Aside from this, and the extra labor of hands, head and feet required in the preparation of these dishes ; the fuel for cooking and patience in caring for them during the process ; just consider the necessary " stock " demanded for this special line of cookery, and calculate the nervous and financial outlay. Do not forget that these are con- ventional indispensables and not the actual " needs " of the human body. To prepare these artificial indispensables(i^) we purchase extensively of those things that enter into no other form of cooking, and combine them with the starchy PUDDINGS, PASTRIES AND CEKES. 175 impoverished white flour, the fruits used being the one redeeming feature. If housewives would devote a little time to an exami- nation of the State Board of Health statistics, and ascer- tain how much corn, chips, stems, chaff, saw-dust, charcoal, undefined dirt and other foreign ingredients are found by the detective chemist in food supplies, they would doubt- less b2 surprised at the revelations, and might thereafter be able to obtain pure goods by making a demand ior ihem. Nearly every article used for food is adulterated, dairy products not excepted. More than 200 samples of spices were recently examined at the Connecticut experiment station and most of them contained spurious matter. Suppose we count the hours spent in whipping cream, manufacturing cake, and beating eggs for puddings, pies and frostings, ornamenting merely to please the eye and the palate for a brief time, and also consider the penalties paid later in physical suffering and doctors* fees. Does the compensation justify the outlay ? Is it not humiliating to contemplate this worse than waste of time, strength and money ? And thousands of professional men and women caterers are literally devoting all their time, strength and ingenuity in devising ways and means to gratify the ceaseless demand of artificial and perverted appetite for something new and rare. Women of culture and intelligence devote much time and thought to the consideration of other and less import- ant subjects ; and why not then, to this matter of diet which has such a vital bearing on our whole being, physical, moral and spiritual? Nothing so affects the home and through the home the outside world. To the majority who are unaccustomed to hygienic 176 THE FAT OF THE LAND. living, how to modify or dispense with these injurious compounds and supply equally delicious substitutes, is the great problem. Nature has prepared a vast amount of food for us, and her productions are far more tempting and healthful than anything can possibly be coming from the hands of sickly or inefficient cooks ; and even the professionals too often set before us compounds so doctored and mixed that we are compelled to pronounce them nameless. If the authors of cook books and inventors of fancy dishes were compelled to subsist upon the pro- ducts of their own formulas, they would not live to inflict a second edition on a sufferiug public. The scientists at present investigating the food question, tell us that our diet is very one-sided and that we eat too much of "sweets, fats and starch." In the special department of cookery under discussion those elements predominate ; and if we only see fit to completely or even partially eliminate them, this part of the problem will be settled. But these pastries are " so handy," it has become second nature to eat them at any time of day or night, and to get them anywhere obtainable. Children suffer more from excessive use of these things than adults, and every mother should be interested in banishing them from the table, or in learning how to make them less harmful. In this connection the following suggestions may prove helpful :

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Aside from this, and the extra labor of hands, head and feet required in the preparation of these dishes ; the fuel for cooking and patience in caring for them during the process ; just consider the necessary " stock " demanded for this special line of cookery, and calculate the nervous and financial outlay. Do not forget that these are conventional indispensables and not the actual " needs " of the human body. To prepare these artificial indispensables(i^) we purchase extensively of those things that enter into no other form of cooking, and combine them with the starchy impoverished white flour, the fruits used being the one redeeming feature. If housewives would devote a little time to an examination of the State Board of Health statistics, and ascertain how much corn, chips, stems, chaff, saw-dust, charcoal, undefined dirt and other foreign ingredients are found by the detective chemist in food supplies, they would doubtless b2 surprised at the revelations, and might thereafter be able to obtain pure goods by making a demand ior ihem. Nearly every article used for food is adulterated, dairy products not excepted. More than 200 samples of spices were recently examined at the Connecticut experiment station and most of them contained spurious matter. Suppose we count the hours spent in whipping cream, manufacturing cake, and beating eggs for puddings, pies and frostings, ornamenting merely to please the eye and the palate for a brief time, and also consider the penalties paid later in physical suffering and doctors* fees. Does the compensation justify the outlay ? Is it not humiliating to contemplate this worse than waste of time, strength and money ? And thousands of professional men and women caterers are literally devoting all their time, strength and ingenuity in devising ways and means to gratify the ceaseless demand of artificial and perverted appetite for something new and rare. Women of culture and intelligence devote much time and thought to the consideration of other and less important subjects ; and why not then, to this matter of diet which has such a vital bearing on our whole being, physical, moral and spiritual? Nothing so affects the home and through the home the outside world. To the majority who are unaccustomed to hygienic living, how to modify or dispense with these injurious compounds and supply equally delicious substitutes, is the great problem. Nature has prepared a vast amount of food for us, and her productions are far more tempting and healthful than anything can possibly be coming from the hands of sickly or inefficient cooks ; and even the professionals too often set before us compounds so doctored and mixed that we are compelled to pronounce them nameless. If the authors of cook books and inventors of fancy dishes were compelled to subsist upon the products of their own formulas, they would not live to inflict a second edition on a sufferiug public. The scientists at present investigating the food question, tell us that our diet is very one-sided and that we eat too much of "sweets, fats and starch." In the special department of cookery under discussion those elements predominate ; and if we only see fit to completely or even partially eliminate them, this part of the problem will be settled. But these pastries are " so handy," it has become second nature to eat them at any time of day or night, and to get them anywhere obtainable. Children suffer more from excessive use of these things than adults, and every mother should be interested in banishing them from the table, or in learning how to make them less harmful. In this connection the following suggestions may prove helpful :

A practical cook and text book for general use