We mashed the butter down with a spoon till it was soft and creamy. Then we added the boiling water, vanilla, lemon extract, salt and cinnamon. We mixed it all up very thoroughly for a minute. Then we added the powdered sugar (we had sifted it with the flour sifter so there wasn't a single lump in it) very slowly, mixing hard all the time.
When all the sugar had been added, Mother had each of us shape our hard sauce into a little oblong cake. We used a knife dipped in cold water to smooth down the edges and make them square. Then we set our little cakes in the icebox for an hour to get very cold.
Mother says the right way to do is to cut off small slices of the hard sauce and serve it on top of a dish of warm pudding. The hard sauce does look good, but Brown Betty with cream is one of my favorite childhood dishes, so I think I'll stick to that, and let Father and Mother eat theirs the other way.