`` Who will set the door open ? '' said Miss Hetty when the fateful moment came , and boys began to pour out into the yard . `` I will ! '' And , nerving herself to the task , Miss Jerusha marched boldly round the table , set wide the door , and then , as the first joyful whoop from the boys told that the feast was in view , she whisked back into the parlor panic-stricken . `` There they come , -- hundreds of them , I should think by the sound ! '' she whispered , as the tramp of feet came nearer , and the clamor of voices exclaiming , -- `` What bully buns ! '' `` Ai n't those cookies rousers ? '' `` New stuff too , looks first-rate . '' `` I told you it was n't a joke . '' `` Wonder how Peck likes it ? '' `` Dickson sha 'n' t come in . '' `` You go first , Charley . '' `` Here 's a cent for you , Briggs ; come on and trade like the rest of us . '' `` I 'm so flurried I could n't make change to save my life , '' gasped Miss Jerusha from behind the sofa , whither she had fled . `` It is my turn now . Be calm , and we shall soon get used to it . '' Bracing herself to meet the merry chaff of the boys , as new and trying to the old lady as real danger would have been , Miss Hetty stepped forth into the hall to be greeted by a cheer , and then a chorus of demands for everything so temptingly set forth upon her table . Intrenched behind a barricade of buns , she dealt out her wares with rapidly increasing speed and skill , for as fast as one relay of lads were satisfied another came up , till the table was bare , the milk-can ran dry , and nothing was left to tell the tale but an empty water-pail and a pile of five-cent pieces . `` I hope I did n't cheat any one , but I was flurried , sister , they were so very noisy and so hungry . Bless their dear hearts ; they are full now , I trust . ''
And Miss XXXXX looked over her glasses at the crumby countenances opposite , meeting many nods and smiles in return , as her late customers enthusiastically recommended her establishment to the patronage of those who had preferred Peck 's questionable dainties .
Briggs Dickson Hetty Jerusha Peck chaff left panic-stricken rousers water-pail