One of the more poignant images in the Spry books. Some neighbor kid’s wandered over to “Aunt” Jenny’s kitchen for some of her treats. Jenny’s the “Aunt” to all the kids; you can just hear her say “now you just call me Auntie,” as she hands them a Spry-laden cookie, and watches their smiles as they gobble down the goodness.

It’s apparent from these books that Jenny has no children of her own; either her womb bore no fruit of its own accord, or Calvin shot blanks. Not that he seems to be the sort of fellow worried about that sort of thing.

Elmer - a uniquely odd name for a child in any era - caws about his mom’s inadequacies; Jenny cheerfully offers to lend her expertise. Oh, it’d be temptin’ to poormouth Elmer’s momma, make him depend upon Jenny for cookies - but it wouldn’t be right. Besides, they have their own problems. Elmer’s momma has to work because her husband’s off on an extended business trip. That’s what she says. No one believes it, but you got to give the woman the right to some dignity.

Of course, given that little Elmer appears to be drawn into this picture, or inserted by means of some rudimentary photomontage, it’s possible this is meant to symbolize Aunt Jenny’s hallucination. Perhaps the kids never come around. Perhaps all those days of telling new brides how to cook with Spry paid off, and they’re all bakin; up a storm for their Elmers and Elmerettes.

Well, good for Spry! That’s what matters, when you get right down to it.