HINTS SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 556, 18 September 1869, Page 2

HINTS SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC.

HOW TO MANAGE A BICYCLE. In the first place, a velocipede should be chosen on which to leant} low enough when mounted to allow the feet to touch the ground, so that the balance can be easily recovered by touching the ground with the foot, without the necessity of getting off, or kissing Mother Earth. The place should be smooth, hard road, free from pebbles, with a slight descent. Place the wheels of your veloce in a perfectly straight line, and mount, balancing yourself as evenly as possible ; grasD the handle with both hands, and be careful at first not to place your feet ou the pedals until you have had some practice in balancing and guiding the veloce ; you should not attempt working the pedals ; the slope will be sufficient to carry you forward, whereas the movement of the legs in working the pedals would be apt to occasion an upset; then remember that if you find an inclination to either side, turn the front wheel in that direction, and in a very short time you will have mastered the supposed difficulty of balancing yourself, and be able to turn either left or right, as you wish. For the next lesson, selecting the same sort of ground as before, place both feet on the pedals, without using any force—it is not required—and accustom yourself to permit them to follow the circular movement of the crank without quitting it, aud as you become familiar with this motion you may leave the slope you have been practising on and try level ground, where pressure is required. Endeavor to sit upright, with the knees away from the veloce, and the legs not clinging tight, but playing freely and loosely ; above all things don't lean too forward, as if lunging on by the handle, but, if anything, lean a little back, for no appearance is more ridiculous than one const rained, as if you were in constant dread of falling. The rider will, at first starting on a level road, miss the assistance afforded him by the slope. To facilitate starting, supposing him to mount on the left side, he should see that the right pedal is at its highest position; his foot will then at once meet it_ on mouutirg, and a slight shove will give sufficient impulse to start him. An hour's practice the first day should render him master of all these supposed difficulties ; and, having achieved the art of mounting, directing, and moving his vehicle, the learner will find the best way of improving is to take a ride of ten or fifteen miles straight off; he will learn more by this than he will in fifteen lessons.

HOW TO COOK WHITEBAIT. As whitebait are now becoming plentiful, the following receipts for cooking them will, if carried out, produce many a dainty dish, and at a cost which will be within the reach, of almost all persons. The orthodox method of cooking whitebait, and that followed in the preparation of the whitebait dinners" so celebrated among the gourmands of England, is to fry them in boil ins; fat or oil, so that each tiny fish is separate and yet brown and crisp. They are served as hot as possible, sprinkled with cayenne pepper, a dash of lemon-juice is over them, and they are eaten with brown bread and butter, the repast being washed down with a glass or two of good Burgundy—the Australian wino known as -Kuluda would be a capital substitute for Burgundy. Made into an omelette, with eps: and bread-crumbs, and flavored with parsley or other herbs, according to taste, whitebait are very delicious, and cooked in this manner may be eaten either hot or cold. Plain boiled, and sent to table with parsley and melted butter, these delicate fish are not to be despised. Curried whitebait forms an excellent side-dish. A firstclass relish for either breakfast or tea is made by sousing whitebait in vinegar and seasoning with plenty of pepper and a little salt. Have our readers ever eaten a whitebait salad ? Because, if they have not, there is yet a treat in store for them. Plain' boil the whitebait, and after carefully draining off the water, let them stand till cold, then take a plant or two of blanched endive and a few young onions, just enough of the latter to serve as a condiment ; cut up the endive and onions, but not into too small pieces, mix the whitebait plentifully with them, then prepare the following dressing—a little vinegar, some cayenne pepper, a small teaspoonful of essence of anchovy, and a good quantity of the finest Lucca oil, in all just enough to moisten the mass of salad but not to swim it. Prepare this salad just before eating it, and its rare crispness and delicious flavor will cause it to become an established favorite wherever it has been once introduced.

HOW TO RE MORAL. Monsieur Cabasson, says the Pall 2MI Gazette, has presented to the French Academy a curious essay on the effect of diet on tho moral and intellectual faculties of man. Victor Hugo likens Trench vivacity to the light Trench wines, and English ponderosity to " portarebeer ;" and many Frenchman are convinced that, the distinguishing traits of the two nations may in a great measure be ascribed to the use of these beverages. But M. Cabasson h?s dived far more deeply into the subject, and experimentalized on his own person with various articles of food—coffee taken on an empty stomach seems to have produced most startling effects. He informs us that immediately after imbibing it his ideas acquired unusual profundity, his style in writing was cold but correct, while,

on the other hand, his temper underwent a pernicious change; he became morose, egotistical, and generally disagreeable. A moderate breakfast restored him to his normal Btate, and the disappearance of intellectual profundity was compensated for by an influx of genial and generous ideas. The theory is as yet too undeveloped to admit of the prescription of a particular diet for every vice, but, as a general rule, M. Cabasson assures us that a diet of milk and vegetables is conducive to moral and intellectual superiority, and quotes Lamartine, who, in one of his prefaces, states with that complacency with which only a Frenchman can talk of himself, that he attributes to this diet "the purity of feeling, the felicity of expression, and the exquisite serenity " which always characterisd him. All Jjamartine's friends know that he retained this serenity of disposition till his death ; if he really owed it to a vegetable diet it is a pity that the potato does not seem to have the same desirable effect on the agricultural classes in Ireland.