Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

a napkin thrown over them, as also do baked potatoes, fritters, fried cakes, scallops, gratins, breaded chops, croquettes, and all dishes which would be impaired by having moisture fall upon them as it condenses on china or silver covers. Dry toast should be served in a rack, or the slices set on edge on a hot plate, and only a small quantity made and served at once ; it should be delicately brown and crisp ; buttered toast should be set in the oven for a moment after it is made, and then served covered with a hot napkin ; milktoast should be served in a covered dish, from which the cover should be lifted quickly and reversed at once to prevent the condensed steam falling back upon the toast. Butter should be cut in small squares, or moulded, and kept in ice-water or upon a cake of ice until it is served. Boiled eggs should be served very hot the moment they are done, and eaten from the shell with a spoon : in America the custom prevails of breaking the eggs into a glass or cup before eating them. The shells of eggs should be washed in cold water before they are boiled. Fruit is placed upon the table and eaten as the guests desire. The whole fruits, such as apples, oranges, bananas, cherries, and melons, are usually eaten at the beginning of the repast ; and those which require sugar, such as berries, pine-apples, and peaches, are taken towards its close. The cereals, such as oatmeal, hominy, and cracked wheat, are eaten after the whole fruit, with sirup, cream, or preserves. The coffee, chocolate, cocoa, and tea are taken at the guests' pleasure. After the fruit and cereals come the small meats, eggs, and garnished side-dishes of fish, game, and poultry. The breakfast closes with the fried cakes, and cut fruit with sugar, or berries, according to the season. When wines are used at breakfast, they should be Sautemes, white Burgundy, hock, or claret. A good breakfast, of medium extent, would be as follows : — BILL OF FARE. Cantelope or Oranges. Broiled Fish with Stewed and Saratoga Potatoes. Maryland Chicken with Cream Gravy and Hominy. Iced Oatmeal with Cream. Olives. Small Tenderloin Steaks with Watercresses and Radishes. Omelette with Mushrooms. WafHes. Pone. Rice Cakes with Maple Sirup. Peaches iced and sugared. THE FAMILY BREAKFAST. This meal is second only in importance to the dinner, especially when any extreme mental labor is demanded of the members of the family. The importance of early and substantial breakfasts is emphasized in the writings of the author upon sanitary matters, and consequently such repetition here is unnecessary; but of the fact that the housekeeper should personally superintend and be present at this meal, there can be no question. If the breakfast is unsatisfactory, a man half hungry or exhausted will generally have recourse to some tonic stimulant to carry him through his morning work; and a second thought is not needed to realize the consequence of such a custom. Our national habits demand that the breakfast shall be hot and abundant, and that there shall be such successive variety that the appetite shall always be stimulated. Fresh fruit in season, or that preserved with little or no sugar, or radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, watercress, or lettuce, should make a part of every breakfast if obtainable.