e of Sibylla: "Chickens
must possess some little intelligence; they know enough to go to bed
early. Yes, and without an 'alarm clock,' too, Sibylla, eh?"

She walked away without a word to Fritz. The alarm clock was a sore
subject with her, and one about which she had nothing to say. Sibylla
had never quite forgiven Fritz for the prank played on her. He,
happening to hear John Landis tell Sibylla a certain hour he thought a
proper time for Jake Crouthamel to take his departure Sunday evenings,
Fritz conceived the brilliant (?) idea of setting the alarm clock to
"go off" quite early in the evening. He placed the clock at the head
of the stairs, and in the midst of an interesting conversation between
the lovers the alarm sounded with a loud, whizzing noise, which
naturally made quick-tempered Sibylla very angry. She said on seeing
Fritz the next morning: "It was not necessary to set the 'waker' to go
off, as I know enough to send 'Chake' home when it's time."

Fritz, happening to tell the story to the editor of a small German
Mennonite paper, edited in a near-by town, it was printed in that
paper in German, which caused Sibylla, on hearing it, to be still more
angry at the Professor's son.

CHAPTER XXVII.

"A POTATO PRETZEL."

In the early part of September Mary's Aunt suggested she try to win
the prize offered at the Farmers' Picnic in a near-by town for the
best "Raised Potato Cake." Aunt Sarah's rye bread invariably captured
first prize, and she proposed sending both bread and cake with Sibylla
and Jake, who never missed picnic or fair within a radius of one
hundred miles.

[Illustration: "POTATO PRETZEL"]

Mary set a sponge the evening of the day preceding that of the picnic,
using recipe for "Perfection Potato Cake," which Aunt Sarah considered
her best recipe for raised cakes, as 'twas one used by her mother for
many years.

On the day of the picnic, Mary arose at five o'clock, and while her
Aunt was busily engaged setting sponge for her loaf of rye bread, Mary
kneaded down the "potato cake" sponge, set to rise the previous
evening, now rounded over top of bowl and light as a feather.

She filled a couple of pans with buns, molded from the dough, and set
them to rise. She then, under her Aunt's direction, fashioned the
"Pretzel" as follows: She placed a piece of the raised dough on a
large, well-floured bake board, rolled it over and over with both
hands until a long, narrow roll or strip was for