charm the ear, these are extraordinary occasions, and confined to the descendants of a few retired cheese-mongers and fur-peddlers that constitute our American aristocracy. But it is not necessary to be even a pseudo-aristocrat in order that merry-making shall go on and the wassail bowl bring out its cheer; in all countries, almost everybody, rich or poor, have their season of rejoicing at the table, if only the poor Robinson family that gave hearty thanks for the extra allowance of salt with their potatoes. The old-time traditions of wassail and song are yet kept in memory by the colleges, and Dr. Edward Smith informs us that the ceremony of "A carol bryngyn in the Bore's Head" is still performed at Queen's College, Oxford. The following is the old ditty: "The boar's head in hand bear I, Bedecked with bays and rosemary, Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino. The boar's head, as I understand, When thus bedecked with a gay garland, Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino. Our steward hath provided this Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino." No true poet of nature ever failed to celebrate the pleasures of the table in his songs. Dear old Robbie Burns, having dined heartily with Rob. Morrison the cabinet-maker, on a Sunday, at a dinner wherein the haggis was the principal dish, sung its praises in a deathless lay that made the haggis the national dish of Scotland. “The "haggis is composed of minced offal of mutton, "mixed with meal and suet, to which are added "various condiments by way of seasoning, and "the whole is tied tightly in a sheep's stomach "and boiled therein."—(GUNNYON.) The song is too long to insert here, but I give the opening and last two stanzas: Fair fa your honest sonsie face, Well are ye worthy of a race But mark the rustic haggis-fed, The trembling earth resounds his tread, He'll make it whissle; And legs, and arms, and heads will sned Ye powers wha' mak mankind your care, But if ye wish her gratefu' prayer, Gie her a haggis." I am of opinion that if the sons of St. Andrew wish to make the haggis popular in America they will do well to keep its formula a profound secret. Some dishes are most popular when most myste rious. * * * It is one thing to eat when we are well, it is quite another when we are sick; so it follows that scores of dietaries for the sick have sprung up, varying in all degrees, from the infinitely bad to the superlatively good; but the best dietaries are mostly too "scientific" and too complicated. The principal thing a man wants when he is sick is to be let alone, that his stomach may rest, and the digestive organs generally want a chance to be quiet. I do not say that total abstinence in the matter of eating is the best dietary for all sick, but I do say that when the stomach of a sick man or child loathes food, it is an outrage against nature to stimulate them to force food down, unless, by reason of some peculiarity in the disease, the physician in attendance has laid down a course of regimen specially adapted for the case in hand. Many a disease of the digestive organs will get well of itself if the patient will only lie down, avoid tobacco and stimulants, and restrict his diet to those substances of easiest digestion. The great master of medicine-the only one, by the way, who ever wrote a medical book that has lasted two thousand years and more gave the most important place in his treatment of diseases to the regimen. He prescribed barley-water for almost everything. Our people have modified the prescription; we take our barley-water after it has fermented-in our beer. But I doubt that lager-beer will ever have anybody sound its praises so that the knowledge of its qualities will go thundering down the centuries as Hippocrates' barley-water has. Happy barley-water! Sorrowful lager-beer! In regard to salads, it is said that the ova of tape-worms are frequently deposited in the wrinkles of a lettuce leaf and near the mid-rib of a cabbage leaf, and so it behooves those wish |