THE JOVIAL, GENERAL-PURPOSE POTATO. 
I'm a careless potato, and care not a pin 
How Into existence I came. 
If they planted me drill-wise or dibbled me In, 
To me ’tls exactly the same. 
The bean and the pea may more loftily tower, 
But I care not a button for them; 
Detlance I nod with my beautiful flower, 
When the eaith is hoed up to my stem. 
T HIS jolly and almost indispensable adjunct to our 
table seems to possess all the attributes of a 
true American—independent, energetic, robust; push¬ 
ing its way through all obstacles; responding most 
kindly to civilization and its attendant cultivation, 
yet quite able to look out for itself in a state of nature. 
Its use as an article of diet is probably more exten¬ 
sive than that of any other vegetable produced; 
owing doubtless to its lack of peculiarity of ta9te and 
its starchy property, which gives it much the quality 
of flour and prevents its growing unpalatable by con¬ 
stant use. 
The potato seems to have been found first in the 
mountains of South America in the neighborhood of 
Quito, and it is still growing wild both in Peru and 
Chili. From here it was introduced into Spain. It 
found its way to England, however, by a different 
route, being brought from Santa F6 by Sir John 
Hawkins in 1565. Its first introduction inti Ireland 
was attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh, who possessed 
large estates in that country near Cork. So kindly 
dio it take to the country, and the people to it, that 
the failure of the crop, as evidenced by the fatal year 
of 1848, means famine, pestilence and death to thou¬ 
sands. 
The foliage of the potato is regarded as poisonous : 
but this dangerous property does not exist in care¬ 
fully grown and protected tubers. Of the 300 varie¬ 
ties now developed, the kinds most esteemed in Eng¬ 
land do not succeed so well here, while American 
varieties were not considered worthy of cultivation 
there until, without name or origin being given, some 
were tried in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural 
Society and awarded first-class certificates. 
The potato mentioned by Shakspeare and other 
early English writers is supposed to have been the 
sweet potato—a plant belonging to the convolvulus 
family. This was among the presents Columbus car¬ 
ried to Isabella on his return from the New World. 
It was also in cultivation in China and the East in 
very early times. 
No other vegetable save the potato can be used in 
every course of a well-ordered dinner, from soup, 
through fish, meat, vegetables, entrees, salads and 
dessert. The following menu will prove my asser¬ 
tion, and the methods of preparing the same will be 
found both reliable and gastronomically successful. 
Potato Soup. —Boil and mash six good-sized pota¬ 
toes. Add while hot half a cupful of butter, salt and 
pepper to taste, and a quart of scalded milk. Strain 
and again heat. Serve with croutons. 
Scalloped Potato and Codfish.— One pint bowlful 
of codfish picked up fine, one pint bowlful of mashed 
potato, three eggs well beaten, three cupfuls of milk, 
half a cupful of butter, two rolled crackers; mix 
thoroughly, place in a buttered pudding dish. Beat 
one egg, add a little milk and rolled crackers, spread 
over the top of the dish and bake three quarters of 
an hour in a hot oven—covering during the first half 
hour. 
Old English Roast Beef and Potatoes. —Select a 
large rib roast, third and fourth ribs preferred. Salt 
and pepper, place in a dripping-pan with a teacupful 
of hot water dashed over it, and put at once in a very 
hot oven ; baste often. About an hour before serving, 
remove the pan from the oven, and place around the 
beef a dozen or more potatoes peeled and cut in halves. 
Spr nkle with salt and, if the meat is not very fat, put 
a few bits of suet over the potatoes. Return quickly 
to the oven and keep a steady, hot fire, basting meat 
and potatoesxiften with the juices of the meat. When 
done the potatoes will be mealy and of a light, golden 
brown. Once this is tried, potatoes served in any other 
way with roast beef will seem “ flat, stale and un¬ 
profitable.” 
Scalloped Potatoes. —Pare and slice potatoes thin, 
and drop in cold water for a half hour. Shake through 
a colander, and having buttered a pudding-dish, place 
a layer of potatoes on the bottom. Over this sprinkle 
salt and pepper, dust with flour and scatter bits of 
butter. Then place another layer of potato prepared 
as before, and do this until the dish is nearly full. 
Cover with hot milk or cream. Bake an hour covered, 
then brown. 
Potato Croquettes. —To three cupfuls of mashed 
potato add two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, two 
eggs well beaten, a teaspoonful of salt and half a tea¬ 
spoonful of pepper. Make into cakes, roll in egg and 
powdered cracker, and fry a light brown in hot lard. 
Canadian Potato Cakes. —Mash fine a dozen boiled 
potatoes; add salt, pepper, a tablespoonful of butter 
and two tablespoonfuls of flour. Mix and roll into a 
sheet half an inch thick. Cut into rounds and bake 
like cakes on a hot greased griddle on top of the stove, 
or in a buttered dripping-pan in a hot oven for five 
minutes. Serve very hot. 
Dakota Potatoes. —Peel, wash and slice very thin, 
a dozen mealy potatoes. Have ready a spider with a 
tablespoonful of butter or drippings very hot. Put in 
the sliced potato and about a cupful of boiling water. 
Salt, cover and cook over a moderate fire, slipping a 
knife under occasionally to see that it does not scorch. 
When done the potato will turn out white, tender and 
delicious. 
The careful housewife recognizing the waste in 
peeling small potatoes to cook with larger ones, sorts 
them out to utilize in salads. In this way, “small 
potatoes” though usually synonymous with insignifi¬ 
cance, become of importance when converted into the 
ever-popular summer dish. 
Potato Salad. —Boil the potatoes with their jackets 
on, and while still warm, peel carefully and slice thin. 
Peel and chop fine a sour apple, two onions, a small 
cucumber and a radish, and mix carefully with pota¬ 
toes in the salad bowl. Over this pour a dressing. 
Garnish with lettuce leaves and slices of beet or 
lemon. Set on ice until ready to serve. 
Dessert.—Sweet Potato Pie. —Boil five or six 
medium-sized, mealy sweet potatoes until just tender 
—no more. When quite cold, mash and add to them 
one cupful of white sugar, one-half cupful of melted 
butter, yolks of four eggs well beaten, a teaspoonful 
of cinnamon, one-half a teaspoonful of nutmeg and 
one lemon—juice and grated rind. Beat all together 
until very light, and bake in open crust. When done, 
cover with meringue made of the beaten whites and a 
half cupful of sugar. Return to oven and brown. 
EMMA P. TELFORD. 
LITERATURE AT HOME. 
OW I pity a boy who is told to study the books 
he uses in school when he asks for another 
kind. The best of our text books are mere outlines, 
mere drill books, and reading in them is to a child 
like eating straw. In the higher books there is more 
and longer straw. To do the most good these books 
must be supplemented by other reading matter. 
Reading good literature puts us into the society of 
the grandest and best people with whom God has 
blessed this world. Good writers always have a 
deeper insight and finer and richer emotions, and put 
their very souls into their books. Teach children to 
love good books and there will be little for them to 
admire in the conversation in the corner grocery, 
the circle of gossip or trashy novels 
The necessary literature should be provided at 
home. The following books are designed for chil¬ 
dren, and the list has been prepared with great care. 
There is nothing objectionable in any of them. The 
dearest is only 40 cents : 
Classics for children—Gulliver’s Travels, ^Esop’s 
Fables, Kingsley’s Water Babies, Robinson Crusoe, 
Hans Andersen’s Tales, Kingsley’s Greek Heroes, 
Irving’s Sketch Book, Scott’s Lady of the Lake, Ad¬ 
ventures of Ulysses, Plutarch’s Lives. History— 
Dodge’s Stories of American History, Eggleston’s 
Primary History, Noble Deeds of Our Fathers, Johon- 
net’s Stories of Our Country, Mara Pratt’s Historical 
Readers. Geography — Mary Hall’s Geographical 
Readers, World at Home, six numbers (Nos. 1 and 2 
for little ones), Phillips’ Geographical Reader, Aunt 
Martha’s Corner Cupboard. Science—Seaside and 
Wayside, Abbott’s A Naturalist’s Walks Around 
Home, John Burrough’s Winter Sunshine. 
LAWSON G. DIETRICH. 
AMERICAN FRIED CAKES. 
NI)ER this heading, we find in the English Farm 
and Home directions for several varieties. Per¬ 
haps they will be better for having crossed the water. 
A simple and perfectly trustworthy rule for fried 
cakes and crullers calls for a pint of cold milk, three 
eggs, two cupfuls of granulated sugar, half a cupful 
of butter, an even teaspoonful of salt, three heaping 
teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and flour enough to 
make a dough as soft as you can handle. Mix the 
sugar and butter together, add the eggs, well beaten, 
to tne milk, and add this mixture to the butter and 
sugar. Add about four cupfuls of flour, through 
which the baking powder has been sifted. Beat in a 
little more flour to make as stiff a batter as you can 
stir, like a soft dough. Now flour a board, turn the 
dough out on it, dredge a little flour over it and roll 
it out. Cut it into circular cakes, give each one a 
twist, and fry about six or eight minutes in hot fat. 
Doughnuts require 10 minutes, but crullers cook 
sooner. The old-fashioned rule for “ ocly-koeks, ” 
which dates back over 100 years, calls for a cupful of 
butter, two cupfuls of sugar, two cupfuls of milk, two 
eggs, one cupful of home-made yeast, an even tea¬ 
spoonful of salt, and flour enough to make a soft 
dough. Scald the milk, pour it over the butter and 
sugar, which should have been mixed to a cream. 
When it is lukewarm, add flour enough to make a bat¬ 
ter as stiff as you can stir it, the two eggs, beaten 
well, and the salt. Beat the batter till it blisters. 
Cover it up closely with a thin layer of flour, and 
then with a cloth to keep out the air. Let it rise 
overnight. In the morning knead it up, and let it 
rise from six to eight hours longer. Then roll it out 
till it is about an inch thick, and cut it in circular 
cakes about two inches across. Put a raisin, a tea¬ 
spoonful of any preserve you fancy in the center of 
each doughnut as you cut it out. When all the dough¬ 
nuts are cut out, those which were first cut will have 
risen enough to be ready to fry. Have the fat hot 
enough to brown a piece of bread almost instantly 
when dropped into it. Fry the doughnuts in this fat 
10 minutes, as they brown on one side. When they 
are done, drain them out on brown paper to absorb 
the fat, roll them in powdered sugar and lay them in 
a broad, shallow pan to cool. Have a frying-pot 
large enough to cook a dozen doughnuts at a time, 
remembering that they rise to double their original 
proportions. _ 
A LITTLE TEACHER. 
HREE children, two girls of ten and six years 
respectively, and a boy a year old, might have 
been seen one bright winter morning in a lonely, 
little, unfinished farmhouse in Wisconsin. It was 
Saturday, and the mother had planned a good day’s 
work while the girls were home from school. As she 
busied herself with the breakfast table, the younger 
girl said. 
“ Mamma, I’ll wipe the dishes if you will let me take 
baby upstairs afterwards.” 
Baby understood, and a fat, baby finger pointed to 
the stairway—forbidden fruit to him—and the little 
fellow said, “ Eh ? ’ wish a rising inflection. 
After the last dish was in the pantry, the little girl 
opened the door, and with much laughing chatter the 
baby climbed the stairs, closely followed by his careful 
sister. They went into the girls’ room and the mother 
listened till the door was shut behind them. As she 
worked she heard the hum of childish voices and the 
patter, patter of baby feet. 
Presently her work called her upstairs, and this is 
what she saw : the motherly little girl sat in her low 
rocking-chair with her pret >ousbox of “pretty things ’ 
—cards, little books, etc.—in her lap, and the baby by 
her side. 
“ Why, daughter!” exclaimed the mother, “you were 
always so careful of these things ” 
“ Yes, mamma, but he’s never once torn one. Now 
see him !” And spreading out a number of the cards, 
she said, “ Where is baby’s horse ?” 
Instantly the chubby fingers picked up the pictured 
horse, and the little lips curled themselves up to say, 
“Ho’.” 
“ Now put it with the rest,” said the little teacher, 
and the short legs trotted to the window where he had 
already carried quite a big pile. 
“ He knows the pigs, and chickens, and bossies, too, 
mamma. See ! Where’s baby’s pretty posies ?” The 
bright eyes saw the gay red flowers and he patted the 
card lovingly. 
The mother went down to her work again cheered 
and rested. This day was only a fair sample of that 
little home “kindergarten.” The baby boy learned 
every day. Papa said of the two, “One hand washes 
the other. She has something pleasant to do, and he 
has some one to look after him.” mrs. l. h. n. 
A cream of tartar baking powder. 
Highest of all in leavening strength. 
—Latest United States Government 
Report. 
Royal Baking Powder Co., 
106 Wall Street, New York. 
