So I 'll comfort myself with that , and when I 'm ready , I 'll up again and take another . '' CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT DOMESTIC EXPERIENCES Like most other young matrons , Meg began her married life with the determination to be a model housekeeper . John should find home a paradise , he should always see a smiling face , should fare sumptuously every day , and never know the loss of a button . She brought so much love , energy , and cheerfulness to the work that she could not but succeed , in spite of some obstacles . Her paradise was not a tranquil one , for the little woman fussed , was over-anxious to please , and bustled about like a true Martha , cumbered with many cares . She was too tired , sometimes , even to smile , John grew dyspeptic after a course of dainty dishes and ungratefully demanded plain fare . As for buttons , she soon learned to wonder where they went , to shake her head over the carelessness of men , and to threaten to make him sew them on himself , and see if his work would stand impatient and clumsy fingers any better than hers . They were very happy , even after they discovered that they could n't live on love alone . John did not find Meg 's beauty diminished , though she beamed at him from behind the familiar coffee pot . Nor did Meg miss any of the romance from the daily parting , when her husband followed up his kiss with the tender inquiry , `` Shall I send some veal or mutton for dinner , darling ? '' The little house ceased to be a glorified bower , but it became a home , and the young couple soon felt that it was a change for the better . At first they played keep-house , and frolicked over it like children . Then John took steadily to business , feeling the cares of the head of a family upon his shoulders , and Meg laid by her cambric wrappers , put on a big apron , and fell to work , as before said , with more energy than discretion . While the cooking mania lasted she went through Mrs. Cornelius 's Receipt Book as if it were a mathematical exercise , working out the problems with patience and care . Sometimes her family were invited in to help eat up a too bounteous feast of successes , or Lotty would be privately dispatched with a batch of failures , which were to be concealed from all eyes in the convenient stomachs of the little Hummels . An evening with John over the account books usually produced a temporary lull in the culinary enthusiasm , and a frugal fit would ensue , during which the poor man was put through a course of bread pudding , hash , and warmed-over coffee , which tried his soul , although he bore it with praiseworthy fortitude . Before the golden mean was found , however , Meg added to her domestic possessions what young couples seldom get on long without , a family jar . Fired a with housewifely wish to see her storeroom stocked with homemade preserves , she undertook to put up her own currant jelly . John was requested to order home a dozen or so of little pots and an extra quantity of sugar , for their own currants were ripe and were to be attended to at once . As John firmly believed that ` my wife ' was equal to anything , and took a natural pride in her skill , he resolved that she should be gratified , and their only crop of fruit laid by in a most pleasing form for winter use .
Home came four dozen delightful little XXXXX , half a barrel of sugar , and a small boy to pick the currants for her .
children couples energy family home pots pride shoulders wish wrappers