CHAPTER XII
PUMPKIN PIE
"Oh, Hal!" murmured Mab, as she looked at the queer sticks the farmer hadbrought. "It does seem like a whip! I wonder if Daddy is going to whipRoly-Poly for getting in the mole trap?"
"Of course not!" laughed Hal. "Daddy never whips Roly anyhow, exceptsometimes to tap him on the nose with his finger when our poodle doessomething a little bad. Daddy would never use this big wooden whip,anyhow."
"The farmer-man said he was bringing it to Daddy to whip my beans," wenton Mab. "I wonder what he means?"
Just then Daddy Blake himself came on the front stoop.
"Ah, so you have brought the flail?" he asked the farmer.
"Yes, and your little boy and girl here were afraid it was to use on theirpet dog!" laughed the farmer, "I guess they never saw a flail before."
"I hardly think they did," said Mr. Blake. "But next year I intend to takethem to a farm where they will learn many more things than I could teachthem from just a garden."
"Daddy, but what is a flail?" asked Mab.
"A flail," said Mr. Blake, "is what the farmers used to use beforethreshing machines were invented. And I had Mr. Henderson bring this onefrom his farm to thresh out your beans, Mab, as we haven't enough to needa machine, even if we could get one."
"What does thresh mean?" asked Hal.
"It means to beat, or pound out," his father explained. "You see wheat,oats, barley, rye and other grains, when they grow on the stalks in thefield, are shut up in a sort of envelope, or husk, just as a letter issealed in an envelope. To get out the letter we have to tear or break theenvelope. To get at the good part of grain--the part that is good toeat--we have to break the outer husk. It is the same way with peas orbeans.
"When they are green we break the pods by hand and get out the peas orbeans, but when they are dried it is easier to put a pile of pods on awooden floor and beat them with a stick. This breaks the envelopes, orpods and the dried peas or beans rattle out. They fall to the bottom, andwhen the husks and vines are lifted off, and the dirt sifted out, thereare our beans or peas, ready to eat after being cooked.
"The stick with which the beating is done is called a flail. One part isthe handle, and the other part, which is fastened to the handle by aleather string, is called a swingle, or swiple, because it swings throughthe air, and beats down on the bean or pea pods.
"In the olden days wheat, rye and oats were threshed this way on a barnfloor, and in the Bible you may read how sometimes oxen were driven aroundon the piles of grain on the threshing floor, so that they might tread outthe good kernels from the husks, or envelopes that are not good to eat.But I'll tell you more about that when we get on the farm."
"When are we going to beat out my beans?" asked Mab.
"In a week or so, as soon as they get dried well, and are ripe enough sothat they are hard, we will flail, or thresh them," answered Daddy Blake."I am going to thresh some peas, too, to have them dried for this Winter."
Farmer Henderson left the flail which he had made for Daddy Blake, and Haland Mab looked at it. They could whirl it around their heads, but theirfather told them to be careful not to hurt one another.
"I'm going to thresh some peas!" cried Hal.
"And I'll use it on my beans so I can get the ten dollar gold prize!"cried Mab.
There were busy times in the Blake home for the next few weeks, for therewas much canning to be done, so that the vegetables raised in the gardenduring the Summer would keep to be eaten in the Winter.
"For that," said Daddy Blake, "is why Uncle Sam, which is another name forour government, wants us to grow things out of the earth. It is so thatthere may be plenty of food for all."
So tomatoes were canned, or made into ketchup and chili sauce, while somewere used green in pickles. Aunt Lolly brought into the house the cucumberwhich had grown inside the glass bottle. It was the exact shape of theglass flask, and when this had been broken the cucumber even had on itsside, in white letters, the name of the drug firm that made the bottle.For the name had been painted black by Aunt Lolly and as the rays of thesun could not go through the black paint the cucumber was white in thoseplaces and green all over elsewhere. The children's cucumbers also grew tofunny shapes in their bottles.
Mother Blake, with Mab and Hal to help, pulled up her carrots, of whichshe had a good crop. The long yellow vegetables, like big ice cream cones,Uncle Pennywait said, were stored in a dark place in the cellar.
"You have a fine crop of carrots," said Daddy Blake.
"Do you think I'll win the prize?" asked his wife.
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised," he answered.
"Oh, if she should!" exclaimed Hal to his sister.
"Well," spoke Mab, with a long sigh, "of course I'd like to have that tendollar gold piece MYSELF, but we ought to want MOTHER to have it, too."
"Of course," said Hal, and then he went out to look at his corn. It hadgrown very tall, and there were ears on every stalk. Much had been eatenduring the Summer, boiled green, and sweet and good it was. Mother Blakehad canned some plain corn, and had also put away more, mixed with limabeans, making succotash as the Indians used to do.
Daddy Blake soon began to dig the late potatoes, which would be kept downcellar in the dark to be eaten as they were needed during the long Winter.
"And I think we'll have enough to last us until Spring," he said, "andperhaps have some for seed. Our garden has been a great success, even ifthe hail did spoil some things and bugs and worms part of other crops."
The potatoes were really Uncle Pennywait's crop--at least he had plantedmost of them and called them his, for the tomatoes were Daddy Blake's. AndUncle Pennywait kept careful count of every quart and bushel of thepotatoes that were eaten, or put away for Winter.
"Because I want that ten dollar prize," he said.
Hal and Mab looked at one another anxiously.
"Who would win it?" they wondered.
Finally there were some cold, sharp frosts, so that the tomato and othervines were all shriveled up when Hal and Mab went out to the garden tolook at them.
"Oh, Daddy! Will they straighten up again?" they asked.
"No. Their work is done. We shall have to plant new seeds to make newvines, but we shall have to wait until Spring comes again. The earth issoon going to sleep for the Winter, when nothing will grow in it. But itis time to get in your corn and beans, children. You must cut your yellowcorn, Hal, and the other kind, too, and let the ears get dry, ready forhusking."
"What other kind of corn, Daddy?" Hal asked.
"Come and I'll show you," his father said.
Mr. Blake led the way down to the corn patch of the garden. At the end heplucked an ear of corn, stripped away the half dried husk, and showed Haland Mab some sharp-pointed kernels.
"That's the kind of corn that pops," said the children's father. "I soweda few hills for you without saying anything. I wanted it as a surprise."
"And will it really pop?" asked Hal, his eyes shining.
"Try some and see," advised Daddy Blake. And later, when the ears ofpopcorn had dried, and the kernels were shelled into the popper and shakenover the fire, they burst out into big, white bunches like snow flakes.
"What makes pop-corn?" asked Hal.
"Well the heat of the fire turns into steam the water that is inside thekernel of corn," said Mr. Blake. "Though you can not see it, there iswater in corn, beans and all vegetables, even when they are dry."
"And, as I have told you before, when water gets too hot it turns intosteam, and the gas or vapor, for that is what steam is, grows very big, asif you blew up a balloon, so that the steam bursts whatever it is insideof, unless the thing that holds it is very strong. Steam can even burstcannon balls, so you see it can easily burst, or pop the corn.
"Then, as the kernel bursts it puffs out and quickly dries into queershapes by the heat of the fire. It is white because the inside of corn isreally white, though the outside husk looks rather yellow sometimes."
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nbsp; So part of Hal's pop corn crop made something nice to eat during the longWinter evenings. But before those evenings came Hal and Mab had harvestedall the things in the garden, with the help of their father and mother,Uncle Pennywait and Aunt Lolly.
"We must get in the pea and bean vines," said Daddy Blake when he saw whata hard frost there had been. "Then we'll thresh them on the barn floor andit will be time soon, Hal, to husk your corn and bring in Aunt Lolly'spumpkins."
For about a dozen big yellow pumpkins were growing amid the stalks ofcorn, and very pretty they looked in the cool, crisp mornings, when thecorn had turned brown from the frost.
Hal's father showed him how the farmers cut off a hill of the corn stalks,close to the ground, stacking them up in a little pile called a "shock."They were allowed to stand there until the wind and sun had dried thehusks on the corn.
"Now we'll husk the corn," said Daddy Blake, after the peas and beans hadbeen stored in the barn to dry until they were ready to be threshed orflailed.
He showed Hal and Mab how to strip back the dried husk, and break it off,together with the part of the stalk to which the ear of corn is fastenedwhen it is growing. It was hard work, and the two children did not do muchof this, leaving it for the older folk.
But they took turns using the flail, and thought this great fun. On a bigcloth, on the floor of the barn, were spread the dried bean vines that hadbeen pulled from Mab's part of the garden. Then the swinging end of theflail was whacked down on the dried vines and pods. Out popped the whitebeans as the pods were broken, and when the flail had been used longenough Daddy Blake lifted up the vines and crushed, dried pods, and therewas left a pile of white beans.
"Oh, what a lot of them!" cried Mab, when they had been sifted, cleanedand put away. There were about two bushels of the dried, white beans,enough to last all Winter, baked or made into soup.
Some dried peas were threshed out also, but not so many of them, and theycould be cooked soft again, after they were soaked in water. Then Hal'syellow corn was piled into two bushel baskets, and there were some of theears left over.
As for Uncle Pennywait's potatoes, there were nearly ten bushels of themstored away down cellar, and Aunt Lolly had more than a dozen yellowpumpkins, one very big. Mother Blake's carrots measured over a barrel andthere were many, many cans filled with Daddy Blake's tomatoes.
"Now who won the prize?" asked Mab, as she looked at her bushels of beansand then at Hal's corn. "Did Hal or did I?"
"Well," slowly said her father, "I think you both did so well, and youraised, each one, such fine crops, nearly the same in amount, that I'llhave to give two prizes!"
"Two prizes!" cried Hal.
"Yes," went on his father. "Instead of dividing this one I'll makeanother. I brought another ten dollar gold piece from the bank to-day, andhere is the first one," and he held up the two, shining, yellow pieces ofmoney.
"Here is one for you, Hal," went on Daddy Blake, "and one for you, Mab,"and he handed the children their prizes. "And how did you like being takento the garden, instead of after flowers or to the woods?"
"It was fine!" cried Hal, looking eagerly at his golden prize.
"And we learned so much," added Mab. "I never knew, before, how manythings can grow in the ground."
"Oh, you are just beginning to learn them," said her father. "Wait untilyou go to the farm."
"What about my prize?" asked Aunt Lolly with a laugh. "I'm sure mypumpkins will more than fill two bushel baskets."
"Perhaps they will," said Daddy Blake. "Well, I'll give you a prize forthe first pumpkin pie you bake, Aunt Lolly. And Uncle Pennywait shall havea prize for his potatoes, while as for Mother--well we'll each give her aprize for the many good meals she got for us while we were working in thegarden, and she'll get a special prize for her carrots, which will giveyou children red cheeks this Winter."
"Hurray!" cried Mab.
"Hurray!" echoed Hal. "It's better than Fourth of July."
A few days after this, when all the vegetables had been gathered in fromthe garden, which was now sear and brown because of heavy frosts, Mab andHal heard their aunt calling them.
"Maybe she has some lollypops," said Hal.
"Let's go see," cried Mab.
"Here is something you may have for Hallowe'en which comes to-morrownight," said Aunt Lolly, and she pointed to a large pumpkin. "There'll beenough without this," she went on, "and I promised you one for aJack-O'Lantern."
"Oh, won't it be fun to make one!" cried Hal.
Aunt Lolly showed them how to cut the top off the big pumpkin, leavingpart of the vine for a handle, so that it could be lifted off and put onlike a lid. Then the pumpkin was scooped out from the inside, so thateyes, a nose and mouth could be cut through the shell.
"To-morrow night you can put a lighted candle inside, and set it on thefront porch for Hallowe'en," said Aunt Lolly, when the pumpkin lantern wasfinished.
The afternoon of Hallowe'en Hal and Mab, who were helping Daddy Blake rakeup some of the dead vines in the garden, heard Sammie Porter crying ontheir front stoop.
"What's the matter?" asked Hal, running around the corner of the house.
"Oh-o-o-o-o!" cried Sammie. "Look at the pumpkin face!" and he pointed tothe Jack-O'lantern into which the candle had not yet been put. "It'salive!" cried Sammie. "Look, it's rollin'!"
And so the scooped-out pumpkin was moving! It was rolling to and fro onthe porch and, for a moment, Hal and Mab did not know what to think. Then,all of a sudden, they heard a noise like:
"Bow-wow! Ki-yi!"
"Oh, it's Roly-Poly!" exclaimed Mab.
"He's in the pumpkin," shouted Hal.
And so the little poodle dog was. He had crawled inside the big, hollowedlantern, while the lid was off, and had gone to sleep inside. Then AuntLolly, as she said afterward, came out, and, seeing the top off thepumpkin-face, had put it on, for fear it might get lost. Thus, not knowingit, she had shut Roly-Poly up inside the Jack-O'lantern and he had sleptthere until he felt hungry and awakened. Then he wiggled about, making thepumpkin move and roll over the stoop as if it were alive.
"Oh, what a funny little dog!" cried Mab, as she cuddled him up in herarms, when she took him from the pumpkin.
"He's a regular Hallowe'en dog!" laughed Hal.
That night Mr. Jack-of-the-lantern looked very funny as he grinned at Hal,Mab and the other Hallowe'en frolic-makers who passed the Blake stoop. Thecandle inside him blazed brightly, shining through his eyes, nose andthrough his mouth with the pumpkin-teeth.
"A garden makes fun, and it makes good things to eat," said Hal.
"I wonder what we'll see when Daddy takes us to the farm?" spoke Mab.
"It will be fun, anyhow," went on Hal. "We always have fun when we goanywhere with Daddy!"
And now, as the children's garden is finished, and all the vegetables aresafely put away for the Winter, this book comes to an end. But there willbe another soon, which I hope you will like. And, for a time, I'll say"good-bye!"
THE END
The next volume in this series will be called: "Daddy Takes Us To TheFarm."