"Now good digestion wait on appetitie, and health on both." - Shakespeare.

The juice of meats is the greatest necessity for good stock and form the basis of all meat soups and of all principle sauces and dressings.

Fresh uncooked beef, with the bones cracked, makes the best stock.

Mutton, alone, is too strong in flavor for good stock, consequently vegetables and herbs seem necessary.

Veal, too, needs something to help flavor and season.

Chicken boiled alone makes excellent broth, but fowl and game must have the assistance of some other meat, vegetable or herb.

For beef stock - which is most generally used - select a good fresh shin bone, having the bones thoroughly cracked. Put in a granite lined, tight covered, soup kettle, with more than enough cold water to cover it. Simmer slowly for several hours in order that the essence of the meat may be drawn out thoroughly. Skim off the scum frequently to prevent it from becoming turbid. Should more water be needed at any time take from a boiling tea kettle. When the meat falls from the bones, it is cooked enough for ordinary soups and sauces. Remove from the fire, strain through a colander. If needed for bouillon, strain through a damp flannel cloth. Set away to cool: When cold remove all grease from the top, and set away for future use.

For bouillon, take the very top of the stock jelly, re-heat, season and serve hot in bouillon cups.

For consomme, this same kind of stock can be used, with the addition of vegetables and herbs. When the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, strain through a fine hair sieve. Season to taste and serve hot, with little cooked rice, barley or vermicelli.

A clear soup must be perfectly transparent, a thickened soup about like cream.

Croutons

Cut stale bread into half-inch cubes, butter and brown in oven and serve with any soup.

Imperial Sticks For Soups

Cut stale bread in one-third inch slices, remove crusts, spread thinly with butter, and cut slices in one-third inch strips; put in pan and brown in oven. - Manistee Public School, Manistee, Mich.

Chili Soup

Put half pound of butter in kettle. When hot, add three pounds hamburger steak and sear thoroughly, then add three quarts soup beans that have been cooked until tender. Season with salt, pepper and chili peppers. Add boiling water. Cook thoroughly. Strain and serve very hot. - Mrs. Sam Degering, Santa Fe System, Williams, Ariz.

Lent Soup

Peel and chop up fine a few small white onions, put them into a large saucepan with one heaping tablespoonful of butter, and allow to heat thoroughly with the lid on, but do not brown. Wash two cupfuls of lentils well, add them to the saucepan, covering with three pints of water, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Allow to simmer gently for two and a half hours, then rub them through a sieve, and return to the saucepan. When it boils up again add some green onions cut fine, a grated turnip and carrot, and boil for half an hour longer. Add a tablespoonful of finely chopped parsley a few minutes before serving, and send to the table with plenty of toasted bread, cut into neat, small squares. - Contributed.

Onion Soup

Brown two onions in a saucepan with one tablespoonful butter, stir in a little flour, and moisten with one and one-half pints white broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for ten minutes. Place small square of toasted bread in a bowl, cover them with fine slices of Swiss cheese, pour hot broth over them, add a few more slices of cheese on top, and put in the oven for five minutes before serving. - Contributed.

Rice Soup

Put four tablespoons rice in one pint boiling water (salted). Cook until tender, add butter and pepper and the white of one egg. Beat the yolk with one-half cup milk, add to the soup and stir constantly to prevent curdling. - Mrs. Parker, Los Angeles, Calif.

Scotch Broth

Put two quarts of water in a saucepan, add quarter pound of pearl barley, which has been well washed in several waters. Take two medium-sized turnips, wash and pare them, and cut them into dice, three carrots which have been washed and scraped and also cut into dice, add these to the broth, with two sliced onions, and one can of green peas or fresh ones when they are in season. The broth must simmer for three hours, and ten minutes before serving, add two tablespoon fills finely chopped parsley, three tablespoonfuls of butter and salt to taste. - Contributed.

Turkey Bone Soup

Cut up the frame of turkey with little stuffing. Put in cold water in soup kettle and slowly cook for three hours. One hour before serving, strain, and add boiled rice. Season to taste. - Mrs. Dermont, Williams, Ariz.