Original publishers note 1897"What shall we have? "is a question daily. asked in. thousands of homes by troubled, housekeepers, as .often calling forth only the same ever-repeated answer. It is this perpetually-recurring query that has suggested the publication of the present book, as an attempt to furnish a ready answer of a more satisfactory nature. It is not a Cookery Book, in the ordinary sense of the term: making no profession of teaching how to cook, or even of embracing a very wide range of recipes. It pretends to be, simply. what its title describes-a selection of fresh and choice recipes, for Tasty Dishes; nearly every one of which has been personally tested by the compiler. The volume is published with the hope that it may, by suggesting a pleasing variety of simple palatable dishes, be the means of lifting a burden from many a housewife's heart, and increasing in some degree the general peace and. comfort of many a. household. The Publishers believe that it will be warmly welcomed as affording opportunity of enjoying variety without vexation, and they have full confidence that the recipes will commend themselves in all homes where it is desired to have excellence without extravagance.