Various

“ Beefsteak pudding, which is served on Wednesdays, with all the pomp and ceremony of ancient days, is an attraction that fills the tables and sends away dozens of envious men and women, who can get no more than a sniff of the Old English dish, as it is borne in triumph through the rooms. ”

“ After all the bitter work-a-day life in these narrow homes, attics, cellars, two or three rooms at most, would have been more wretched for the pensioners to bear than their blighted hopes. "To work a bit harder," in order to take in one's aged mother, is not possible in thousands of cases. Better to remain a workhouse pauper and be sure of warmth, cleanliness and food than to wander forth uncared for or to be an unwelcome burden on an overworked child. ”

“ This genius for simplification of processes, this wonderful knack of devising machinery which will do the work of the human hand, has multiplied the output of our factories: and this in turn has increased wages and decreased the hours of labor, and so brought a great uplift into the lives of our workmen; given them the power to provide better homes for their families, better education for their children, and greater leisure in which to work out a broader destiny for themselves. ”

“ It is a common saying that it is harder to resign office at seventy than at sixty, just because old age clings to occupation as its protection. But if with most of us, if not with all, as the years increase, occupation shrivels and the fads or hobbies, the solace of earlier days, cease by their very weight to be pursued,—then may there still be amusement provided for the elderly before they become "Shut Ins," dependent on Christmas and Easter cards for enjoyment. ”

“ Tarts have been made in the same fashion at this Oxford college for several hundred years, in order, the cook explained, with a twinkle in his eye, that the students might get what they wanted, when they slipped down on a night tart raid. It is the nick in the edge that has told generations of students the contents of the tart; an apple has only one nick, a mince has two at each end, a gooseberry three, and so on until a student who has learned the rule can choose his favorite in the dark. ”

“ Does it not follow that the only life worth living is that which is actuated by a real purpose, a lofty ideal, a clear vision? How much in the way of successful and happy living depends upon our ideals! ”

“ Nature makes no exception for even the clergy. When Mrs. Hopewell declares she must take her butter and eggs to market today and so cannot do another stroke of work after one o'clock, Nature simply smiles complacently from the four corners of every ruddy berry basket and says, "Take me now in my perfection, for tomorrow it will have passed away." ”

“ Often life becomes dull and irksome because our living and working seem to be in vain. We are constantly asking ourselves, how we can make our lives worth living. Now, in accordance with the consensus of modern thought, it would seem that the better way to live is, while ever taking active interest in the current affairs of the day, to cherish some lofty aim or purpose, in other words, "to formulate and cultivate a vision." ”

“ Nearly every European city has a café or a restaurant that is of special interest, not because of its smart patronage or high prices, but for its quaint customs, old dishes or drinks, and it varies the routine of galleries and historic buildings to hunt them out. They add a spice, a zest, to what might become rather a dreary round of sight seeing, for no one appreciates the old customs more than the American. ”

“ Old age becomes more of a problem when living in it than when viewed afar off. It is a question of economics and ethics more than of wrinkles. It is so easy not to mind it when well, rich and beloved; it is so impossible not to object to it when sick, poor and unwelcome. ”

“ What old age, whether poor, middling or well-to-do lacks is amusement. It is lonesome to keep jolly by remembering that one's mind ought to be one's kingdom. Meditation is all very well, but so also is the circus, the "greatest value of which lies in its non-ethical quality." Even if it has its symbolism, it does not mercilessly set one to moralizing, save as a three ring circus and a "brigade of clowns" 75 (the result of trying to make as much money as possible) incites to weariness. ”

“ Then one wonders if one ought to refuse marriage and devote one's self to one's parents;—or, if married and children are many, and food and lodgings scant, shall one also house one's aged parents? If the ethics thereof are difficult to settle when money and space are available, it is a hideous task for decision when both are lacking. ”

“ To be able to cook well is a desideratum to be desired, and rivalry in pleasing and artistic tea-rooms, "cake and cooky shops" and places for the sale of cooked food is abroad in the land. We look to see this same pleasing rivalry displayed in dressmaking rooms and laundries, where fine work can be essayed. These private and small enterprises, which might grow into larger ones, should furnish a generous return for the time and money invested and an increase in the happiness of those employed as well as of those whom they serve. ”

“ It is not safe to deprive the body entirely of these groups of food substances, since proper nutrition depends upon a wholesomely balanced diet, but the amount of them taken by the average person can be very greatly cut down without any danger to health. It is not unusual for a single meal to include a cream soup, bread and butter, potatoes, macaroni, a starchy vegetable, such as beans, a salad dressed with oil, and a rice or cornstarch pudding,—a list of articles which, as may readily be seen, contains a much larger amount of fat-making food than is required by the actual needs of the body. ”

“ It has been said that "The whole moral law is based on health. The ideal body is the proper shrine for the ideal soul,—a truth that has yet to be educated into the modern consciousness. Righteousness and health should go together. ”

“ A noted physician, who has successfully reduced many stout patients, lately made the statement that many fat people were willing to take any sort of treatment that was ordered for them, if only their diet was not restricted. It is upon restriction of diet, however, that the chief dependence must be placed, in the reduction of weight; exercise produces a more rapid burning up of fat in the body, but superfluous fat cannot be stored up, if the material for it is not supplied to the system. ”

“ Some children do not enjoy being read to, but all of them love a story, and, with a little tact on the part of the mother, it is but a step from the story she tells 99 to the one she reads, and she can easily cultivate a taste for good reading, for, after all, she is the genius that shapes and molds, and without whom the most ideal nursery is but a dreary place. ”

“ You can buy cheap pies anywhere and they taste cheap. These melt in your mouth. And you ought to know that two other women in the neighborhood have specialties, too, and I taught them, for my mother used to make a delicious chicken jelly for sick people and one woman does that and has a big market for it at the Woman's Exchange, and another makes cornbeef hash for three restaurants and has all she can do. The gist of it is good cooking can always be made to pay. Keep to the best form you can find, never vary, and a living, and often much more, is certain. ”

“ We are told that even the songs she sings to the babe at her breast have an occult influence over its future life. What a power and privilege, then, are hers to guide the little groping hands and watch the unfolding mind ”

“ One grown-up daughter, supporting herself, her mother and brother in two rooms, one no better than a cupboard, grieved she could not take back her father. Other sons and daughters, by blood or by law, waxed indignant at being urged to receive their kinsmen, even for the sake of the shillings. They had neither room nor food for them; each generation must care first for its own children and not take up burdens of parents, worse still of grandparents, aunts and cousins once gotten rid of ”

“ A quart or two of milk a day, when taken in addition to the regular meals, will often work wonders; the cream should be stirred into it, not removed, and a raw egg may be beaten into an occasional glassful. Butter should be spread with a generous hand, salad dressings should contain as much oil as is practicable, and a tablespoonful of pure olive oil, taken after each meal, will be an effective aid, and also promote the free action of the bowels, that is so great a help in bringing about a condition of general good health. ”

“ Earthen dishes for cooking, which conserve heat and answer for serving as well as cooking, are to be commended at all seasons; but in hot weather, when it is eminently desirable to limit heat and work, they are more than ever a source of pleasure and comfort. ”

“ It seems a wide jump in fancy from old age to a circus, and yet to me they are intimately connected through the dear old people, poor and well to do, whom I have known, who found in it their objective base for amusement. ”

“ COOKING FOR TWO is designed to give in simple and concise style, those things that are essential to the proper selection and preparation of a reasonable variety of food for a family of two individuals. At the same time by simply doubling the quantity of each ingredient given in a recipe, the dish prepared will serve four or more people.
The food products considered in the recipes are such as the housekeeper of average means would use on every day occasions, with a generous sprinkling of choice articles for Sunday, or when a friend or two have been invited to dinner, luncheon or high tea. ”

“ For a number of years the scientific investigators have been arguing that a bird—almost any bird—was worth a good deal more to the country alive than dead; worth more in the glorious freedom of its habitat than on my lady's hat or on the plate of the epicure. ”

“ We are admonished by many innovations that times have changed. The fact that graduates from Colleges of Home Economics are taught to see the subject in "its broad relations, both to science and to practice," and that every graduate is expected "to have a fair working knowledge of the household-arts" 95 and be able to cook a meal or make a dress, has given the practice of the so-called homely arts an impetus that will do much for the betterment of the race. Cooking and sewing have had a renaissance. ”

“ This is even more true now than it was a few generations ago; the higher standard of luxury in the modern manner of life, labor-saving devices of every kind, and improved transportation facilities, which have almost reduced out-door exercise to a matter of country-club athletics, are among the reasons for the present-day lack of physical activity among both men and women. It must not be forgotten, however, that our high-pressure modern life also favors the existence of a class, who, instead of feeding their vital fires too generously, are inadequately nourished ”

“ But since women have become anxious to compete with men in every walk of life, they, too, are desirous to become adepts in tossing up an appetizing salad or in stirring a creamy rarebit. The author has aimed to make it the most practical and reliable treatise on these fascinating branches of the culinary art that has yet been published. Due attention has been given to the a b c of the subjects, and great care exercised to meet the actual needs of those who wish to cultivate a taste for palatable and wholesome dishes, or to cater to the vagaries of the most capricious appetites. ”

“ Bacon grease is the best available medium for frying. It is the most toothsome and the purest. Contrast the clean lines and flavor of bacon grease with the insipid, ghastly-looking product known as lard, made from who knows what. Pure leaf lard is rare, and even at its best the rich, tempting savor of bacon is vastly preferable.
Bacon, properly prepared for those who do not engage in heavy manual labor and therefore do not need much of the rich heat producing fat, should be fried to a crisp, until it is to all intents entirely lean. ”

“ Diseases of many different organs, a run-down nervous condition, too much hard work and too little rest, improper food, and disorders of the digestive tract are among the causes that may produce malnutrition, and the first measure adopted by the painfully thin person should be a frank talk with her family physician, as the diet required may not be that intended especially for increasing weight, but one that shall improve nutrition by remedying the defective working of some organ or system of the body. ”

“ With the advent of a maid, the dishes multiply and time is spent in dish washing that should be given to the larger affairs of the housekeeping. For the mother or one maid the washing of dishes must be regulated to make the work an incident and not the event of the day. We are not protesting against a change of plates, or forks, etc., for the dessert; but extra dishes for vegetables, the plate underneath the plate, both handled and therefore to be washed, much glassware that requires careful washing and polishing, all tend to prolong the time at the sink. ”

“ In these days of high prices, when home-makers are striving to feed their families well, at as low cost as possible, it is often the saving of little things that keeps down the provision bill. One should know how to combine left overs so they may realize the best results both in the amount of money saved and the amount of nourishment given. Save the liquor in which a ham has been cooked. The fat from the top may be used for sautéing potatoes or pressed sliced cereals, or with scrambled eggs, and lends a delicious flavor when so used. The cooled liquor forms a "jelly" rich in extractives. ”

“ Each of us must find his vision in his own occupation or calling in life. There each must strive not only to grow and enrich his own life, but also that of the few or the many about him, as chance or environment permits. ”

“ Prick the sausages on all sides that the skin may not burst in cooking. Set into a moderate oven in a frying-pan. Let cook about half an hour, then turn them and let cook another half hour. Just before the sausages are done pour some of the fat into another frying-pan (or keep the sausage hot on the serving dish and use the original pan) . Have ready some half slices of pineapple, roll these in flour and let cook in the hot fat until browned on one side, then turn and cook on the other side. If preferred the pineapple may be dipped in fritter batter instead of flour. ”

“ A small bookcase should also be given an honored place in the nursery, for older children, and nothing but books of the very best from a literary standpoint, well printed on good paper and substantially bound, should find their way to its shelves. Cheap toy books from the five and ten cent counters, many of which are poorly bound, grotesquely illustrated and insipid in contents, had better be kept away from the children. I would rather give them one good book a year than an armful of poor ones. ”

“ It is almost impossible to eliminate bread-stuffs from the diet, yet much indulgence in the "bread and butter habit" is fatal to the woman who desires to grow thin. Bread has least flesh-forming power when thoroughly toasted; whole-wheat bread contains less starch than that made of the ordinary white flour, while gluten 102 bread contains still less, and is the most desirable form for the stout person's use. Macaroni and spaghetti, rice, and the breakfast cereals are all included in the list of very starchy foods, and should, therefore, be avoided. ”