uls of flour, rub together thoroughly, and cook until
thickened in a half cupful of boiling water. If cream is not obtainable
and butter must be used for seasoning, it is preferable to prepare it in
one of the above ways for the purpose, using the quantity given as an
equivalent of one cupful of thin cream. It will be evident, however,
that these preparations will not only season but thicken whatever they
are used in, and that additional liquid should be used on that account.

TABLE TOPICS.

A little six-year-old boy went into the country visiting. About the
first thing he got was a bowl of bread and milk. He tasted it, and
then hesitated a moment, when his mother asked if he didn't like it;
to which he replied, smacking his lips, "Yes, ma'am. I was only
wishing that our milkman in town would keep a cow!"

When Horace Greeley was candidate for the presidency, he at one time
visited New Orleans, whose old creole residents gave him a dinner;
and to make it as fine an affair as possible, each of the many
guests was laid under contribution for some of the rarest wines in
his cellar. When dinner was announced, and the first course was
completed, the waiter appeared at Mr. Greeley's seat with a plate of
shrimp. "You can take them away," he said to the waiter, and then
added to the horrified French creole gentleman who presided, "I
never eat insects of any kind." Later on, soup was served, and at
the same time a glass of white wine was placed at Mr. Greeley's
right hand. He pushed it quietly away, but not unobserved by the
chief host. "Do you not drink wine?" he asked.

"No," answered Mr. Greeley; "I never drink any liquors."

"Is there anything you would like to drink with your soup?" the host
then asked, a little disappointed.

"If you've got it," answered Mr. Greeley, "and it isn't any trouble,
I'd like a glass of fresh buttermilk."

Said the host afterward in his broken English, "Ze idea of electing
to ze presidency a man vot drink buttermilk vis his soup!"

Old friendships are often destroyed by toasted cheese, and hard
salted meat has often led to suicide.--_Sydney Smith._

A German sitting beside a Spanish officer on board a Havana steamer,
was munching Limberger cheese with evident satisfaction when it
occurred to him that he ought to offer some to his neighbor, who
very coolly decl