n, to which he adds a
little salt, and with the mixture, which he calls burned soup, he
eats his rye bread. No beer, no beef, no other food than that
mentioned, and no drink but water; and yet he can do more work and
enjoys a better digestion and possesses stronger muscles than the
average American or Englishman, with their varied dietary.

The following truthful bit of Scandinavian history well illustrates
the influence of habits of frugality upon national character: "The
Danes were approaching, and one of the Swedish bishops asked how
many men the province of Dalarna could furnish.

"'At least twenty thousand,' was the reply; 'for the old men are
just as strong and brave as the young ones.'

"'But what do they live upon?'

"'Upon bread and water. They take little account of hunger and
thirst, and when corn is lacking, they make their bread out of tree
bark.'

"'Nay,' said the bishop, 'a people who eat tree bark and drink
water, the devil himself could not vanquish!' and neither were they
vanquished. Their progress was one series of triumphs, till they
placed Gustavus Vasa on the throne of Sweden."

The word _biscuit_ embodies the process by which this form of bread
was made from time immemorial down to within the last century. _Bis_
(twice), and _coctus_ (cooked), show that they were twice baked.

Fragments of unfermented bread were discovered in the Swiss
lake-dwellings, which belong to the Neolithic age.

Fermented bread is seldom seen in Northern Europe and Asia except
among the rich or the nobility. At one time, the captain of an
English vessel requested a baker of Gottenburg to bake a large
quantity of loaves of raised bread. The baker refused to undertake
an order of such magnitude, saying it would be quite impossible to
dispose of so much, until the captain agreed to take and pay for it
all.

I made a study of the ancient and indispensable art of bread-making,
consulting such authorities as offered, going back to the primitive
days and first invention of the unleavened kind, and traveling
gradually down in my studies through that accidental souring of the
dough which it is supposed taught the leavening process, and through
the various fermentations thereafter till I came to "good, sweet,
wholesome bread,"--the staff of life. Leaven, which some deemed