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potato the wrong way, then the right way. If we cook them right, put them into boiling water, have a quick, intense heat, like the heat of the sun, and keep them at the boiling point. Do not have too much water on them, and I never cover them. The minute they are done I pour them at once into a collander, then I put them back over the stove and keep them uncovered. You can put that potato in your hand and crush it as a handful of sand. Naturally that potato getting into your stomach is very quickly digested. Baking is the best way of cooking potatoes. In the winter I always bake them in the coal hod of my heater. They bake beautifully in three-quarters of an hour and it does not cost you a cent for fuel.

Now, then, as an example of the other class of food, we take an egg. That has no starch in it; there is nothing in it that requires a quick, intense heat. It is absolutely ruined by a quick, intense heat. The same thing that makes the oyster tough when it is boiled is in the egg, that is the albumen. Now, you see, the egg is also three-fourths water. The rest of it is protein and fat. Wherever you find anything red on my chart it is protein, and yellow is fat. If you have typhoid fever and your temperature is 104, the doctor possibly even dare not give you milk; he would give you a raw white of egg. He will not give you the yolk, because in it there is fat. That will give you more fever. Now, in cooking an egg, there is this fat, but I cannot change that by cooking. The only way in which I can change fat is when I ruin it-when I take good butter and fry it until it is brown. Browned butter is simply nothing but fatty acid. It is all right if you can stand it. If you can afford to throw away that money you spent for your butter, it is all right to fry it, but you are not getting a food. I am cooking one thing when I am cooking eggs, and that is protein. I want to do exactly the opposite from what I did when cooking potatoes. Most people cook eggs this way: put them into boiling water, four minutes soft and ten minutes hard. Now let me tell you how I cook them. It is not any trick at all. Put six eggs into a kettle, pour over them six cups of cold water and set it on the stove. Lay on top of

that a dairy thermometer-that thermometer floats. Now, as I walk back and forth I look at that every once in a while. I never let them come to the boiling point. When it registers 170, I take that off the stove, put it on the kitchen table and let it stand there 10 minutes. The egg is just like a gelatine pudding all the way through, perfectly digestible. Where the doctor would not dream of letting you have an ordinary boiled egg, he would give you an egg cooked like this, because it is so much more quickly digested.

I want to tell you how I cook a tough piece of meat. I want to get as much for my money as I possibly can. The other day bought a tough piece-got six pounds for 30 cents, so you know that I am getting a very tough piece of meat, and it is my business to make it tender and palatable, and that is what I want to do. If I cook a tender piece of meat I cook it this way: I buy it the day before I use it and have it cut thick, an inch or two inches; I take it home and mix together slowly two tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of lemon juice and put it on both sides of the meat. The next day, if I can have coal, I broil it. If I cannot, then I take two heavy, old-fashioned iron skillets and put them on the gasolene stove, one on each flame, and keep them perfectly dry until they are blue hot without anything in them. Take your steak and put it flat onto the first pan and let it stay there until it gets a nice, brown crust, then turn it right over into the next blue hot pan and finish cooking it there. Now, have your platter warm, put your steak on it, put on it butter that has been stirred with a little lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. That is a steak as perfectly cooked as you can get it at the Waldorf "Astoria.

Now, when I buy instead of a steak a piece of meat that costs from four to eight cents a pound, I cannot cook it quickly like that. I begin it the day before. I take it home and about supper time I tie it all up so it will be a solid chunk, try to get a piece that does not have much bone in it, and then I heat a cup of water and one-half cup of vinegar and pour it over the meat. All night long the vinegar is disintegrating the fiber. In the morn

ing pour it off; then take a heavy, oldfashioned iron kettle, porcelain lined, try out salt pork and fry this meat as quickly as you can, so as to make a shell or crust around the meat. As soon as it is fried all around, pour off that grease, then pour over it boiling water to half cover the meat, add seasoning-I use whole spices. Take white pepper, for instance, and pour boiling water over it, you can make a regular flour paste out of white pepper which has been adulterated. I believe in using herbs. I use onions very freely; they are a medicine as well as a food. We are told that General Grant actually telephoned to Washington once that he refused to move his army without onions.

Now, remember, in cooking that meat, I first made it tender, then fried a crust on it, then put boiling water on it and cover it tight to keep in all the flavor, let the steam cook it just as much as the water does. Keep it simmering, never let it boil. Now, when it is done, you will find the carving knife will slip right through it, the meat will be juicy, tender and nice. It has to cook a long while -four to six hours-and right away people think, "If you are going to spend all your money for wood and coal you might as well buy expensive meat and be done with it." In order to avoid the expense of fuel, I cook it on washing day, or ironing day, or baking days. In winter I put it on my coal stove in the sitting room.

COUNTY TRAINING SCHOOLS.

Miss Lura Burce, County Superintendent, Eau Claire, Wis.

(Read at the Round-Up Institute at

Eau Claire, Wis.)

Not long ago someone in Wisconsin educational circles accidentally discovered that the conditions in the rural schools had not kept pace with the educational advancement in other lines. They had seemingly been neglected and almost forgotten in the planning and scheming and appropriating for higher education, and had gone on haphazard as it happened, with no other inspiration than an occasional added branch to the course of study, which the poor overburdened and often incompetent teacher struggled to master and find a corner for on her lengthy program. So, while the exterior appearance of our school system was fine to look upon, the backbone was growing weaker in comparison every year. I say the backbone, because I believe just as surely as the farmer is the backbone of our nation, the rural school is the backbone of our educational system. The majority of our best educators and best thinkers have obtained their early education in the district schools where, surrounded by the influences of nature, they early developed a power to think and an independence and strength that might never have been made evident under less favorable conditions. Statistics show that the great universities and colleges look to the farm to produce the material which, later developed, constitutes the brain power of the world.

The discovery of the rural conditions created some stir in educational circles, and men began to cast about for a remedy-something that would strengthen and stimulate, and in time prove an effectual cure. Consolidation was prescribed, but the idea took but slowly and people must first be educated to its value. Perhaps years must elapse before anything could be accomplished in that line, something must be done to take effect at once.

It

was reasoned that country school conditions could never be ideal so long as all grades and classes must be handled by one teacher, but it was evident that a teacher, especially trained for this work, and who was familiar with the best methods of grouping and classifying her pupils and who could take advantage of every minute, would greatly improve matters. That the average rural school teacher was not adequately prepared was generally admitted, so a training school was suggested. Teachers had to be trained for kindergarten, grade and high school work, but never before for rural schools. The idea! Why hadn't it been thought of long ago. The legislature was induced to make a small appropriation for the experiment. was tried and proved so effectual that other appropriations were made in conjunction with the counties' aid, and other schools were established, until now seven are in operation in the counties of Buffalo, Dunn, Marathon, Manitowoc, Richland, Waupaca and Wood. Two more will be opened the coming year, one in Polk and the other we are so fortunate as to have secured for Eau Claire.

Aim of the County Training School.

It

A few words as to what we expect to do for our teachers may prove valuable to those interested in rural school work.

I believe that a position in the country schools is the hardest to fill and fill well, that our schools have to offer. The teacher must deal with pupils of all ages and deal wisely. She must be thoroughly familiar with many branches and have the kind of interest in each that will stimulate an interest in the pupil. She must be an executive of rare ability and must be able to lead the intellectual life of the community in which she teaches. Genius such as this is rarely found. A large per cent. of our teachers every

year go into the country schools without any previous knowledge of the school system. They must gain their experience and the country seems to be the popular place in which to gain it. The district must be experimentedTM upon and more or less time and money wasted in the experiment. Often the teacher fails utterly, or makes such a fizzle of her work that she is always ever after ashamed to look upon that first term.

Our county proposes to furnish training for such as these and others at some expense and expects, in return, services which will be a credit to the schools. We believe it will be more than a money-saving proposition in the end.

A thorough course of professional work in all the third and second grade branches with a solid year of observation methods and actual practice in the grades with a class to teach, manage and be responsible for, cannot help but put the teacher in better condition to face the difficulties she has to meet. Indeed it is a course at which no grade teachers need to be ashamed to spend a year, and even some of our old teachers might gain a few new ideas and obliterate a few ruts by taking advantage of it.

Instructors who are familiar with every condition and know how to teach students how to teach, will take a personal interest in each student, and follow them when they go out to teach, lending a helping hand whenever necessary.

Requirements for Entrance.

The requirements for entrance will be very liberal the first year. All who have completed the common school course or its equivalent, or who hold any county certificate and are residents of the county, may enter without examination at the discretion of the board and without tuition.

Residents from other counties will be admitted on the payment of tuition as far as the capacity of the school will allow.

A Suggestive Course of Study.

The following course is only a suggestive one and simply shows what

branches will be pursued. The order may be and probably will be greatly changed:

First Term: Reading, grammar, theory and psychology, arithmetic, penmanship.

Second Term: History, composition, manual, observation, arithmetic, physiology.

Third Term: History, methods and practice, geography, constitution, spelling.

Fourth Term: Literature, school management and practice, geography, agriculture.

Library reading and literary work throughout the year and algebra for those who can carry it. It is expected that arrangements can be made whereby our students may take advantage of the music, drawing, cooking and manual training offered by the Eau Claire High School.

The time required to complete this course will depend upon the former education and the aptness of the pupil. High school graduates may reasonably expect to finish in a year, but those less favored will find, since the work is entirely new, that it will be necessary to take a longer time. Common school graduates should finish in two years. Students may enter at the opening of any quarter, but it is always desirable to enter at the beginning of the year and remain until the close.

The diploma from this school entitles the holder to teach for three years and if successful, the holder may, before the expiration of the three years, have a second grade certificate issued and thus secure a license to teach for six years without examination.

Credit to the amount of one year's work is allowed graduates of the Training school, upon entering any State Normal, and such graduate is thereby enabled to finish the elementary course in one year.

Some of the Results Achieved.

Some one recently asked me how the work of these teachers compared with that of other teachers. I admit frankly that the County Training School teachers we have had from Dunn and Buffalo, prove the strongest

teachers we have without exception. I feel that I can place them anywhere and they will be successful. Perhaps we have been so fortunate as to receive only the good ones, but we have never had a failure sent to us yet. Boards are willing to pay better salaries for teachers whom they may depend upon to successfully manage their schools and there is always a demand for such experience.

While it is our aim to keep these teachers as long as possible in our country schools, yet when we shall see them called to a graded position or a principalship after two or three years with us, we will rejoice that they are doing so well and feel thankful that we have had their services while they were preparing for something higher.

Every effort is to be put forth the coming year to induce the country boys and girls to enter the school and I appeal to every farmer present to help in this mission. Our country girls make good, strong teachers, because they are familiar with conditions; are at home with country people, and are not afraid to exert themselves. They are willing workers and are anxious to gain new methods and new ideas, and are not apt to fall in ruts. We want them, and to get them we are willing the first year to admit them without examination on their common school diplomas. There is no tuition to be paid by the

parents or the town, and every advan-` tage is offered for the development of good, strong teachers.

Boys will be admitted as well as girls, and indeed it is our intention to encourage their attendance. There is always a demand for male teachers and most of our state graded schools require men at their heads. Even though the boy does not contemplate teaching as a life work, there is no reason why it should not be used as a stepping stone to something higher, provided it is made a good stepping stone.

Some of the Inducements Offered at Eau Claire.

Board is not high in our city and there are endless opportunities for both boys and girls to do light work in return for board. If we are so fortunate as to secure a course in domestic science, some might even do as Mr. Davis suggested last night-do their own cooking.

One of the best public libraries in the state is at the disposal of the students and a lecture course is offered every winter which includes the best lecture talent to be had for money. The Eau Claire people are cordial and hospitable and everything will be done by the board and faculty to make the work pleasant for the students and make them feel at home.

LAWS OF INTEREST TO WISCONSIN FARMERS.
Wisconsin Farmers' Institute Law.

Section 1. The Board of Regents of the State University is hereby authorized to hold Institutes for the instruction of the citizens of this state in the various branches of agriculture. Such Institutes shall be held at such times, and at such places as said board may direct. The said board shall make such rules and regulations as it may deem proper for organizing and conducting such Institutes, and may employ an agent or agents to perform such work in connection therewith as they deem best. The course of instruction at such Institutes shall be so ar

ranged as to present to those in attendance, the results of the most recent investigations in theoretical and practical agriculture.

Sec. 2. For the purposes mentioned in the preceding section, the said board may use such sum as it may deem proper, not exceeding the sum of twelve thousand dollars in any one year, from the general fund, and such amount is hereby annually appropriated for that purpose.

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication.

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