es them into her
oven at a leisure interval, and there lets them lie till it is time to
serve breakfast, whenever that may be. As a result, if the largest are
cooked, the smallest are presented in cinders, and the intermediate
sizes are withered and watery. Nothing is so utterly ruined by a few
moments of overdoing. That which at the right moment was plump with
mealy richness, a quarter of an hour later shrivels and becomes
watery,--and it is in this state that roast potatoes are most
frequently served.

In the same manner we have seen boiled potatoes from an untaught cook
coming upon the table like lumps of yellow wax,--and the same article,
the day after, under the directions of a skillful mistress, appearing
in snowy balls of powdery lightness. In the one case, they were thrown
in their skins into water and suffered to soak or boil, as the case
might be, at the cook's leisure, and, after they were boiled, to stand
in the water till she was ready to peel them. In the other case, the
potatoes being first peeled were boiled as quickly as possible in
salted water, which, the moment they were done, was drained off, and
then they were gently shaken for a minute or two over the fire to dry
them still more thoroughly. We have never yet seen the potato so
depraved and given over to evil that could not be reclaimed by this
mode of treatment.

As to fried potatoes, who that remembers the crisp, golden slices of
the French restaurant, thin as wafers and light as snowflakes, does
not speak respectfully of them? What cousinship with these have those
coarse, greasy masses of sliced potato, wholly soggy and partly burnt,
to which we are treated under the name of fried potatoes a la America?
In our cities the restaurants are introducing the French article to
great acceptance, and to the vindication of the fair fame of this
queen of vegetables.

* * * * *

Finally, I arrive at the last great head of my subject, to wit,
_Tea_,--meaning thereby, as before observed, what our Hibernian friend
did in the inquiry, "Will y'r Honor take 'tay tay' or 'coffee tay'?"

I am not about to enter into the merits of the great tea and coffee
controversy, or say whether these substances are or are not wholesome.
I treat of them as actual existences, and speak only of the modes of
making the most of them.

The French coffee is reputed the best in the world; and a thousand
voices have asked, What is it about the Fren