Willie Biggs
'At fell down his stairs one day, an' give him crooked legs,
'Cuz Willie always seems to know w'en our girl's goin' to bake.
He wouldn't ast for none. Oh, no! But, my! he's fond of cake.

So I went back an' 'en I got another one for me,
Right out the kittle smokin' hot, an' brown as it could be;
An' John he got one, too, becuz he give his own to Clare,
An' w'en our girl she looked, there wuz 'ist two small doughnuts
there.

My! she wuz angry w'en she looked an' saw 'ist them two there,
An' says she knew 'at she had cooked a crock full an' to spare;
She says it's awful 'scouragin' to bake and fret an' fuss,
An' w'en she thinks she's got 'em in the crock, they're all in us.

[Footnote A: The poem "Doughnutting Time," from "Boys and Girls,"
published by E.P. Dutton, by permission of the author, James W.
Foley.]

* * * * * * *

The Professor's wife gave Mary what she called her most useful recipe.
She said, "Mary, this recipe was almost invaluable to me when I was a
young housekeeper and the strictest economy was necessary. Sift into a
bowl, one cup of flour, one even teaspoonful of baking powder (I use
other baking powders occasionally, but prefer 'Royal'), then cut
through the flour either one tablespoonful of butter or lard, add a
pinch of salt, and mix into a soft dough with about one-half cup of
sweet milk. Mix dough quickly and lightly, handling as little as
possible. Drop large spoonfuls of the batter in muffin pans and bake
in a quick oven for tea biscuits; or, sift flour thickly over the
bread board, turn out the dough, roll several times in the flour, give
one quick turn with the rolling-pin to flatten out dough, and cut out
with small cake cutter, (I prefer using a small, empty tin, 1/2 pound
baking powder can, to cut out cakes.) Place close together in an agate
pan and bake, or bake in one cake in a pie tin and for shortcake; or
place spoonfuls of the dough over veal or beef stew and potatoes or
stewed chicken, and cook, closely covered, about fifteen minutes. Of
course, you will have sufficient water in the stew pan to prevent its
boiling away before the pot-pie dumplings are cooked, and, of course,
you know, Mary, the meat and potatoes must be almost ready to serve
when this dough is added. Then I frequently add one teaspoonful of
sugar to the batter and place spoonfuls over either freshly stewed or
canned sour cherries, plums, rhubarb