Mutton Soup with Tapioca.

3 lbs. perfectly lean mutton. The scrag makes good soup and costs little.
2 or 3 lbs. of bones, well pounded.
1 onion.
2 turnips.
2 carrots.
2 stalks of celery.
A few sprigs of parsley. If you have any tomatoes left from yesterday, add them.
4 tablespoonfuls of pearl or granulated tapioca (not heaping spoonfuls).
4 quarts of water.

Put on the meat, cut in small pieces, with the bones, in two quarts of cold water. Heat very slowly, and when it boils pour in two quarts of hot water from the kettle. Chop the vegetables; cover with cold water. So soon as they begin to simmer, throw off the first water, replenishing with hot, and stew until they are boiled to pieces. The meat should cook steadily, never fast, five hours, keeping the pot-lid on. Strain into a great bowl; let it cool to throw the fat to the surface; skim and return to the fire. Season with pepper and salt, boil up, take off the scum; add the vegetables with their liquor. Heat together ten minutes, strain again, and bring to a slow boil before the tapioca goes in. This should have been soaked one hour in cold water, then cooked in the same within another vessel of boiling water until each grain is clear. It is necessary to stir up often from the bottom while cooking. Stir gradually into the soup until the tapioca is dissolved.

Send around grated cheese with this soup.