much, and twelve wouldn't make the least difference!'

"Well, but mother wanted to know what I could give them for sauce. The dried apples were all gone, and she couldn't let me have any preserves; she was keeping those for sickness.

"I said I would give them some molasses. I liked molasses, and thought everybody else did.

"Mother smiled.

"'But if I let you have a party,' said she, 'you can't do your knitting. You know I'm in a hurry for you to finish father's socks.'

"That was what made me think of turning it into a knitting-work party. I spoke up in a moment, and said I,—

"'O mother! if you'll only let me have it, I'll ask all the girls to bring their knitting-work, and then we'll measure yarns! O, won't that be grand? And, when we get our stints done, we'll go out and play in the barn. We won't trouble you one speck.'

"'Well, Polly,' said mother, 'I've a great mind to say yes; for that sounds to me like a very sensible kind of a party; and will be setting a good example too. Yes, you may have it, if your sisters are willing to show you how to cook, and you won't make me any trouble.'

"You may depend I was pleased. I skipped off to the kitchen in great glee, and danced about the kneading-trough, where sister Judith was mixing brown-bread, crying out,—

"'I'm going to have a knitting-work party, Judy, and cook it myself! Give me a pan and a spoon!'

"My eldest sister, Sally, was pounding spices in a mortar; and I remember Judith turned to her, and said,—

"'Now, Sally, you don't suppose mother is going to let that child bother round?'

"'O, I shan't bother,' said I. 'I'm only going to make gingerbread and cup-custards. 'Twill be very easy!'

"Sally laughed,—she was very good-natured,—and told me to run out to the barn for some eggs. While I was gone, I suppose she and Judith talked the matter over, and thought they would keep me out of the kitchen; for, as soon as I came back, they sent me off to give my invitations.

"'We'll do the cooking,' said Sally; 'but you may set the table yourself, and wait upon your little girls. We will not see them at all.'

"I ran off, happy enough; and I have thought a great many times since, how kind it was in Sally and Judith to leave their work to do that baking for me. They were good sisters, certainly.

"I had a grand time that morning, going from house to house, asking my friends to my knitting-work party. Everybody was delighted; and everybody came, of course, and got there by two o'clock, or earlier.

"Mother left her quilting long enough to put marks with red worsted into each little girl's knitting-work.

"'There,' said she, 'at four o'clock I will come to see which has beat. I must be the one to judge; for there is a difference in your yarn,—some is coarse and some is fine; and we must be fair about it.'

"'O, yes'm,' said the girls; 'we want to be fair.'

"'Well, now I'll leave you,' said mother; 'and I hope you'll have a nice time.'

"And we did, for awhile. As we sat busy with our knitting, we heard now and then the tender bleating of a lamb in the barn,—how well I remember that!

"'That's my cosset,' said I. 'She hasn't any mother, you know. I'll show her to you, girls, when we get our knitting done.'

"Persis Russell 'didn't see the use of waiting,' she said. 'Why couldn't we run out and look, and right back again?'

"Just then the lamb began to bleat louder, and in a very beseeching tone, as if he felt lonesome and wanted company. It seemed to touch the girls' hearts; and they sprang up, and started for the door—all but me.

"'Well, run along if you want to,' said I, 'I'll come in a minute.'

"'But you mustn't stay here and keep on knitting,' said they; 'that wouldn't be fair.'

"'I don't mean to keep on knitting. I won't knit another stitch; but I want to sweep up the hearth,' said I.

"As I spoke, I dared not look anybody in the face, for a dreadfully wicked thought had come into my head.

"If I could only pick out the mark mother had put in my work, and sew in another lower down! A black satin bag was hanging on a nail by the window; and in the bottom of the bag was a needlebook with the very needle and red worsted mother had used to sew in the marks!

"The girls ran out, and I seized that needle—O, how thick and fast my heart beat! It was as much as I could do to make the stitch, my fingers trembled so. But I did it. I put in the mark almost an inch below the right place, and picked out the first mark with a pair of scissors. Then I swept up the hearth a little bit, and went out to the girls.

"They were so delighted with the lamb that they scarcely looked at me; if they had, they must have seen something strange in my face.

"'Come, girls,' said I, speaking very fast, 'let's go right back and knit; and, when it's four o'clock, we'll come back here and play Ring Round Rosy, and every thing else.'

"They were willing enough to go back; and for half an hour our fingers flew fast; but I took good care not to let any one see the mark in my stocking.

"Just as the clock in the kitchen struck four, mother came in with a pleasant smile for all the little girls; and they brought their knitting-work along to her with blushing faces, for children in those days were more bashful than they are now. Mother took the thirteen pieces of knitting-work, and laid them down together. Little Polly Lane had knit the least of any one, which was not strange, for she was the youngest. Nancy Shaw came next; then Ellen Rice and Phebe Snow. Persis Russell was the oldest, and known to be a very 'smart' girl. Her stocking was seamed, and she had knit a longer piece than Mary Jane Cullen;—another 'smart' girl;—but, strange to say, Flaxie, not a single one had done as well as your little grandmother! Mother was surprised: she had not supposed I could knit as fast as Persis Russell, who was twelve years old; but here was my stocking right before her; it was finer than Persis's, and the mark was half an inch lower down!

"'Well, I didn't expect this,' said mother; 'but I shall have to give it up that Polly has beat. You may come here and see for yourselves!'

"The girls looked, and some of them could not help feeling disappointed. I know Mary Jane Cullen had thought if anybody beat her it would be Persis Russell; and Persis knew her fingers had moved faster than mine; yet I had got ahead of them both!

"You may be sure I was very modest, and did not put on any airs. I felt rather sober in spite of my victory. We played noisy games for an hour, and then I said I must go in and set the table, for this was my party. I didn't say I had done the cooking, but I was quite willing they should think I had. When supper was ready I called the girls in, and asked Persis Russell to sit at one end of the table while I sat at the other and poured the tea. It was currant-leaf tea, and wouldn't have kept a baby awake. Then Persis passed the bread, and asked if I made it, and I had to say, 'no.'

"'And you didn't make the gingerbread, either, I suppose,' said she; and I had to say 'no' again, 'I only stirred it.'

"Persis felt better when she heard that. I wasn't the smartest girl in the town of Concord after all.

"'Who made the custards?' asked she.

"'Well, Sally made those,' said I; 'but I hunted up the