VERMICELLI SOUP NO. 2.—­Cook a cupful of sliced vegetable oysters, a stalk or two of celery, two slices of onion, a parsnip, and half a carrot in water just sufficient to cover well.  Meanwhile put a cupful of vermicelli in a quart of milk and cook in a double boiler until tender.  When the vegetables are done, strain off the broth and add it to the vermicelli when cooked.  Season with salt and a cup of cream.  Beat two eggs light and turn the boiling soup on the eggs, stirring briskly that they may not curdle.  Reheat if not thickened, and serve.

WHITE CELERY SOUP.—­Cut two heads of celery into finger lengths, and simmer in a quart of milk for half an hour.  Remove the pieces of celery with a skimmer.  Thicken the soup with a tablespoonful of cornstarch braided with a little milk, add salt if desired, and a teacup of whipped cream.

TABLE TOPICS.

    Soup rejoices the stomach, and disposes it to receive and digest
    other food.—­Brillat Savarin.

    To work the head, temperance must be carried into the
    diet.—­Beecher.

    To fare well implies the partaking of such food as does not disagree
    with body or mind.  Hence only those fare well who live
    temperately.—­Socrates.

    The aliments to which the cook’s art gives a liquid or semi-liquid
    form, are in general more digestible.—­Dictionaire de Medicine.

In the most heroic days of the Grecian army, their food was the plain and simple produce of the soil.  When the public games of ancient Greece were first instituted, the athleta, in accordance with the common dietetic habits of the people, were trained entirely on vegetable food.

    The eating of much flesh fills us with a multitude of evil diseases
    and multitudes of evil desires.—­Perphyrises, 233 A.D.

     No flocks that range the valley free
     To slaughter I condemn;
     Taught by the Power that pities me,
     I learn to pity them. 
     But from the mountain’s grassy side
     A guiltless feast I bring;
     A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied
     And water from the spring.

    —­Goldsmith.

BREAKFAST DISHES

A good breakfast is the best capital upon which people who have real work to do in the world can begin the day.  If the food is well selected and well cooked, it furnishes both cheer and strength for their daily tasks.  Poor food, or good food poorly prepared, taxes the digestive powers more than is due, and consequently robs brain and nerves of vigor.  Good food is not rich food, in the common acceptation of the term; it is such food as furnishes the requisite nutriment with the least fatigue to the digestive powers.  It is of the best material, prepared in the best manner, and with pleasant variety, though it may be very simple.