introduction," he once said to a friend, "Oken asked me to dine with

him, and you may suppose with what joy I accepted the invitation. The dinner consisted only of potatoes, boiled and roasted; but it was the best dinner I ever ate; for there was Oken. Never before were such potatoes grown on this planet; for the mind of the man seemed to enter into what we ate sociably together, and I devoured his intellect while munching his potatoes." Dr. Abernethy's recipe for using cucumbers: "Peel the cucumber, slice it, pepper it, put vinegar to it, then throw it out the window." A green son of the Emerald Isle was eating sweet corn from the cob for the first time. He handed the cob to the waiter, and asked, "Will you plaze put some more beans on my shtick?" A French physician styles spinach, _le balai de l'estomac_ (broom of the stomach). An ox is satisfied with the pasture of an acre or two; one wood suffices for several elephants. Man alone supports himself by the pillage of the whole earth and sea. What? Has Nature indeed given us so insatiable a stomach, while she has given us so insignificant bodies? No; it is not the hunger of our stomachs, but insatiable covetousness which costs so much.--_Seneca._ The oftener we go to the vegetable world for our food, the oftener we go to the first and therefore the cheapest source of supply. The tendencies of all advanced scholars in thrift should be to find out plans for feeding all the community, as far as possible, direct from the lap of earth; to impress science into our service so that she may prepare the choicest viands minus the necessity of making a lower animal the living laboratory for the sake of what is just a little higher than cannibal propensities. _--Dr. B.W. Richardson._ A VOICE FROM THE CORN. I was made to be eaten, not to be drank, To be husked in a barn, not soaked in a tank; I come as a blessing when put in a mill, As a blight and a curse when run through a still. Make me up into loaves, and your children are fed; But made into drink, I will starve them instead. In bread I'm a servant the eater shall rule, In drink I'm a master, the drinker a fool. Then remember my warning; my strength I'll employ, If eaten, to strengthen, if drunk, to destroy. --_Sel._ SOUPS Soup is an easily made, economical, and when properly prepared from healthful and nutritious material, very wholesome article of diet, deserving of much more general use than is commonly accorded it. In general, when soup is mentioned, some preparation of meat and bones is supposed to be meant; but we shall treat in this chapter of a quite different class of soups, viz., those prepared from the grains, legumes, and vegetables, without the previous preparation of a "stock." Soups of this character are in every way equal, and in many points superior to those made from meat and bones. If we compare the two, we shall find that soups made from the grains and legumes rank much higher in nutritive value than do meat soups. For the preparation of the latter, one pound of meat and bones, in about equal proportion, is required for each quart of soup. In the bone, there is little or no nourishment, it being valuable simply for the gelatine it contains, which gives consistency to the soup; so in reality there is only one half pound of material containing nutriment, for the quart of soup. Suppose, in comparison we take a pea soup. One half pound of peas will be amply enough for a quart. As we take an equal amount of material as basis for each soup, we can easily determine their relative value by comparing the amount of nutritive material contained in peas with that of beef, the most commonly used material for meat soups. As will be seen by reference to the table of food analyses on page 486, peas contain 87.3 parts nutritive material, while lean beef contains only 28 parts in one hundred. Thus the pea soup contains more than three times as much nourishment as does the beef soup. Soups prepared from grains and legumes are no more expensive than meat soups, and many kinds cost much less, while they have the added advantage of requiring less time and no more labor to prepare. The greater bulk of all meat soups is water, holding in solution the essence of meat, the nutritive value of which is of very doubtful character. When properly prepared, the solid matter which enters into the composition of vegetable soups, is so broken up in the process of cooking, that it is more easily digested than in any other form. Taken hot at the beginning of a meal, soup stimulates the flow of the digestive juices, and on account of the bulk, brings a sense of satiety before an excessive quantity of food has been taken. In preparing soups from grains, legumes, and vegetables, the material should be first cooked in the ordinary manner, using as small an amount of water as practicable, so as the more thoroughly to disintegrate or break it up. If the material be legumes or grains, the cooking should be slow and prolonged. The purpose to be attained in the cooking of all foods is the partial digestion of the food elements; and in general, with these foods, the more slowly (if continuous) the cooking is done, the more completely will this be brought about. When the material is cooked, the next step is to make it homogeneous throughout, and to remove any skins or cellulose material it may contain. To do this, it should be put through a colander. The kind of colander depends upon the material. Peas and beans require a fine colander, since the skins, of which we are seeking to rid them, would easily go through a coarse one. To aid in this sifting process, if the material be at all dry, a small quantity of liquid may be added from time to time. When the colander process is complete, a sufficient amount of milk or other liquid may be added to make the whole of the consistency of rather thick cream. [Illustration: Chinese Soup Strainer.] If the material is now cold, it must be reheated, and the salt, if any is to be used, added. The quantity of salt will depend somewhat upon the taste of the consumer; but in general, one half teaspoonful to the pint of soup will be an ample supply. If any particular flavor, as of onion or celery, is desired, it may be imparted to the soup by adding to it a slice of onion or a few stalks of celery, allowing them to remain during the reheating. By the time the soup is well heated, it will be delicately flavored, and the pieces of onion or celery may be removed with a fork or a skimmer. It is better, in general, to cook the soup all that is needed before flavoring, since if allowed to boil, all delicate flavors are apt to be lost by evaporation. When reheated, add to the soup a quantity of cream as seasoning, in the proportion of one cup of thin cream for every quart or three pints of soup. To avoid the possibility of any lumps or fragments in the soup, pour it again through a colander or a Chinese soup strainer into the soup tureen, and serve. It is well to take the precaution first to heat the strainer and tureen, that the soup be not cooled during the process. If it is desired to have the soup especially light and nice, beat or whip the cream before adding, or beat the hot soup with an egg beater for a few minutes after adding the cream. The well-beaten yolk of an egg for every quart or three pints of soup, will answer as a very fair substitute for cream in potato, rice, and similar soups. It should not be added to the body of the soup, but a cupful of the hot soup may be turned slowly onto the egg, stirring all the time, in order to mix it well without curdling, and then the cupful stirred into the whole. Soups made from legumes are excellent without cream. The consistency of the soup when done should be about that of single cream, and equal throughout, containing no lumps or fragments of material. If it is too thick, it may be easily diluted with hot milk or water; if too thin, it will require the addition of more material, or may be thickened with a little flour or cornstarch rubbed to a cream with a small quantity of milk, used in the proportion of one tablespoonful for a quart of soup,--heaping, if flour; scant, if cornstarch,--and remembering always to boil the soup five or ten minutes after the flour is added, that there may be no raw taste. The addition of the flour or cornstarch gives a smoothness to their consistency which is especially desirable for some soups. A few spoonfuls of cooked oatmeal or cracked wheat, added and rubbed through the colander with the other material, is valuable for the same purpose. Browned flour prepared by spreading a cupful thinly on shallow tins, and placing in a moderately hot oven, stirring frequently until lightly and evenly browned, is excellent to use both for thickening and flavoring certain soups. If whole grains, macaroni, vermicelli, or shredded vegetables are to be used in the soup, cook them separately, and add to the soup just before serving. The nutritive value of soup depends of course upon its ingredients, and these should be so chosen and combined as to produce the best possible food from the material employed. Milk is a valuable factor in the preparation of soups. With such vegetables as potatoes, parsnips, and others of the class composed largely of starch, and containing but a small proportion of the nitrogenous food elements, its use is especially important as an addition to their food value, as also to their palatableness. Very good soups may, however, be made from legumes, if carefully cooked with water only. Soups offer a most economical way of making use of the "left-over" fragments which might otherwise be consigned to the refuse bucket. A pint of cold mashed potatoes, a cupful of stewed beans, a spoonful or two of boiled rice, stewed tomatoes, or other bits of vegetables and grains, are quite as good for soup purposes as fresh material, provided they have been preserved fresh and sweet. To insure this it is always best to put them away in clean dishes; if retained in the dish from which they were served, the thin smears and small crumbs on the sides which spoil much sooner than the larger portion, will help to spoil the rest. One may find some difficulty in rubbing them through the colander unless they are first moistened. Measure the cold food, and then determine how much liquid will be needed, and add a part of this before attempting to put through the colander. It is difficult to give specific directions for making soups of fragments, as the remnants to be utilized will vary so much in character as to make such inapplicable, but the recipes given for combination soups will perhaps serve as an aid in this direction. Where a sufficient amount of one kind of food is left over to form the basis of a soup or to serve as a seasoning, it can be used in every way the same as fresh material. When, however, there is but a little of various odds and ends, the general rule to be observed is to combine only such materials as harmonize in taste. Soups prepared from the grains, legumes, and vegetables, are so largely composed of food material that it is important that they be retained in the mouth long enough for proper insalivation; and in order to insure this, it is well to serve with the soup _croutons_, prepared by cutting stale bread into small squares or cubes, and browning thoroughly in a moderate oven. Put a spoonful or two of the _croutons_ in each plate, and turn the hot soup over them. This plan also serves another purpose,--that of providing a means whereby the left-over bits of stale bread may be utilized to advantage. _RECIPES._ ASPARAGUS SOUP.--Wash two bunches of fresh asparagus carefully, and cut into small pieces. Put to cook in a quart of boiling water, and simmer gently till perfectly tender, when there should remain about a pint of the liquor. Turn into a colander, and rub all through except the hard portion. To a pint of asparagus mixture add salt and one cup of thin cream and a pint of milk; boil up for a few minutes, and serve. BAKED BEAN SOUP.--Soak a half pint of white beans over night. In the morning turn off the water, and place them in an earthen dish with two or two and one half quarts of boiling water; cover and let them simmer in a moderate oven four or five hours. Also soak over night a tablespoonful of pearl tapioca in sufficient water to cover. When the beans are soft, rub through a colander, after which add the soaked tapioca, and salt if desired; also as much powdered thyme as can be taken on the point of a penknife and sufficient water to make the soup of proper consistency if the water has mostly evaporated. Return to the oven, and cook one half hour longer. A little cream may be added just before serving. BEAN AND CORN SOUP.--Cold boiled or stewed corn and cold baked beans form the basis of this soup. Take one pint of each, rub through a colander, add a slice of onion, three cups of boiling water or milk, and boil for ten minutes. Turn through the colander a second time to remove the onion and any lumps or skins which may remain. Season with salt and a half cup of cream. If preferred, the onion may be omitted. BEAN AND HOMINY SOUP.--Soak separately in cold water over night a cupful each of dry beans and hominy. In the morning, boil them together till both are perfectly tender and broken to pieces. Rub through a colander, and add sufficient milk to make three pints. Season with salt, and stir in a cup of whipped cream just before serving. Cold beans and hominy may be utilized for this soup. BEAN AND POTATO SOUP.--Soak a half pint of dry white beans over night; in the morning drain and put to cook in boiling water. When tender, rub through a colander. Prepare sliced potato sufficient to make one quart, cook in as small a quantity of water as possible, rub through a colander, and add to the beans. Add milk or water sufficient to make two quarts, and as much prepared thyme as can be taken on the point of a penknife, with salt to season. Boil for a few minutes, add a teacup of thin cream, and serve. BEAN AND TOMATO SOUP.--Take one pint of boiled or a little less of mashed beans, one pint of stewed tomatoes, and rub together through a colander. Add salt, a cup of thin cream, one half a cup of nicely steamed rice, and sufficient boiling water to make a soup of the proper consistency. Reheat and serve. BLACK BEAN SOUP.--Soak a pint of black beans over night in cold water. When ready to cook, put into two and one half quarts of fresh water, which should be boiling, and simmer until completely dissolved, adding more boiling water from time to time if needed. There should be about two quarts of all when done. Rub through a colander, add salt, a half cup of cream, and reheat. When hot, turn through a soup strainer, add two or more teaspoonfuls of lemon juice, and serve. BLACK BEAN SOUP NO. 2.--Soak a pint of black beans in water over night. Cook in boiling water until tender, then rub through a colander. Add sufficient boiling water to make about two quarts in all. Add salt, and one half a small onion cut in slices to flavor. Turn into a double boiler and reheat. When sufficiently flavored, remove the onion with a skimmer, thicken the soup with two teaspoonfuls of browned flour, turn through the soup strainer and serve. If desired, a half cup of cream may be added, and the onion flavor omitted. BRAN STOCK.--For every quart of stock desired, boil a cup of good wheat bran in three pints of water for two or three hours or until reduced one third. This stock may be made the base of a variety of palatable and nutritious soups by flavoring with different vegetables and seasoning with salt and cream. An excellent soup may be prepared by flavoring the stock with celery, or by the addition of a quantity of strained stewed tomato sufficient to disguise the taste of the stock. It is also valuable in giving consistence to soups, in the preparation of some of which it may be advantageously used in place of other liquid. BROWN SOUP.--Simmer together two pints of sliced potatoes and one third as much of the thin brown shavings (not thicker than a silver dime) from the top of a loaf of whole-wheat bread, in one quart of water. The crust must not be burned or blackened, and must not include any of the soft portion of the loaf. When the potatoes are tender, mash all through a colander. Flavor with a cup of strained, stewed tomatoes, a little salt, and return to the fire; when hot, add a half cup of cream, and boiling water to make the soup of proper consistency, and serve at once. If care has been taken to prepare the crust as directed, this soup will have a brown color and a fine, pungent flavor exceedingly pleasant to the taste. CANNED GREEN PEA SOUP.--Rub a can of green peas through a colander to remove the skins. Add a pint of milk and heat to boiling. If too thin, thicken with a little flour rubbed smooth in a very little cold milk. Season with salt and a half cup of cream. A small teaspoonful of white sugar may be added if desired. Green peas, instead of canned, may be used when procurable. When they have become a little too hard to serve alone, they can be used for soup, if thoroughly cooked. CANNED CORN SOUP.--Open a can of green corn, turn it into a granite-ware dish, and thoroughly mash with a potato-masher until each kernel is broken, then rub through a colander to remove the skins. Add sufficient rich milk to make the soup of the desired consistency, about one half pint for each pint can of corn will be needed. Season with salt, reheat, and serve. If preferred, a larger quantity of milk and some cream may be used, and the soup, when reheated, thickened with a little corn starch or flour. It may be turned through the colander a second time or not, as preferred. CARROT SOUP.--For a quart of soup, slice one large carrot and boil in a small quantity of water for two hours or longer, then rub it through a colander, add a quart of rich milk, and salt to season. Reheat, and when boiling, thicken with two teaspoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk. CELERY SOUP.--Chop quite fine enough fresh, crisp celery to make a pint, and cook it until tender in a very little boiling water. When done, heat three cupfuls of rich milk, part cream if it can be afforded, to boiling, add the celery, salt to season, and thicken the whole with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk; or add to the milk before heating a cupful of mashed potato, turn through a colander to remove lumps, reheat, add salt and the celery, and serve. CELERY SOUP NO. 2.--Cook in a double boiler a cupful of cracked wheat in three pints of water for three or four hours. Rub the wheat through a colander, add a cup of rich milk, and if needed, a little boiling water, and a small head of celery cut in finger lengths. Boil all together for fifteen or twenty minutes, until well flavored, remove the celery with a fork, add salt, and serve with or without the hard-boiled yolk of an egg in each soup plate. CHESTNUT SOUP.--Shell and blanch a pint of Italian chestnuts, as directed on page 215, and cook in boiling milk until tender. Rub the nuts through a colander, add salt and sufficient milk and cream to make a soup of the proper consistency, reheat and serve. COMBINATION SOUP.--This soup is prepared from material already cooked, and requires two cups of cracked wheat, one and one half cups of Lima beans, one half cup of black beans, and one cup of stewed tomato. Rub the material together through a colander, adding, if needed, a little hot water to facilitate the sifting. Add boiling water to thin to the proper consistency, season with salt and if it can be afforded a little sweet cream,--the soup is, however, very palatable without the cream. COMBINATION SOUP NO. 2.--Take three and one half cups of mashed (Scotch) peas, one cup each of cooked rice, oatmeal, and hominy, and two cups of stewed tomato. Rub the material through a colander, add boiling water to thin to the proper consistency, season with salt, reheat, and add, just before serving, two cups of cooked macaroni. If preferred, a cup of cream may be used in place of the tomato, or both may be omitted. ANOTHER.--One half cup of cold mashed potato, one cup each of cooked pearl wheat, barley and dried peas. Rub all through a colander, add boiling milk to thin to the proper consistency, season with salt and a half cup of cream. ANOTHER.--Take three cups of cooked oatmeal, two of mashed white beans, and one of stewed tomato. Rub the ingredients through a colander, add boiling milk to thin to the proper consistency, season with salt and a little cream. CREAM PEA SOUP.--Soak three fourths of a pint of dried Scotch peas over night in a quart of water. In the morning put to cook in boiling water, cover closely and let them simmer gently four or five hours, or until the peas are very tender and well disintegrated; then rub through a colander to remove the skins. If the peas are very dry, add a little water or milk occasionally, to moisten them and facilitate the sifting. Just before the peas are done, prepare potatoes enough to make a pint and a half, after being cut in thin slices. Cook the potatoes until tender in a small amount of water, and rub them through a colander. Add the potatoes thus prepared to the sifted peas, and milk enough to make three and one half pints in all. Return to the fire, and add a small head of celery cut finger lengths, and let the whole simmer together ten or fifteen minutes, until flavored. Remove the celery with a fork, add salt and a cup of thin cream. This should make about two quarts of soup. If preferred, the peas may be cooked without soaking. It will, however, require a little longer time. CREAM BARLEY SOUP.--Wash a cup of pearl barley, drain and simmer slowly in two quarts of water for four or five hours, adding boiling water from time to time as needed. When the barley is tender, strain off the liquor, of which there should be about three pints; add to it a portion of the cooked barley grains, salt, and a cup of whipped cream, and serve. If preferred, the beaten yolk of an egg may be used instead of cream. GREEN CORN SOUP.--Take six well-filled ears of tender green corn. Run a sharp knife down the rows and split each grain; then with the back of a knife, scraping from the large to the small end of the ear, press out the pulp, leaving the hulls on the cob. Break the cobs if long, put them in cold water sufficient to cover, and boil half an hour. Strain off the water, of which there should be at least one pint. Put the corn water on again, and when boiling add the corn pulp, and cook fifteen minutes, or until the raw taste is destroyed. Rub through a rather coarse colander, add salt and a pint of hot unskimmed milk; if too thin, thicken with a little cornstarch or flour, boil up, and serve. If preferred, a teaspoonful of sugar may be added to the soup. A small quantity of cooked macaroni, cut in rings, makes a very pretty and palatable addition to the soup. The soup is also excellent flavored with celery. GREEN PEA SOUP.--Gently simmer two quarts of shelled peas in sufficient water to cook, leaving almost no juice when tender. Rub through a colander, moistening if necessary with a little cold milk. Add to the sifted peas an equal quantity of rich milk and a small onion cut in halves. Boil all together five or ten minutes until the soup is delicately flavored, then remove the onion with a skimmer; add salt if desired, and serve. If preferred, a half cup of thin cream may be added just before serving. Celery may be used in place of the onion, or both may be omitted. GREEN BEAN SOUP.--Prepare a quart of fresh string beans by pulling off ends and strings and breaking into small pieces. Boil in a small quantity of water. If the beans are fresh and young, three pints will be sufficient; if wilted or quite old, more will be needed, as they will require longer cooking. There should be about a teacupful and a half of liquid left when the beans are perfectly tender and boiled in pieces. Rub through a colander, return to the kettle, and for each cup of the bean pulp add salt, a cup and a half of unskimmed milk; boil together for a few minutes, thicken with a little flour, and serve. The quart of beans should be sufficient for three pints of soup. KORNLET SOUP.--Kornlet or canned green corn pulp, may be made into a most appetizing soup in a few minutes by adding to a pint of kornlet an equal quantity of rich milk, heating to boiling, and thickening it with a teaspoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk. KORNLET AND TOMATO SOUP.--Put together equal quantities of kornlet and strained stewed tomato, season with salt and heat to boiling; add for each quart one fourth to one half cup of hot thin cream, thicken with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little water, and serve. Cooked corn rubbed through a colander may also be used for this soup. LENTIL SOUP.--Simmer a pint of lentils in water until tender. If desired to have the soup less dark in color and less strong in flavor, the lentils may be first parboiled for a half hour, and then drained and put into fresh boiling water. Much valuable nutriment is thus lost, however. When perfectly tender, mash through a colander to remove all skins; add salt and a cup of thin cream, and it too thick, sufficient boiling milk or water to thin to the proper consistency, heat again to boiling, and serve. If preferred, an additional quantity of liquid may be added and the soup slightly thickened with browned flour. LENTIL AND PARSNIP SOUP.--Cook together one pint of lentils and one half a small parsnip, sliced, until tender in a small quantity of boiling water. When done, rub through a colander, and add boiling water to make a soup of the proper consistency. Season with salt and if desired a little cream. LIMA BEAN SOUP.--Simmer a pint of Lima beans gently in just sufficient water to cook and not burn, until they have fallen to pieces. Add more boiling water as needed. When done, rub the beans through a colander. Add rich milk or water to make of the proper consistency, and salt to season; reheat and serve. White beans may be used in place of Lima beans, but they require more prolonged cooking. A heaping tablespoonful of pearl tapioca or sago previously soaked in cold water, may be added to the soup when it is reheated, if liked, and the whole cooked until the sago is transparent. MACARONI SOUP.--Heat a quart of milk, to which has been added a tablespoonful of finely grated bread crust (the brown part only, from the top of the loaf) and a slice of onion to flavor, in a double boiler. When the milk is well flavored, remove the onion, turn through a colander, add salt, and thicken with two teaspoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold milk. Lastly add one cupful of cooked macaroni, and serve. OATMEAL SOUP.--Put two heaping tablespoonfuls of oatmeal into a quart of boiling water, and cook in a double boiler for two hours or longer. Strain as for gruel, add salt if desired, and two or three stalks of celery broken into finger lengths, and cook again until the whole is well flavored with the celery, which may then be removed with a fork; add a half cup of cream, and the soup is ready to serve. Cold oatmeal mush may be thinned with milk, reheated, strained, flavored, and made into soup the same as fresh material. A slice or two of onion may be used with the celery for flavoring the soup if desired, or a cup of strained stewed tomato may be added. PARSNIP SOUP.--Take a quart of well scraped, thinly sliced parsnips, one cup of bread crust shavings (prepared as for Brown Soup), one head of celery, one small onion, and one pint of sliced potatoes. The parsnips used should be young and tender, so that they will cook in about the same length of time as the other vegetables. Use only sufficient water to cook them. When done, rub through a colander and add salt and sufficient rich milk, part cream if desired, to make of the proper consistency. Reheat and serve. PARSNIP SOUP NO. 2.--Wash, pare, and slice equal quantities of parsnips and potatoes. Cook, closely covered, in a small quantity of water until soft. If the parsnips are not young and tender, they must be put to cook first, and the potatoes added when they are half done. Mash through a colander. Add salt, and milk to make of the proper consistency, season with cream, reheat and serve. PEA AND TOMATO SOUP.--Soak one pint of Scotch peas over night. When ready to cook, put into a quart of boiling water and simmer slowly until quite dry and well disintegrated. Rub through a colander to remove the skins. Add a pint of hot water, one cup of mashed potato, two cups of strained stewed tomato, and one cup of twelve-hour cream. Turn into a double-boiler and cook together for a half hour or longer; turn a second time through a colander or soup strainer and serve. The proportions given are quite sufficient for two quarts of soup. There may need to be some variation in the quantity of tomato to be used, depending upon its thickness. If very thin, a larger quantity and less water will be needed. The soup should be a rich reddish brown in color when done. The peas may be cooked without being first soaked, if preferred. PLAIN RICE SOUP.--Wash and pick over four tablespoonfuls of rice, put it in an earthen dish with a quart of water, and place in a moderate oven. When the water is all absorbed, add a quart of rich milk, and salt if desired; turn into a granite kettle and boil ten minutes, or till the rice is done. Add a half cup of sweet cream and serve. A slice of onion or stalk of celery can be boiled with the soup after putting in the kettle, and removed before serving, if desired to flavor. POTATO AND RICE SOUP.--Cook a quart of sliced potatoes in as little water as possible. When done, rub through a colander. Add salt, a quart of rich milk, and reheat. If desired, season with a slice of onion, a stalk of celery, or a little parsley. Just before serving, add a half cup of cream and a cup and a half of well-cooked rice with unbroken grains. Stir gently and serve at once. POTATO SOUP.--For each quart of soup required, cook a pint of sliced potatoes in sufficient water to cover them. When tender, rub through a colander. Return to the fire, and add enough rich, sweet milk, part cream if it can be afforded to make a quart in all, and a little salt. Let the soup come to a boil, and add a teaspoonful of flour or corn starch, rubbed to a paste with a little water; boil a few minutes and serve. A cup and a half of cold mashed potato or a pint of sliced baked potato can be used instead of fresh material; in which case add the milk and heat before rubbing through the colander. A slice of onion or a stalk of celery may be simmered in the soup for a few minutes to flavor, and then removed with a skimmer or a spoon. A good mixed potato soup is made by using one third sweet and two thirds Irish potatoes, in the same manner as above. POTATO AND VERMICELLI SOUP.--Breakup a cupful of vermicelli and drop into boiling water. Let it cook for ten or fifteen minutes, and then turn into a colander to drain. Have ready a potato soup prepared the same as in the proceeding; stir the vermicelli lightly into it just before serving. SAGO AND POTATO SOUP.--Prepare the soup as directed for Potato Soup, from fresh or cold mashed potato, using a little larger quantity of milk or cream, as the sago adds thickness to the soap. When seasoned and ready to reheat, turn a second time through the colander, and add for each quart of soup, one heaping tablespoonful of sago which has been soaked for twenty minutes in just enough water to cover. Boil together five or ten minutes, or until the sago is transparent, and serve. SCOTCH BROTH.--Soak over night two tablespoonfuls of pearl barley and one of coarse oatmeal, in water sufficient to cover them. In the morning, put the grains, together with the water in which they were soaked, into two quarts of water and simmer for several hours, adding boiling water as needed. About an hour before the soup is required, add a turnip cut into small dice, a grated carrot, and one half cup of fine pieces of the brown portion of the crust of a loaf of whole-wheat bread. Rub all through a colander, and add salt, a cup of milk, and a half cup of thin cream. This should make about three pints of soup. SPLIT PEA SOUP.--For each quart of soup desired, simmer a cupful of split peas very slowly in three pints of boiling water for six hours, or until thoroughly dissolved. When done, rub through a colander, add salt and season with one half cup of thin cream. Reheat, and when boiling, stir into it two teaspoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold water. Boil up until thickened, and serve. If preferred, the cream may be omitted and the soup flavored with a little celery or onion. SWEET POTATO SOUP.--To a pint of cold mashed sweet potato add a pint and a half of strained stewed tomato, rub together through a colander, add salt to season, and half a cup of cream. Reheat and serve. SWISS POTATO SOUP.--Pare and cut up into small pieces, enough white turnips to fill a pint cup, and cook in a small quantity of water. When tender, add three pints of sliced potatoes, and let them boil together until of the consistency of mush. Add hot water if it has boiled away so that there is not sufficient to cook the potatoes. When done, drain, rub through a colander, add a pint and a half of milk and a cup of thin cream, salt if desired, and if too thick, a little more milk or a sufficient quantity of hot water to make it of the proper consistency. This should be sufficient for two and a half quarts of soup. SWISS LENTIL SOUP.--Cook a pint of brown lentils in a small quantity of boiling water. Add to the lentils when about half done, one medium sized onion cut in halves or quarters. When the lentils are tender, remove the onion with a fork, and rub the lentils through a colander. Add sufficient boiling water to make three pints in all. Season with salt, reheat to boiling, and thicken the whole with four table spoonfuls of browned flour, rubbed to a cream in a little cold water. TOMATO AND MACARONI SOUP.--Break a half dozen sticks of macaroni into small pieces, and drop into boiling water. Cook for an hour, or until perfectly tender. Rub two quarts of stewed or canned tomatoes through a colander, to remove all seeds and fragments. When the macaroni is done, drain thoroughly, cut each piece into tiny rings, and add it to the strained tomatoes. Season with salt, and boil for a few minutes. If desired, just before serving add a cup of thin cream, boil up once, and serve immediately. If the tomato is quite thin, the soup should be slightly thickened with a little flour before adding the macaroni. TOMATO CREAM SOUP.--Heat two quarts of strained, stewed tomatoes to boiling; add four tablespoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold water. Let the tomatoes boil until thickened, stirring constantly that no lumps form; add salt to season. Have ready two cups of hot rich milk or thin cream. Add the cream or milk hot, and let all boil together for a minute or two, then serve. TOMATO AND OKRA SOUP.--Take one quart of okra thinly sliced, and two quarts of sliced tomatoes. Simmer gently from one to two hours. Rub through a colander, heat again to boiling, season with salt and cream if desired, and serve. Canned okra and tomatoes need only to be rubbed through a colander, scalded and seasoned, to make a most excellent soup. If preferred, one or two potatoes may be sliced and cooked, rubbed through a colander, and added. TOMATO SOUP WITH VERMICELLI.--Cook a cupful of broken vermicelli in a pint of boiling water for ten minutes. Turn into a colander to drain. Have boiling two quarts of strained, stewed tomatoes, to which add the vermicelli. If preferred, the tomato may be thickened slightly with a little cornstarch rubbed smooth in cold water before adding the vermicelli. Salt to taste, and just before serving turn in a cup of hot, thin cream. Let all boil up for a moment, then serve at once. VEGETABLE OYSTER SOUP.--Scrape all the outer covering and small rootlets from vegetable oysters, and lay them in a pan of cold water to prevent discoloration. The scraping can be done much easier if the roots are allowed first to stand in cold water for an hour or so. Slice rather thin, enough to make one quart, and put to cook in a quart of water. Let them boil slowly until very tender. Add a pint of milk, a cup of thin cream, salt, and when boiling, a tablespoonful or two of flour, rubbed to a cream with a little milk. Let the soup boil a few minutes until thickened, and serve. VEGETABLE SOUP.--Simmer together slowly for three or four hours, in five quarts of water, a quart of split peas, a slice of carrot, a slice of white turnip, one cup of canned tomatoes, and two stalks of celery cut into small bits. When done, rub through a colander, add milk to make of proper consistency, reheat, season with salt and cream, and serve. VEGETABLE SOUP NO. 2.--Prepare and slice a pint of vegetable oysters and a pint and a half of potatoes. Put the oysters to cook first, in sufficient water to cook both. When nearly done, add the potatoes and cook all till tender. Rub through a colander, or if preferred, remove the pieces of oysters, and rub the potato only through the colander, together with the water in which the oysters were cooked, as that will contain all the flavor. Return to the fire, and add salt, a pint of strained, stewed tomatoes, and when boiling, the sliced oysters if desired, a cup of thin cream and a cup of milk, both previously heated; serve at once. VEGETABLE SOUP NO. 3.--Soak a cupful of white beans over night in cold water. When ready to cook, put into fresh boiling water and simmer until tender. When nearly done, add three large potatoes sliced, two or three slices of white turnip, and one large parsnip cut in slices. When done, rub through a colander, add milk or water to make of proper consistency, season with salt and cream, reheat and serve. This quantity of material is sufficient for two quarts of soup. VEGETABLE SOUP NO. 4.--Prepare a quart of bran stock as previously directed. Heat to boiling, and add to it one teaspoonful of grated carrot, a slice of onion, and a half cup of tomato. Cook together in a double boiler for half an hour. Remove the slice of onion, and add salt and a half cup of turnip previously cooked and cut in small dice. VELVET SOUP.--Pour three pints of hot potato soup, seasoned to taste, slowly over the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, stirring briskly to mix the egg perfectly with the soup. It must not be reheated after adding the egg. Plain rice or barley soup may be used in place of potato soup, if preferred. VERMICELLI SOUP.--Lightly fill a cup with broken vermicelli. Turn it into a pint of boiling water, and cook for ten or fifteen minutes. Drain off all the hot water and put into cold water for a few minutes. Turn into a colander and drain again; add three pints of milk, salt to taste, and heat to boiling. Have the yolks of three eggs well beaten, and when the soup is boiling, turn it gradually onto the eggs, stirring briskly that they may not curdle. Return to the kettle, reheat nearly to boiling, and serve at once. VERMICELLI SOUP NO. 2.--Cook a cupful of sliced vegetable oysters, a stalk or two of celery, two slices of onion, a parsnip, and half a carrot in water just sufficient to cover well. Meanwhile put a cupful of vermicelli in a quart of milk and cook in a double boiler until tender. When the vegetables are done, strain off the broth and add it to the vermicelli when cooked. Season with salt and a cup of cream. Beat two eggs light and turn the boiling soup on the eggs, stirring briskly that they may not curdle. Reheat if not thickened, and serve. WHITE CELERY SOUP.--Cut two heads of celery into finger lengths, and simmer in a quart of milk for half an hour. Remove the pieces of celery with a skimmer. Thicken the soup with a tablespoonful of cornstarch braided with a little milk, add salt if desired, and a teacup of whipped cream. TABLE TOPICS. Soup rejoices the stomach, and disposes it to receive and digest other food.--_Brillat Savarin._ To work the head, temperance must be carried into the diet.--_Beecher._ To fare well implies the partaking of such food as does not disagree with body or mind. Hence only those fare well who live temperately.--_Socrates._ The aliments to which the cook's art gives a liquid or semi-liquid form, are in general more digestible.--_Dictionaire de Medicine._ In the most heroic days of the Grecian army, their food was the plain and simple produce of the soil. When the public games of ancient Greece were first instituted, the _athleta_, in accordance with the common dietetic habits of the people, were trained entirely on vegetable food. The eating of much flesh fills us with a multitude of evil diseases and multitudes of evil desires.--_Perphyrises, 233 A.D._ No flocks that range the valley free To slaughter I condemn; Taught by the Power that pities me, I learn to pity them. But from the mountain's grassy side A guiltless feast I bring; A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied And water from the spring. --_Goldsmith._ BREAKFAST DISHES A good breakfast is the best capital upon which people who have real work to do in the world can begin the day. If the food is well selected and well cooked, it furnishes both cheer and strength for their daily tasks. Poor food, or good food poorly prepared, taxes the digestive powers more than is due, and consequently robs brain and nerves of vigor. Good food is not rich food, in the common acceptation of the term; it is such food as furnishes the requisite nutriment with the least fatigue to the digestive powers. It is of the best material, prepared in the best manner, and with pleasant variety, though it may be very simple. "What to get for breakfast" is one of the most puzzling problems which the majority of housewives have to solve. The usually limited time for its preparation requires that it be something easily and quickly prepared; and health demands that the bill of fare be of such articles as require but minimum time for digestion, that the stomach may have chance for rest after the process of digestion is complete, before the dinner hour. The custom of using fried potatoes or mushes, salted fish or meats, and other foods almost impossible of digestion, for breakfast dishes, is most pernicious. These foods set completely at variance all laws of breakfast hygiene. They are very difficult of digestion, and the thirst-provoking quality of salted foods makes them an important auxiliary to the acquirement of a love of intoxicating drinks. We feel very sure that, as a prominent temperance writer says, "It very often happens that women who send out their loved ones with an agony of prayer that they may be kept from drink for the day, also send them with a breakfast that will make them almost frantic with thirst before they get to the first saloon." The foods composing the breakfast _menu_ should be simple in character, well and delicately cooked, and neatly served. Fruits and grains and articles made from them offer the requisites for the ideal breakfast. These afford ample provision for variety, are easily made ready, and easily digested, while at the same time furnishing excellent nutriment in ample quantity and of the very best quality. Meats, most vegetables, and compound dishes, more difficult of digestion, are better reserved for the dinner bill of fare. No vegetable except the potato is especially serviceable as a breakfast food, and it is much more readily digested when baked than when prepared in any other manner. Stewing requires less time for preparation, but about one hour longer for digestion. As an introduction to the morning meal, fresh fruits are most desirable, particularly the juicy varieties, as oranges, grape fruit, melons, grapes, and peaches, some one of which are obtainable nearly the entire year. Other fruits; such as apples, bananas, pears, etc., though less suitable, may be used for the same purpose. They are, however, best accompanied with wafers or some hard food, to insure their thorough mastication. For the second course, some of the various cereals, oatmeal, rye, corn, barley, rice, or one of the numerous preparations of wheat, well cooked and served with cream, together with one or more unfermented breads (recipes for which have been given in a previous chapter), cooked fruits, and some simple relishes, are quite sufficient for a healthful and palatable breakfast. If, however, a more extensive bill of fare is desired, numerous delicious and appetizing toasts may be prepared according to the recipes given in this chapter, and which, because of their simple character and the facility with which they can be prepared, are particularly suitable as breakfast dishes. The foundation of all these toasts is _zwieback_, or twice-baked bread, prepared from good whole-wheat or Graham fermented bread cut in uniform slices not more than a half inch thick, each slice being divided in halves, placed on tins, or what is better, the perforated sheets recommended for baking rolls, and baked or toasted in a slow oven for a half hour or longer, until it is browned evenly throughout the entire slice. The zwieback may be prepared in considerable quantity and kept on hand in readiness for use. It will keep for any length of time if stored in a dry place. Stale bread is the best for making zwieback, but it should be good, light bread; that which is sour, heavy, and not fit to eat untoasted, should never be used. Care must be taken also not to scorch the slices, as once scorched, it is spoiled. Properly made, it is equally crisp throughout, and possesses a delicious, nutty flavor. Its preparation affords an excellent opportunity for using the left-over slices of bread, and it may be made when the oven has been heated for other purposes, as after the baking of bread, or even during the ordinary cooking, with little or no additional heat. If one possesses an Aladdin oven, it can be prepared to perfection. Zwieback may also be purchased in bulk, all ready for use, at ten cents a pound, from the Sanitarium Food Co., Battle Creek, Mich., and it is serviceable in so many ways that it should form a staple article of food in every household. For the preparation of toasts, the zwieback must be first softened with some hot liquid, preferably thin cream. Heat the cream (two thirds of a pint of cream will be sufficient for six half slices) nearly to boiling in some rather shallow dish. Put the slices, two or three at a time, in it, dipping the cream over them and turning so that both sides will become equally softened. Keep the cream hot, and let the slices remain until softened just enough so that the center can be pierced with a fork, but not until at all mushy or broken. With two forks or a fork and a spoon, remove each slice from the hot cream, draining as thoroughly as possible, and pack in a heated dish, and repeat the process until as much zwieback has been softened as desired. Cover the dish, and keep hot until ready to serve. Special care should be taken to drain the slices as thoroughly as possible, that none of them be wet and mushy. It is better to remove them from the cream when a little hard than to allow them to become too soft, as they will soften somewhat by standing after being packed in the dish. Prepare the sauce for the toast at the same time or before softening the slices, and pour into a pitcher for serving. Serve the slices in individual dishes, turning a small quantity of the hot sauce over each as served. _RECIPES._ APPLE TOAST.--Fresh, nicely flavored apples stewed in a small quantity of water, rubbed through, a colander, sweetened, then cooked in a granite-ware dish in a slow oven until quite dry, make a nice dressing for toast. Baked sweet or sour apples rubbed through a colander to remove cores and skins, are also excellent. Soften slices of zwieback in hot cream, and serve with a spoonful or two on each slice. If desired, the apple may be flavored with a little pineapple or lemon, or mixed with grape, cranberry, or apricot, thus making a number of different toasts. APRICOT TOAST.--Stew some nice dried apricots as directed on page