Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Mix together three pints of grated bread crumbs, three teaspoonfuls of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, one table-spoonful of powdered sage, three table-spoonfuls of butter, and one of minced onion. Fill the body of the pig with this, and sew up. Press the fore feet forward and the hind feet backward, and skewer them into position. Butter two sheets of paper, and pin them over the ears. Dredge the pig with salt, rub it over with soft butter, and dredge with flour. Place in a dripping-pan and on a rack, and cook in a moderately hot oven for three hours and a half, basting every fifteen minutes with butter or salad oil and a light sprinkling of salt and flour. Water must never be used, as it is important that the surface of the meat should be crisp. Remove the paper from the ears the last half-hour. The pig may be served whole, or in four pieces. If whole, force the mouth open and put a small block of wood between the teeth before the pig is placed in the oven. At serving-time remove the block, and insert in its place a small ear of corn or a small lemon. Serve plenty of apple sauce with this dish. HOW TO PREPARE POULTRY AND GAME To draw poultry or birds, first cut the skin on the back of the neck. Now turn the skin over on the breast, and cut off the neck close to the body. Take out the crop, being careful not to leave any of the lining, which is often a thin membrane that is hardly perceptible, especially when the bird has an empty crop. Most of the undrawn poultry is kept without food for twelve or more hours before killing. When this is the case the lining of the sack, which is called the craw or crop, becomes thin and soft. Special care is required to find and remove it. When the lining of the crop has been removed, put the forefinger into the throat, and break the ligaments that hold the internal organs to the breastbone. Now cut the bird open at the vent, beginning under one of the legs, and cutting in a slanting direction toward the vent; stop there. Work the hand slowly around, not through, the organs until the top of the breastbone is reached. Now gently draw all the organs out at once. It may be that the lights and a piece of the windpipe will be left in. The lights will be found imbedded in the ribs ; they are a soft, spongy pink substance. Look into the throat for the windpipe. In the tail there will be found a hard yellow substance, named the oil bag ; cut it out. Cut off the legs, being sure to cut in the joints. Now singe the bird by holding it over a blazing newspaper. The paper should be held over the open fire or over a coal-hod. Wash the bird quickly in cold water. If it is to be stuffed, fill the crop first, and put the remainder of the stuffing into the body. Draw the skin at the neck onto the back, and fasten it to the backbone with a skewer. Turn the tips of the wings under the back, and fasten them in that position with a long skewer. Xow pass a small skewer through the lower part of the legs, and then through the tail. Tie firmly with a long piece of twine. Turn the bird on its breast, and then bring the twine up round the skewers that hold the wings and the neck. Twist round two or three times, and tie.