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FOOD FOR THE SICK.

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soon as it is curdled, strain it through muslin. It must be taken hot, and the patient should be in a warm bed, as it will rapidly produce perspiration.

Bread Panada.

Cut two small slices of stale white bread into a basin, cover it with boiling water, and leave it covered up for half an hour, then beat it up with a little milk and sugar; or, if milk does not suit the patient, add a small slice of butter, with a little pepper and salt.

Distilled Chicken.

When it is necessary to give support in a concentrated form, we can recommend this preparation as the greatest restorative we have met with, a single tea-spoonful affording the nourishment of a meal.

Cut up a good chicken into pieces, and put it into a widemouthed glass jar or bottle, cover it with a bladder in which holes must be pricked; a small quantity of salt may be sprinkled over the fowl.

Place the bottle on the hob, or a warm hearth, and as the liquor distilled from the meat rises, pour it off. It is at once pleasant to the taste and highly nutritious.

Genuine Beef Tea.

A pound of lean beef, minced small, and put into a wide-mouthed bottle, covered. This bottle must be placed in a pan of water over a slow fire and boiled, for at least two hours, then the liquor, which will be the true essence of the beef, may be poured off.

Stewed Prunes.

Put a pound of good prunes into a jar covered with water, set the jar into a pan of water, and let it

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NURSERY MEDICINES.

boil gently till the prunes become a jam. This is an agreeable and wholesome preparation when the bowels are confined.

Or, as a nursery medicine, make an infusion of an ounce of senna-leaves in a pint of boiling water, let it stand, covered, for an hour, then strain it, and use the infusion to pour over the prunes, as above, instead of water. The electuary thus made is pleasant to children, and a tea-spoonful, occasionally given, is useful in cases where the bowels are constipated.

Gregory's Powder.

This is a good medicine to keep prepared, in the country, where it is not thought necessary to send for a doctor when children are slightly disordered. Take four ounces of calcined magnesia, two ounces of powdered rhubarb, and one ounce of powdered ginger, mix well together, and keep in a corked bottle. One drachm is a dose for a child, mixed in a little water, and is very beneficial when the stomach is disordered with eating fruit, or any other excess.

Fruit.

No fruit should ever be eaten at night. The best time to eat it is in the morning at breakfast when the stomach is empty.

The fruits which are the most digestible are strawberries, raspberries, oranges, and grapes. Next to these, currants and gooseberries are the best. Apples and pears rarely can be well digested; and the nut tribe are all equally unwholesome. They should always be eat in great moderation and with salt.

Every kind of fruit should be eaten perfectly ripe, but before it begins to decay, and the skin and seeds should not be swallowed, if possible, as they never

DIET FOR INVALIDS.

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digest in the stomach, and frequently, in delicate constitutions, occasion great pain and irritation by acting mechanically.

Stewed or baked fruits are generally wholesome, and in the summer, if eaten with moderation, have a beneficial effect.

Chicken Pudding.

For an invalid whose stomach cannot digest strong meat, condensed chicken is beneficial, and prepared in the following way is much more agreeable to a delicate person than the usual tasteless puddings of the sick

room :

Tie a fowl in a bladder and half boil it, that the flesh may be easily prepared; let it become cool, then take the flesh from the bones, and pound it finely in a mortar till you can pass it through a sieve. Boil an ounce of breadcrumbs in milk, and when cold, beat it well up with an egg and a little salt and nutmeg, mix this well with the pounded chicken, put the whole into a buttered cup and bake for twenty minutes, then turn it out, and if allowed, add a little butter or gravy.

Care of the Eyes.

Though it is dangerous to strain the eyes by using them when the light is insufficient, it is quite as objectionable to subject them to immoderate light without the shade of blinds or curtains. Nor is it good to have the walls and the furniture of a room all white; it is said that this glare will even destroy the eye-sight.

Children should early be accustomed to look at distant objects, to prevent them being near-sighted. Children who are confined much in the house, and have not had the sight exercised beyond the extent of a room, often become near-sighted. Men who are confined to the

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desk, or to those trades which demand a close inspection of their work, cannot form a correct focus for distant objects. On the contrary, the wild tribes of the deserts, the hunters of the prairie, and the sailor out at sea, from looking out at remote objects, are usually far-sighted.

For the Toothache.

Though this tormenting pain proceeds from various causes, and can only be cured by the remedy that strikes at the root of the peculiar cause, we believe that relief may always be procured by an application of the following preparation:

One drachm each of camphor, laudanum, and chloroform, apply it on a little cotton-wool. Mark the bottle "poison," and keep it in a locked chest or closet.

A Dentifrice for constant Use.

Dissolve two ounces of borax in three pints of boiling water, let it stand till nearly cold, then add a teaspoonful of tincture of myrrh, and a table-spoonful of spirit of camphor; bottle it for use, and every morning add a wine-glassful of the solution to half a pint of tepid water to clean the teeth, and rinse the mouth.

CHAPTER XI.

Clothes, how to make them-Shirts, &c.-Choice of dress-Knitting-Healthy clothing-Flannels-Thin-soled shoes-Coverings for the head-Good taste shown in dress-Care of clothesPacking-Travelling.

AMONG the advantages which woman possesses over the stronger and more learned sex, are the ability and the opportunity of employing the hands in useful needlework, while the thoughts remain free, and conversation may be carried on profitably.

There are many odd minutes during the day, when it would seem scarcely worth while to take up a book if alone, and scarcely social to do so if in company. There are the moments when waiting for the family to assemble to breakfast, when waiting for the carriage to drive out, or for a friend to walk out, or when sitting up at night either for the absent or with the sick, when reading has become too great an exertion for the anxious mind. Then the ready piece of needle-work or useful knitting is sufficient employment to engage the attention lightly, and prevent the listlessness and fatigue of idleness, while it may at the same time be turned to profit.

Many a good work of charity may be accomplished by a willing mind and active fingers in these spare moments. If it be firmly determined not to be one minute idle, a set of baby-clothes may soon be made for a poor mother, without encroaching on the regular employments of the day. This is economy of time.

There is another striking advantage gained by an attention to needle-work, which may be discovered in the order and neatness which pervade the household. The chair-covers and sofa-covers are not seen torn or without tapes; the fringe is not seen hanging from the

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