Six little cooks

" You must always remember," said Mrs. King, " that one of the great points in cooking for the sick, is to have things ready exactly at the time they are wanted. The fifteen or twenty minutes of delay while we are finishing something in the kitchen, and which passes without our perceiving it, is as long as hours to a sick person. If you know at what time anything is ordered, always begin long enough beforehand to allow for not only probable but improbable detentions. I shall never forget the mortification I felt when I undertook once to serve an egg on toast to a sick friend in the evening. The kitchen fire was a mass of dead coals and smouldering ashes, and my only servant was out; even if I could have made up another fire I couldn't have had any clear coals for toasting, so I made a compromise by holding some water in a little tin cup over a gas-burner, and half-boiling an egg in that I Then I spread a slice of bread and butter — not toast! — and emptied the egg over it. My friend had the complaisance to eat it; but I know it must have been a dreadful mess." "What could you have done any better, Aunt Jane!" asked Grace. " I could have told the maid, before she went out, to leave me a proper fire, which it is never safe to be without when there is sickness in the house ; and I could have had on hand, what I afterwards bought, an arrangement which fastens on the gas fixture and heats water quite as soon as the flame of a fire. To be sure, I could not have made toast with it, but I could at least have accomplished a decent poached egg." " Will you let us make mamma's gruel to-day, Aunt Jane?" " Certainly, and as it is not time for it yet, I'll give you some recipes which you will find useful when you have the care of sick people yourselves, as may happen some time." No. 77 — OLD FASHIONED BEEF TEA. One pound (or more) of lean beef — (not one scrap of fat must be admitted) — cut into small pieces and put into a tightly-covered jar, without water. Set the jar into a pot of cold water, let this come gradually to a boil and then boil steadily for three or four hours, until the meat is like white rags. Then press the juice out, and season with salt, and, if permitted, a little pepper. This is the pure juice of the meat. No. 78 — LOUISA'S BEEF TEA. Cut the beef (without fat,) into small pieces, say one inch cube, or thereabouts; put them in an open saucepan over the fire with a very little water — not nearly enough to cover them; take a strong, small iron spoon and press them constantly against the side of the saucepan until you see that every bit of blood is pressed out, and nothing is left but white, leathery lumps ; remove these, strain the juice through a hair-sieve, if the broth is required very clear, and flavor as above. An easily made and nutritious food, which can be prepared in fifteen minutes. No. 79 — MRS. MILLER'S BEEF TEA. One Ib. lean, juicy beef, one pint cold water, two even teaspoonfuls salt. Cut the beef in bits about an inch square, cover it with the cold water, and let it stand one hour. Heat it slowly over the fire till it reaches the boiling point, then strain and season. " They seem to be very much afraid we shall take fat beef, Aunt Jane," said Mabel.