of salted foods makes them an important
auxiliary to the acquirement of a love of intoxicating drinks. We feel
very sure that, as a prominent temperance writer says, "It very often
happens that women who send out their loved ones with an agony of prayer
that they may be kept from drink for the day, also send them with a
breakfast that will make them almost frantic with thirst before they get
to the first saloon."

The foods composing the breakfast _menu_ should be simple in character,
well and delicately cooked, and neatly served. Fruits and grains and
articles made from them offer the requisites for the ideal breakfast.
These afford ample provision for variety, are easily made ready, and
easily digested, while at the same time furnishing excellent nutriment
in ample quantity and of the very best quality. Meats, most vegetables,
and compound dishes, more difficult of digestion, are better reserved
for the dinner bill of fare. No vegetable except the potato is
especially serviceable as a breakfast food, and it is much more readily
digested when baked than when prepared in any other manner. Stewing
requires less time for preparation, but about one hour longer for
digestion.

As an introduction to the morning meal, fresh fruits are most desirable,
particularly the juicy varieties, as oranges, grape fruit, melons,
grapes, and peaches, some one of which are obtainable nearly the entire
year. Other fruits; such as apples, bananas, pears, etc., though less
suitable, may be used for the same purpose. They are, however, best
accompanied with wafers or some hard food, to insure their thorough
mastication.

For the second course, some of the various cereals, oatmeal, rye, corn,
barley, rice, or one of the numerous preparations of wheat, well cooked
and served with cream, together with one or more unfermented breads
(recipes for which have been given in a previous chapter), cooked
fruits, and some simple relishes, are quite sufficient for a healthful
and palatable breakfast.

If, however, a more extensive bill of fare is desired, numerous
delicious and appetizing toasts may be prepared according to the recipes
given in this chapter, and which, because of their simple character and
the facility with which they can be prepared, are particularly suitable
as breakfast dishes. The foundation of all these toasts is _zwieback_,
or twice-baked bread, prepared from good whole-wheat or Graham fermented
bread cut in uniform slices not mo