SAND PIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue VIII, 22 February 1896, Page 216

SAND PIES.

Dr. Edward Everett Hale has written upon many subjects. In a recent number of the Atlantic Monthly he touches a new theme—the making of sand pies. He went to school, he says, when he was about two years old—a private school, and ‘a very much “ go as-you please ” sort of place.’ The floor was sanded with clean sand every Thursday and Saturday afternoon. This was a matter of practical importance to ns. because with the sand, using our feet as tools, we made sand pies. Yon gather the sand with the inside edge of either shoe from a greater or less distance, as the size of the pie requires. As you gain skill, the heap which you make is

more and more round. When it ia well rounded, you flatten it by a careful pressure of one foot from above. Here it will be seen that fall success depends on your keeping the sole of the shoe exactly parallel with the plane of the flyor. If you find yon have succeeded when you withdraw the shoe, you prick the pie with a pin or a broom splint provided for the purpose, pricking it in whatever pattern you like. The skill of a good pie-maker is measured largely by the patterns. It will readily be seen that the pie is better if the sand is a little moist. But beggars cannot be choosers, and while we preferred the sand on Mondays and Fridays, when it was fresh, we took it as it came.