"Now you see the nice thing about this rule is, that any sort of cold meat will do to use, and if you have bits of two or more kinds, you can use them together. There are those beefsteak ends; all you have to do is to follow your rule, and they will make as good sandwiches as anything else."
"But, Mother, if you had nice roast-beef slices, you would not chop those up, would you?"
"No, indeed! I would make sandwiches of plain bread and butter and put the slices of meat in by themselves. But chopped meat makes better sandwiches than slices of meat between bread."
"But what do you make sandwiches out of if you don't use meat? I think plain bread and butter is horrid for lunches."
"Oh, there are plenty of other things to use; see, here are your next rules:"
1 hard-boiled egg, chopped fine. 1 teaspoonful of oil. 3 drops of vinegar. 1 pinch of salt. 1 shake of pepper.
Spread thin buttered brown bread with cream cheese; sprinkle with a very little salt and pepper. Sometimes add chopped nuts for a change.
Spread some very thin white bread; lay on a leaf of lettuce; sprinkle with a very little oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, as in the egg sandwiches.
Drain off all the oil from a little tin of sardines; skin each fish, take out the bones, and mash smoothly, adding a teaspoonful of lemon juice; spread on white buttered bread.
"And then, when you have no cake or cookies for lunch, you can have two or three sandwiches with meat and two more like these:"
Spread buttered bread with a very little jam or jelly; or with chopped dates or figs; or with scraped maple sugar; or with chopped raisins and nuts; or with a thick layer of brown sugar.
"Those are just as good as cake, and better, I think," said Mother Blair, as Mildred finished copying them all down. "And now, what comes next in a lunch, after sandwiches?"
"Yes, sometimes, but not always. What else can you think of that would be nice?"
Mildred said she thought gingerbread might be good, or perhaps doughnuts; but she could not think of anything else.
"Oh, I can think of ever so many things," said her mother. "But we will put down the gingerbread first; and, by the way, what do you think Betty calls it? This:"
1 cup of molasses. 1 cup of shortening (butter and lard mixed). 3 cups of flour. 1 teaspoonful each of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and soda. 1 cup of sugar. 2 eggs. 1 cup of milk.