A Letter From Alice . . .

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 24 October 1941, Page 3

A Letter From Alice . . .

WHITE RABBIT TRIES 11IS IIAM) AT COOKIN(i Dear Boys and Girls, "Take one large pumpkin,” murmured White Rabbit, as he reached out a paw. and lifted a gigantic orange pumpkin on to the table, pushing Alice’s papers to the lloor as he did so. "What ever do you think you're making?” queried Alice rather irritably, as she foresaw her exit from the kitchen to the cold dining room. It was a very cold day and Alice had comfortably settled herself in the warm kitchen, with the typewriter and a pile of letters to "The Queen of Hearts has given me a recipe for pumpkin wine, and 1 think it sounds lovely, so I’m going to have a shot at making it,” was White Rabbit’s answer as he began to cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin. “Now what .... yes, scrape out all the seeds,” and hundreds and hundreds of slimy, pinky orange pumpkin seeds came shooting out all over the lloor and table, only a few finding their way into the basin provided for such things. “Oh well!” sighed Alice as she carried the typewriter and letters into the dining room, but taking care to leave the door open, so as to watch the wine-making proceedThere was great activity in the kitchen, as White Rabbit tilled the pumpkin with brown sugar, and put the top on again, sealing it with melted candle grease "so I won’t be able to peep inside all the time to see what’s happening,” he Then, “Alice, may I borrow your blue knitted scarf which you use when you are tramping, please?” came in pleading tones, and White Rabbit help up the scarf in question—a rather stretched length of knitting which had seen better days. After Alice had reluctantly said she supposed he could, there was silence in the kitchen for a few minutes, then muffled fumblings, and at last a terrific thud and splash and bellow. Alice shot up from the typewriter, and flew in to White Rabbit .... but where was he? At last, a small bedraggled figure struggled from the mass of sugary orange mess on the floor. "Well! I do think you ought to have told me that your scarf was all moth eaten, and wouldn’t hold a pumpkin filled with sugar,” it spluttered, and White Rabbit’s face appeared. “Anyway it was bad.” “But, White Rabbit, what on earth were you going to do with my best tramping scarf?” “Well, the recipe said ‘Put the pumpkin in a sling’ (which I did), ‘and hang it in a cool place’ (which I did also) ‘for three weeks.’ "I had the pumpkin, complete with sugar and candle grease, in the sling, and had just got it hung up properly, when the silly scarf broke, and the pumpkin fell on mv head. A-a-a-and now 1-1-look at it Alice, all b-b-broken and messy.” And poor White Rabbit sat on the floor and wept into it. But he soon cheered up, when Alice said she knew where to get another lovely orange pumpkin (a good one this time) and a proper sling which would hold it, so they both set to and cleared up all the would-be wine. So ended White Rabbit’s first attempt at wine-making, and we are all hoping that the next will be more successful. Till next week, boys and girls, love from ALICE.