The Portland daily press., 1898-06-23
THE HON E.
THE BEST FOOD.

natu rally QepraNeu, dHt lldD4o to lead
those who are guided by it into all yarie-
ties of danger. N othing could be more
absurd than such fancy. The taste of a
person who is not in health is often de-
PRAYED; that of 8 person in health,
whether man or child, is the best guide
it can have in the selection of food.
The mother who ignores the taste of
her children by compelling them to eat
that which she considers good for them Is
doing a dangerous thing. She is attemp-
tlng TO supplant the heaven-given guide
Wh1ch man, as we'll as the poor brute OF
the fields, possesses to enable him to dis
tinguish between that which is good and
wholesome and that which is poisonous.
A poison is not necessarily thing which
is fatal to life. Strictly defined, it is any
thing which in itself or in any of the
products of its chemical Transformation
in the body shall be injurious to the
structure or action of any organ.
Oatmeal porridge in this sense may be
a poison, for every intelligent person
ought to know that this "simple grain
food" sometimes acts very injuriously on
the digestive organs. The mother who
forces a little child to eat oatmeal when
tyrannous manner and probably endan-
gering it's health. One of the inalienable
rights of all human beings, even of chill
dren, is that the food be enjoyable and
agreeable to the taste, as God intended 1t
should be.
The human organs of taste are very
complicated. When food is taken into
the mouth it passes before three sets of
nerves before 1t can be swallowed. Near
ly all virulent poisons have so acrid
quality that they are rejected at once by
the taste. This is especially true of vege-
table poisons. which, for the protection.of
man and animals are made especially
bitter and distasteful. The sense of odor
assists the taste.
This combination of the nerves of taste
and smell, which is the only protection
of the animal, should also be the highest
guide of man in his selection of food.
The ideas of food theorists change with
each generation. The fayorite foods of one
generation are condemned by the theo-
rists of the next. Meantime that God
given guide, the taste, remains, and after
all the ages has changed but little. Es-
sentially the same kinds of leaven ed
bread and the same meats and vegetables
are eaten today as were serevd on the ia
| Eles the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The
| best guide to the best food is given in the
| simple lines of one of England's greatest
poets: That which is not good is not
delicious to a well-governed appetite. -
New York Tribune.
| CANNING RHUBARB
Rhubarb may be kept all the year by
placing in the cans after cutting as for
immediate use, and merely filling them
to OVERLOOKING with cold water. This
may be done by letting the water run in
to the cans from a faucet, or better yet
| by immersing them in dish of water
and fastening on the lid under water,
| Tightening still more after removingafrom
the dish 1t may be new to some also
| to know that it is not necessary to str p
| the skin from the stalks of pie-plaDt for
cooking or for canning, Cut off the
leaves, wash the stalks, and placing half
dozen stalks or more side by side on
the bread board, or any clean place, with
sharp knife cut all of once into pieces
the desired size. This simplifies the 9TH
erwise tedious process and the fruit has
richer flavor when cooked.
WAR NURSES.
Mrs. Sherwood, who had four years of
experience with the sanitary commission
during our Civil war; says to those en-
thusiastic but inexperienced young wom-
en- who are anxious to serve their country
as nurses that an unframed nurse en-
harnesses the surgeons and retards the re-
covery of the patients. The amateur
nurses who threw themselves into the
| Southern cities when epidelnics broke
out. and died like sheep, were more of
hindrance than help, because they did
not know how to guard themselves. A
trained nurse, woman who has discl-
plined her physique against contagion,
| has the strong muscle. the cool tempera-
ment of the experienced woman-she, and
she alone. should go to that dreadful
place. military hospital, or to the
neighborhood of battlefield.
HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS.
Persons of weak digestion might re-
member that whipped cream can be used
with dish where plain cream would be
too rich. Making porous froth of the
cream by the whipping process makes it
much easier of digestion.
When the glass globes of the chandelier
have become smoked and grimy soak
them in hot water to which little sal
soda has been added; then put some am
monia into hot water and scrub inside Of
the globes brisBly with stiff brush, rinse
thoroughly and wipe.
A paste that will glue and mend any
thing we hand on for the benefit of other
housekeepers: To two ounces of clear
gum arabic take one and one-half ounces
of white granulated sugar. Dissolve the
gum arabic in a cuptul of water and mix
the starch and sugar in this lnucilage.
Add at least half cupful of water, put
all into dish that can be suspended in q
Kettle of boiling water, and cook until
the starch becomes clear. If too thick
for good mucilage add hot water. The
cement should be as thick as tar for
mending dishes, etc., but to use where
''store" mucilage is usually used this
will be too thick. The addition of cam
phor or cloves prevents the paste from
spelling. Keep covered tight.
Salt and camphor in cold water is an
excellent disinleetant in bedrooms.
A woman packing her trunk for the
summer was seen to lay in two or three
stiffiy starched square linen doilies. 10
an inquiirng observer she explained that
theSe were for catchalS when established