I assume that this is from Gram’s mother, Alice Sternberg. I don’t know much about her, but she lived with Gram’s family when she was older and suffering from glaucoma.
Mother’s White Cake
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
Cream – add salt & vanilla
1 cup water
2 3/4 cups flour
3 heaping tsp Baking Powder
Whites of 4 eggs, beaten stiff – fold in
Add dry & wet alternately, beating hard.
Gram's Recipe Box 
Indeed “Mother” is my grandmother, Alice Sternberg. I guess the women in those days didn’t need explicit directions about baking. They just knew. Also, many of the older (my grandmother) generation didn’t even have thermostats on their ovens. Think of the farms where the baking was done in a wood-fired oven. You should ask PaPa about the cook on Poppie’s farm who made the best biscuits in such an oven.
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