Dame, get up and bake your pies, Bake your pies, bake your pies, Dame, get up and bake your pies, On Christmas day in the morning.

Evidently Mother Goose, dear old soul, was in advance of her day and generation in the art of cookery, as well as in matters that pertain to the bringing up of children and sundry other perplexing questions of her day and ours. That Mother Goose was at the front in matters of cookery is evidenced by the fact that in those days, when pies were made by the hundred - the plate on which they were baked being handed around the neighborhood - she advised all good housewives to bake their pies on Christmas morning - that is, on the day in which they were to be eaten. Without doubt, this wise old mother did not give her admonitions simply for the sake of rhyming. No; she had reasons for the same; and, like many another Boston woman who has had the courage of her convictions, she boldly announced them, heresy though they were. But the world moves; the wisdom of yesterday is an exploded theory to-day, and in our day, though pastry works better when it is prepared the day beforehand, pies, in the usual acceptance of the term, are not "put together" until the day on which they are to be served.

The digestion of fat is not begun in the mouth as is that of starch. Fat undergoes no change in the system until it is emulsified and saponified in the small intestines. As in making pastry the starch granules are completely enveloped in fat, these cannot be seized upon by the saliva in the mouth, and hence the digestion of the starch in pastry is postponed until after the fat is acted upon. Then, if the pancreatic juice can discharge its office, all is well, but if this fails, the starch becomes so much waste material. The fact that insufficient water is added before cooking to cause the starch granules to swell properly also hinders digestion. For these and other reasons "pie" is no longer given a place in "good society." Yet, when one with good understanding of the subject uses good materials and is willing to give time and attention to the manipulation and cooking of pastry, pies may be so made that an occasional indulgence therein may be condoned. In the semi-privacy of family gatherings, particularly during the holiday season, pie is often in evidence; while anything made of puff-paste is given place of honor on any occasion, no matter how formal.

The English are noted for the number and variety of their pies. These consist of a heavy crust, made of suet, with fillings composed of every known kind of fish or flesh. They are eaten hot or cold, and are, no doubt, a relic of that rude age, when every man's dwelling was his castle, from which he was wont to sally forth with his retainers, to avenge wrongs or enlarge the boundaries of his feudal domain. Dickens makes his characters revel in pies. "You recall how his "fat boy" was always on the point of beginning or finishing "a jolly meat pie."

Some French cooks include brioche, chou paste (used for éclairs, cheese dishes, etc.,), sponge and other cakes, under the term "pastry." The word as here used is limited to a mixture of flour, shortening, and some liquid, mixed, rolled, sometimes folded and baked for special purposes.

Thus restricted pastry may be classified under four heads:

Plain Pastry: Shortening mixed into the flour by chopping or with the tips of the fingers.

Puff Pastry: Shortening worked into a pastre of flour and water by folding and rolling.

Flaky Pastry: Shortening mixed into the flour by a combination of the first two methods.

A fourth paste might be mentioned, for it is still in use in some parts of England as it was in this country in early colonial times, but it now has become well-nigh obsolete. In this pastry the shortening, beef or mutton suet, is melted in boiling water and stirred boiling hot into the flour. After kneading and rolling the pastry into a thick sheet it is shaped upon or in a mould by pressing upon it with the fingers until the mould is covered. Thus the "raised pies" of colonial times were made.