Part 139 (1/2)

TOAST WATER, OR CRUST COFFEE.

Take stale pieces of crusts of bread, the end pieces of the loaf, toast them a nice, dark brown, care to be taken that they do not burn in the least, as that affects the flavor. Put the browned crusts into a large milk pitcher, and pour enough boiling water over to cover them; cover the pitcher closely, and let steep until cold. Strain, and sweeten to taste; put a piece of ice in each gla.s.s.

This is also good, drank warm with cream and sugar, similar to coffee.

PLAIN MILK TOAST.

Cut a thin slice from a loaf of stale bread, toast it very quickly, sprinkle a little salt over it, and pour upon it three tablespoonfuls of boiling milk or cream. Crackers split and toasted in this manner, are often very grateful to an invalid.

LINSEED TEA.

Put one tablespoonful of linseed into a stewpan with half a pint of cold water; place the stewpan over a moderate fire, and when the water is quite warm, pour it off, and add to the linseed half a pint of fresh cold water, then let the whole boil three or four minutes; season it with lemon and sugar.

POWDERS FOR CHILDREN.

A very excellent carminative powder for flatulent infants may be kept in the house, and employed with advantage whenever the child is in pain or griped, dropping five grains of oil of anise-seed and two of peppermint on half an ounce of lump sugar, and rubbing it in a mortar, with a drachm of magnesia, into a fine powder. A small quant.i.ty of this may be given in a little water at any time, and always with benefit.

FOR CHILDREN TEETHING.

Tie a quarter of a pound of wheat flour in a thick cloth and boil it in one quart of water for three hours; then remove the cloth and expose the flour to the air or heat until it is hard and dry; grate from it, when wanted, one tablespoonful, which put into half a pint of new milk, and stir over the fire until it comes to a boil, when add a pinch of salt and a tablespoonful of cold water and serve. This gruel is excellent for children afflicted with summer complaint.

Or brown a tablespoonful of flour in the oven or on top of the stove on a baking tin; feed a few pinches at a time to a child and it will often check a diarrhoea. The tincture of ”kino”--of which from ten to thirty drops, mixed with a little sugar and water in a spoon, and given every two or three hours, is very efficacious and harmless--can be procured at almost any druggist's. Tablespoon doses of pure cider vinegar and a pinch of salt, has cured when all else failed.

BLACKBERRY CORDIAL.

This recipe may be found under the head of COFFEE, TEA, BEVERAGES. It will be found an excellent medicine for children teething, and summer diseases.

ACID DRINKS.

1. Peel thirty large Malaga grapes, and pour half a pint of boiling water upon them; cover them closely and let them steep until the water is cold.

2. Pour half a pint of boiling water upon one tablespoonful of currant jelly, and stir until the jelly is dissolved.

3. Cranberries and barberries may be used in the same way to make very refres.h.i.+ng acid drinks for persons recovering from fevers.

DRAUGHTS FOR THE FEET.

Take a large leaf from the horse-radish plant, and cut out the hard fibres that run through the leaf; place it on a hot shovel for a moment to soften it, fold it, and fasten it closely in the hollow of the foot by a cloth bandage.

Burdock leaves, cabbage leaves, and mullein leaves, are used in the same manner, to alleviate pain and promote perspiration.

Garlics are also made for draughts by pounding them, placing them on a hot tin plate for a moment to sweat them, and binding them closely to the hollow of the foot by a cloth bandage.