3 Medium-sized potatoes.

1 Teaspoon of chopped onion.

2 Saltspoons of celery-salt, or 3 stalks 1 Teaspoon of salt. [of celery. A little white pepper.

A speck of cayenne.

1 Teaspoon of flour.

2 Teaspoons of butter. 1 Pint of milk.

Pare and boil the potatoes. Cook the onion and celery in the milk, with which make a white sauce with the flour and butter. When the potatoes are done, drain off the water and dry them over the fire by moving the pan back and forth on the stove to keep them from sticking. Then, without removing the pan from the fire, mash them thoroughly with a potato-masher, and put in the sauce, pepper, cayenne, and salt; strain all through a soup-strainer, and if the consistency be not perfectly smooth and even, strain it again. Put it into a double boiler, set back on the stove, and when hot it is ready to serve. If the soup seems very thick, add a little more milk, for some potatoes are drier than others, and will consequently absorb more moisture. It should be like a thin puree.

This soup may be varied by using a quart instead of a pint of milk, and the whites of two eggs well beaten, the latter to be added just two minutes before it is removed from the fire, which will be sufficient time for the egg to cook. Care should be taken not to allow the egg to harden, or the soup will have a curdled appearance.