They were very happy , even after they discovered that they could n't live on love alone . John did not find Meg 's beauty diminished , though she beamed at him from behind the familiar coffee pot . Nor did Meg miss any of the romance from the daily parting , when her husband followed up his kiss with the tender inquiry , `` Shall I send some veal or mutton for dinner , darling ? '' The little house ceased to be a glorified bower , but it became a home , and the young couple soon felt that it was a change for the better . At first they played keep-house , and frolicked over it like children . Then John took steadily to business , feeling the cares of the head of a family upon his shoulders , and Meg laid by her cambric wrappers , put on a big apron , and fell to work , as before said , with more energy than discretion . While the cooking mania lasted she went through Mrs. Cornelius 's Receipt Book as if it were a mathematical exercise , working out the problems with patience and care . Sometimes her family were invited in to help eat up a too bounteous feast of successes , or Lotty would be privately dispatched with a batch of failures , which were to be concealed from all eyes in the convenient stomachs of the little Hummels . An evening with John over the account books usually produced a temporary lull in the culinary enthusiasm , and a frugal fit would ensue , during which the poor man was put through a course of bread pudding , hash , and warmed-over coffee , which tried his soul , although he bore it with praiseworthy fortitude . Before the golden mean was found , however , Meg added to her domestic possessions what young couples seldom get on long without , a family jar . Fired a with housewifely wish to see her storeroom stocked with homemade preserves , she undertook to put up her own currant jelly . John was requested to order home a dozen or so of little pots and an extra quantity of sugar , for their own currants were ripe and were to be attended to at once . As John firmly believed that ` my wife ' was equal to anything , and took a natural pride in her skill , he resolved that she should be gratified , and their only crop of fruit laid by in a most pleasing form for winter use . Home came four dozen delightful little pots , half a barrel of sugar , and a small boy to pick the currants for her . With her pretty hair tucked into a little cap , arms bared to the elbow , and a checked apron which had a coquettish look in spite of the bib , the young housewife fell to work , feeling no doubts about her success , for had n't she seen Hannah do it hundreds of times ? The array of pots rather amazed her at first , but John was so fond of jelly , and the nice little jars would look so well on the top shelf , that Meg resolved to fill them all , and spent a long day picking , boiling , straining , and fussing over her jelly . She did her best , she asked advice of Mrs. Cornelius , she racked her brain to remember what Hannah did that she left undone , she reboiled , resugared , and restrained , but that dreadful stuff would n't ` jell ' . She longed to run home , bib and all , and ask Mother to lend her a hand , but John and she had agreed that they would never annoy anyone with their private worries , experiments , or quarrels . They had laughed over that last word as if the idea it suggested was a most preposterous one , but they had held to their resolve , and whenever they could get on without help they did so , and no one interfered , for Mrs. March had advised the plan . So Meg wrestled alone with the refractory sweetmeats all that hot summer day , and at five o'clock sat down in her topsy-turvey kitchen , wrung her bedaubed hands , lifted up her voice and wept .
Now , in the XXXXX flush of the new life , she had often said , `` My husband shall always feel free to bring a friend home whenever he likes .
Hummels John Meg Mother daily day first left pudding sat