Cookery for little girls

toasting. Or she can take stale bread, cut in long narrow strips, spread with butter, season with salt and pepper and bake a light brown in a slow oven. Croutons, too, are a welcomed variety, made by cutting bread in half-inch cubes, dipping in melted butter and frying crisp. A few of these are scattered on top of each plate of soup just before sending to the table. Such extras require but little time, yet they mark the experienced cook ; and if our small maid has been paying due attention to her directions (and consequently getting good results in her work,) she ought now to be so interested that she will be eager to try every new dish suggested and desirous of making the greatest possible number of dishes out of each particular kind of food. Now let us review and see what we have out of the odds and ends that we found that we had on hand to start with, and what a luncheon it would make. We should have either a soup or the stuffed peppers for a first course, salad for a second, and the cheese crackers served with a small quantity of jam or preserves for a finish ! Quite a nice meal, and one we need not hesitate to set before an unexpected guest. Besides, from any reasonable quantity of left-overs there would probably be enough for four people. CHAPTER IV Fish, Fresh and Dried Fresh fish, in the first place, must be; absolutely fresh. They will have little odor, the eyes will be full and clear, and the flesh firm. They are usually delivered from the market cleaned and scaled, but they should be washed with cold water, and sprinkled with salt if not used immediately. SMELTS, TROUT AND PERCH Smelts, trout, perch and other small fish, are fried whole, while the larger kinds are cut in pieces called fillets. After washing, drying and seasoning with pepper and salt, each piece should be dipped in finely rolled, dried bread or corn meal, and laid on the bread-board. When all through, beginning with the first, dip each one in wellbeaten, seasoned egg, and then in the crumby again, taking pains to have them covered completely. Lay back on the board to dry before cooking. Heat a half cupful of lard in a skillet until smoking hot, then put in the fish and fry on one side until brown. Turn carefully to avoid breaking, and brown on the other side, but do not turn more than once, and watch to keep from burning. Many cooks use flour or rolled crackers for covering the fish, but the bread crumbs do not hold as much grease, and the fish always seem to fry better than when dipped in anything else. When cooked a deep, rich brown, lift out on to brown paper to drain, and then slip on to a hot platter and send to the table at once, garnished with slices of lemon, parsley or water cress. HALIBUT A halibut steak is fine when, after washing thoroughly, it is put in a dripping pan, seasoned with salt and pepper, covered with boiling water and cooked in the oven until done, — from twenty minutes to half an hour. While it is cooking, our little maid can prepare her favorite white sauce, only now she must add a cupful of strained tomatoes and season with red pepper. When the fish is ready, she must serve it on a hot platter, covered with the hot sauce. A steak of this kind usually weighs about two pounds, and is ample for four or five people. FISH, FRESH AND DRIED