One Friday afternoon, as mother was sitting at the window engaged in her sewing, Betsey bobbed in and exclaimed: "Mother, I want to make caramels!"

"Right now?" asked mother, looking up from her sewing with a quizzical smile.

"Well, no, not just now," replied Betsey, "but I really would like to make caramels."

Just why Betsey wanted to make caramels puzzled mother, until Betsey told her of the delicious caramels Dorothy's uncle sent her for a birthday remembrance and which she had shared with her little friend. "They were wonderful!" sighed Betsey.

Mother looked at her daughter's wistful little face and said: "To-morrow, dear, I will start you on caramels, and I hope they will be just as 'wonderful' as the ones you had to-day; at least some of them."

So here are the different caramels that Betsey made, and some of them Betsey agreed were quite as "wonderful" as Dorothy's birthday candy.

Vanilla Corn Syrup Caramels

After Betsey put the sugar, corn syrup, water and vinegar in the saucepan she let them boil six minutes before adding the butter, then let them continue to boil until they formed a soft ball when tried in cold water. Taking the candy from the fire, she stirred in the vanilla and sometimes one half cup of candied cherries cut in halves, reheated the candy, then turned into a buttered pan.

When the candy was cool Betsey marked it in squares but did not cut it until it was quite cold. She used a firm, sharp knife, then wrapped each caramel in waxed paper.

Plain Vanilla Caramels

Mother told Betsey she had heard that condensed milk was considered by some expert candy makers to give better results in caramels than cream.

To the condensed milk Betsey added the water and mixed thoroughly, then added the sugar. She let these boil, then added the butter and cream of tartar and continued the boiling until a little of the syrup, dropped in cold water, cracked between her thumb and finger.

It was then ready to take from the fire, add vanilla, pour in buttered pan, mark in squares when cool, cut with sharp knife when cold and wrap in waxed paper.

Rich Walnut Caramels

When the sugar, syrup, one cup of cream and butter reached the boiling point Betsey added the other cup of cream a little at a time so that the candy did not once stop boiling.

After trying it in cold water, and it formed a firm ball between her thumb and finger, she added the vanilla and nuts, turned it into a buttered pan, marked into squares when cool, cut with a sharp knife when cold and wrapped in waxed paper.

Betsey found that these took a long, long while to make, nearly an hour, but my! weren't they worth it when she popped one into her mouth!

Plain Chocolate Caramels

Betsey let the chocolate, sugar, syrup and milk boil until they formed a hard ball in cold water, added the butter just before removing from the fire, then the vanilla, and poured into buttered pan, marked in squares when sufficiently cool, cut with a sharp knife when cold and wrapped in waxed paper.

Chocolate Nut Caramels

As soon as the chocolate, sugar, corn syrup and milk had cooked long enough so that a little tried in cold water formed a hard ball, Betsey added the butter to the mixture before removing from the fire. When she removed the saucepan she added the vanilla and nuts, poured into a buttered pan, marked in squares when sufficiently cool, cut with a sharp knife when cold and wrapped in waxed paper.

Betsey found that all candies worth eating took time, patience and care to make, yet she never seemed to tire of making them. Her enthusiasm was just as fresh at each lesson and mother felt well repaid for her time and trouble.

To be sure, Betsey had some failures, as most little girls do, but she was never discouraged and kept on practising until she had mastered every recipe.