The Pattern cook-book

Wash the prunes carefully, and if hard and dry, soak them an hour in cold water before cooking. Place them in a porcelain-lined or granite-ware kettle, with boiling water to cover. Cover the kettle closely, and boil slowly until the prunes are swollen and tender. Then add two table-spoonfuls of sugar to every pint of prunes, and boil a few minutes longer, but not long enough to break the skins. If the prunes lack flavor, add a little lemon-juice. RHUBARB SAUCE. Peel the rhubarb, and cut it into inch lengths ; place it in a granite-ware stew-pan, and for each quart of rhubarb add a tea-cupful of sugar and half a cupful of water. Stew slowly until tender. < BAKED RHUBARB SAUCE. Proceed as in the preceding recipe, and after adding the water and sugar, place all in an earthenware bakingdish. Cover the dish, and bake slowly for two hours. The rhubarb will be found of a rich color when done, and it will not have cooked to pieces. SAUCE OF DRIED FRUITS. This may be made of evaporated apples or peaches or of dried berries or plums. If apples or peaches are used, wash them carefully in cold water, rubbing them between the hands the same as in washing rice. Place the fruit in a large bowl, allow a quart of water to each pint of fruit, and leave die latter to soak over night. In the morning put both fruit and water in a granite-ware saucepan, add a cupful of sugar, artd, if apples are used, also put in the juice of one lemon. Set the pan on the back of the range and cook slowly for three hours, not stirring the fruit while cooking. When done, turn the sauce into a bowl, and set it away to cool. Berries require careful washing, and will cook tender much more quickly than apples, but they must be soaked over night in order to be of proper flavor when done. Plums require a large amount of sugar in cooking, the quantity varying according to the kind used. " Ol' herbs and other country messes, Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses." Milton, A GOOD nurse is now considered of as much importance in the sick-room as a skillful physician. Not the least among the nurse's duties is to provide food for the sufferer — food that shall be palatable and inviting and at the same time nourishing and wholesome. Every mother of a family ought to know how to cater to the fitful appetite and weak digestion of an invalid. The three great events of the day to the poor bedridden patient are the three meals, and these should be most delicately and carefully prepared. . The sick person should not be asked what he would like to have served, for he will surely sicken of food with the effort of selection and will very likely end by saying, " Nothing at all 1 " He should be watched carefully and the slightest intimation of a desire for any particular delicacy should be immediately considered ; and if the desired food will not prove injurious, it should be prepared at once, and without the patient's knowledge, if possible, so it may prove a complete surprise. By all means make every dish, no matter what its nature, as