Carolyn Wells

“ The fair scullery-maid can sit at my right hand, in case I need her assistance; Nan and Daisy next; then Millicent, at Marjorie's right, and then Helen and Hester; and there you are!"
There they were indeed, and a merrier crowd never sat down to feast.
"We have n't any pastry," said Helen, when it was time for dessert. "I thought ripe fruit would do as well."
"Yes, indeed," said Marjorie. "I love pears—oh!" And simultaneously Betty made a wry face and left the table. ”

“ Millicent was putting away the groceries that were piled on the table in the outer kitchen, or buttery, as Hester called it, and she replied:
"Oh, I would ornament any calling; but when I see these candles and kerosene, it makes me just long to fill the lamps and candlesticks, 'cause it's going to get dark pretty soon."
"You 're a wise virgin," said Betty, "and you shall ever be our honored Lamplighter. I suppose I must peel these potatoes. How many, Duchess?"
"Two apiece," replied Marjorie. ”

“ Oh, yes, and I owe Marjorie thirty-six cents that she paid to the butter-and-egg lady—I mean the club owes it. But I guess I can straighten it all out."
"You ought to have one of those smart cash-registers," said Millicent. "You just play on it with your fingers, and it rings a bell and counts your money for you."
"I wish I had one," said Marguerite, who was beginning to be mathematically bewildered. "But I 'll be all right if you girls will let me alone."
"We will, we will," said Hester. ”

“ CHAPTER IV. ANNALS OF HILARITY HALL. Again Marjorie rapped on the table with her iron spoon.
"As none of you seem to offer any suggestions," she went on, as if she had not been interrupted at all, "I will lay down the law. Hester, you 're Stoker. The coal and wood has come. Now see if you can make a fire that shall be worthy of one whom England expects this day to do her duty!"
"Ay, ay!" said Hester, bringing her hand to her temple, palm forward, with the quick, jerky salute of a British marine. "Helen, you and Jessie might set the table ”

“ I don't mind washing the dishes, and if we all fly round, we 'll have things in order in no time."
They did fly round, and in very little more than no time things were in order, and the eight girls, feeling very proud of their tidy kitchen, gathered round Hester's wood fire in the Grotto, as Millicent persisted in calling the parlor. And then Uncle Ned and Aunt Molly came over to call, and were nearly talked to death by the enthusiastic eight, who were delighted to have some one to "tell things to." ”

“ They gain their much-desired retreat.
"Now we come to the account of the 'Truly-Awful Encounter with the Greedy Grocer.'
"If it is n't all quite true, you must remember that we poets must often sacrifice veracity to the demands of poetic diction." ”