Lilly H. Y. Y.—Your letter impressed us very painfully. For a young woman, or anyone, to “despise everybody” is a bad sign. There must be grievous mental or moral disease (we do not mean in the sense of insanity). Some of these light-hearted and apparently frivolous young people may have fine, generous, unselfish natures, tender, loving hearts; people who, whatever their tastes may be, or capabilities, or deficiencies for intellectual culture, might willingly sacrifice any selfish gratification to serve, or afford a little kindly attention to another. Our divine Father made us all, with diversities both of gifts and of opportunities. He does not “gather where He does not straw,” nor does He permit anyone to judge his brother, nor to despise him. To his own Master he will stand or fall. When your mother has a visitor, is it not your duty as a daughter of the house to remain with and help her? “Little children, love one another,” so said “the beloved disciple.” Are you trying to profit by his teaching? We ask it in all kindliness of feeling.
Claudia.—Spilling salt was held to be an unlucky omen by the Romans, and it is from them the idea has descended to us. You have perhaps seen Leonardo da Vinci’s great picture of the “Last Supper,” and in that Judas Iscariot is known by the salt cellar knocked over accidentally by his arm. Salt was used by the Jews in sacrifice, and spilling it after it was placed on the head of the victim was held to be a bad omen; and this is according to Brewer, the origin of the superstition. Salt was an emblem of purity, and the sanctifying influence of a holy life upon others, hence our Lord tells His disciples that they are “the salt of the earth.” There are also two references to “a covenant of salt” in the Old Testament, see Numbers xviii. 19 and 2 Chron. xiii. 5. By this we understand that salt was a symbol of incorruption, and thus of perpetuity, as the “covenant of salt” meant one which could not be broken. There is of course no mention of the spilling of the salt by Judas in the Bible. It was put in by the Italian painter as a suggestion of what might have happened, a kind of significant accessory to the great scene, and a suggestion of the great trouble to come—according to the national superstition.
St. Marie.—We do not think that the hole in the top of a meat pie had originally any reason, save that gravy is usually put in after the pie is cooked, so as to ensure plenty of it, and also to allow the escape of the steam, which, if allowed to remain in, would make the pastry heavy and soft. There is nothing in the vapour of beef that could injure the meat, and the same may be said of mutton and veal; nor should there be any need for special ventilation, save in the case of “high” game or venison. You will find this subject fully dealt with in the sixth chapter of Mathieu Williams’s Chemistry of Cookery.