String Bean Soup ~ 1908

Take a quart of string beans and remove all the strings from them; cut then in small pieces and wash in cold water, then boil them in salted water until tender enough to be mashed through a colander, using a potato masher. After the beans are prepared in this way, put two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour in sauce pan and set over the fire--stir it until both are smoothly mixed, then gradually stir in two quarts of boiling water. The bean pulp is added as soon as the soup boils.  Season with salt and boil once, then serve.