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Boiled Asparagus

Have the asparagus as fresh as possible, scrape and clean, washing thoroughly and tie with a string into bundles of five or six shoots each, taking care to have the head even so that the stalks may be cut off at the bottom leaving them of equal length. Place the bundles in boiling salt and water and boil them fast without the lid until tender; this will be from twenty minutes to half an hour; then have ready some slices of toast without crust and lay them for sippets at the bottom of the vegetable dish. Take out the bundles of asparagus from the boiling water, using great care to prevent the heads from falling off. Lay them upon the toast and untie them upon it, allow the asparagus to fall so that it will be one way upon the toast, and the sippet be moistened with the water of the asparagus. Melted butter with the juice of a lemon to every pint may be served separately in a boat or poured over it. Oiled butter is sometimes served with asparagus, especially in Paris and other continental cities.