“The fragrance of coffee and recollections of Cynthia's joyful aberrations at such periods caused a breaking up of the maternal conclave. The babies were borne away to simmer between blankets until called for. The women unpacked baskets, brooded over teapots, and kept up an harmonious clack as the table was spread with pyramids of cake, regiments of pies, quagmires of jelly, snow-banks of bread, and gold mines of butter; every possible article of food, from baked beans to wedding cake, finding a place on that sacrificial altar.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
1/2 package of gelatine. 1 gill of cold water. 1 gill of boiling water. 1 pint of hot coffee. 1/2 pint of sugar. 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice. Soak the gelatine in the cold water for two hours or more. Pour the boiling water and hot coffee on this. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Set the bowl in a pan of boiling water and stir until all the sugar is dissolved; then strain through a coarse napkin and turn into a mould. Set away in a cold place for six or more hours. Serve with whipped cream, or with plain cream and sugar.
Sources: The passage is from Louisa May Alcott, Moods, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Parloa, Miss Parloa's Young Housekeeper of 1893, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — ochre cloth, teapot stamp.