Next, toast-and-water. First, “ how not to do it.” You will find a servant generally cut off a knobby piece of crust, stick a toasting-fork in it, and toast it very black, put this in a jug, and pour boihng water over it, and this great hunk of bread will be floating at the top. Tills toast-and-water will be poor, muddy-looking, and have a slightly floury taste. The proper method is to cut the bread thin, and toast both sides thoroughly, and also have plenty of it. Let the bread be toasted through — i.e. let the bread be toasted so as to be thorougliJy dried up. Then pour the boihng water on it, and, if liked, add a small piece of lemon-peel✪ Toast-and-Water. Let tliis be carefully drained off, so that no crumbs remain in the fluid after it has got cold ; and this toast-and-water, which will look bright like sherry, will be a welcome draught to the feverish invalid. To make bread-and-milk, you must cut the bread✪ Bread-and-Milk up into small square pieces, and pour boihng milk on them. There are a good many persons who don’t fancy bread-and-milk, who will yet take toast-and-milk. For this purpose you must pour the boihng milk over small pieces of toast similar to those that would be handed round with pea-soup. In making bread-and-milk for infants, it is generally recommended to pour boihng water on the bread, and then drain it off, and then add the milk, as the boihng water renders the bread softer ; and as medical men generally recommend a httle water to be mixed with the milk for very young children, it will not be weaker. It is not for me to put up my opinion against the medical profession, but in London I would recommend mothers to give their children the milk pure when they have to buy it. I fear that many of the cows that supply London have iron tails, and that the doctor’s recom- FOOD FOR INVALIDS. 189 mendation has been already fully carried out — if any- thing, probably too fully. Another very refreshing drink for invalids, especially in hot weather, is lemonade. This is too often made by simply squeezing a lemon into a tumbler, picking the pips out with a spoon, and then adding sugar and cold water. The best method of making lemonade is to peel the lemons, or otherwise the lemonade will be bitter ; cut them into shces, taking away the pips, and then pouring boihng water on the slices, adding, of course, sufficient sugar to sweeten. This, after being well stirred, and the pulp pressed with a spoon, must be carefully strained through a piece of fine muslin, and allowed to get cold. When cold, a piece of ice✪ Lemonade is a great improvement. Cold, weak lemonade made this way, not too sweet, is one of the most refreshing drinks for hot weather possible ; and in cases where there is a tendency to take fluids too often, a tendency, we fear, rather of the age in which we live, a large jug of lemonade, made in the manner we have described, will often prove a harmless substitute for a glass of sherry, or a httle drop of cold brandy-and-water, or a glass of beer, as the case may be.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Next, toast-and-water. First, “ how not to do it.” You will find a servant generally cut off a knobby piece of crust, stick a toasting-fork in it, and toast it very black, put this in a jug, and pour boiling water over it, and this great hunk of bread will be floating at the top. This toast-and-water will be poor, muddy-looking, and have a slightly floury taste. The proper method is to cut the bread thin, and toast both sides thoroughly, and also have plenty of it. Let the bread be toasted through — i.e. let the bread be toasted so as to be thoroughly dried up. Then pour the boiling water on it, and, if liked, add a small piece of lemon-peel. Let this be carefully drained off, so that no crumbs remain in the fluid after it has got cold ; and this toast-and-water, which will look bright like sherry, will be a welcome draught to the feverish invalid. To make bread-and-milk, you must cut the bread up into small square pieces, and pour boiling milk on them. There are a good many persons who don’t fancy bread-and-milk, who will yet take toast-and-milk. For this purpose you must pour the boiling milk over small pieces of toast similar to those that would be handed round with pea-soup. In making bread-and-milk for infants, it is generally recommended to pour boiling water on the bread, and then drain it off, and then add the milk, as the boiling water renders the bread softer ; and as medical men generally recommend a little water to be mixed with the milk for very young children, it will not be weaker. It is not for me to put up my opinion against the medical profession, but in London I would recommend mothers to give their children the milk pure when they have to buy it. I fear that many of the cows that supply London have iron tails, and that the doctor’s recom- mendation has been already fully carried out — if anything, probably too fully. Another very refreshing drink for invalids, especially in hot weather, is lemonade. This is too often made by simply squeezing a lemon into a tumbler, picking the pips out with a spoon, and then adding sugar and cold water. The best method of making lemonade is to peel the lemons, or otherwise the lemonade will be bitter ; cut them into slices, taking away the pips, and then pouring boiling water on the slices, adding, of course, sufficient sugar to sweeten. This, after being well stirred, and the pulp pressed with a spoon, must be carefully strained through a piece of fine muslin, and allowed to get cold. When cold, a piece of ice is a great improvement. Cold, weak lemonade made this way, not too sweet, is one of the most refreshing drinks for hot weather possible ; and in cases where there is a tendency to take fluids too often, a tendency, we fear, rather of the age in which we live, a large jug of lemonade, made in the manner we have described, will often prove a harmless substitute for a glass of sherry, or a little drop of cold brandy-and-water, or a glass of beer, as the case may be.

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