Tlie Farmer's Table 235 



a very few kinds of food at one meal; but, since 

 novelty stimulates appetite, any particular dish 

 will be more appetizing if not served too fre- 

 quently. The farmer's family, while very eco- 

 nomical in the expenditure of money, is often 

 very wasteful of food. Vegetables, fruit, 

 chickens, pork raised on the farm, seem to cost 

 no money, but they cost much vital energy, which 

 is quite as valuable. The value of milk, butter, 

 and eggs is recognized, because it is customary 

 to sell them in town; but the cost in the labor 

 of those who raise and those who prepare food, 

 is often overlooked. The farmer's table is thus 

 not only overloaded, but really extravagant. 

 Here, again, quality is more desirable than va- 

 riety; simplicity should accompany abundance. 



Since rural life involves a certain degree of 

 isolation, the family must keep in touch with 

 the world chiefly through literature. Even at 

 the sacrifice of some of the rich variety of food 

 on the table or of new clothes, books and papers 

 should be provided. The local newspaper is apt 

 to contain little beside local gossip; it should be 

 supplemented with an agricultural paper and a 

 family journal, a housekeeping magazine, a chil- 

 dren's magazine, if there be children, and other 

 general magazines if they can be afforded. But 

 better than the general magazines, would be the 

 gradual purchase of the standard works of his- 



