As an involuntary testimony to quality, the following little 

 story of a 1911 happening is significant: Two "cranks on eggs" 

 were about to have their breakfast. It was mid-October, when 

 laying things generally are prone to go on a strike. There were 

 75 laying ( ?) hens and 10 laying ducks on the place. The day 

 before, the 75 hens had given seven eggs ; the ten ducks, five eggs. 



"Here," said one, "if you like hens' eggs best, you can have 

 hens' eggs this morning." 



"I imagine I do," naively responded the other, but when 

 they are both fresh, I can't tell the difference. I've tried and 

 tried to find, — as the little girl said about liver, — 'something in it 

 that don't taste good,' and I really can't. It's just an old preju- 

 dice, as I proved the other morning by eating a duck egg inad- 

 vertently, thinking it was a delicious hen's egg." 



The Runner egg, even more than other eggs, needs to be 

 cooked at a moderate temperature, to be at its most delicious best. 

 It should be dropped into boiling water, but never boiled. If 

 three or four quarts of boiling water be used for six eggs, the 

 question of having them exactly right to suit the epicure, what- 

 ever his whim, is simply one of time. They can be cooked very 

 soft, soft-medium, hard-medium, or hard to-very-hard, simply by 

 leaving them the proper time in the water. By a few trials, the 

 cook can learn to proportion the water and the timing to suit each 

 particular member of the family. 



Since the second edition of this book came out, we have had 

 a very satisfactory test of the Indian Runner eggs during Home 

 Economics week at the University of Texas, held during Feb- 

 ruary, 1913. The State had engaged some of the best lecturers 

 and demonstrators of the country. Mrs. Benigna Kalb, a Direc- 

 tor in the Cumberland Club and leader in the co-operative poultry 

 work in Texas, sacrificed a five dollar sitting of Penciled Run- 

 ner eggs and a valuable bird, in order to get expert opinion. As 

 the demonstrators and most of those witnessing the demonstra- 



130 



