward Stratemeyer

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE STATE FAIR CAKE

  "What are you doing with all that torn-up paper, Peace?" asked Allee,finding her sister busy stripping old papers into tiny shreds up in thebarn loft, after she had searched all over the place for her.

  "I want to make a map like Hope's class had to," answered Peace, pouringan apronful of scraps into a bucket of scalding water. "I asked her howshe did it, and she said they drew the maps first, and then mixed up alot of blotters in boiling water. I hunted all over the place forblotters, and couldn't find but four, so I'm trying these newspapers.They make an awful looking mess, but I guess they will work. You cantear paper if you want to."

  Allee took the hint, and accepting the magazine Peace offered her, shefell to pulling it to pieces, adding her mite to the mixture in thepail. "How many must you have?" she ventured to ask, after an hour atthis monotonous occupation.

  "I guess this will be enough," answered the older girl, criticallyexamining the nasty mess, and stirring it so energetically that a goodlyportion of it flew out of the bucket into her lap.

  "Have you drawn a map?" Allee inquired, looking around the dingy loft inquest of such an article.

  "No--o, I can't seem to get a good one. The first time I tried, itlooked like an elephant with two trunks, and the second time theMississippi River came out of the middle of Florida. In this lastpicture, the land is so fat there isn't any room for the ocean. But Ifound two old g'ographies in that heap of trash, and Gail said I couldhave them. So I've pulled out all the maps of the United States that Icould find, and now I'm ready to cut them out. Then we'll paste themonto that board and stick the paper _mush_ on top."

  "Why do you want so many all alike?" asked the inquisitive littlesister, watching the shining scissors snip in and out around capes andpeninsulas with painstaking care. "I should think you would make ac'lection of different maps like Hope has in her book."

  Peace paused to consider the suggestion, and then answered, "Well,that's something I hadn't thought about. It would be better to have themall different, wouldn't it? I'll just hunt up some others that aren'talike. _This_ United States one is too small, then; but maybe we can useit for something else. I'll finish cutting it out anyway, though we'llwant the biggest we can get for our paper _mush_."

  She finished snipping it out as carefully as she could in view of themany ragged coasts of our country, and laid it aside, while she choseanother larger one to be honored with the "_paper mush_" covering. Ittook a long time to complete all the maps selected--Europe, Asia,Africa, the Americas, and Australia--but at last they were finished; andAllee, the patient, joined in the sigh of satisfaction which escapedPeace's lips as she dropped the scissors from her cramped, tired hands.

  "Now we'll stick on the _mush_. Hold this map, Allee, so's it won'twiggle." She daubed on a great handful of the dirty gray pulp and triedto smooth it over the colored map surface, but evidently the paper hadnot soaked long enough, for it still held its own shape, and refusedutterly to form the paste Peace had watched Hope handle with such easeand success.

  "It doesn't stay very well, does it?" remarked Allee.

  "No, it doesn't!" snapped Peace in exasperation. "I shall not botherwith it any more. I'm tired of fooling with it when it acts like that.I'll throw it out and play with my corncob doll this morning."

  "Are you going to throw away all these nice maps that you have cut out,too?" asked Allee, as the angry girl flung down the wet newspaper scrapsand started for the house.

  Peace paused, surveyed the gorgeously colored heap which she had spentso long a time in preparing, and answered, "Well, I'll keep them awhile,for maybe some day we may want them again." Gathering them up, shedescended the ladder and marched off toward the kitchen, thoroughly outof patience with the whole world and with herself in particular.

  Through the open windows and door came savory smells of somethingcooking, and she quickened her steps, sniffing the air and saying,"Faith has been baking; maybe there are some dishes to lick. I wonder ifshe made any frosting. Mrs. Lacy always wants caramel, and I just lovethat."

  "Faith's cross like you are," warned Allee, following in her sister'ssteps, nevertheless.

  "Cakes always make her cross," answered Peace, ignoring her share of thecompliment. "Gail says it makes her nervous thinking p'r'aps the ovenwill be too hot or too cool, or the dough not just right, or something.But Faith hardly ever gets so cross that she won't let us clean out thepans."

  They entered the room in search of the cooking dishes it was so oftentheir privilege to scrape, but the warm kitchen was in spick and spanorder, with nothing of the kind in sight; and Allee suggested hopefully,"Maybe they are in the pantry."

  "And maybe Faith is, too," whispered Peace, cautiously opening the doorand peeping within. "No, she ain't, but she has made four big cakes.My! Don't they look fine? One choc'late loaf, two caramel layers, andone white square one. Looks like a graveyard with them all set even in arow, doesn't it? There ought to be three frosting pans to lick."

  "I don't see a single any," remarked Allee, poking into every nook andcranny in hope of finding their treat. "I guess she licked them allherself."

  "That's too mean of her," cried Peace, joining in the hunt with nobetter success. "She could have saved those dishes for us as well asnot. What have you found?"

  Allee at that moment had unearthed two mysterious little packages, andin trying to investigate one of them, she dropped it, and the bag'scontents were scattered all over the floor.

  "Candies!" gasped Peace. "Sh! Don't cry! I'll help you pick them up.They must be for Minnie Eastman's birthday cake. I s'pose that is thewhite frosted one. The candies aren't hurt a mite, Allee. Stopsnivelling. Let's see what is in that other sack. Sugar, green sugar!Looks poison, doesn't it? But it tastes all right. Oh, see what I'vedone! My little United States map fell right on top of the white cake."

  "It fits, too," gulped tearful Allee. "Looks as if it b'longed there."

  "It's going to b'long!" cried Peace with sudden decision. "I shall tracearound it with this pointed knife and then fix it up like Hope does her_paper mush_ maps. See, the frosting is soft enough to work easy."

  "You better not," Allen protested. "Faith might not like it."

  "Faith's tickled to death when she can find some new way of dec'ratingher cakes, and as this is Minnie's birthday cake she'll be awfullypleased, 'cause she got the highest mark in geography of anyone in theirroom, Hope says."

  As she talked, she wielded the sharp knife with surprisingly goodresults in tracing the ragged outlines of the map in the soft icing, andeven critical Allee was charmed when the paper was lifted, disclosingthe knife marks. "You have to put all those blue lines in, too, don'tyou?" she asked. "How can you do that?"

  Peace pondered. "Those are rivers and these brown smudges are mountains.I asked Hope once. They all ought to go in, but I'm afraid I can't drawstraight enough. Oh, I know what I'll do. Mrs. Strong uses pin-prickedpatterns for stamping Glen's dresses. I'll try that." Carefully,laboriously, she pricked in the rivers, mountains and state boundaries,mistaking the latter for railroads; and then drew back to survey herwork.

  "The pin marks don't show much, do they?" ventured Allee.

  "No, but I shan't leave them there anyway--not alone. We'll cover therailroads with these colored candies, and the rivers we'll make ofgreen sugar. They are blue on the map, but green and blue ain't muchdifferent, anyway. We'll jam down the ocean and cover that with green,too. These curly choc'late candies will make good mountains, and byheaping up the frosting we dug out of the ocean we'll have islands andlighthouses. Now, ain't that elegant?"

  "Oh, my precious State Fair cake!" cried a dismayed voice behind them,and before either guilty decorator could face the angry sister, theywere seized firmly by the shoulders, jerked through the doorway,vigorously shaken, each dealt a smart blow across their ears, and leftdazed and tearful in the middle of the kitchen, while the avenger rushedsobbing upstairs.

  Neither culprit had reco
vered her breath when Gail was upon them, notthe gentle sister they were accustomed to seeing, but a stern,indignant, justice-dealing judge.

  "Peace Greenfield," she said severely, "what have you done? Ruined thecake Faith has taken such pains with for the Fair!"

  "I--I thought it was Minnie's birthday cake. I--I just dec'rated it."

  "Just decorated it! What for? What business had you to touch it? Thatwas pure mischief and nothing else. She intended making a spray of rosesand green leaves on that cake and now you've spoiled it. Go sit down inyour little chairs and stay there until noon. For fear you will forgetabout staying there, I shall tie you in."

  "Oh, Gail, as if we were little kids!"

  "That is what you are when you meddle with things that don't belong toyou. I have talked until I am tired. You don't pay a bit of attention,so I must punish you some other way. Next time I shall send you to bed.Perhaps I better do that today."

  "Oh, Gail," sobbed miserable Peace, "I didn't mean to be bad, truly! Ithought Faith would like some new way to dec'rate her cakes. I--pleasedon't send us to bed! I'm awful sorry! Allee isn't to blame! She triedto make me leave it alone, didn't you, Babe?"

  "Yes," hiccoughed the equally penitent, but loyal young sinner, "andthen I helped dig up the rivers and pile on the mountains!"

  Gail's face relaxed a little; a great tenderness for these little orphansisters swept through her heart, and she felt herself relenting. ThenFaith's tragic despair rose before her inner vision again, and shehardened her heart, drew out some stout cord from the cupboard drawer,and tied the humiliated duet into their rickety, worn-out old rockers,leaving them to their unhappy thoughts while she went back to her workupstairs.

  For a long time, it seemed to them, they sat jogging back and forth inthe warm kitchen, mournfully dabbing their eyes and sniffing tearfully.Then Peace sat up, drew a deep, quivering breath, and said decisively,"I'm going to take that cake over to Mrs. Grinnell's--"

  "Gail said we had to stay here until noon," quavered Allee.

  "She said we had to sit in these _chairs_ till then," Peace corrected.

  "Well, that's the same thing. How can you go over to Mrs. Grinnell's andstay in your chair?"

  "Easy enough. I'll take it along. Gail didn't tie our hands."

  Allee gasped. "But you can't carry the cake, too!"

  "I'll put the cake in the big egg basket and you'll take hold on onehandle and I the other. That will leave us each a free hand to hold ontoour chairs with."

  "Oh!"

  "Will you do it?"

  "Course."

  With some difficulty they rose to their feet, made their way into thepantry once more and found the market basket; but it was another task toget the heavy cake into it, and they were almost in despair, whenPeace's fertile mind found a solution to the problem.

  "It's 'cause my chair keeps slipping that I can't do it," she said,after several vain attempts to lift the cake. "I have only one hand topick this heavy thing up with. Stick this piece of string through theback of my chair, Allee, and I'll tie it to the arms in front. There,that makes straps and holds the chair better. It cuts into yourshoulders, though, doesn't it? Never mind, it won't be so bad when weget started and can hold onto the chairs. Are you ready? Don't make anynoise, for Gail mustn't hear us."

  Slowly, cautiously, they tiptoed across the kitchen floor, letthemselves out, and with wildly beating hearts hurried, as fast as thebumping chairs tied to their backs would permit, toward the tiny redcottage where Mrs. Grinnell lived all alone. Owing to their burdens,they made slow progress, and both conspirators expected any moment tohear Gail in pursuit. But it chanced that the busy housekeeper was toomuch occupied in the front chambers to discover their absence, and theyreached the red house all out of breath, but without a mishap.

  "For the land sakes!" cried the plump, motherly woman, upsetting a panof apples in her surprise. "What are you young ones playing now?"

  "This isn't exactly a play," Peace answered. "We've spoiled Faith'sState Fair cake and now she ain't going to send it. I thought maybe youcould tell us some way to fix it up." She set down the basket, liftedthe paper covering and disclosed the queer, geographical decorations tothe woman's astonished gaze.

  "Well, now, if that ain't the cutest!" exclaimed the worthy lady ingenuine admiration. "Who'd ever have thought of putting the UnitedStates on a cake top but you, Peace Greenfield!"

  "I never _thought_ of it," answered the child honestly. "The map fellthere, it fitted and I scratched it in. Now it is spoiled for the Fairand Faith is bawling her eyes out."

  Mrs. Grinnell looked keenly at the two sober, tear-stained faces beforeher, guessed the rest of the story, and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.Then she laughed in childish delight. "Why, I've got the finest scheme,you ducklings! We will just do a little juggling, and I think Faith willstand a better chance for the blue ribbon than she would with this whitecake."

  "What do you mean?" faltered puzzled Peace.

  "Just this: I ordered a caramel layer of Faith for a little supper someof my people in the city are intending to give a niece of mine and herbeau. They are to be married next week. She is a school teacher, andthis cake will tickle her immensely. I'll just trot this in for thesupper, and we'll take the caramel layer to the Fair. According to mynotion of thinking, Faith's caramel cakes beat her others all hollow."

  "But--but--the caramel cakes haven't any red candy roses and greenleaves on them," stammered Peace.

  "They don't need them," said Mrs. Grinnell, scornfully. "Goodness knowsthey are pretty enough plain, and as for taste--they are the finest Iever ate, and I used to be a pretty good cake-maker myself when thechildren were at home and my husband living. Now, not a word to Faithabout this. Don't even tell Gail unless you have to. You better scamperfor home now before you are missed."

  So they shambled back to the close kitchen, with the chairs stillbumping and rubbing at every step, and were safely settled in theircorner once more before Gail had finished her Saturday sweeping anddusting above. When she came downstairs to prepare their simple lunchand found the geographical cake missing from the pantry shelf, shethought Faith had disposed of it in some way, and consequently asked noquestions, but released the sorry little sinners from their chairs, gavethem their dinner and sent them off to play.

  When red-eyed Faith put in appearance late that afternoon, ready todeliver the other three cakes to her customers, she looked stealthilyabout for the ruined white mound, and not finding it, decided that Gailhad hid it until her heavy disappointment should have eased somewhat;and she, too, asked no questions.

  At first she refused to accompany the sisters on their visit to thefairgrounds, but Peace's bitter misery softened her heart, and she went,though still too sorely grieved to enjoy much of the gay scenes andbeautiful exhibits. However, all day long she studiously avoided thebuilding where the cooked food was on exhibition, though Peace was wildto investigate its mysteries, and even Gail tried to persuade her toenter. Late in the afternoon, just as the oldest sister was proposingthat they start for home, Cherry caught sight of a familiar figureentering the Horticultural Building, and raced after her with a yell ofrecognition, "Mrs. Grinnell, Mrs. Grinnell, we are all here!"

  "Well, well," exclaimed the woman, smiling into the flushed face at herelbow, "this is great luck. Come, all of you! I have found something Iwant you to see. You, most of all, Faith."

  She led them down one street and up another, into a white doorway beforeany of them had a chance to discover the name of the building, through amaze of aisles and a surging throng of weary sightseers, and paused inthe cake department, pointed toward a blue-ribbon cake in one case, andsaid triumphantly, "Peace's geography cake was the hit of the eveninglast Saturday, but it took the caramel layer to win the prize, Faith!"