It is always safe to cook your lobster yourself unless you have an exceptionally honest fish-merchant, or are yourself an apt judge of shell-fish in all their varieties. The enclosed excellent directions for choosing, killing, and preparing "the toothsome lobster ''for cooking are copied gratefully from The New York Sun. " Lobsters are more easily prepared for the table than young housewives imagine, and many delicious dishes may be made with them.

"Should ready-boiled lobsters be purchased, test them by gently drawing back the tail, which should rebound with a spring. If the tail is not curled up and will not spring back when straightened, the lobster was dead when boiled and should not be eaten. Choose the smaller lobsters that are heavy for their size, as the larger ones are apt to be coarse and tough. Lobsters weighing from one and one-half to three pounds are the best in size.

"All parts of the lobster are wholesome and may be used except the stomach, which is a small hard sack and contains poisonous matter, and lies directly under the head, and a little vein which runs the entire length of the tail.

"To boil a lobster, put into a kettle water enough to cover the lobster. When the water is hot, but not boiling, put in the live lobster, head first. In this way the lobster will be instantly smothered to death. Put a tablespoonful of salt into the water, cover the kettle, and boil a medium-sized lobster thirty minutes. Cooking too long will make the meat tough and dry. When the lobster becomes cold, twist off the claws and break apart the tail and body, take out the green fatty part, which is the liver of the lobster, and coral, and lay them one side to use with the meat. Remove the stomach, which is below the head, and throw it away. Break open the body and take out all the small pieces of meat. Cut the under side of the tail shell open and loosen the meat, taking it out in one piece. Open the meat and remove the little vein and throw it away. In cracking the claws hold them on the edge of the table. By doing so the shell will be cracked and the meat will not be crushed. Save the small claws to garnish with.''

Broiled Lobster

When convenient, have your fish-merchant remove the stomach and the long intestine running through the body, when he has split the wriggling crustacean down the back. If you cannot have this done, drive a sharp knife into the back just where the shells of body and tail overlap, and remove the objectionable parts. Lay the divided sides upon the gridiron, shell downward, and broil for over half an hour. Baste the meat four times while in cooking with butter and lemon-juice beaten to a cream. When half-done, turn the flesh side down, for a few minutes. When done, sprinkle with salt and cayenne and split up the claws with a pair of sharp scissors. Serve melted butter and pass oyster-crackers and sliced lemon with it.