mulants. They are used literally by
thousands to give flavor to bread or rice. Dependence on a single flavor
is apt to result in a desire to have it stronger and stronger, and hence
less and less wholesome. This is a good reason for some variety of flavor;
better tea one meal and coffee another than the same one all the time. Too
freely used, and made too strong, tea and coffee may have a bad effect
upon the nervous as well as the digestive system. They should never be
given to children. It is better for adults to get their flavor from
something without such effects. Because the combination of bread and
coffee tastes good, one may be deceived into thinking himself well
nourished on a diet consisting of little else. And yet this is a very
inadequate diet for anybody, and disastrous to the normal development of
children. One must be on guard, then, lest one's desire for flavor be
satisfied without the body's real needs being met.

The wise cook saves her best flavors for the foods which would be least
acceptable without them and does not add them to foods which are good
enough by themselves. The latter course marks the insidious beginning of
luxury. "Once give your family luxuries and you are lost as far as
satisfying them economically is concerned," remarked a clever housewife.
"Even a rat will not taste bread when bacon is nigh," observed a sage
physiologist. The demand for flavor grows and grows with pampering, till
nothing but humming-birds' tongues and miniature geese floating in a sea
of aspic jelly will satisfy the palate of him who eats solely for
flavor--who never knows the sauce of hunger, or the deliciousness of a
plain crust of bread. We must be on guard, saying, like the little
daughter of a classical professor, "If Scylla doesn't get me Charybdis
will." Flavor we must have, but not too much, not too many kinds at once,
and not applied indiscriminately to foods which need them and foods which
do not. The wise cook uses her arts to secure the proper nourishment of
the family and not for her fame as "a good cook."

CHAPTER VIII

ON BEING ECONOMICAL AND PATRIOTIC AT THE SAME TIME

Who does not sigh for the fairy table that comes at the pressing of a
button? It is invariably laden with the most tempting viands, satisfies
beyond words, and disappears when the meal is over, leaving behind no
problem of leftovers or planning for the next meal! No money, no work, no
thought, only sheer enjoyment. Alas, how