Molly’s enlarged circle of acquaintances enabled her to ask aid for poor Mrs. Gibbs; and several had subscribed small sums, which, put together, bought the poor soul fuel for a couple of months; and others who regretted inability to give money—having so many calls already—gladly sent to Molly odds and ends of food, fag ends of steak, the tops of mutton chops, etc., which, long and softly stewed and left till cold,—when the fat came off in a cake which made nice dripping for Mrs. Gibbs to fry mush or potatoes in,—then stewed again with onions and potatoes at some times, vegetables and barley at others, made a very appetizing dish; thus with a very little of Molly’s time and what would have been thrown away by one or two families, savory, nourishing food was provided for the destitute woman and children. Had the meat and vegetables been sent to Mrs. Gibbs herself, they would have done comparatively little good; they would have been fried, and the fat probably thrown away, and the tough meat eaten without relish. A large bread pudding, too, was made once a week; and, as it cost so little and was so good, Mrs. Lennox asked Molly for the recipe:—
Plain Bread Pudding.—Soak stale bread, crust and crumbs, in skimmed milk till soft; press out the milk, and beat the bread fine; add a table-spoonful of molasses, a tea-spoonful of ginger, and the third of a nutmeg to each quart of beaten bread; sweeten to taste; pare the yellow rind of an orange or lemon, or both, chop them fine, and add them with one or two cups of currants, according to the size of the pudding; put the whole into a pan, smooth it over the top, and strew it thickly with nice beef dripping or butter. Bake a three-quart pudding slowly four hours. Better cold than hot.
This pudding, if care is taken with the flavoring, will by no means taste poor. It is especially nice cut in slices and fried, or—in hot weather—eaten cold with milk or cream and sugar.
Mrs. Gibbs was getting now strong enough to do sewing, and one lady lent her a sewing-machine she was not using; Molly felt there was now some hope of her getting work enough to partly support her family.
Mrs. Lennox and Molly had often talked again over the advisability of the former getting help in her house, or not; Molly was strongly of the opinion that, as her health was before everything, it certainly was advisable and truly economical, but she did not venture to urge it, because she knew everything would depend on the kind of girl they would get; yet it seemed that any one with but two good qualities, willingness and strength, must be a great gain to a woman situated as her friend was.
“I do dread green girls, they generally are so stupid.”
“I confess they often are; so are those not green, only they conceal their stupidity better, and often add conceit to it; but it seems to me what you are in urgent need of is a pair of strong arms; if you get those, you can do without the brains, or supply them; you never stop to ask if the woman you hire to wash and iron is stupid or not, she simply does the work set for her; and if one pays a girl low wages, and she does just the work you show her, like a machine, every day instead of two days a week, won’t you be better off?”
“Yes. When I think of the matter like that, I see I should, even if I have to follow her round for a month or so.”
“Yes, you will be saving your muscles.”
“And I might then get time to think of my children’s minds as well as their bodies; my life is so sordid, I never read a line; and when Mr. Lennox reads to me I am sorry to say I am too pre-occupied to listen. It is a frightful waste of life.”
She sighed, and on the last of these conversations said: “Mrs. Bishop, I’ve resolved to try the experiment. I am not so afraid of the increased butcher bills since I have so many of your recipes.”
“I don’t believe you need be; but you can easily get an idea of what you will spend. I think it a good plan to write out a sort of list every week; it saves thinking each day what to have for dinner, and, of course, can be modified according to market prices. I limit myself to certain prices: and, if I find some articles dear one day, I can easily change; for instance, cauliflowers have been wonderfully cheap this fall, and twice I have got a small one—large enough for us two—for 10 cents; to-day I meant to have fried cauliflower, and found a very small one was 20 cents; of course I did not get it. You might draw up some sort of a list of provisions for a certain time, allowing for the extra person, and get a close idea of your probable expenses.”
“I wish you would help me.”
“I will, gladly.”
Later in the day, Mrs. Lennox came in much excited. “My dear! Mrs. Framley’s chambermaid has a sister expected to arrive from Ireland this very week, and she is trying to get a place for her; and I am tempted to try her. She is sixteen, and the sister says for the first three months she will let her live with nice people for very little.”
“I would by all means engage her if Mrs. Framley thinks well of the sister.”
“Yes. She says she is respectable and clean.”
“That’s about all one can hope for, and I think it is a fortunate chance.”
“I shall decide. Oh, think of my having another pair of working hands in my house: such a weight will be off my shoulders, and this saves me going to Castle Garden.”
Molly had decided to write her own bills of fare for the week, as it would save her thinking each day, and she could manage better, knowing beforehand all she would need. Accordingly, on the first of the month, she wrote out the following as her programme for the week’s dining. The breakfasts so often came out of the dinner that she did not need to make special arrangement:—