Their mother told them she had one very, very nice receipt meant especially for holidays, which, strangely enough, had Brownie's name. "Because you are so very, very nice yourself," she said with a hug, "perhaps you can make these all by yourself, too." BROWNIES 3 squares of chocolate. 2 eggs, beaten together. 1/2 cup of flour. 2 cups of sugar. 1/4 cup of butter. 1 cup of chopped English walnuts. Cream the butter and sugar together, and add the eggs, well beaten without separating; then add the flour. Melt the chocolate by cutting it up into small bits and putting it in a little dish over the steam of the tea-kettle. Put this in next, and, last, the nuts. Lay a greased paper on the bottom of a shallow pan, and pour the cake in, in a thin layer. Bake twenty-five minutes; mark off into squares while warm, and cut before removing from the pan. These should be as thick as cookies when done. "Don't you want me to help you make them, Brownie?" Mildred asked, as she read the receipt over. "You see, I could beat the eggs for you, and you know how hard it is for you not to tip the bowl over when you beat them!" "Well," Brownie said slowly, "I might let you do just that one thing, Mildred, but Mother _said_ I was to make these cakes all alone." "But let me help just a tiny little bit," Mildred coaxed; "they do sound so interesting!" So in the end the two made the cakes together, all delicious, and just the thing for company. While they were still fresh from the oven, in came a pretty grown-up neighbor, whom all the Blairs, big and little, loved very much, because she always was ready for a good time with them. "Fee-fy-fo-fum!" she exclaimed, wrinkling up her little nose. "I smell something good to eat!" "Oh, _dear_ Miss Betty," Brownie cried, "it is Christmas cooking! Come and see it." So Miss Betty saw all the lovely little holly cakes, and the tartlets, and the macaroons, and the Brownies, and ate little crumbs off wherever she could find one. Then she said, "I want to cook too! May I, Norah?" "Sure you may," said Norah, who thought Miss Betty was the nicest young lady in the world. Then Miss Betty wrote out this receipt, and pinned it up, and everybody helped her make: GINGERBREAD MEN 2 cups of molasses. 1 cup of equal parts of butter and lard, mixed. 1 level tablespoonful of ginger. 1 teaspoonful of soda. Flour to mix very stiff. Melt the butter, add the molasses and ginger, then the soda, dissolved in a teaspoonful of boiling water; stir in flour till the dough is so stiff you cannot stir it with a spoon; take it out on the floured board, and roll a little at a time, and with a knife cut out a man; press currants in for eyes and for buttons on his coat. Bake in a floured pan. [Illustration: Gingerbread man]