Hearts she made some tarts."

and,

"Little King Boggen he built a fine hall,
Pie-crust and pastry-crust that was the wall."

Again this ancient lore speaks of "Five and twenty blackbirds baked in a
pie," and, too, there was that child wonder, "Little Jack Horner" who,
with the same unerring instinct of a water wizard with a willow twig,
could, by the sole means of his thumb, locate and extricate, upon the
tip of the same, a plum from the Christmas pie.

American tarts and pies are in a class of their own. Pies were very
closely allied to pioneer, and the Colonial housewife of early days was
forced to concoct fillings out of sweetened vegetables, such as squash,
sweet potatoes, and even some were made of vinegar. Yet the children
still doted on these tempting tarts, pies and turnovers, for were they
not trotted in babyhood on a

"Cock horse to Banbury Cross,
To see what Tommy can buy:
A penny white loaf, a penny white cake,
And a two-penny apple pie."

The next time you have a few varieties of vegetables left over, or wish
a dainty luncheon side dish, try making a tray of vegetable tarts with
various fillings, and they will prove as fascinating to choose from as a
tray of French pastries.

While I have worked out these modern recipes in tempting ways of serving
left-overs using common vegetables, I will lay all pastry honors to our
fore-mothers, who passed on to us the art of pie-making. Proof as to the
harmlessness of pies in diet is shown in the fine constitution of our
American doughboy, who is certainly a great credit to the heritage of
pastry handed down by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The moral of this discourse is that, "The child is father of the man,"
and men dote on pies.

Potato Tarts a la Gratin

Line round muffin pans with pastry circles as for other preserve tarts,
and fill with the following:

Dice cold-boiled potatoes, season with salt and pepper, moisten with
white sauce, made of two tablespoonfuls of flour, two tablespoonfuls of
lard, one cup of milk, one-half a teaspoonful salt. Mix with this
grated cheese. Fill the shells and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake a
light brown.

Baked Onion Dumplings

Parboil medium-sized onions in salted water. Cut half way down in
quarters, add salt, butter, and pepper. Place each on a square of
biscuit dough or pastry, rolled thin. Bring together opposit