ttle, if it falls down, more meal must be added; but if the pudding is
sufficiently thick and adhesive to support the spoon in a vertical
position, it is declared to be _proof_, and no more meal is added."

Then he goes on to teach them how to eat it. "The manner in which
hasty-pudding is eaten, with butter and sugar or molasses, in America,
is as follows: the hasty-pudding being spread out equally on a plate,
while hot, an excavation is made in the middle with a spoon, into which
excavation a piece of butter as large as a nutmeg is put, and upon it a
spoonful of brown sugar, or, more commonly, molasses. The butter being
soon melted by the heat of the pudding, mixes with the sugar or
molasses, and forms a sauce, which being confined in the excavation
made for it, occupies the middle of the plate. The pudding is then eaten
with a spoon; each spoonful of it being dipped into the sauce before it
is conveyed to the mouth; care being taken in eating it to begin on the
outside, or near the brim of the plate, and to approach the centre by
regular advances, in order not to demolish too soon the excavation which
forms the reservoir for the sauce."

A great man must be very benevolent and humble to condescend to instruct
the poor classes in raising potatoes and making hasty-pudding. The fact
magnifies the worth of the man.

"Well, Nat, how did you like the address?" inquired his mother, after
they reached home.

"Very much indeed," answered Nat. "I had no idea that the address was to
be about Count Rumford. He makes me think of Dr. Franklin."

"You see that it is not necessary for a boy to have a rich father to buy
him an education," continued his mother. "Where there is a will there is
a way."

"I couldn't help laughing," said Nat, "to think of that great man
teaching the people how to make hasty-pudding. I declare, I mean to draw
a picture of him stirring a kettle of pudding."

His mother was quite amused at this remark and responded,

"I think the lecturer was right, when he said that such a condescending
act by one so high in honor as Count Rumford, was a proof of his
greatness. You remember that he said, 'a truly great man will do any
thing necessary to promote the interests of his fellow-men.'"

Much more was said about the address, which we have not time to
rehearse, and on the following morning, as Nat met Charlie at the
factory, the latter remarked,

"What a fine lecture that was last night!"

"Yes," Nat rep