re condemning them as either fad or
fancy. These are very real, nourishing and delicious foods that are
being offered you. Here is a salad that would have intrigued the palate
of Lucullus, himself. If you do not believe me, try it. The vegetable
is slightly known by a few native mountaineers and ranchers. Botanists
carried it abroad where under the name of winter-purslane it is used
in France and England for greens or salad, while remaining practically
unknown at home. Boiled and seasoned as spinach it makes equally good
greens. But it is in salad that it stands pre-eminent.

Go to any canyon--I shall not reveal the name of my particular
canyon--and locate a bed of miner's lettuce (Montia perfoliata). Growing
in rank beds beside a cold, clean stream, you will find these pulpy,
exquisitely shaped, pungent round leaves from the center of which lifts
a tiny head of misty white lace, sending up a palate-teasing, spicy
perfume. The crisp, pinkish stems snap in the fingers. Be sure that you
wash the leaves carefully so that no lurking germs cling to them. Fill
your salad bowl with the crisp leaves, from which the flowerhead has
been plucked. For dressing, dice a teacup of the most delicious bacon
you can obtain and fry it to a crisp brown together with a small sliced
onion. Add to the fat two tablespoons of sugar, half a teaspoon of
mustard; salt will scarcely be necessary the bacon will furnish that.
Blend the fat, sugar, and mustard, and pour in a measure of the best
apple vinegar, diluted to taste. Bring this mixture to the boiling
point, and when it has cooled slightly pour it over the lettuce leaves,
lightly turning with a silver fork. Garnish the edge of the dish with
a deep border of the fresh leaves bearing their lace of white bloom
intact, around the edge of the bowl, and sprinkle on top the sifted
yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, heaping the diced whites in the center.

Linda paused and read this over carefully.

"That is all right," she said. "I couldn't make that much better."

She made a few corrections here and there, and picking up a colored
pencil, she deftly sketched in a head piece of delicate sprays of
miners' lettuce tipped at differing angles, fringy white with bloom.
Below she printed: "A delicious Indian salad. The second of a series
of new dishes to be offered made from materials used by the Indians.
Compounded and tested in her own diet kitchen by the author."

Swiftly she sketched a tail piece repr