o be recommended from the point
of healthfulness, although many cooks esteem them because copper is a
better conductor of heat than iron or tin. The acids of many fruits
combine with copper to form extremely poisonous substances. Fatty
substances, as well as salt and sugar, act upon copper to a greater or
less degree, also vegetables containing sulfur in their composition and
produce harmful compounds.

Utensils made of brass, which is a compound of copper and zinc, are not
safe to use for cooking purposes.

TABLE TOPICS.

Bad cooking diminishes happiness and shortens life.--_Wisdom of
Ages._

Says Mrs. Partington: "Many a fair home has been desiccated by poor
cooking, and a man's table has been the rock on which his happiness
has split."

SIGNIFICANT FACT.--_Lady_--"Have you had much experience as a cook?"
_Applicant_--"Oh, indeed I have. I was the cook of Mr. and Mrs.
Peterby for three years."

_L._--"Why did you leave them?"

_A._--"I didn't leave them. They left me. They both died."

_L._--"What of?"

_A._--"Dyspepsia."

Cooking is generally bad because people falling to routine; habit
dulls their appreciation, and they do not think about what they are
eating.--_Didsbury._

_Lilly_ (Secretary of the cooking class)--"Now girls, we've learned
nine cakes, two kinds of angel food, and seven pies. What next?"

_Susie_ (engaged)--"Dick's father says I must learn to bake bread."

_Indignant chorus_--"Bread? How absurd! What are bakers for?"

It is told of Philip Hecgnet, a French, physician who lived in the
17th, century, that when calling upon his wealthy patients, he used
often to go to the kitchen and pantry, embrace the cooks and
butlers, and exhort them to do their duty well. "I owe you so much
gratitude, my dear friends," he would say; "you are so useful to us
doctors; for if you did not keep on poisoning the people, we should
all have to go to the poorhouse."

There are innumerable books of recipes for cooking, but unless the
cook is master of the principles of his art, and unless he knows the
why and the wherefore of its processes, he cannot choose a recipe
intelligently and execute it successfully.--_Richard Estcourt._

They who provide the food for the world, decide the health of the
world. You have only to go on some errands amid the taverns and
hotels of