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 The Concise
Oxford Dictionary of
Literary Terms

CHRIS BALDICK

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

OXFORD PAPERBACK REFERENCE

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of

Literary Terms

Chris Baldick is Professor of English at Goldsmiths'

College, University of London. He edited The Oxford
Book of Gothic Tales (1992), and is the author of In
Frankenstein's Shadow (1987), Criticism and Literary
Theory 1890 to the Present (1996), and other works of
literary history. He has edited, with Rob Morrison,
Tales of Terror from Blackwood's Magazine, and The
Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre, and has
written an introduction to Charles Maturin's
Melmoth the Wanderer (all available in the Oxford
World's Classics series).
 The most authoritative and up-to-date reference
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The Concise
Oxford Dictionary of

Literary
Terms
CHRIS BALDICK

OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP
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First published 1990
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Second edition published 2001
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Preface

This is a book of hard words alphabetically arranged and briefly

explained. It cannot purport to fulfil the functions of a balanced
expository guide to literary criticism or literary concepts, nor does it
attempt to catalogue the entire body of literary terms in use. It offers
instead to clarify those thousand terms that are most likely to cause the
student or general reader some doubt or bafflement in the context of
literary criticism and other discussion of literary works. Rather than
include for the sake of encyclopaedic completeness all the most common
terms found in literary discussion, I have set aside several that I have
judged to be sufficiently well understood in common speech (anagram,
biography, cliche and many more), or virtually self-explanatory (detective
story, psychological criticism), along with a broad category of general
concepts such as art, belief, culture, etc., which may appear as literary-
critical problems but which are not specifically literary terms. This policy
has allowed space for the inclusion of many terms generated by the
growth of academic literary theory in recent years, and for adequate
attention to the terminology of classical rhetoric, now increasingly
revived. Along with these will be found hundreds of terms from literary
criticism, literary history, prosody, and drama. The selection is weighted
towards literature and criticism in English, but there are many terms
taken from other languages, and many more associated primarily with
other literatures. Many of the terms that I have omitted from this
dictionary are covered by larger or more specialist works; a brief guide to
these appears on page 279.
In each entry I have attempted to explain succinctly how the term is or
has been used, with a brief illustrative example wherever possible, and
to clarify any relevant distinctions of sense. Related terms are indicated
by cross-reference, using an asterisk (*) before a term explained
elsewhere in the dictionary, or the instruction see. I have chosen not to
give much space to questions of etymology, and to discuss a term's origin
only when this seems genuinely necessary to clarify its current sense. My
attention has been devoted more to helping readers to use the terms
confidently for themselves. To this end I have displayed the plural forms,
adjectival forms, and other derived words relevant to each entry, and
have provided pronunciation guides for more than two hundred
potentially troublesome terms. The simplified pronunciation system
Preface to the Second Edition viii

used, closely based on the system devised by Joyce M. Hawkins for the
Oxford Paperback Dictionary, offers a basic but sufficient indication of the
essential features of stress-placing and vowel quality. One of its
advantages is that it requires very little checking against the
pronunciation key on page ix.
In compiling this dictionary, the principal debt I have incurred is to my
predecessors in the vexed business of literary definition and distinction,
from Aristotle to the editors of the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and
Poetics. If the following entries make sense, it is very often because those
who have gone before have cleared the ground and mapped its more
treacherous sites. My thanks are owed also to Joyce Hawkins and Michael
Ockenden for their help with pronunciations; to Kirn Scott Walwyn of
Oxford University Press for her constant encouragement; to Peter Currie,
Michael Hughes, Colin Pickthall, and Hazel Richardson for their advice
on particular entries; to my students for giving me so much practice; and
especially to Harriet Barry, Pamela Jackson, and John Simons for giving
up their time to scrutinize the typescript and for the valuable
amendments they suggested.
C.B.
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to David Higham Associates Limited on behalf of Muriel
Spark for permission to quote from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie published
by Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Preface to the Second Edition

For this edition I have added new entries expanding the dictionary's
coverage of terms from rhetoric, theatre history, textual criticism, and
other fields; and introduced further terms that have arrived or become
more prominent in literary usage in the last ten years. I have also
updated many of the existing entries along with the appendix on general
further reading, and more extensively attached additional
recommendations for further reading to several of the longer or more
complex entries. For advice on some of this additional material I am
indebted to my colleagues Alcuin Blamires, Michael Bruce, Hayley Davis,
and Philip McGowan.
C.B.
Pronunciation

Where a term's pronunciation may not be immediately obvious from its

spelling, a guide is provided in square brackets following the word or
phrase. Words are broken up into small units, usually of one syllable. The
syllable that is spoken with most stress in a word of two or more syllables
is shown in bold type.
The pronunciations given follow the standard speech of southern
England. However, since this system is based on analogies rather than on
precise phonetic description, readers who use other varieties of spoken
English will rarely need to make any conscious adjustment to suit their
own forms of pronunciation.
The sounds represented are as follows:
a as in cat i as in pin s as in sit
a as in ago I as in pencil sh as in shop
ah as in calm I as in eye t as in top
air as in hair j as in jam th as in thin
ar as in bar k as in kind th as in this
aw as in law 1 as in leg u as in cup
ay as in say m as in man u as in focus
b as in bat n as in not uu as in book
ch as in chin ng as in sing, finger v os in voice
d as in day nk as in thank w as in will
e as in bed o as in top y as in yes
e as in taken 6 as in lemon or when preceded by
ee as in meet oh as in most a consonant = I as in
eer as in beer oi as in join cry, realize
er as in her oo as in soon yoo as in unit
ew as in few oor as in poor yoor as in Europe
ewr as in pure or as in for yr as in fire
f as in fat ow as in cow z as in zebra
g as in get P as in pen zh as in vision
h as in hat r as in red
The raised n (n) is used to indicate the nasalizing of the preceding vowel
sound in some French words, as in baton or in Chopin. In several French
words no syllable is marked for stress, the distribution of stress being
more even than in English.
Pronunciation x

A consonant is sometimes doubled, especially to help show that the

vowel before it is short, or when without this the combination of letters
might suggest a wrong pronunciation through looking misleadingly like
a familiar word.
 A
absurd, the, a term derived from the *EXISTENTIALISM of Albert
Camus, and often applied to the modern sense of human
purposelessness in a universe without meaning or value. Many 20th-
century writers of prose fiction have stressed the absurd nature of
human existence: notable instances are the novels and stories of Franz
Kafka, in which the characters face alarmingly incomprehensible
predicaments. The critic Martin Esslin coined the phrase theatre of the
absurd in 1961 to refer to a number of dramatists of the 1950s (led by
Samuel Beckett and Eugene lonesco) whose works evoke the absurd by
abandoning logical form, character, and dialogue together with realistic
illusion. The classic work of absurdist theatre is Beckett's En attendant
Godot (Waiting/or Godot, 1952), which revives some of the conventions of
clowning and *FARCE to represent the impossibility of purposeful action
and the paralysis of human aspiration. Other dramatists associated with
the theatre of the absurd include Edward Albee, Jean Genet, Harold
Pinter, and Vaclav Havel. For a fuller account, consult Arnold P.
Hinchliffe, The Absurd (1969).

academic drama (also called school drama), a dramatic tradition

which arose from the *RENAISSANCE, in which the works of Plautus,
Terence, and other ancient dramatists were performed in schools and
colleges, at first in Latin but later also in *VERNACULAR adaptations
composed by schoolmasters under the influence of * HUMANISM. This
tradition produced the earliest English comedies, notably Ralph Roister
Doister (c.1552) by the schoolmaster Nicholas Udall.

acatalectic, possessing the full number of syllables in the final *FOOT

(of a metrical verse line); not *CATALECTIC. Noun: acatalexis.

accent, the emphasis placed upon a syllable in pronunciation. The term

is often used as a synonym for * STRESS, although some theorists prefer to
use 'stress' only for metrical accent. Three kinds of accent may be
distinguished, according to the factor that accounts for each:
etymological accent (or 'word accent') is the emphasis normally given to
accentual verse 2

a syllable according to the word's derivation or *MORPHOLOGY; rhetorical

accent (or 'sense accent') is allocated according to the relative
importance of the word in the context of a sentence or question; metrical
accent (or stress) follows a recurrent pattern of stresses in a verse line (see
metre). Where metrical accent overrides etymological or rhetorical
accent, as it often does in *BALLADS and songs (Coleridge: 'in a far coun-
tree'), the effect is known as a wrenched accent. See also ictus, recessive
accent.

accentual verse, verse in which the *METRE is based on counting only

the number of stressed syllables in a line, and in which the number of
unstressed syllables in the line may therefore vary. Most verse in
Germanic languages (including Old English) is accentual, and much
English poetry of later periods has been written in accentual verse,
especially in the popular tradition of songs, *BALLADS, nursery rhymes,
and hymns. The predominant English metrical system in the 'high'
literary tradition since Chaucer, however, has been that of accentual-
syllabic verse, in which both stressed and unstressed syllables are
counted: thus an iambic *PENTAMETER should normally have five stresses
distributed among its ten syllables (or, with a *FEMININE ENDING, eleven
syllables). See also alliterative metre

acephalous [a-sef-al-us], the Greek word for 'headless', applied to a

metrical verse line that lacks the first syllable expected according to
regular *METRE; e.g. an iambic *PENTAMETER missing the first unstressed
syllable, as sometimes in Chaucer:
Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed
Noun: acephalexis. See also truncation.

Acmeism, a short-lived (c.1911-1921) but significant movement in

early 20th-century Russian poetry, aiming for precision and clarity in
opposition to the alleged vagueness of the preceding *SYMBOLIST
movement. Its leaders, Nikolai Gumilev and Sergei Gorodetsky,
founded an Acmeist 'Poets' Guild' in 1911, and propounded its
principles in the magazine Apollon. The principal poetic luminaries of
this school were Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) and Osip Mandelstam
(1891-1938).

acrostic, a poem in which the initial letters of each line can be read
down the page to spell either an alphabet, a name (often that of the
author, a patron, or a loved one), or some other concealed message.
3 aesthetics

Variant forms of acrostic may use middle letters or final letters of lines
or, in prose acrostics, initial letters of sentences or paragraphs.
act, a major division in the action of a play, comprising one or more
*SCENES. A break between acts often coincides with a point at which the
plot jumps ahead in time.
actant, in the *NARRATOLOGYof A. J. Greimas, one of six basic
categories of fictional role common to all stories. The actants are
paired in *BINARY OPPOSITION: Subject/Object, Sender/Receiver, Helper/
Opponent. A character (or acteur) is an individualized manifestation of
one or more actants; but an actant may be realized in a non-human
creature (e.g. a dragon as Opponent) or inanimate object (e.g. magic
sword as Helper, or Holy Grail as Object), or in more than one acteur,
Adjective: actantial.
adynaton, a *FIGURE OF SPEECH related to *HYPERBOLE that emphasizes
the inexpressibility of some thing, idea, or feeling, either by stating that
words cannot describe it, or by comparing it with something (e.g. the
heavens, the oceans) the dimensions of which cannot be grasped.
Aestheticism, the doctrine or disposition that regards beauty as an
end in itself, and attempts to preserve the arts from subordination to
moral, * DIDACTIC, or political purposes. The term is often used
synonymously with the Aesthetic Movement, a literary and artistic
tendency of the late 19th century which may be understood as a further
phase of *ROMANTICISM in reaction against * PHILISTINE bourgeois values
of practical efficiency and morality. Aestheticism found theoretical
support in the * AESTHETICS of Immanuel Kant and other German
philosophers who separated the sense of beauty from practical interests.
Elaborated by Theophile Gautier in 1835 as a principle of artistic
independence, aestheticism was adopted in France by Baudelaire,
Flaubert, and the *SYMBOLISTS, and in England by Walter Pater, Oscar
Wilde, and several poets of the 1890s, under the slogan I'art pour I'art
(*'art for art's sake'). Wilde and other devotees of pure beauty—like the
artists Whistler and Beardsley—were sometimes known as aesthetes.
See also decadence, fin de siecle. For a fuller account, consult R. V. Johnson,
Aestheticism (1969).
aesthetics (US esthetics), philosophical investigation into the nature of
beauty and the perception of beauty, especially in the arts; the theory of
art or of artistic taste. Adjective: aesthetic or esthetic.
affective 4

affective, pertaining to emotional effects or dispositions (known in

psychology as 'affects'). Affective criticism or affectivism evaluates
literary works in terms of the feelings they arouse in audiences or
readers (see e.g. catharsis). It was condemned in an important essay by
W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley (in The Verbal Icon, 1954) as the
affective fallacy, since in the view of these *NEW CRITICS such affective
evaluation confused the literary work's objective qualities with its
subjective results. The American critic Stanley Fish has given the name
affective stylistics to his form of *READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM. See also
intentional fallacy.
afflatus, a Latin term for poetic inspiration.
agitprop [aj-it-prop], a Russian abbreviation of 'agitation and
propaganda', applied to the campaign of cultural and political
propaganda mounted in the years after the 1917 revolution. The term
is sometimes applied to the simple form of *DIDACTIC drama which
the campaign employed, and which influenced the *EPIC THEATRE of
Piscator and Brecht in Germany.
agon [a-gohn] (plural agones [a-goh-niz]), the contest or dispute
between two characters which forms a major part of the action in the
Greek *OLD COMEDY of Aristophanes, e.g. the debate between Aeschylus
and Euripides in his play The Frogs (405 BCE). The term is sometimes
extended to formal debates in Greek tragedies. Adjective: agonistic.
alba, see aubade.
Alcaics, a Greek verse form using a four-line *STANZA in which the first
two lines have eleven syllables each, the third nine, and the fourth ten.
The * METRE, predominantly * DACTYLIC, was used frequently by the
Roman poet Horace, and later by some Italian and German poets, but its
* QUANTITATIVE basis makes it difficult to adapt into English—although
Tennyson and Clough attempted English Alcaics, and Peter Reading has
experimented with the form in Ukelele Music (1985) and other works.
aleatory [ayl-eer-tri] or aleatoric, dependent upon chance. Aleatory
writing involves an element of randomness either in composition, as in
*AUTOMATIC WRITING and the *CUT-UP, or in the reader's selection and
ordering of written fragments, as in B. S. Johnson's novel The Unfortunates
(1969), a box of loose leaves which the reader could shuffle at will.
Alexandrianism, the works and styles of the Alexandrian school of
5 allegory

Greek poets in the *HELLENISTIC age (323 BCE-31 BCE), which included
Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius, and Theocritus. The Alexandrian style
was marked by elaborate artificiality, obscure mythological *ALLUSION,
and eroticism. It influenced Catullus and other Roman poets.
alexandrine, a verse line of twelve syllables adopted by poets since the
16th century as the standard verse-form of French poetry, especially
dramatic and narrative. It was first used in 12th-century *CHANSONS DE
GESTE, and probably takes its name from its use in Lambert le Tort's
Roman d'Alexandre (c.1200). The division of the line into two groups of six
syllables, divided by a * CAESURA, was established in the age of Racine, but
later challenged by Victor Hugo and other 19th-century poets, who
preferred three groups of four. The English alexandrine is an iambic
* HEXAMETER (and thus has six stresses, whereas the French line usually
has four), and is found rarely except as the final line in the * SPENSERIAN
STANZA, as in Keats's The Eve of St Agnes':
She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint.

alienation effect or A-eff ect, the usual English translation of the

German Verfremdungseffekt or V-effekt, a major principle of Bertolt Brecht's
theory of * EPIC THEATRE. It is a dramatic effect aimed at encouraging an
attitude of critical detachment in the audience, rather than a passive
submission to realistic illusion; and achieved by a variety of means, from
allowing the audience to smoke and drink to interrupting the play's
action with songs, sudden scene changes, and switches of role. Actors are
also encouraged to distance themselves from their characters rather
than identify with them; ironic commentary by a narrator adds to this
'estrangement'. By reminding the audience of the performance's
artificial nature, Brecht hoped to stimulate a rational view of history as a
changeable human creation rather than as a fated process to be accepted
passively. Despite this theory, audiences still identify emotionally with
the characters in Mother Courage (1941) and Brecht's other plays. The
theory was derived partly from the *RUSSIAN FORMALISTS' concept of
*DEFAMILIARIZATION.

allegory, a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning

partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. The principal
technique of allegory is * PERSONIFICATION, whereby abstract qualities
are given human shape—as in public statues of Liberty or Justice. An
allegory may be conceived as a *METAPHOR that is extended into a
structured system. In written narrative, allegory involves a continuous
alliteration

parallel between two (or more) levels of meaning in a story, so that its
persons and events correspond to their equivalents in a system of ideas
or a chain of events external to the tale: each character and episode in
John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), for example, embodies an idea
within a pre-existing Puritan doctrine of salvation. Allegorical thinking
permeated the Christian literature of the Middle Ages, flourishing in the
*MORALITY PLAYS and in the *DREAM VISIONS of Dante and Langland.
Some later allegorists like Dryden and Orwell used allegory as a method
of * SATIRE; their hidden meanings are political rather than religious. In
the medieval discipline of biblical *EXEGESIS, allegory became an
important method of interpretation, a habit of seeking correspondences
between different realms of meaning (e.g. physical and spiritual) or
between the Old Testament and the New (see typology). It can be argued
that modern critical interpretation continues this allegorizing tradition.
See also anagogical, emblem, exemplum, fable, parable, psychomachy,
symbol. For a fuller account, consult Angus Fletcher, Allegory (1964).
alliteration (also known as 'head rhyme' or 'initial rhyme'), the
repetition of the same sounds—usually initial consonants of words or of
stressed syllables—in any sequence of neighbouring words: 'Landscape-
lover, lord of language' (Tennyson). Now an optional and incidental
decorative effect in verse or prose, it was once a required element in the
poetry of Germanic languages (including Old English and Old Norse) and
in Celtic verse (where alliterated sounds could regularly be placed in
positions other than the beginning of a word or syllable). Such poetry, in
which alliteration rather than * RHYME is the chief principle of
repetition, is known as alliterative verse; its rules also allow a vowel
sound to alliterate with any other vowel. See also alliterative metre,
alliterative revival, assonance, consonance.
alliterative metre, the distinctive verse form of Old Germanic poetry,
including Old English. It employed a long line divided by a * CAESURA into
two balanced half-lines, each with a given number of stressed syllables
(usually two) and a variable number of unstressed syllables. These half-
lines are linked by * ALLITERATION between both (sometimes one) of the
stressed syllables in the first half and the first (and sometimes the
second) stressed syllable in the second half. In Old English, the lines were
normally unrhymed and not organized in * STANZAS, although some
works of the later Middle English *ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL used both
stanzaic patterns and rhyme. This *METRE was the standard form of verse
in English until the llth century, and was still important in the 14th, but
7 ambiguity

declined under the influence of French *SYLLABIC VERSE. W. H. Auden

revived its use in The Age of Anxiety (1948). These lines from the 14th-
century poem Piers Plowman illustrate the alliterative metre:
Al for love of oure Lord livede wel straite,
In hope for to have hevene-riche blisse.
See also accentual verse.

alliterative revival, a term covering the group of late 14th-century

English poems written in an * ALLITERATIVE METRE similar to that of Old
English verse but less regular (notably in Langland's Piers Plowman) and
sometimes—as in the anonymous Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight—using rhyme and elaborate * STANZA structure. This group may
represent more a continuation than a revival of the alliterative tradition.

allusion, an indirect or passing reference to some event, person, place,

or artistic work, the nature and relevance of which is not explained by
the writer but relies on the reader's familiarity with what is thus
mentioned. The technique of allusion is an economical means of calling
upon the history or the literary tradition that author and reader are
assumed to share, although some poets (notably Ezra Pound and T. S.
Eliot) allude to areas of quite specialized knowledge. In his poem The
Statues'—
When Pearse summoned Cuchulain to his side
What stalked through the Post Office?
—W. B. Yeats alludes both to the hero of Celtic legend (Cuchulain) and to
the new historical hero (Patrick Pearse) of the 1916 Easter Rising, in
which the revolutionaries captured the Dublin Post Office. In addition to
such topical allusions to recent events, Yeats often uses personal allusions
to aspects of his own life and circle of friends. Other kinds of allusion
include the imitative (as in * PARODY), and the structural, in which one work
reminds us of the structure of another (as Joyce's Ulysses refers to Homer's
Odyssey). Topical allusion is especially important in * SATIRE. Adjective:
allusive.

ambiguity, openness to different interpretations; or an instance in

which some use of language may be understood in diverse ways.
Sometimes known as 'plurisignation' or 'multiple meaning', ambiguity
became a central concept in the interpretation of poetry after William
Empson, in Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930), defended it as a source of
poetic richness rather than a fault of imprecision. Ambiguities in
American Renaissance

everyday speech are usually resolved by their context, but isolated

statements ('they are hunting dogs') or very compressed phrases like
book titles (Scouting for Boys) and newspaper headlines (GENERALS FLY
BACK TO FRONT) can remain ambiguous. The verbal compression and
uncertain context of much poetry often produce ambiguity: in the first
line of Keats's 'Ode on a Grecian Urn',
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
'still' may mean 'even yet' or 'immobile', or both. The simplest kind
of ambiguity is achieved by the use of *HOMOPHONES in the *PUN. On
a larger scale, a character (e.g. Hamlet, notoriously) or an entire story
may display ambiguity. See also double entendre, equivoque, multi-
accentuality, polysemy.
American Renaissance, the name sometimes given to a flourishing
of distinctively American literature in the period before the Civil War. As
described by F. O. Matthiessen in his influential critical work American
Renaissance (1941), this renaissance is represented by the work of Ralph
Waldo Emerson, H. D. Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman
Melville, and Walt Whitman. Its major works are Hawthorne's The Scarlet
Letter (1850), Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), and Whitman's Leaves of Grass
(1855). The American Renaissance may be regarded as a delayed
manifestation of *ROMANTICISM, especially in Emerson's philosophy of
*TRANSCENDENTALISM.
amoebean verses [a-me-bee-an], a poetic form in which two
characters chant alternate lines, *COUPLETS, or* STANZAS, in competition
or debate with one another. This form is found in the * PASTORAL poetry
of Theocritus and Virgil, and was imitated by Spenser in his Shepheardes
Calender (1579); it is similar to the *DEBAT, and sometimes resembles
*STICHOMYTHIA. See also flyting.
amphibrach [am-fib-rak], a metrical *FOOT consisting of one stressed
syllable between two unstressed syllables, as in the word 'confession' (or,
in * QUANTITATIVE VERSE, one long syllable between two shorts). It is the
opposite of the *AMPHIMACER. It was rarely used in classical verse, but
may occur in English in combination with other feet.
amphimacer [am-flm-ase], a Greek metrical *FOOT, also known as the
cretic foot. The opposite of the *AMPHIBRACH, it has one short syllable
between two long ones (thus in English verse, one unstressed syllable
between two stressed, as in the phrase 'bowing down'). Sometimes used
9 anadiplosis

in Roman comedy, it occurs rarely in English verse. Blake's 'Spring' is an

example:
Sound the flute! / Now it's mute; / Birds delight / Day and night.

anachronism, the misplacing of any person, thing, custom, or event

outside its proper historical time. Performances of Shakespeare's
plays in modern dress use deliberate anachronism, but many fictional
works based on history include unintentional examples, the most
famous being the clock in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Adjective:
anachronistic.

anachrony [an-ak-roni], a term used in modern *NARRATOLOGY to

denote a discrepancy between the order in which events of the
* STORY occur and the order in which they are presented to us in the
*PLOT. Anachronies take two basic forms: 'flashback' or *ANALEPSIS,
and 'fiashforward' or *PROLEPSIS. Adjective: anachronic. See also in
medias res.

anacoluthon [an-a-ko-loo-thon], a grammatical term for a change of

construction in a sentence that leaves the initial construction
unfinished: 'Either you go—but we'll see.' Adjective: anacoluthic.

Anacreontics [a-nayk-ri-on-tiks], verses resembling, either metrically

or in subject-matter, those of the Greek poet Anacreon (6th century BCE)
or of his later imitators in the collection known as the Anacreontea.
Metrically, the original Anacreontic line combined long (-) and short (w)
syllables in the pattern u u - u - u - - . It was imitated in English by Sir
Philip Sidney. More often, though, the term refers to the subject-matter:
the celebration of love and drinking. Anacreontics in this sense are
usually written in short *TROCHAIC lines, as in Tom Moore's translated
Odes of Anacreon (1800):
Hither haste, some cordial soul!
Give my lips the brimming bowl.

anacrusis (plural -uses), the appearance of an additional unstressed

syllable or syllables at the beginning of a verse line, before the regular
metrical pattern begins.

anadiplosis [an-a-di-ploh-sis] (plural -oses), a *RHETORICAL FIGURE of

repetition in which a word or phrase appears both at the end of one
clause, sentence, or stanza, and at the beginning of the next, thus linking
the two units, as in the final line of Shakespeare's 36th sonnet:
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 If a hastily prepared mush is required, perhaps nothing better
than the rolled oats can be employed, these requiring not more than
half an hour’s cooking, as they are already partially cooked in their
manufacture; but even these are improved by longer cooking in a
double boiler.
It is very important, when making any kind of mush, that the
water be boiling rapidly, and kept thus while stirring in the meal; for
unless the grain or meal is thoroughly scalded when stirred in, not
even prolonged cooking will take away the raw taste.

OATMEAL MUSH
To a quart of boiling water add a pinch of salt,
sprinkle in a cupful of oatmeal, and boil rapidly
for about ten minutes, or until it sets, stirring
frequently with a fork. Then place over the hot
water in the lower boiler and cook from one to
three hours. Just before serving, remove the Quart Measure
cover and stir lightly with a fork to allow the
steam to escape. This makes the mush more dry. Serve with
baked apples, cream, fresh fruit, or with the juice from stewed
fruit. Oatmeal is richer in nitrogen than any other grain, and
therefore very nutritious. But to be wholesome it must be well
cooked, and not served in a pasty, undone mass.

ROLLED OATS
This is much preferred by some, as it requires only a short
time to cook. Make as above, only using two cupfuls of the meal
to one quart of water. An ordinary saucepan does very well for
this, but the double boiler is better.
 ROLLED OATS AND SAGO MUSH
Wash and soak one-third cup of sago in a little cold water. Stir
one and one-half cups of rolled oats into one quart of salted,
boiling water. Cook for fifteen minutes, then stir in the sago, and
cook as much longer. Serve with cream, stewed fruit, or fruit
juice.

GRAHAM MUSH
Into three pints of rapidly boiling water, properly salted, stir
dry, one heaping pint of sifted Graham flour. Cook slowly for one
hour on the back of the range, stirring but little after the first
few minutes. Serve with milk or cream, and a very little sugar if
desired.

GRAHAM MUSH WITH DATES

Cook as above. Take a cupful of dates, cut in two, removing
the stones, and stir into the mush just before taking from the
fire. Serve with milk or cream. Steamed raisins or stewed figs
may be used instead of dates. Serve hot, or pour out into cups
or molds, first wet with cold water, and serve cold with cream.

BOILED RICE
Wash one cup of rice, and put to cook in four cups of boiling
water, slightly salted. Cook quite rapidly for the first fifteen
minutes, stirring a little occasionally to prevent sticking to the
pan. Then cover closely, and cook slowly on the back of the
range without stirring. When nearly done, add a cup of sweet
milk, cook until tender, and serve with milk, cream, or stewed
fruit. If the rice has been soaked overnight, put to cook in an
equal quantity of boiling water, or equal parts of milk and water,
and cook for about half an hour.

CREAM OF WHEAT
To four parts of boiling water previously salted, add one part
cream of wheat, sprinkling it in with the hand, and cook slowly
for about an hour. Serve hot with cream or stewed figs.

CORN-MEAL MUSH, NO. 1

Into three pints of boiling water, salted, sprinkle one pint of
corn-meal. Cook slowly for an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve
with plenty of milk or cream. Very good and nutritious,
especially for winter.

CORN-MEAL MUSH, NO. 2

Put to boil one quart of water, adding one teaspoonful of salt.
Mix smooth one tablespoonful of flour and two cupfuls each of
milk and corn-meal. Stir this gradually into the rapidly boiling
water; boil about half an hour, stirring frequently. Serve as soon
as done, with rich milk.

CORN-MEAL SQUARES
Take cold, left-over corn-meal mush, cut into rather thick
slices, and then into inch squares. Put the squares into a tureen,
and pour over them some hot milk or cream. Cover the dish, let
stand a few minutes, and serve.

BARLEY MUSH
 To each cupful of pearl barley, previously washed, add five
cups of boiling water, a teaspoonful of salt, and cook in a double
boiler for three or four hours. Serve with cream, lemon sauce,
or stewed fruit.

BOILED WHEAT
To one part of good, plump wheat add five parts of cold
water, a little salt, and cook slowly from four to six hours, or
until the grains burst open and are tender. If soaked overnight,
less time for boiling will be required. Add a little more water
while cooking if necessary, but avoid much stirring. Serve hot or
cold with milk, cream, fruit, or fruit juice. A very simple and
wholesome dish.

GLUTEN MUSH
Into three pints of rapidly boiling, salted water stir one pint of
gluten; cook in a double boiler for several hours.

HOMINY
Soak, then put to cook in enough boiling water to cover. Cook
gently for several hours, being careful not to stir after the grains
begin to soften. Add a little more water if needed. Season with
salt when done. A quantity may be cooked at a time, and
warmed up with a little cream or butter as needed.

CRACKED WHEAT
Cook the same as hominy and oatmeal, using three parts of
boiling water to one of cracked wheat. When done, turn into
cups or molds first wet with cold water. Nice served cold with
cream. Seedless raisins may be cooked with it.
 GRANULATED WHEAT
Use the same proportion and cook the same as cracked
wheat. Serve warm or cold with good sweet cream.

CORN-MEAL CUTLETS
Cut cold corn-meal mush into slices three inches long and one
inch wide; roll each piece in beaten egg, slightly salted, then in
grated bread crumbs; place on an oiled tin in the oven till nicely
browned. Other mushes may be treated likewise.

BROWNED RICE
Place a small quantity on shallow tins, and brown in the oven
till a golden yellow, stirring frequently so that it may brown
evenly; then steam for about an hour in a steamer over boiling
water or in a steam cooker, allowing two parts of hot water to
one part of rice. When done, it should be quite dry and mealy.
It may be eaten dry, or served with brown or lentil sauce, or
rich milk or cream.

BAKED MUSH
Cook any of the foregoing mushes as directed, and as soon as
done, turn into a pan, crock, or a round tin can, first wet with
cold water, or oiled, to prevent sticking. If brushed over the top
with oil, a crust will not form. When cold, cut into slices from
one half to three fourths of an inch thick, place on oiled tins,
and bake till a nice brown. A quart of cooked mush will make
about a dozen slices.
 “A meal—what is it? Just enough of food
To renovate and well refresh the frame,
So that with spirits lightened, and with strength renewed,
We turn with willingness to work again.”

The appetite is subject to education; therefore learn to love that which you
know to be good and wholesome.
The most expensive food is spoiled when served up burnt or tasteless; the
cheapest may be delicious with the proper seasoning.—Lantz.

T
makes a very nice breakfast dish, and is easily and quickly
oast
prepared. It can be made in a variety of ways which are both
simple and wholesome. When properly prepared, it furnishes
abundant nourishment, and is easily digested.
The proper foundation for all toasts is zwieback (pronounced
zwībäck), or twice-baked bread. This may be made from either fresh
or stale bread, the fresh making the more crisp and delicious for dry
eating. The bread should be light and of good quality. That which is
sour, heavy, and unfit to eat untoasted, should never be used for
toast.
 Toasts afford an excellent opportunity for using up left-over slices
of bread, and its use is therefore a matter of economy as well as of
securing variety in diet.

ZWIEBACK, OR DRY TOAST

Cut fresh or stale light bread, either white or brown, into
slices half an inch thick, place on tins, and bake slowly in a
moderate oven until browned evenly throughout. Care should
be taken not to scorch the bread. It should not be put into an
oven that is merely warm. It should be baked, not simply dried.
The common method of toasting merely the outside of the
bread by holding it over a fire is not the most wholesome way of
preparing toast. When properly made, it will be crisp
throughout. Zwieback may be prepared in quantity and kept on
hand for use. It furnishes a good article of diet, especially for
dyspeptics, eaten dry, or with milk or cream.

MILK TOAST
Scald one cupful of milk in double boiler, then add one
teaspoonful of cornstarch, mixed with a little cold water; stir
until it thickens. Cook about ten minutes, then add one
teaspoonful of butter, one-fourth teaspoonful of salt, and pour it
over six slices of zwieback, previously moistened with hot water
or milk.

TOAST WITH CREAM SAUCE

Prepare a cream sauce as directed on page 77. Moisten five
or six slices of zwieback by dipping them quickly into hot water
or milk, place them on a dish, and pour over the hot cream
sauce.

ASPARAGUS TOAST
Prepare asparagus by washing each stalk free from sand;
remove the tough portions, cut the stalks into small pieces, and
stew in a little hot, salted water; drain off the water as soon as
done, add a cup of milk, and season with a little butter and salt.
Cream may be used instead of the milk and butter. Moisten the
zwieback with hot milk, and place in a dish. Pour over the
stewed asparagus, and serve hot.

BERRY TOAST
Prepare zwieback as above. Take fresh or canned
strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, or other fruit, mash well
with a spoon, add sugar to sweeten, and serve as a dressing on
the slices of zwieback previously moistened.

EGG TOAST
Moisten slices of zwieback in hot milk or cream, season with a
sprinkle of salt, and serve hot with a poached egg on each slice.
For poached eggs see page 66.

BANANA TOAST
Moisten slices of zwieback in hot milk. Mash the bananas into
a pulp, or cut into thin slices, and place some on each slice of
toast.

FRUIT TOAST
 Take stewed apricots, peaches, or plums, rub through a
colander, heat to boiling, thicken with a little cornstarch,
sweeten to taste, and pour over the moistened zwieback.

CREAM TOAST
Moisten slices of zwieback in hot water, sprinkle with a little
salt, and dip over each slice a spoonful or two of nice, sweet,
cold cream.

BUTTER TOAST
Place each slice of zwieback on a small plate, pour over a
little hot water, and quickly drain off; add a sprinkle of salt, if
desired, spread lightly with butter and serve.

CRUSHED TOAST
Take fresh, but thoroughly toasted bread or crackers, or some
of each, grind closely in a coffee or hand mill, or crush with a
rolling-pin, and serve in small dishes with milk, cream, or fruit
juice. This may be served as a substitute for the health food
known as granola. Crushed toast is also a very serviceable
article for use in soups and puddings.

TOMATO TOAST
Moisten slices of zwieback in hot milk, and serve with a
dressing prepared by heating a pint of strained, stewed
tomatoes to boiling, and thickening with a tablespoonful of flour
or cornstarch rubbed smooth in a little cold water. Season with
salt and a little cream or butter, and pour over the toast.
 BEAN PASTE
Soak one cupful of white beans overnight in cold water; put
to cook in the morning in boiling water, and cook to a pulp, and
till the water is quite absorbed. Rub through a colander, then
add a tablespoonful of finely minced onion, one teaspoonful of
powdered sage, one saltspoonful of celery salt, the juice of one
lemon, two or three spoonfuls of tomato juice, if at hand, and
salt to taste. Simmer together for a short time, then use cold to
spread on toast or bread as a relish, or in the place of butter, or
for making sandwiches.
Variety.—Remember, as Home Note says, that “variety of diet
is important. Ill health often follows a monotonous sameness of
diet. Oatmeal, bread and butter, and marmalade, are all
excellent breakfast dishes of their kind, but when given every
morning, for years at a time, they become positively
nauseating.”
 A VOICE FROM THE CORN

“I was made to be eaten, not to be drank,

To be thrashed in a barn, not soaked in a tank;
I come as a blessing when put in a mill,
As a blight and a curse when run through a still;
Make me up into loaves, and your children are fed;
But made into drink, I will starve them instead.
In bread I’m a servant, the eater shall rule,
In drink I’m a master, the drinker a fool.
Then remember my warning; my strength I’ll employ,—
If eaten, to strengthen, if drunk, to destroy.”

The wandering Arab lives almost entirely upon bread, with a few dates as a
relish.
Behind the nutty loaf is the mill wheel; behind the mill is the wheat field; on the
wheat field rests the sunlight; above the sun is God.—James Russell Lowell.

B
readstands at the head of all foods. It has very properly been
termed “the staff of life.”
 Why this is so is because wheat, from which bread is mostly
made, contains more nearly than any other one article, all the
necessary food elements required to sustain the human system, and
these, too, in proper proportions, and so forms most nearly a perfect
food. From it the brain, bones, muscles, and nerves, all receive a
large amount of nourishment.
This being so, bread should enter largely into the daily bill of fare
of every family. It is hardly too much to say that no meal is complete
without it.
Where little bread is used, serious defects may frequently be
observed. For instance, in some of the islands of the Pacific Ocean,
where no wheat has been grown, and little could be obtained, the
inhabitants almost universally have poor teeth. The early decay of
the teeth so prevalent among the rising generation to-day, may
generally be attributed to four causes: (1) A lack of sufficient lime in
the water; (2) too free indulgence in sweets, such as rich cakes,
jams, and candies; (3) too large an amount of flesh foods; and (4)
an insufficient supply of good, simple, wholesome bread, especially
whole wheat bread.
Home-made bread, when properly prepared, is generally to be
preferred to bakers’ bread. Chemicals and adulterations, as well as a
lack of cleanliness and proper care in preparation, not infrequently
characterize the latter, and thus give rise to serious stomach
disorders. Moreover, bakers’ bread is not always obtainable, and is
always necessarily more expensive than that which is home-made.
The baker can not afford to work for nothing. For these reasons,
every woman, and especially every wife and mother, ought to know
how to make good bread. The temptation to patronize the bake
shop should not outweigh the interests of the health of the family,
and the duty to practise economy.
The essentials to good bread-making are three:—

1. Good flour.
 2. Good yeast.
3. Proper attention.

When either of these is lacking, good results can not be obtained.

Poor flour will not produce good bread; good flour and poor yeast
will not make good bread; and good flour and good yeast with
improper attention will not insure good bread. All three are essential.
The first thing to consider in the making of bread is the flour.
Good flour will generally be found to have a creamy white tint. That
which is of a bluish white is seldom the best. Good flour will fall light
and elastic from the hand. Flour that retains the imprint of the
fingers when squeezed, and falls in a damp, clammy mass, should
be avoided.
The second essential is good yeast. One may have ever so good
flour and yet make poor bread, if the flour is used in conjunction
with poor yeast. Good yeast has a fresh, pungent odor, and is light
and foamy; while poor yeast has a sour odor, and a dull, watery
appearance.
The third essential is proper attention. In winter, bread sponge
should be made at night if it is desired to have the bread baked in
the early part of the day. The flour used in making the sponge
should first be warmed, and the sponge covered with several
thicknesses of cloth, and set in a warm place till morning.
In hot weather set the sponge early in the morning, and the bread
can be baked by noon. Both the sponge and dough are best kept in
an earthen crock or jar, as they are less quickly affected by drafts of
air.
As soon as the sponge has risen to be light and puffy, it should
receive attention immediately, if desired to have the bread white and
sweet. If allowed to reach the point of running over, or falling in the
center, it has stood too long. For this reason sponge set at night
should be mixed late in the evening, and attended to as early in the
morning as possible.
 In using very active yeast, it will not be necessary to set a sponge.
Mix the ingredients into a good bread dough at the first mixing,
beating the batter well while stirring in the flour. The more
thoroughly the batter is beaten, the less kneading the dough will
require. Set the bread in this way in the morning, and it can be
baked by noon.
A few mealy potatoes, cooked and mashed, added to the sponge,
makes the bread sweeter and keeps it fresh longer. Milk used in
connection with yeast should first be scalded and cooled to
lukewarm.
Too much flour should not be used in mixing, as it will make the
bread hard and tough; but enough should be used to make the
dough firm and elastic. Turn the dough out on the molding-board
and knead it, not with the tips of the fingers, but with the whole
hands, from the sides into the center, turning frequently, that all
portions may be thoroughly worked. When the dough is smooth and
elastic, with no dry flour left on its surface, form into a smooth ball,
and place back in the crock, which should be washed clean, dried
and oiled, to prevent the dough from sticking. Observe how full it
makes the crock; cover up warmly, and when it has doubled its bulk,
form gently into loaves, handling the dough as little as possible, and
place in the pans for the last rising. When the loaves are risen to
twice their size, place in a moderately hot oven to bake. The oven
should be hot when the bread is put in. By no means have the
bread, when ready to bake, wait for the oven to be heated, as it
may then become too light, run over in the oven, and possibly be
sour.
When nearly ready to bake, test the oven by putting in it a piece
of writing-paper; if it turns dark brown in six minutes, the oven is of
about the proper heat. If bread bakes too fast, a crust is formed on
the outside of the loaf which prevents the inside from becoming hot
enough to dry thoroughly, and the result is that the inside of the loaf
is too moist, while the outside is baked hard. Bread should not
brown much under fifteen or twenty minutes after being placed in
the oven. If it rises much after being put in the oven, the heat is not
sufficient. Bread should be turned around in the oven if it does not
rise or brown evenly.
Medium-sized loaves should be baked from fifty to sixty minutes;
small French loaves about thirty-five minutes. Bread is done when it
shrinks from the pan, and can be handled without burning the
fingers.
When taken from the oven, the loaves should be turned out of the
pans, placed on their sides, so that the crust will not soften by the
steam, and covered with a thin cloth. When cold, keep in a covered
stone jar or a tin box, which should be kept free from crumbs and
musty pieces of bread, and scalded and dried thoroughly every few
days.
As to their healthfulness, the most wholesome breads are
unleavened breads, or those made without either yeast, baking-
powder, soda, or cream of tartar, such as gems, rolls, and crackers.
Next come those made with good yeast; then those with baking-
powder, if comparatively pure; and lastly those made with soda and
sour milk, or soda and cream of tartar. Baking-powder is preferable
to soda. The latter should seldom if ever be used, as it is injurious to
the health, being an active dyspepsia-producing article.

WHITE BREAD
Scald a quart of new or unskimmed milk, let cool
to lukewarm, then stir in a dissolved yeast cake,
two teaspoonfuls of salt, and enough sifted flour to
make a thin batter. Cover, and set aside till light,
then work in flour until a dough of the proper
Flour Sieve consistency for bread is formed. Knead until it is
smooth and elastic, and does not stick to the hands
or board. Place in a clean, oiled crock, and when light, form into
four loaves; let rise again and bake. Equal parts of milk and
water may be used if desired.

MOTHER’S BREAD
In the evening boil three small potatoes, or save them out
when cooking, and mash them with a fork in a gallon crock. Put
in about three cupfuls of flour, two tablespoonfuls each of salt
and sugar, then pour in enough boiling water to make a good
batter. Beat until smooth. Soak one cake of compressed yeast or
yeast foam in one-half cup of lukewarm water, and when the
batter is just warm stir in the yeast and beat until quite foamy.
Set in a warm place overnight. The first thing in the morning dip
about two quarts of flour in a pan, make a cavity in the center,
and pour in the sponge and about a pint of warm water. Stir all
together into a thin batter, and set in a warm place till after
breakfast; then knead until it does not stick to the board, put it
in a three-gallon crock, well oiled to prevent the dough from
sticking; cover with a tin lid to keep a crust from forming over
the top, then with several thicknesses of cloth, and set in a
warm place until it rises up full. Then mold into loaves, place in
pans, let rise again, and bake in a moderate oven for about an
hour, or until the loaves shrink from the sides of the pans and
do not burn the fingers when removing from the pans. Turn the
bread out of the pans, and cover with a thin cloth. This will
make six loaves. If the loaves are brushed over with cold water
just before being placed in the oven the crust will be more crisp.

Baking Pan

GRAHAM BREAD, NO. 1

 Take two tablespoonfuls of good liquid yeast, two cups of
sweet milk, previously scalded and cooled to lukewarm, one
teaspoonful of salt, and two cupfuls of white flour; beat
together thoroughly, and set to rise. When very light, add three
heaping cupfuls of sifted Graham flour, or sufficient to make a
soft dough. Knead for a half-hour, then place in a pan slightly
buttered, cover warmly, and set to rise. When light, form into
loaves, let rise again, and bake.

GRAHAM BREAD, NO. 2

Make a sponge as for white bread. When light, add the stiffly
beaten white of one egg, one tablespoonful each of sugar and
melted butter, and enough sifted Graham flour to make a soft
dough. Knead lightly, place back in oiled crock till light, then
make into loaves, let rise, and bake. Graham bread should not
be mixed as stiff as white bread, or it will be too solid. Two
tablespoonfuls of molasses may be used for sweetening instead
of sugar, if preferred.

GRAHAM FRUIT BREAD

Make the same as Graham bread, and when ready to form
into loaves, add a cupful of raisins or dried currants, washed
and dried, and dusted with flour.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Make a sponge as for white bread. If desired a light color, use
one fourth white flour instead of all whole wheat flour. Knead
well, keeping the dough soft, then set in a warm place to rise.
When light, form into loaves, let rise again, and bake. This
bread rises slower than white bread.
 BOSTON BROWN BREAD
Scald one pint of corn-meal with a pint of boiling
water; let cool till lukewarm, then stir in one
dissolved yeast cake, or one-half cup of sweet,
lively yeast, three tablespoonfuls of molasses, one
Pint Measure
teaspoonful of salt, and about three cupfuls of rye
meal. Beat well, put in oiled pan, steam four or
five hours, then place in the oven for half an hour
to form a crust.

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Take two cupfuls of lukewarm milk, previously scalded, three
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, or vegetable oil, one well-
beaten egg, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, a pinch of salt, and
one cake of yeast dissolved in a little of the milk; mix all
together, then add enough flour to make a good batter. Let rise
until light, knead, using sufficient flour; let rise again till very
light, roll out to one-half inch in thickness, cut into round or oval
shapes with a cutter, fold one third back over the top, and place
in a pan to rise. When very light, bake in a moderate oven.
Brush over with beaten yolk of egg, mixed with two spoonfuls of
cold water just before taking from the oven. Braided or plaited
rolls may be made by cutting the rolled dough into strips six
inches long and one inch wide, pinching the ends of each three
strips together, and then braiding.

CORN-MEAL BREAD
Stir one-half cup of corn-meal into two cupfuls of boiling
water; when well cooked, remove from the fire and add two
cupfuls of cold water; stir well together; then add one
teaspoonful of salt, one cake of yeast dissolved in a little warm
water, two tablespoonfuls of sugar or molasses, and enough
white flour to make a good dough. Knead well, and set to rise;
when light, form into three loaves, let rise again, and bake for
nearly an hour.

SALT-RISING BREAD
Take a small pitcher and put into it a half pint of warm water,
a teaspoonful each of salt and sugar, then stir in flour enough to
make a medium-thick batter. Set the pitcher in a kettle of warm
water to rise. It should be kept warm all the time, not hot, for if
it is scalded, it will never rise. When light, stir in a pint of warm
milk or water and enough warm flour to make a soft dough.
Knead it, form into a loaf, place in the pan, set to rise in a warm
place, and bake as soon as light.

RAISED BISCUITS
Make from dough prepared for white bread. When the dough
is ready to form into loaves, divide it into small, equal portions,
shape into smooth, round biscuits, place closely in a shallow
baking pan, and let rise till considerably lighter than bread;
brush lightly with milk, and bake in a rather quick oven.

GEMS
General Directions
Beating in an abundance of cold air is very essential in the
making of good gems, as it is this that makes them light. Cold
air is preferable to warm air, as it expands more when heating.
Gems are also better when baked in iron pans than in tin, as
the iron retains the heat better, and bakes the gems more
evenly. The irons should be heated and oiled
before the batter is dropped into them.
Having the oven hot from the first is also Gem Irons
essential, as a crust will then be formed
immediately, and the air which has been beaten into the batter
will thus be prevented from escaping. They should be placed in
the oven so as to bake on the top first, and afterward on the
bottom. These points should be carefully observed. Gems are
best served hot. They should be broken open, and never cut
with a knife, as this makes them heavy.

GRAHAM GEMS, NO. 1

Place the gem irons in the oven or on the range to heat. Mix
salted Graham flour with cold milk or water to a batter thick
enough to drop, beating vigorously for ten minutes to beat in
the air. Butter the gem irons, and fill each cup nearly full of the
batter. Put in a hot oven, and bake until done.

GRAHAM GEMS, NO. 2

Beat separately the yolk and white of an egg. Add to the

beaten yolk two cupfuls of sweet, rich milk, one-half teaspoonful
of salt, and stir well together; then sift in one and one-half cups
of Graham flour, and a scant cup of white flour, beating
vigorously meanwhile. Continue to beat until the mixture is light
and foamy throughout, and full of air bubbles; then stir in gently
the stiffly beaten white of the egg. Have the gem irons
thoroughly heated, slightly butter them, drop in the batter with
a spoon, and bake in a quick oven.

OATMEAL GEMS
 Beat separately the yolk and white of an egg. To the beaten
yolk add a cupful of well-cooked oatmeal mush, and a half cup
of milk or thin cream. Beat together thoroughly. Continue to
beat while adding a cupful of white flour and a pinch of salt,
then fold in lightly the stiffly beaten white of the egg. Have the
gem irons heated hot, slightly butter, drop in the batter, filling
the little cups nearly full, and bake in a quick oven until a light
brown.

CORN-MEAL GEMS

Stir well together one and one-half cupfuls of milk, and the
yolks of two eggs previously beaten. To this add two cupfuls of
corn-meal, one-half teaspoonful of salt, and one cupful of white
flour. Beat thoroughly, then stir in lightly the whites of the eggs
previously beaten to a stiff froth, and bake as above.

GRANULATED WHEAT GEMS

Mix together one cupful each of cold water and milk, and one-
half teaspoonful of salt. Then add gradually two and one-half
cupfuls of fine granulated wheat, beating continuously. Beat
vigorously for ten minutes, then drop by spoonfuls into
thoroughly heated, buttered gem irons, beating the batter
briskly several times while dipping it in. Bake at once in a very
hot oven.

RICE CAKES
Moisten one cup of well-cooked rice with two tablespoonfuls
of cream or rich milk; add one tablespoonful of sugar, and mix
in enough flour to make it hold together. Form into cakes one-
third of an inch thick, and bake in a hot oven. When done, split
open, and serve with maple or lemon sirup. To make lemon
sirup, see page 40.
 BREAKFAST ROLLS
To three slightly heaping cups of sifted Graham flour add a
little salt, and one cup of milk or thin cream; cream is better.
Stir the milk or cream into the flour, mixing it well with the flour
as fast as poured in. Knead thoroughly, then divide the dough
into three portions, and with the hands roll each portion over
and over on the molding-board until a long roll from an inch to
an inch and a half in thickness is formed. Cut into two- or three-
inch lengths, and bake at once in a hot oven, in a baking pan
dusted with flour, or better, on a perforated piece of sheet-iron
made for the purpose, placing the rolls a little distance apart.
Bake until a light brown. When done, do not place one on top of
another.
Flour kneaded into cold Graham flour, oatmeal, or corn-meal
mush makes very good breakfast rolls.

STICKS
Make the same as breakfast rolls, only rolling the dough to
about the size of the little finger, and cutting into three- or four-
inch lengths.

FRENCH ROLLS
Make a sponge at night of one-half cake of dry or one-half
cup of good liquid yeast, the beaten white of one egg, two
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a
little salt, and three cups of warm milk or water, and flour
sufficient to make a soft dough. In the morning knead well and
let rise again. When light, roll out the dough to about three
fourths of an inch in thickness; cut into about four-inch squares
with a sharp knife, butter the edges, and roll each corner up
and over to the center; place on buttered tins, allow the rolls to
become very light, and bake in a moderately hot oven. The
sponge for this can be set in the morning if the yeast is very
quick.

TO GLAZE ROLLS
When ready to bake, brush the rolls or biscuit lightly with
milk; or, when nearly baked, brush with the yolk of an egg to
which has been added two spoonfuls of cold water and half a
teaspoonful of sugar. Return to oven till done.

MARYLAND OR BEATEN BISCUIT

Mix five cupfuls of white flour, one-half cupful of vegetable oil
or butter, and one teaspoonful of salt to a very stiff dough with
one cupful of cold water. Knead for twenty minutes, using no
more flour for the molding-board; then beat hard with a
wooden mallet or hammer for twenty minutes longer, until the
dough is flat and of even thickness throughout; sprinkle over a
little flour, fold half of the dough back evenly over the other half,
and beat quickly around the edges, to keep in the air. Continue
beating until the dough is brittle, and will snap if a piece is
broken off quickly. Pinch off into pieces the size of a small
walnut, work smooth, flatten on top with the thumb, prick with
a fork, place on perforated tins a little distance apart, and bake
in a moderate oven for nearly an hour, or until dry and brittle
throughout.

WHOLE WHEAT CRISPS

Take one cupful of rich cream, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a
pinch of salt, two cupfuls, or enough to make a stiff dough, of
fine granulated, whole wheat flour. Beat well, and knead for
fifteen minutes, first with a spoon, until the batter becomes too
thick, and then with the hands. Roll out as thin as wafers, cut
into shapes with a biscuit cutter, and bake on floured tins in a
very hot oven.

GRAHAM WAFERS
Stir together one cupful each of sifted Graham
flour and white flour, one tablespoonful each of
butter and sugar, and a saltspoonful of salt; then
mix with enough cold water to make a stiff dough.
Cake Cutter Roll out very thin, cut into small squares, or with a
cake cutter, and bake on tins in a quick oven.

FRUIT BISCUIT
Make a dough with one cupful of cold, sweet cream or rich
milk, three cupfuls of sifted Graham or white flour, and a little
salt. Knead thoroughly, and divide into two portions. Roll each
quite thin, then spread one with currants, stoned dates, figs, or
seedless raisins, chopped fine, and place the other one on top;
press down with the rolling-pin, cut into oblong squares with a
knife, and bake.

CRESCENTS
Make a dough, using the recipe for White Bread. When ready
to form into loaves, work into it two tablespoonfuls each of
butter and sugar; roll out into a sheet half an inch thick, cut into
six-inch squares, then divide diagonally, forming triangles; brush
each lightly with water, and roll up, beginning at the longest
side; place on oiled pans, turning the ends toward each other in
the form of a crescent. When very light, brush with milk, and
bake in a quick oven for about twenty minutes.
 RUSKS
Make a sponge at night with one cupful of sugar, one cupful
of scalded milk, cooled to lukewarm, one-half cupful of butter,
two eggs, one cake of dry or one-half cup of good liquid yeast,
and sufficient flour to make a drop batter. Set in a warm place
to rise. In the morning knead well, and when risen again, mold
into the form of biscuits, place a little distance apart on buttered
tins, and brush over with the beaten white of an egg
sweetened; let stand until light, and bake.

PLAIN BUNS
Beat together one-fourth cup of lively yeast, one cup of sweet
milk, previously scalded and cooled to lukewarm, one-half
teaspoonful of salt, two cups of warm flour, and set in a warm
place to rise. When very light, work into the dough one-half cup
of sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of butter. Knead well for ten
minutes, using enough flour to make a soft dough. Shape into
the form of biscuits a little larger than an egg; place on tins
slightly buttered, and set in a warm place to rise. When very
light, bake in a moderately hot oven. The tops may be brushed
over with the sweetened beaten white of an egg while baking,
or sprinkled with moist sugar when taken from the oven.

FRUIT BUNS
Make the same as plain buns, adding one-half cup of raisins
or currants just before kneading and forming into buns.

RICE WAFFLES
Set a sponge at night with two cupfuls of sweet milk, scalded
and cooled to lukewarm, one tablespoonful of butter, a pinch of
 salt, two-thirds of a cupful of boiled rice, three
cupfuls of flour, and one-fourth cup of liquid yeast.
Beat the batter hard for five or six minutes, and
set in a warm place to rise. In the morning add
two well-beaten eggs, and stir well together. Bake
on a hot, buttered waffle iron. If this is not at
Waffle Iron hand, have the gem irons well heated, slightly
butter to prevent sticking, and drop in the batter.
Place in a hot oven so the top will bake first, and bake to a rich
brown color. Very nice for breakfast.

PUFFS
To two cups of milk add a little salt and the yolks of two eggs
well beaten; then sift in, a little at a time, and beating
meanwhile, three small cups of flour. Beat until light, then stir in
gently the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs, and bake in hot
gem irons.

FRUIT LOAF, NO. 1

Take enough good bread dough for one loaf, add one cupful
of brown sugar, two tablespoonfuls of butter, and one cupful of
raisins, previously washed and dried. Knead well and let rise;
then knead again, and place in a bread pan, let rise until light,
and bake in a moderate oven.

FRUIT LOAF, NO. 2

Make a sponge of one and one-half cups of warm milk or
water, one-half cup of good yeast, the beaten white of one egg,
one tablespoonful each of butter and sugar, a little salt, and
flour sufficient to make a soft dough. Let rise till light; then
knead well and let rise again. When light, roll out to about one
inch in thickness, spread over with chopped dates, or raisins, or
currants which have been previously washed and dried; roll up
and form into a loaf, let rise, and bake.

COFFEE CAKES
Take two cupfuls of bread dough (made with milk) when
ready for the pans; put into a deep dish and work in four
tablespoonfuls of cocoanut or vegetable oil or butter, four
tablespoonfuls of sugar, the stiffly beaten white of one egg, and
enough flour to make a fairly stiff dough. Knead well, and roll
out into a long strip about nine inches in width, three feet in
length, and one fourth of an inch thick; spread over this four or
five tablespoonfuls of oil or melted butter, omitting about two
inches at the farther end; beginning at end nearest, roll up like
jelly roll; cut into slices an inch thick; place a little distance apart
on tins sprinkled with sugar; set in a warm place, and when
very light, brush over with oil; sprinkle with a little sugar, and
bake. If desired, ground cinnamon or grated nutmeg may be
sprinkled over the dough before rolling it up.

FLANNEL CAKES
Heat three cupfuls of milk to boiling; put into a crock one
cupful of corn-meal and two tablespoonfuls of butter, then pour
in the scalding milk; beat well, allow to cool to lukewarm, then
stir in one tablespoonful of sugar, two of flour, one teaspoonful
of salt, and one-half yeast cake dissolved in one-third cup warm
water; beat well, and set to rise overnight. Bake on a hot
griddle.

CORN-MEAL BATTER CAKES

 To two cups of cold corn-meal mush, add one
cup of sifted flour, and a pinch of salt; beat well
the yolks of two eggs, to which add two-thirds cup Griddle
of milk, and stir into the mush; beat thoroughly
until light and smooth, adding a little more milk if
necessary, to make the batter of proper consistency. Then
gently stir in the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth, and
bake in small cakes on both sides on a griddle, slightly buttered,
or better still on a soapstone griddle, in which case use no oil
nor butter on it. Serve hot.

BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES
In the evening take two quarts of warm water, add one-fourth
cup of good yeast, a teaspoonful of salt, and buckwheat flour
enough to make a good batter. If desired, a cupful of corn-meal
or a few spoonfuls of white flour may be used instead of all
buckwheat. Beat well and set to rise. In the morning thin the
batter with a little warm water, if necessary, and bake on a hot
griddle. If cakes are desired for several mornings, the batter
may be kept going by leaving at least a cupful after each
baking, and adding the necessary warm water and buckwheat
flour each evening as at first.

LENTIL FRITTERS
To a pint of lentil soup (left-over soup will do), add the well-
beaten yolks of two eggs, and sift in enough flour, a little at a
time, beating thoroughly, to make a good batter. Then add the
stiffly beaten whites of the eggs, drop by spoonfuls on a hot
buttered griddle, and brown on both sides.

CORN FRITTERS