Varying the Breakfast Menu.

Variety is indeed the spice of life, and is there any time in the whole long day when one needs a little spice more than in the morning, whether the morning is a snappy cold one, when it is hard to get up, a delightful spring one, when it is hard to think about work, or a sticky hot one, when it is hard to confront a day at all? So the good housewife who wants to send her family forth 100 per cent. efficient for the day's work or pleasure will try to get as much variety as possible into her breakfast menu.

Variety is not expensive; it costs thought only. The table should look as attractive as possible when the family first gathers there because daintiness and appeal can do much more in the morning when many people feel so apathetic about food. Spotless tablecloth, attractive china, a blossom or two in the centre of the table, or perhaps a pot of ferns, and some appetising fruit or fruit juice make an instant appeal.

It is no more expensive to have five or six different kinds of cereals in the house at one time, alternate them, than to have one kind only.

Toast is generally used on the breakfast table, but even toast gets monotonous. Try varying the manner of preparing it; French toast makes an excellent breakfast dish; cinnamon and powdered sugar sprinkled over the hot buttered toast is delicious, and toasted strips of bread, piled log cabin fashion, are pleasing to the eye besides making a slight change from the regular slices.