"Smells awfully good!" he said. "Turkey, and onions, and mince-pies, and spicy things. Got any cooking for a boy to do--proper cooking, I mean?" "I've just thought of something," his mother said quickly, "and I need you to do it right away. The girls are getting up a supper for Thanksgiving night, and they really ought to have some cake to eat with the dessert they have just been making." "Cake!" ejaculated Jack. "I draw the line at cake, Mother Blair; making cake is not a man's job." "Not cake, Jack,--only something to go in cake. I want you to crack some nuts and pick them out for the girls. Here is what they are going to make now." NUT CAKES 2 eggs. 1 cup of light brown sugar. 1 cup of nut meats, chopped fine. 2 tablespoonfuls of sifted flour. 1/4 teaspoonful of salt. Beat the eggs without separating them, and stir in the sugar, flour, and salt. Add the nuts last, and spread the whole in a thin layer on a well-greased tin; bake ten minutes, or till the top is brown. Cut into squares and take quickly from the tin; lay on a platter till cold. Jack thought he could crack and even pick out nuts without injuring his dignity, so he went to work on a panful of pecans, and, by the time Mildred and Brownie were ready to chop them, they were all ready and waiting. Before long the little cakes were in the oven and out again, crisp and hot; almost too good to be saved, the girls thought, and so did Jack. But they knew there would not be time to-morrow to make any others, so they had to keep these, and when they were cold, shut them up in the cake-box. "Now I think you have cooked enough for to-day," said their mother, after she had tasted one small crumb of their cakes and pronounced them perfect. "But, Mother, what about the salad?" asked Brownie. "Oh, do you really think we need salad with all these good things?" "Honestly, I don't think we need it at all," said Mildred; "but I do think it would be nice to have it, because it's a party." "Very well! But what can we have? Lettuce, and tomatoes, and other fresh vegetables are really out of season, or, at any rate, we cannot get them in this town; and yet we ought to have a green salad, because, of course, nobody could possibly eat chicken or lobster salad after a Thanksgiving dinner." "I could!" called Jack, from the next room; but nobody paid any attention. "Well, here is an idea--string-bean salad. That is very easy to make, and very good, too, and we can make it out of canned beans and nobody will know it. I will tell you how to make it now, because I'll be so busy to-morrow, and then, in the afternoon, you can get it ready quickly." STRING-BEAN SALAD 1 pint of string beans, cooked and cold. 2 hard-boiled eggs. A little lettuce, if you have it. French dressing.