Cut thinly sliced bacon in pieces the size of an oyster.  Wash and look carefully over the oysters for bits of shell, then pat dry on a towel.  Now thread a strip of bacon on a meat skewer and then an oyster and so on until the skewer is full, having the bacon first and last on the skewer.  Fasten the ends of skewer with a small knob of potato or turnip.  Dust the oysters and bacon thoroughly with flour and lay on a baking sheet and bake in hot oven for ten minutes.  Serve with chili sauce.

YANKEE OYSTER PIE

  Two cups of diced potatoes, parboiled,
  Three medium-sized onions, diced and parboiled.

Grease a baking dish and then place a layer of onions and potatoes in the bottom and then a layer of oysters.  Sprinkle the oyster with one-half cup of finely diced celery.  Season each layer of oysters:  cover with one and one-half cups of thick cream sauce and then with a crust of plain pastry.  Wash the top of pastry with cold water and bake for forty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

DEVILED OYSTERS

Wash. look over and then chop fine twenty-five ovsters.  Place in a bowl and then add

  One cup of very thick cream sauce,
  One tablespoon of grated onion,
  Two tablespoons of finely minced parsley,
  One teaspoon of salt,
  One teaspoon of paprika,
  One-half teaspoon of mustard,
  One tablespoon Worcestershire sauce,
  Two hard-boiled eggs chopped fine,
  One-half cup of fine bread crumbs.

Mix thoroughly and then pour on a platter and set aside to chill.  Now scrub clean one dozen deep shells.  Fill with the prepared mixture and then brush with beaten egg and cover with fine crumbs.  Fry until golden brown in hot fat.

The oyster is one of our most democratic luxuries; it is in very high favor in our most luxurious restaurants, and yet it is held in equal esteem in our most moderate-priced lunch rooms.  Oysters are sold both in and out of the shell, fresh and canned, and they may be eaten and cooked in almost every conceivable way.

Among the best known varieties are blue point, Buzzard Bays, Cape Cods, Lynnhavens, Maurice Rivers, Rockaways, saddle rocks, sea tags, Shrewsberrys and coruits and Oak Creeks.  Many of these titles have really lost their real significance by trade misuses.  Blue points, for example, is often, though incorrectly, applied to all small oysters, irrespective of their source.

The oyster season opens in September and continues on until May.  Three sizes are usually recognized by the trade—­half shells, the smallest culls, the medium size and the box, which is the largest.  True oyster lovers really prefer the large Lynnhavens and others on the deep shell.

The epicure delights in eating raw oysters; and while this satisfies his appetite, it is also understood that the raw oyster virtually is assimilated without taxing the digestion.