Fourth Grade
Worksheets
Indian Pudding
National Indian Pudding Day
Reading Comprehension for November 13
Sarah Stafford missed life in England, especially at meal times. Learning how to survive in the New World was not as easy as she had expected. She was not fond of the food that grew here. It was strange. She missed the carrots, peas, turnips, and green beans of the old country. Her family had to eat a lot of corn, beans, squash, and wild game. Sometimes she felt like crying, but that served no purpose other than to upset her younger brothers and sisters and anger her parents. Crying because she was hurt was acceptable; crying because she was sick of squash was not.
The Indians living nearby had taught the settlers how to grind corn into cornmeal. Sarah and her mother learned how to make a variety of breads, puddings, and pies from cornmeal. The Indian women taught Mrs. Stafford how to make a really tasty cornmeal pudding. The Staffords called it "Indian pudding" and only made it when there were extra eggs and molasses. Indian pudding was similar to bread pudding when lightly cooked, but more like moist spice bread when cooked longer. Sarah could endure squash on her trencher if it was next to some Indian pudding.
One day after her chores were done, Sarah made walnut ink. She crushed walnut shells and boiled them in water until the water turned dark brown. Then she and her mother sat down to write letters to relatives. A ship was about to set sail for England, and their letters would be on board.
