FUNNY LITTLE MEN

Bread baking day was more fun than ever now, because Mother would cut off a portion of dough and let Jenny work with it. Jenny felt very contented as she rolled the soft dough in her hands, molding and shaping it into interesting forms. Sometimes she made miniature buns and cinnamon rolls, but more often it was funny fat men, made snowman fashion, with raisin features and buttons. It was always exciting to take them out of the oven, as they were sure to be changed by the baking process. Mother and Jenny would laugh at the puffy little men, quite brown now, with their round tummies and fat arms and legs. After baking , the raisins, hard and burnt to a crisp, lent droll expressions to their plump faces.

Jenny always kept the little men for Daddy to see when he came home for dinner. Their sad fate was to be put with the table scraps to be devoured by hungry cats and dogs, who didn’t even notice that they were eating funny little men. No one else cared to eat Jenny’s baking, as it was always hard as a rock from over handling, and sometimes a little burned, due to their small size.

Then along came Willie, a new hired man. He himself was almost as round and funny as the little men made of bread. Whether it was a fondness for ”crisp” homemade bread, or a sympathy for other fat fellows, was never known, but Willie said not to throw them away, that he would eat them. It thrilled Jenny to see him munch and crunch the brown arms , legs, heads and tummies with his apparently strong teeth.

Jenny’s joy was now doubled as she shaped the dough for Willie. It was the joy an artist must feel, knowing his work will be admired, appreciated, and put to use.