tnip and wormwood, for the
garret was darkish, and Prue's little nose was so full of the smell of
the onions she had been peeling, that everything smelt of them. Eager to
be of use, she pounded up the herbs and scattered the mixture with a
liberal hand into the bowl.

"It doesn't smell just right, but I suppose it will when it is cooked,"
said Tilly, as she filled the empty stomach, that seemed aching for
food, and sewed it up with the blue yarn, which happened to be handy.
She forgot to tie down his legs and wings, but she set him by till his
hour came, well satisfied with her work.

"Shall we roast the little pig, too? I think he'd look nice with a
necklace of sausages, as Ma fixed one last Christmas," asked Prue,
elated with their success.

"I couldn't do it. I loved that little pig, and cried when he was
killed. I should feel as if I was roasting the baby," answered Tilly,
glancing toward the buttery where piggy hung, looking so pink and pretty
it certainly did seem cruel to eat him.

It took a long time to get all the vegetables ready, for, as the cellar
was full, the girls thought they would have every sort. Eph helped, and
by noon all was ready for cooking, and the cranberry-sauce, a good deal
scorched, was cooling in the lean-to.

Luncheon was a lively meal, and doughnuts and cheese vanished in such
quantities that Tilly feared no one would have an appetite for her
sumptuous dinner. The boys assured her they would be starving by five
o'clock, and Sol mourned bitterly over the little pig that was not to be
served up.

"Now you all go and coast, while Prue and I set the table and get out
the best chiny," said Tilly, bent on having her dinner look well, no
matter what its other failings might be.

Out came the rough sleds, on went the round hoods, old hats, red cloaks,
and moccasins, and away trudged the four younger Bassetts, to disport
themselves in the snow, and try the ice down by the old mill, where the
great wheel turned and splashed so merrily in the summer-time.

Eph took his fiddle and scraped away to his heart's content in the
parlor, while the girls, after a short rest, set the table and made all
ready to dish up the dinner when that exciting moment came. It was not
at all the sort of table we see now, but would look very plain and
countrified to us, with its green-handled knives and two-pronged steel
forks; its red-and-white china, and pewter platters, scoured till they
shone, with mugs and sp