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to the road The horses began to trot, rapidly taking Father and Mother away In a little while the sound of the buggy wheels ceased Father and Mother were gone

Nobody said anything Even Eliza Jane looked a little scared The house and the barns and the fields see and empty For a whole week Father and Mother would be ten miles away

Suddenly Aled herself and cried:

“What’ll we do first?”

They could do anything they liked There was nobody to stop them

“We’ll do the dishes and make the beds,” Eliza Jane said, bossy

“Let’s make ice-cream!” Royal shouted

Eliza Jane loved ice-cream She hesitated, and said, “Well—”

Al a block of ice out of the sawdust and put it in a grain sack They laid the sack on the back porch and pounded it with hatchets till the ice was crushed Alice ca-whites on a platter She beat them with a fork, till they were too stiff to slip when she tilted the platter

Eliza Jane ar froar, but white sugar bought from the store Mother used it only when company caar that was left, and you would hardly have missed any

Shemilk-pail full of yellow custard They set the pail in a tub and packed the snowy crushed ice around it, with salt, and they covered it all with a blanket Every few minutes they took off the blanket and uncovered the pail, and stirred the freezing ice-cream

When it was frozen, Alice brought saucers and spoons, and Alht out a cake and the butcher knife He cut enormous pieces of cake, while Eliza Jane heaped the saucers They could eat all the ice-cream and cake they wanted to; no one would stop them

At noon they had eaten the whole cake, and alet dinner, but the others didn’t want any dinner Almanzo said:

“All I want is a watermelon”

Alice juet one!”