THE AMERICAN FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. 

by

MRS. CHILD, Author of "Hobomok, " "The Mother's Book, " Editor of the "JuvenileMiscellany, " &c. 

1832

DEDICATED TO

THOSE WHO ARE NOT ASHAMED OF ECONOMY. 

A fat kitchen maketh a lean will. --FRANKLIN. 

"Economy is a poor man's revenue; extravagance a rich man's ruin. "

[Illustration: MUTTON. 

 1. Leg. 2. Loin, best end. 3. Do. Chump do. 4. Neck, best do. 5. Do Scrag do. 6. Shoulder. 7. Breast. Saddle, 2 Loins. ]

[Illustration: PORK. 

 1. The Sperib. 2. Hand. 3. Belly, or Spring. 4. Fore Loin. 5. Hind do. 6. Leg. ]

[Illustration: VEAL. 

 1. Loin, best end 2. Do Chump do 3. Fillet. 4. Knuckle, hind. 5. Do. Fore. 6. Neck, best end. 7. Do. Scrag do. 8. Blade Bone. 9. Breast, best end. 10. Do. Brisket. ]

[Illustration: BEEF. 

Hind Quarter. 

 1. Sir Loin. 2. Rump. 3. Aitch Bone. 4. Buttock. 5. Mouse do. 6. Veiny piece. 7. Thick Flank. 8. Thin do. 9. Leg. 

Fore Quarter. 

 10. Fore Rib, 5 Ribs. 11. Middle do 4 do. 12. Chuck, 3 do. 13. Shoulder, or Leg Mutton piece. 14. Brisket. 15. Clod. 16. Neck, or Sticking piece. 17. Shin. 18. Cheek. ]

 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ODD SCRAPS FOR THE ECONOMICAL. SOAP. SIMPLE REMEDIES. GRUEL. EGG GRUEL. ARROW-ROOT JELLY. CALF'S FOOT JELLY. TAPIOCA JELLY. SAGO JELLY. BEEF TEA. WINE WHEY. APPLE WATER. MILK PORRIDGE. STEWED PRUNES. VEGETABLES. HERBS. CHEAP DYE-STUFFS. MEAT CORNED, OR SALTED, HAMS, &c. CHOICE OF MEAT. COMMON COOKING. VEAL. CALF'S HEAD. BEEF. ALAMODE BEEF. MUTTON AND LAMB. PORK. ROAST PIG. SAUSAGES. MINCE MEAT. BEANS AND PEAS. SOUSE. TRIPE. GRAVY. POULTRY. FRICASSEED CHICKEN, BROWN. FRICASSEED CHICKEN, WHITE. TO CURRY FOWL. CHICKEN BROTH. FISH. PUDDINGS. BAKED INDIAN PUDDING. BOILED INDIAN PUDDING. FLOUR OR BATTER PUDDING. BREAD PUDDING. RENNET PUDDING. CUSTARD PUDDINGS. RICE PUDDINGS. BIRD'S NEST PUDDING. APPLE PUDDING. CHERRY PUDDING. CRANBERRY PUDDING. WHORTLEBERRY PUDDING. PLUM PUDDING. HASTY PUDDING. CHEAP CUSTARDS. COMMON PIES. MINCE PIES. PUMPKIN AND SQUASH PIE. CARROT PIE. CHERRY PIE. WHORTLEBERRY PIE. APPLE PIE. CUSTARD PIE. CRANBERRY PIE. RHUBARB STALKS, OR PERSIAN APPLE. PIE CRUST. COMMON CAKES. GINGERBREAD. CUP CAKE. TEA CAKE. CIDER CAKE. ELECTION CAKE. SPONGE CAKE. WEDDING CAKE. LOAF CAKE. CARAWAY CAKES. DOUGH-NUTS. PANCAKES. FRITTERS. SHORT CAKE. INDIAN CAKE. BREAD, YEAST, &c. PRESERVES, &c. CURRANT JELLY. CURRANT WINE. RASPBERRY SHRUB. COFFEE. CHOCOLATE. TEA. PICKLES. BEER. GENERAL MAXIMS FOR HEALTH. HINTS TO PERSONS OF MODERATE FORTUNE [FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE MASSACHUSETTS JOURNAL. ] FURNITURE. EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS. TRAVELLING AND PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. PHILOSOPHY AND CONSISTENCY. REASONS FOR HARD TIMES. HOW TO ENDURE POVERTY. APPENDIX TO THE AMERICAN FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. CARVING. INDEX. APPENDIX. 

 It has become necessary to change the title of this work to the "_American_ Frugal Housewife, " because there is an _English_ work of the same name, not adapted to the wants of this country. 

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up allthe fragments, so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of _time_, as well as _materials_. Nothing should be thrown away so long as itis possible to make any use of it, however trifling that use may be;and whatever be the size of a family, every member should be employedeither in earning or saving money. 

'Time is money. ' For this reason, cheap as stockings are, it is goodeconomy to knit them. Cotton and woollen yarn are both cheap; hosethat are knit wear twice as long as woven ones; and they can be doneat odd minutes of time, which would not be otherwise employed. Wherethere are children, or aged people, it is sufficient to recommendknitting, that it is an _employment_. 

In this point of view, patchwork is good economy. It is indeeda foolish waste of time to tear cloth into bits for the sake ofarranging it anew in fantastic figures; but a large family may be keptout of idleness, and a few shillings saved, by thus using scraps ofgowns, curtains, &c. 

In the country, where grain is raised, it is a good plan to teachchildren to prepare and braid straw for their own bonnets, and theirbrothers' hats. 

Where turkeys and geese are kept, handsome feather fans may as well bemade by the younger members of a family, as to be bought. The soonerchildren are taught to turn their faculties to some account, thebetter for them and for their parents. 

In this country, we are apt to let children romp away their existence, till they get to be thirteen or fourteen. This is not well. It is notwell for the purses and patience of parents; and it has a still worseeffect on the morals and habits of the children. _Begin early_ is thegreat maxim for everything in education. A child of six years old canbe made useful; and should be taught to consider every day lost inwhich some little thing has not been done to assist others. 

Children can very early be taught to take all the care of their ownclothes. 

They can knit garters, suspenders, and stockings; they can makepatchwork and braid straw; they can make mats for the table, and matsfor the floor; they can weed the garden, and pick cranberries from themeadow, to be carried to market. 

Provided brothers and sisters go together, and are not allowed to gowith bad children, it is a great deal better for the boys and girlson a farm to be picking blackberries at six cents a quart, than to bewearing out their clothes in useless play. They enjoy themselves justas well; and they are earning something to buy clothes, at the sametime they are tearing them. 

It is wise to keep an exact account of all you expend--even of apaper of pins. This answers two purposes; it makes you more careful inspending money, and it enables your husband to judge precisely whetherhis family live within his income. No false pride, or foolish ambitionto appear as well as others, should ever induce a person to live onecent beyond the income of which he is certain. If you have two dollarsa day, let nothing but sickness induce you to spend more than nineshillings; if you have one dollar a day, do not spend but seventy-fivecents; if you have half a dollar a day, be satisfied to spend fortycents. 

To associate with influential and genteel people with an appearance ofequality, unquestionably has its advantages; particularly where thereis a family of sons and daughters just coming upon the theatre oflife; but, like all other external advantages, these have their properprice, and may be bought too dearly. They who never reserve a centof their income, with which to meet any unforeseen calamity, 'pay toodear for the whistle, ' whatever temporary benefits they may derivefrom society. Self-denial, in proportion to the narrowness of yourincome, will eventually be the happiest and most respectable coursefor you and yours. If you are prosperous, perseverance and industrywill not fail to place you in such a situation as your ambitioncovets; and if you are not prosperous, it will be well for yourchildren that they have not been educated to higher hopes than theywill ever realize. 

If you are about to furnish a house, do not spend all your money, be it much or little. Do not let the beauty of this thing, and thecheapness of that, tempt you to buy unnecessary articles. DoctorFranklin's maxim was a wise one, 'Nothing is cheap that we do notwant. ' Buy merely enough to get along with at first. It is only byexperience that you can tell what will be the wants of your family. Ifyou spend all your money, you will find you have purchased many thingsyou do not want, and have no means left to get many things which youdo want. If you have enough, and more than enough, to get everythingsuitable to your situation, do not think you must spend it all, merelybecause you happen to have it. Begin humbly. As riches increase, itis easy and pleasant to increase in hospitality and splendour; butit is always painful and inconvenient to decrease. After all, thesethings are viewed in their proper light by the truly judicious andrespectable. Neatness, tastefulness, and good sense, may be shown inthe management of a small household, and the arrangement of a littlefurniture, as well as upon a larger scale; and these qualities arealways praised, and always treated with respect and attention. Theconsideration which many purchase by living beyond their income, andof course living upon others, is not worth the trouble it costs. The glare there is about this false and wicked parade is deceptive;it does not in fact procure a man valuable friends, or extensiveinfluence. More than that, it is wrong--morally wrong, so far asthe individual is concerned; and injurious beyond calculation tothe interests of our country. To what are the increasing beggary anddiscouraged exertions of the present period owing? A multitude ofcauses have no doubt tended to increase the evil; but the root of thewhole matter is the extravagance of all classes of people. We nevershall be prosperous till we make pride and vanity yield to thedictates of honesty and prudence! We never shall be free fromembarrassment until we cease to be ashamed of industry and economy. Let women do their share towards reformation--Let their fathersand husbands see them happy without finery; and if their husbandsand fathers have (as is often the case) a foolish pride in seeingthem decorated, let them gently and gradually check this feeling, by showing that they have better and surer means of commandingrespect--Let them prove, by the exertion of ingenuity and economy, that neatness, good taste, and gentility, are attainable without greatexpense. 

The writer has no apology to offer for this cheap little book ofeconomical hints, except her deep conviction that such a book isneeded. In this case, renown is out of the question, and ridicule is amatter of indifference. 

The information conveyed is of a common kind; but it is such as themajority of young housekeepers do not possess, and such as theycannot obtain from cookery books. Books of this kind have usuallybeen written for the wealthy: I have written for the poor. I have saidnothing about _rich_ cooking; those who can afford to be epicureswill find the best of information in the 'Seventy-five Receipts. 'I have attempted to teach how money can be _saved_, not how it canbe _enjoyed_. If any persons think some of the maxims too rigidlyeconomical, let them inquire how the largest fortunes among us havebeen made. They will find thousands and millions have been accumulatedby a scrupulous attention to sums 'infinitely more minute than sixtycents. '

In early childhood, you lay the foundation of poverty or riches, inthe habits you give your children. Teach them to save everything, --notfor their _own_ use, for that would make them selfish--but for _some_use. Teach them to _share_ everything with their playmates; but neverallow them to _destroy_ anything. 

I once visited a family where the most exact economy was observed; yetnothing was mean or uncomfortable. It is the character of true economyto be as comfortable and genteel with a little, as others can be withmuch. In this family, when the father brought home a package, theolder children would, of their own accord, put away the paper andtwine neatly, instead of throwing them in the fire, or tearingthem to pieces. If the little ones wanted a piece of twine to playscratch-cradle, or spin a top, there it was, in readiness; and whenthey threw it upon the floor, the older children had no need to betold to put it again in its place. 

The other day, I heard a mechanic say, 'I have a wife and two littlechildren; we live in a very small house; but, to save my life, Icannot spend less than twelve hundred a year. ' Another replied, 'You are not economical; I spend but eight hundred. ' I thought tomyself, --'Neither of you pick up your twine and paper. ' A third one, who was present, was silent; but after they were gone, he said, 'Ikeep house, and comfortably too, with a wife and children, for sixhundred a year; but I suppose they would have thought me mean, if Ihad told them so. ' I did not think him mean; it merely occurred to methat his wife and children were in the habit of picking up paper andtwine. 

Economy is generally despised as a low virtue, tending to make peopleungenerous and selfish. This is true of avarice; but it is not soof economy. The man who is economical, is laying up for himself thepermanent power of being useful and generous. He who thoughtlesslygives away ten dollars, when he owes a hundred more than he can pay, deserves no praise, --he obeys a sudden impulse, more like instinctthan reason: it would be real charity to check this feeling; becausethe good he does maybe doubtful, while the injury he does his familyand creditors is certain. True economy is a careful treasurer in theservice of benevolence; and where they are united respectability, prosperity and peace will follow. 

 * * * * *

ODD SCRAPS FOR THE ECONOMICAL. 

If you would avoid waste in your family, attend to the followingrules, and do not despise them because they appear so unimportant:'many a little makes a mickle. '

Look frequently to the pails, to see that nothing is thrown to thepigs which should have been in the grease-pot. 

Look to the grease-pot, and see that nothing is there which might haveserved to nourish your own family, or a poorer one. 

See that the beef and pork are always _under_ brine; and that thebrine is sweet and clean. 

Count towels, sheets, spoons, &c. Occasionally; that those who usethem may not become careless. 

See that the vegetables are neither sprouting nor decaying: if theyare so, remove them to a drier place, and spread them. 

Examine preserves, to see that they are not contracting mould; andyour pickles, to see that they are not growing soft and tasteless. 

As far as it is possible, have bits of bread eaten up before theybecome hard. Spread those that are not eaten, and let them dry, to bepounded for puddings, or soaked for brewis. Brewis is made of crustsand dry pieces of bread, soaked a good while in hot milk, mashed up, and salted, and buttered like toast. Above all, do not let crustsaccumulate in such quantities that they cannot be used. With propercare, there is no need of losing a particle of bread, even in thehottest weather. 

Attend to all the mending in the house, once a week, if possible. Never put out sewing. If it be impossible to do it in your own family, hire some one into the house, and work with them. 

Make your own bread and cake. Some people think it is just as cheapto buy of the baker and confectioner; but it is not half as cheap. True, it is more convenient; and therefore the rich are justifiablein employing them; but those who are under the necessity of beingeconomical, should make convenience a secondary object. In the firstplace, confectioners make their cake richer than people of moderateincome can afford to make it; in the next place, your domestic, oryourself, may just as well employ your own time, as to pay them fortheirs. 

When ivory-handled knives turn yellow, rub them with nice sand paper, or emery; it will take off the spots, and restore their whiteness. 

When a carpet is faded, I have been told that it may be restored, ina great measure, (provided there be no grease in it, ) by being dippedinto strong salt and water. I never tried this; but I know that silkpocket handkerchiefs, and deep blue factory cotton will not fade, ifdipped in salt and water while new. 

An ox's gall will set any color, --silk, cotton, or woollen. I haveseen the colors of calico, which faded at one washing, fixed by it. Where one lives near a slaughterhouse, it is worth while to buy cheap, fading goods, and set them in this way. The gall can be bought for afew cents. Get out all the liquid, and cork it up in a large phial. One large spoonful of this in a gallon of warm water is sufficient. This is likewise excellent for taking out spots from bombazine, bombazet, &c. After being washed in this, they look about as well aswhen new. It must be thoroughly stirred into the water, and not putupon the cloth. It is used without soap. After being washed in this, cloth which you want to _clean_ should be washed in warm suds, withoutusing soap. 

Tortoise shell and horn combs last much longer for having oil rubbedinto them once in a while. 

Indian meal and rye meal are in danger of fermenting in summer;particularly Indian. They should be kept in a cool place, and stirredopen to the air, once in a while. A large stone, put in the middle ofa barrel of meal, is a good thing to keep it cool. 

The covering of oil-flasks, sewed together with strong thread, andlined and bound neatly, makes useful tablemats. 

A warming-pan full of coals, or a shovel of coals, held over varnishedfurniture, will take out white spots. Care should be taken not to holdthe coals near enough to scorch; and the place should be rubbed withflannel while warm. 

Spots in furniture may usually be cleansed by rubbing them quick andhard, with a flannel wet with the same thing which took out the color;if rum, wet the cloth with rum, &c. The very best restorative fordefaced varnished furniture, is rotten-stone pulverized, and rubbed onwith linseed oil. 

Sal-volatile, or hartshorn, will restore colors taken out by acid. Itmay be dropped upon any garment without doing harm. 

Spirits of turpentine is good to take grease-spots out of woollenclothes; to take spots of paint, &c. , from mahogany furniture; andto cleanse white kid gloves. Cockroaches, and all vermin, have anaversion to spirits of turpentine. 

An ounce of quicksilver, beat up with the white of two eggs, and puton with a feather, is the cleanest and surest bed-bug poison. Whatis left should be thrown away: it is dangerous to have it aboutthe house. If the vermin are in your walls, fill up the cracks with_verdigris_-green paint. [1]

[Footnote 1: There are two kinds of green paint; one is of no use indestroying insects. ]

Lamps will have a less disagreeable smell if you dip your wick-yarn instrong hot vinegar, and dry it. 

Those who make candles will find it a great improvement to steep thewicks in lime-water and saltpetre, and dry them. The flame is clearer, and the tallow will not '_run_. '

Britannia Ware should be first rubbed gently with a woollen cloth andsweet oil; then washed in warm suds, and rubbed with soft leather andwhiting. Thus treated, it will retain its beauty to the last. 

Eggs will keep almost any length of time in lime-water properlyprepared. One pint of coarse salt, and one pint of unslacked lime, toa pailful of water. If there be too much lime, it will eat the shellsfrom the eggs; and if there be a single egg cracked, it will spoilthe whole. They should be covered with lime-water, and kept in a coldplace. The yolk becomes slightly red; but I have seen eggs, thus kept, perfectly sweet and fresh at the end of three years. The cheapesttime to lay down eggs, is early in spring, and the middle and lastof September. It is bad economy to buy eggs by the dozen, as you wantthem. 

New iron should be very gradually heated at first. After it has becomeinured to the heat, it is not as likely to crack. 

It is a good plan to put new earthen ware into cold water, and let itheat gradually, until it boils, --then cool again. Brown earthen ware, in particular, may be toughened in this way. A handful of rye, orwheat, bran, thrown in while it is boiling, will preserve the glazing, so that it will not be destroyed by acid or salt. 

Clean a brass kettle, before using it for cooking, with salt andvinegar. 

Skim-milk and water, with a bit of glue in it, heated scalding hot, isexcellent to restore old, rusty, black Italian crape. If clapped andpulled dry, like nice muslin, it will look as well, or better, thanwhen new. 

Wash-leather gloves should be washed in clean suds, scarcely warm. 

The oftener carpets are shaken, the longer they wear; the dirt thatcollects under them, grinds out the threads. 

Do not have carpets swept any oftener than is absolutely necessary. After dinner, sweep the crumbs into a dusting-pan with yourhearth-brush; and if you have been sewing, pick up the shreds by hand. A carpet can be kept very neat in this way; and a broom wears it verymuch. 

Buy your woollen yarn in quantities from some one in the country, whomyou can trust. The thread-stores make profits upon it, of course. 

It is not well to clean brass andirons, handles, &c. With vinegar. It makes them very clean at first; but they soon spot and tarnish. Rotten-stone and oil are proper materials for cleaning brasses. Ifwiped every morning with flannel and New England rum, they will notneed to be cleaned half as often. 

If you happen to live in a house which has marble fire-places, neverwash them with suds; this destroys the polish, in time. They should bedusted; the spots taken off with a nice oiled cloth, and then rubbeddry with a soft rag. 

Feathers should be very thoroughly dried before they are used. Forthis reason they should not be packed away in bags, when they arefirst plucked. They should be laid lightly in a basket, or somethingof that kind, and stirred up often. The garret is the best place todry them; because they will there be kept free from dirt and moisture;and will be in no danger of being blown away. It is well to put theparcels, which you may have from time to time, into the oven, afteryou have removed your bread, and let them stand a day. 

If feather-beds smell badly, or become heavy, from want of properpreservation of the feathers, or from old age, empty them, and washthe feathers thoroughly in a tub of suds; spread them in your garretto dry, and they will be as light and as good as new. 

New England rum, constantly used to wash the hair, keeps it veryclean, and free from disease, and promotes its growth a great dealmore than Macassar oil. Brandy is very strengthening to the roots ofthe hair; but it has a hot, drying tendency, which N. E. Rum has not. 

If you wish to preserve fine teeth, always clean them thoroughly afteryou have eaten your last meal at night. 

Rags should never be thrown away because they are dirty. Mop-rags, lamp-rags, &c. Should be washed, dried, and put in the rag-bag. Thereis no need of expending soap upon them: boil them out in dirty suds, after you have done washing. 

Linen rags should be carefully saved; for they are extremely useful insickness. If they have become dirty and worn by cleaning silver, &c. , wash them, and scrape them into lint. 

After old coats, pantaloons, &c. Have been cut up for boys, and are nolonger capable of being converted into garments, cut them into strips, and employ the leisure moments of children, or domestics, in sewingand braiding them for door-mats. 

If you are troubled to get soft water for washing, fill a tub orbarrel half full of ashes, and fill it up with water, so that you mayhave lye whenever you want it. A gallon of strong lye put into a greatkettle of hard water will make it as soft as rain water. Some peopleuse pearlash, or potash; but this costs something, and is very apt toinjure the texture of the cloth. 

If you have a strip of land, do not throw away suds. Both ashes andsuds are good manure for bushes and young plants. 

When a white Navarino bonnet becomes soiled, rip it in pieces, andwash it with a sponge and soft water. While it is yet damp, wash ittwo or three times with a clean sponge dipped into a strong saffrontea, nicely strained. Repeat this till the bonnet is as dark a strawcolor as you wish. Press it on the wrong side with a warm iron, and itwill look like a new Leghorn. 

About the last of May, or the first of June, the little millers, whichlay moth-eggs begin to appear. Therefore brush all your woollens, andpack them away in a dark place covered with linen. Pepper, red-cedarchips, tobacco, --indeed, almost any strong spicy smell, --is good tokeep moths out of your chests and drawers. But nothing is so good ascamphor. Sprinkle your woollens with camphorated spirit, and scatterpieces of camphor-gum among them, and you will never be troubled withmoths. Some people buy camphor-wood trunks, for this purpose; but theyare very expensive, and the gum answers just as well. 

The first young leaves of the common currant-bush, gathered as soon asthey put out, and dried on tin, can hardly be distinguished from greentea. 

Cream of tartar, rubbed upon soiled white kid gloves, cleanses themvery much. 

Bottles that have been used for rose-water, should be used for nothingelse; if scalded ever so much, they will kill the spirit of what isput in them. 

If you have a greater quantity of cheeses in the house than is likelyto be soon used, cover them carefully with paper, fastened on withflour paste, so as to exclude the air. In this way they may be keptfree from insects for years. They should be kept in a dry, cool place. 

Pulverized alum possesses the property of purifying water. A largespoonful stirred into a hogshead of water will so purify it, that ina few hours the dirt will all sink to the bottom, and it will be asfresh and clear as spring water. Four gallons may be purified by atea-spoonful. 

Save vials and bottles. Apothecaries and grocers will give somethingfor them. If the bottles are of good thick glass, they will always beuseful for bottling cider or beer; but if they are thin French glass, like claret bottles, they will not answer. 

Woollens should be washed in very hot suds, and not rinsed. Lukewarmwater shrinks them. 

On the contrary, silk, or anything that has silk in it, should bewashed in water almost cold. Hot water turns it yellow. It may bewashed in suds made of nice white soap; but no soap should be put uponit. Likewise avoid the use of hot irons in smoothing silk. Either rubthe articles dry with a soft cloth, or put them between two towels, and press them with weights. 

Do not let knives be dropped into hot dish-water. It is a good planto have a large tin pot to wash them in, just high enough to wash theblades, _without wetting_ the handles. Keep your castors covered withblotting-paper and green flannel. Keep your salt-spoons out of thesalt, and clean them often. 

Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens. Wrap them in good, strongpaper. Steel is injured by lying in woollens. 

If it be practicable, get a friend in the country to procure you aquantity of lard, butter, and eggs, at the time they are cheapest, tobe put down for winter use. You will be likely to get them cheaperand better than in the city market; but by all means put down yourwinter's stock. Lard requires no other care than to be kept in a dry, cool place. Butter is sweetest in September and June; because food isthen plenty, and not rendered bitter by frost. Pack your butter in aclean, scalded firkin, cover it with strong brine, and spread a clothall over the top, and it will keep good until the Jews get into GrandIsle. If you happen to have a bit of salt-petre, dissolve it withthe brine. Dairy-women say that butter comes more easily, and has apeculiar hardness and sweetness, if the cream is scalded and strainedbefore it is used. The cream should stand down cellar over night, after being scalded, that it may get perfectly cold. 

Suet and lard keep better in tin than in earthen. 

Suet keeps good all the year round, if chopped and packed down in astone jar, covered with molasses. 

Pick suet free from veins and skin, melt it in water before a moderatefire, let it cool till it forms into a hard cake, then wipe it dry, and put it in clean paper in linen bags. 

Preserve the backs of old letters to write upon. If you have childrenwho are learning to write, buy coarse white paper by the quantity, andkeep it locked up, ready to be made into writing books. It does notcost half as much as it does to buy them at the stationer's. 

Do not let coffee and tea stand in tin. Scald your wooden ware often;and keep your tin ware dry. 

When mattresses get hard and bunchy, rip them, take the hair out, pullit thoroughly by hand, let it lie a day or two to air, wash the tick, lay it in as light and even as possible, and catch it down, as before. Thus prepared, they will be as good as new. 

It is poor economy to buy vinegar by the gallon, Buy a barrel, or halfa barrel, of really strong vinegar, when you begin house-keeping. As you use it, fill the barrel with old cider, sour beer, orwine-settlings, &c. , left in pitchers, decanters or tumblers; weak teais likewise said to be good: nothing is hurtful, which has a tolerableportion of spirit, or acidity. Care must be taken not to add thesethings in too large quantities, or too often: if the vinegar oncegets weak, it is difficult to restore it. If possible, it is well tokeep such slops as I have mentioned in a different keg, and draw themoff once in three or four weeks, in such a quantity as you think thevinegar will bear. If by any carelessness you do weaken it, a fewwhite beans dropped in, or white paper dipped in molasses, is saidto be useful. If beer grows sour, it may be used to advantage forpancakes and fritters. If very sour indeed, put a pint of molasses andwater to it, and, two or three days after, put a half pint of vinegar;and in ten days it will be first rate vinegar. 

Barley straw is the best for beds; dry corn husks, slit into shreds, are far better than straw. 

Straw beds are much better for being boxed at the sides; in the samemanner upholsterers prepare ticks for feathers. Brass andirons shouldbe cleaned, done up in papers, and put in a dry place, during thesummer season. 

If you have a large family, it is well to keep white rags separatefrom colored ones, and cotton separate from woollen; they bring ahigher price. Paper brings a cent a pound, and if you have plenty ofroom, it is well to save it. 'A penny saved is a penny got. '

Always have plenty of dish-water, and have it hot. There is no needof asking the character of a domestic, if you have ever seen her washdishes in a little greasy water. When molasses is used in cooking, itis a prodigious improvement to boil and skim it before you use it. It takes out the unpleasant raw taste, and makes it almost as good assugar. Where molasses is used much for cooking, it is well to prepareone or two gallons in this way at a time. 

In winter, always set the handle of your pump as high as possible, before you go to bed. Except in very rigid weather, this keeps thehandle from freezing. When there is reason to apprehend extreme cold, do not forget to throw a rug or horse-blanket over your pump; a frozenpump is a comfortless preparation for a winter's breakfast. Neverallow ashes to be taken up in wood, or put into wood. Always have yourtinder-box and lantern ready for use, in case of sudden alarm. Haveimportant papers all together, where you can lay your hand on them atonce, in case of fire. 

Keep an old blanket and sheet on purpose for ironing, and on noaccount suffer any other to be used. Have plenty of holders alwaysmade, that your towels may not be burned out in such service. 

Keep a coarse broom for the cellar stairs, wood-shed, yard, &c. Nogood housekeeper allows her carpet broom to be used for such things. 

There should always be a heavy stone on the top of your pork, to keepit down. This stone is an excellent place to keep a bit of fresh meatin the summer, when you are afraid of its spoiling. 

Have all the good bits of vegetables and meat collected after dinner, and minced before they are set away; that they may be in readinessto make a little savoury mince meat for supper or breakfast. Take theskins off your potatoes before they grow cold. 

Vials, which have been used for medicine, should be put into coldashes and water, boiled, and suffered to cool before they are rinsed. 

If you live in the city, where it is always easy to procureprovisions, be careful and not buy too much for your daily wants, while the weather is warm. 

Never leave out your clothes-line over night; and see that yourclothes-pins are all gathered into a basket. 

Have plenty of crash towels in the kitchen; never let your whitenapkins be used there. 

Soap your dirtiest clothes, and soak them in soft water over night. 

Use hard soap to wash your clothes, and soft to wash your floors. Softsoap is so slippery, that it wastes a good deal in washing clothes. 

Instead of covering up your glasses and pictures with muslin, coverthe frames only with cheap, yellow cambric, neatly put on, and as nearthe color of the gilt as you can procure it. This looks better; leavesthe glasses open for use, and the pictures for ornament; and isan effectual barrier to dust as well as flies. It can easily bere-colored with saffron tea, when it is faded. 

Have a bottle full of brandy, with as large a mouth as any bottle youhave, into which cut your lemon and orange peel when they are freshand sweet. This brandy gives a delicious flavor to all sorts ofpies, puddings, and cakes. Lemon is the pleasantest spice of thetwo; therefore they should be kept in separate bottles. It is a goodplan to preserve rose-leaves in brandy. The flavor is pleasanterthan rose-water; and there are few people who have the utensils fordistilling. Peach leaves steeped in brandy make excellent spice forcustards and puddings. 

It is easy to have a supply of horse-radish all winter. Have aquantity grated, while the root is in perfection, put it in bottles, fill it with strong vinegar, and keep it corked tight. 

It is thought to be a preventive to the unhealthy influence ofcucumbers to cut the slices very thin, and drop each one into coldwater as you cut it. A few minutes in the water takes out a largeportion of the slimy matter, so injurious to health. They should beeaten with high seasoning. 

Where sweet oil is much used, it is more economical to buy it by thebottle than by the flask. A bottle holds more than twice as much as aflask, and it is never double the price. 

If you wish to have free-stone hearths dark, wash them with soap, andwipe them with a wet cloth; some people rub in lamp-oil, once in awhile, and wash the hearth faithfully afterwards. This does very wellin a large, dirty family; for the hearth looks very clean, and is notliable to show grease spots. But if you wish to preserve the beautyof a freestone hearth, buy a quantity of free-stone powder of thestone-cutter, and rub on a portion of it wet, after you have washedyour hearth in hot water. When it is dry, brush it off, and it willlook like new stone. Bricks can be kept clean with redding stirred upin water, and put on with a brush. Pulverized clay mixed with redding, makes a pretty rose color. Some think it is less likely to comeoff, if mixed with skim milk instead of water. But black lead is farhandsomer than anything else for this purpose. It looks very wellmixed with water, like redding; but it gives it a glossy appearanceto boil the lead in soft soap, with a little water to keep it fromburning. It should be put on with a brush, in the same manner asredding; it looks nice for a long time, when done in this way. 

Keep a bag for odd pieces of tape and strings; they will come in use. Keep a bag or box for old buttons, so that you may know where to gowhen you want one. 

Run the heels of stockings faithfully; and mend thin places, as wellas holes. 'A stitch in time saves nine. '

Poke-root, boiled in water and mixed with a good quantity of molasses, set about the kitchen, the pantry, &c. In large deep plates, will killcockroaches in great numbers, and finally rid the house of them. TheIndians say that poke-root boiled into a soft poultice is the cure forthe bite of a snake. I have heard of a fine horse saved by it. 

A little salt sprinkled in starch while it is boiling, tends toprevent it from sticking; it is likewise good to stir it with a cleanspermaceti candle. 

A few potatoes sliced, and boiling water poured over them, makes anexcellent preparation for cleansing and stiffening old rusty blacksilk. 

Green tea is excellent to restore rusty silk. It should be boiled iniron, nearly a cup full to three quarts. The silk should not be wrung, and should be ironed damp. 

Lime pulverized, sifted through coarse muslin, and stirred uptolerably thick in white of eggs, makes a strong cement for glassand china. Plaster of Paris is still better; particularly for mendingbroken images of the same material. It should be stirred up by thespoonful, as it is wanted. [2]

[Footnote 2: Some think it an improvement to make whey of vinegar andmilk, and heat it well up with the eggs before the lime is put in. Ihave heard of iron mended with it. ]

A bit of isinglass dissolved in gin, or boiled in spirits of wine, issaid to make strong cement for broken glass, china, and sea-shells. 

The lemon syrup, usually sold at fifty cents a bottle, may be mademuch cheaper. Those who use a great quantity of it will find it worththeir while to make it. Take about a pound of Havana sugar; boil itin water down to a quart; drop in the white of an egg, to clarify it;strain it; add one quarter of an oz. Of tartaric acid, or citric acid;if you do not find it sour enough, after it has stood two or threedays and shaken freely, add more of the acid. A few drops of the oilof lemon improves it. 

If you wish to clarify sugar and water, you are about to boil, it iswell to stir in the white of one egg, while cold; if put in after itboils, the egg is apt to get hardened before it can do any good. 

Those who are fond of soda powders will do well to inquire at theapothecaries for the suitable acid and alkali, and buy them bythe ounce, or the pound, according to the size of their families. Experience soon teaches the right proportions; and, sweetened witha little sugar or lemon syrup, it is quite as good as what one givesfive times as much for, done up in papers. The case is the same withRochelle powders. 

When the stopper of a glass decanter becomes too tight, a clothwet with hot water and applied to the neck, will cause the glass toexpand, so that the stopper may be easily removed. 

Glass vessels in a cylindrical form, may be cut in two, by tyingaround them a worsted thread, thoroughly wet with spirits ofturpentine, and then setting fire to the thread. Court plaster ismade of thin silk first dipped in dissolved isinglass and dried, thendipped several times in the white of egg and dried. 

When plain tortoise-shell combs are defaced, the polish may be renewedby rubbing them with pulverized rotten-stone and oil. The rotten-stoneshould be sifted through muslin. It looks better to be rubbed on bythe hand. The jewellers afterwards polish them by rubbing them withdry _rouge powder_; but sifted magnesia does just as well--and if theladies had rouge, perhaps they would, _by mistake_, put it upon theircheeks, instead of their combs; and thereby spoil their complexions. The best way to cleanse gold is, to wash it in warm suds made ofdelicate soap, with ten or fifteen drops of _sal-volatile_ in it. Thismakes jewels very brilliant. 

Straw carpets should be washed in salt and water, and wiped with adry, coarse towel. They have a strong tendency to turn yellow; andthe salt prevents it. Moisture makes them decay soon; therefore theyshould be kept thoroughly dry. 

Rye paste is more adhesive than any other paste; because that grain isvery glutinous. It is much improved by adding a little pounded alum, while it is boiling. This makes it almost as strong as glue. 

Red ants are among the worst plagues that can infest a house. A ladywho had long been troubled with them, assured me she destroyed them ina few days, after the following manner. She placed a dish of crackedshagbarks (of which they are more fond than of anything else) inthe closet. They soon gathered upon it in troops. She then put somecorrosive sublimate in a cup; ordered the dish to be carried carefullyto the fire, and all its contents brushed in; while she swept the fewthat dropped upon the shelf into the cup, and, with a feather, wetall the cracks from whence they came, with corrosive sublimate. Whenthis had been repeated four or five times, the house was effectuallycleared. Too much care cannot be taken of corrosive sublimate, especially when children are about. Many dreadful accidents havehappened in consequence of carelessness. Bottles which have containedit should be broken, and buried; and cups should be boiled out inashes and water. If kept in the house, it should be hung up high, outof reach, with POISON written upon it in large letters. 

The neatest way to separate wax from honey-comb is to tie the combup in a linen or woollen bag; place it in a kettle of cold water, andhang it over the fire. As the water heats, the wax melts, and rises tothe surface, while all the impurities remain in the bag. It is wellto put a few pebbles in the bag, to keep it from floating. Honey maybe separated from the comb, by placing it in the hot sun, or beforethe fire, with two or three colanders or sieves, each finer than theother, under it. 

 * * * * *

SOAP. 

In the city, I believe, it is better to exchange ashes and grease forsoap; but in the country, I am certain, it is good economy to makeone's own soap. If you burn wood, you can make your own lye; but theashes of coal is not worth much. Bore small holes in the bottom of abarrel, place four bricks around, and fill the barrel with ashes. Wetthe ashes well, but not enough to drop; let it soak thus three or fourdays; then pour a gallon of water in every hour or two, for a day ormore, and let it drop into a pail or tub beneath. Keep it drippingtill the color of the lye shows the strength is exhausted. If yourlye is not strong enough, you must fill your barrel with fresh ashes, and let the lye run through it. Some people take a barrel withoutany bottom, and lay sticks and straw across to prevent the ashes fromfalling through. To make a barrel of soap, it will require about fiveor six bushels of ashes, with at least four quarts of unslacked stonelime; if slacked, doable the quantity. 

When you have drawn off a part of the lye, put the lime (whether slackor not) into two or three pails of boiling water, and add it to theashes, and let it drain through. 

It is the practice of some people, in making soap, to put the limenear the bottom of the ashes when they first set it tip; but the limebecomes like mortar, and the lye does not run through, so as to getthe strength of it, which is very important in making soap, as itcontracts the nitrous salts which collect in ashes, and prevents thesoap from _coming_, (as the saying is. ) Old ashes are very apt to beimpregnated with it. 

Three pounds of grease should be put into a pailful of lye. The greatdifficulty in making soap '_come_' originates in want of judgmentabout the strength of the lye. One rule may be safely trusted--If yourlye will bear up an egg, or a potato, so that you can see a piece ofthe surface as big as ninepence, it is just strong enough. If it sinkbelow the top of the lye, it is too weak, and will never make soap;if it is buoyed up half way, the lye is too strong; and that is justas bad. A bit of quick-lime, thrown in while the lye and grease areboiling together, is of service. When the soap becomes thick and ropy, carry it down cellar in pails and empty it into a barrel. 

Cold soap is less trouble, because it does not need to boil; the sundoes the work of fire. The lye must be prepared and tried in the usualway. The grease must be tried out, and strained from the scraps. Twopounds of grease (instead of three) must be used to a pailful; unlessthe weather is very sultry, the lye should be hot when put to thegrease. It should stand in the sun, and be stirred every day. If itdoes not begin to look like soap in the course of five or six days, add a little hot lye to it; if this does not help it, try whether itbe grease that it wants. Perhaps you will think cold soap wasteful, because the grease must be strained; but if the scraps are boiledthoroughly in strong lye, the grease will all float upon the surface, and nothing be lost. 

 * * * * *

SIMPLE REMEDIES. 

Cotton wool, wet with sweet oil and paregoric, relieves the ear-achevery soon. 

A good quantity of old cheese is the best thing to eat, whendistressed by eating too much fruit, or oppressed with any kind offood. Physicians have given it in cases of extreme danger. 

Honey and milk is very good for worms; so is strong salt water;likewise powdered sage and molasses taken freely. 

For a sudden attack of quincy or croup, bathe the neck with bear'sgrease, and pour it down the throat. A linen rag soaked in sweet oil, butter, or lard, and sprinkled with yellow Scotch snuff, is said tohave performed wonderful cures in cases of croup: it should be placedwhere the distress is greatest. Goose-grease, or any kind of oilygrease, is as good as bear's oil. 

Equal parts of camphor, spirits of wine, and hartshorn, well mixed, and rubbed upon the throat, is said to be good for the croup. 

Cotton wool and oil are the best things for a burn. A poulticeof wheat bran, or rye bran, and vinegar, very soon takes down theinflammation occasioned by a sprain. Brown paper, wet, is healing to abruise. Dipped in molasses, it is said to take down inflammation. 

In case of any scratch, or wound, from which the lockjaw isapprehended, bathe the injured part freely with lye or pearl-ash andwater. 

A rind of pork bound upon a wound occasioned by a needle, pin, ornail, prevents the lock-jaw. It should be always applied. Spirits ofturpentine is good to prevent the lock-jaw. Strong soft-soap, mixedwith pulverized chalk, about as thick as batter, put, in a thin clothor bag, upon the wound, is said to be a preventive to this dangerousdisorder. The chalk should be kept moist, till the wound begins todischarge itself; when the patient will find relief. 

If you happen to cut yourself slightly while cooking, bind on somefine salt: molasses is likewise good. 

Flour boiled thoroughly in milk, so as to make quite a thick porridge, is good in cases of dysentery. A tablespoonful of W. I. Rum, atable-spoonful of sugar-baker's molasses, and the same quantity ofsweet oil, well simmered together, is likewise good for this disorder;the oil softens the harshness of the other ingredients. 

Black or green tea, steeped in boiling milk, seasoned with nutmeg, and best of loaf sugar, is excellent for the dysentery. Cork burntto charcoal, about as big as a hazel-nut, macerated, and put in atea-spoonful of brandy, with a little loaf sugar and nutmeg, is veryefficacious in cases of dysentery and cholera-morbus. If nutmegbe wanting, peppermint-water may be used. Flannel wet with brandy, powdered with Cayenne pepper, and laid upon the bowels, affords greatrelief in cases of extreme distress. 

Dissolve as much table-salt in keen vinegar, as will ferment and workclear. When the foam is discharged, cork it up in a bottle, and put itaway for use. A large spoonful of this, in a gill of boiling water, isvery efficacious in cases of dysentery and colic. [3]

[Footnote 3: Among the numerous medicines for this disease, perhapsnone, after all, is better, particularly where the bowels areinflamed, than the old-fashioned one of English-mallows steepedin milk, and drank freely. Everybody knows, of course, thatEnglish-mallows and marsh-mallows are different herbs. ]

Whortleberries, commonly called huckleberries, dried, are a usefulmedicine for children. Made into tea, and sweetened with molasses, they are very beneficial, when the system is in a restricted state, and the digestive powers out of order. 

Blackberries are extremely useful in cases of dysentery. To eatthe berries is very healthy; tea made of the roots and leavesis beneficial; and a syrup made of the berries is still better. Blackberries have sometimes effected a cure when physicians despaired. 

Loaf sugar and brandy relieves a sore throat; when very bad, it isgood to inhale the steam of scalding hot vinegar through the tube ofa tunnel. This should be tried carefully at first, lest the throat bescalded. For children, it should be allowed to cool a little. 

A stocking bound on warm from the foot, at night, is good for the sorethroat. 

An ointment made from the common ground-worms, which boys dig to baitfishes, rubbed on with the hand, is said to be excellent, when thesinews are drawn up by any disease or accident. 

A gentleman in Missouri advertises that he had an inveterate cancerupon his nose cured by a strong potash made of the lye of the ashes ofred oak bark, boiled down to the consistence of molasses. The cancerwas covered with this, and, about an hour after, covered with aplaster of tar. This must be removed in a few days, and, if anyprotuberances remain in the wound, apply more potash to them, and theplaster again, until they entirely disappear: after which heal thewound with any common soothing salve. I never knew this to be tried. 

If a wound bleeds very fast, and there is no physician at hand, coverit with the scrapings of sole-leather, scraped like coarse lint. Thisstops blood very soon. Always have vinegar, camphor, hartshorn, orsomething of that kind, in readiness, as the sudden stoppage of bloodalmost always makes a person faint. 

Balm-of-Gilead buds bottled up in N. E. Rum, make the best cure in theworld for fresh cuts and wounds. Every family should have a bottle ofit. The buds should be gathered in a peculiar state; just when theyare well swelled, ready to burst into leaves, and well covered withgum. They last but two or three days in this state. 

Plantain and house-leek, boiled in cream, and strained before it isput away to cool, makes a very cooling, soothing ointment. Plantainleaves laid upon a wound are cooling and healing. 

Half a spoonful of _citric acid_, (which may always be bought of theapothecaries, ) stirred in half a tumbler of water, is excellent forthe head-ache. 

People in general think they must go abroad for vapor-baths; but avery simple one can be made at home. Place _strong_ sticks acrossa tub of water, at the boiling point, and sit upon them, entirelyenveloped in a blanket, feet and all. The steam from the water willbe a vapor-bath. Some people put herbs into the water. Steam-baths areexcellent for severe colds, and for some disorders in the bowels. Theyshould not be taken without the advice of an experienced nurse, orphysician. Great care should be taken not to renew the cold after; itwould be doubly dangerous. 

Boiled potatoes are said to cleanse the hands as well as common soap;they prevent _chops_ in the winter season, and keep the skin soft andhealthy. 

Water-gruel, with three or four onions simmered in it, prepared witha lump of butter, pepper, and salt, eaten just before one goes tobed, is said to be a cure for a hoarse cold. A syrup made ofhorseradish-root and sugar is excellent for a cold. 

Very strong salt and water, when frequently applied, has been known tocure wens. 

The following poultice for the throat distemper, has been muchapproved in England:--The pulp of a roasted apple, mixed with an ounceof tobacco, the whole wet with spirits of wine, or any other highspirits, spread on a linen rag, and bound upon the throat at anyperiod of the disorder. 

Nothing is so good to take down swellings, as a soft poultice ofstewed white beans, put on in a thin muslin bag, and renewed everyhour or two. 

The thin white skin, which comes from suet, is excellent to bind uponthe feet for chilblains. Rubbing with Castile soap, and afterwardswith honey, is likewise highly recommended. But, to cure thechilblains effectually, they must be attended to often, and for a longtime. 

Always apply diluted laudanum to fresh wounds. 

A poultice of elder-blow tea and biscuit is good as a preventive tomortification. The approach of mortification is generally shown bythe formation of blisters filled with _blood_; water blisters are notalarming. 

Burnt alum held in the mouth is good for the canker. 

The common dark-blue violet makes a slimy tea, which is excellent forthe canker. Leaves and blossoms are both good. Those who have familiesshould take some pains to dry these flowers. 

When people have a sore mouth, from taking calomel, or any othercause, tea made of low-blackberry leaves is extremely beneficial. 

Tea made of slippery elm is good for the piles, and for humors in theblood; to be drank plentifully. Winter evergreen[4] is considered goodfor all humors, particularly scrofula. Some call it rheumatism-weed;because a tea made from it is supposed to check that painful disorder. 

[Footnote 4: This plant resembles the poisonous kill-lamb, both in theshape and the glossiness of the leaves: great care should be used todistinguish them. ]

An ointment of lard, sulphur, and cream-of-tartar, simmered together, is good for the piles. 

Elixir proprietatis is a useful family medicine for all cases when thedigestive powers are out of order. One ounce of saffron, one ounce ofmyrrh, and one ounce of aloes. Pulverize them; let the myrrh steepin half a pint of brandy, or N. E. Rum, for four days; then add thesaffron and aloes; let it stand in the sunshine, or in some warmplace, for a fortnight; taking care to shake it well twice a day. Atthe end of the fortnight, fill up the bottle (a common sized one) withbrandy, or N. E. Rum, and let it stand a month. It costs six times asmuch to buy it in small quantities, as it does to make it. 

The constant use of malt beer, or malt in any way, is said to be apreservative against fevers. 

Black cherry-tree bark, barberry bark, mustard-seed, pettymorrel-root, and horseradish, well steeped in cider, are excellent forthe jaundice. 

Cotton wool and oil are the best things for a burn. When children areburned, it is difficult to make them endure the application of cottonwool. I have known the inflammation of a very bad burn extracted inone night, by the constant application of brandy, vinegar, and water, mixed together. This feels cool and pleasant, and a few drops ofparegoric will soon put the little sufferer to sleep. The bathingshould be continued till the pain is gone. 

A few drops of the oil of Cajput on cotton wool is said to be a greatrelief to the tooth-ache. It occasions a smart pain for a few seconds, when laid upon the defective tooth. Any apothecary will furnish itready dropped on cotton wool, for a few cents. 

A poultice made of ginger or of common chickweed, that grows aboutone's door in the country, has given great relief to the tooth-ache, when applied frequently to the cheek. 

A spoonful of ashes stirred in cider is good to prevent sicknessat the stomach. Physicians frequently order it in cases ofcholera-morbus. 

When a blister occasioned by a burn breaks, it is said to be a goodplan to put wheat flour upon the naked flesh. 

The buds of the elder bush, gathered in early spring, and simmeredwith new butter, or sweet lard, make a very healing and coolingointment. 

Night sweats have been cured, when more powerful remedies had failed, by fasting morning and night, and drinking cold sage tea constantlyand freely. 

Lard, melted and cooled five or six times in succession, by beingpoured each time into a fresh pail-full of water, then simmered withsliced onions, and cooled, is said, by old nurses, to make a salve, which is almost infallible in curing inflammations produced by takingcold in wounds. 

Vinegar curds, made by pouring vinegar into warm milk, put on warm, and changed pretty frequently, are likewise excellent to subdueinflammation. 

Chalk wet with hartshorn is a remedy for the sting of bees; so islikewise table-salt kept moist with water. 

Boil castor-oil with an equal quantity of milk, sweeten it with alittle sugar, stir it well, and, when cold, give it to children fordrink. They will never suspect it is medicine; and will even love thetaste of it. 

As molasses is often given to children as a gentle physic, it will beuseful to know that West India molasses is a gentle cathartic, whilesugar-baker's molasses is slightly astringent. 

If a fellon or run-round appears to be coming on the finger, you cando nothing better than to soak the finger thoroughly in hot lye. Itwill be painful, but it will cure a disorder much more painful. 

Whiskey, which has had Spanish-flies in soak, is said to be good forring-worms; but I never knew an instance of its being tried. Unlesstoo strong, or used in great quantities, it cannot, at least, doany harm. Washing the hands frequently in warm vinegar, is good forring-worms. 

When the toe nails have a tendency to turn in, so as to be painful, the nail should always be kept scraped _very thin_, and as near theflesh as possible. As soon as the corner of the nail can be raised upout of the flesh, it should be kept from again entering, by putting atuft of fine lint under it. 

As this book may fall into the hands of those who cannot speedilyobtain a physician, it is worth while to mention what is best to bedone for the bite of a rattlesnake:--Cut the flesh out, around thebite, _instantly_; that the poison may not have time to circulatein the blood. If caustic is at hand, put it upon the raw flesh; ifnot, the next best thing is to fill the wound with salt--renewing itoccasionally. Take a dose of sweet oil and spirits of turpentine, to defend the stomach. If the whole limb swell, bathe it in salt andvinegar freely. It is well to physic the system thoroughly, beforereturning to usual diet. 

GRUEL. 

Gruel is very easily made. Have a pint of water boiling in a skillet;stir up three or four large spoonfuls of nicely sifted oat-meal, rye, or Indian, in cold water. Pour it into the skillet while the waterboils. Let it boil eight or ten minutes. Throw in a large handful ofraisins to boil, if the patient is well enough to bear them. When putin a bowl, add a little salt, white sugar, and nutmeg. 

EGG GRUEL. 

This is at once food and medicine. Some people have very great faithin its efficacy in cases of chronic dysentery. It is made thus: Boila pint of new milk; beat four new-laid eggs to a light froth, and pourin while the milk boils; stir them together thoroughly, but do notlet them boil; sweeten it with the best of loaf sugar, and grate ina whole nutmeg; add a little salt, if you like it. Drink half of itwhile it is warm, and the other half in two hours. 

ARROW-ROOT JELLY. 

Put about a pint of water in a skillet to boil; stir up a largespoonful of arrow-root powder in a cup of water; pour it into theskillet while the water is boiling; let them boil together three orfour minutes. Season it with nutmeg and loaf sugar. This is verylight food for an invalid. When the system is in a relaxed state, twotea-spoonfuls of brandy may be put in. Milk and loaf sugar boiled, anda spoonful of fine flour, well mixed with a little cold water, pouredin while the milk is boiling, is light food in cases of similardiseases. 

CALF'S FOOT JELLY. 

Boil four feet in a gallon of water, till it is reduced to a quart. Strain it, and let it stand, till it is quite cool. Skim off the fat, and add to the jelly one pint of wine, half a pound of sugar, thewhites of six eggs, and the juice of four large lemons; boil all thesematerials together eight or ten minutes. Then strain into the glasses, or jars, in which you intend to keep it. Some lay a few bits of thelemon-peel at the bottom, and let it be strained upon them. 

TAPIOCA JELLY. 

Wash it two or three times, soak it five or six hours; simmer it inthe same water with bits of fresh lemon-peel until it becomes quiteclear; then put in lemon juice, wine and loaf sugar. 

SAGO JELLY. 

The sago should be soaked in cold water an hour, and washedthoroughly; simmered with lemon-peel and a few cloves. Add wineand loaf sugar when nearly done; and let it all boil together a fewminutes. 

BEEF TEA. 

Beef tea, for the sick, is made by broiling a tender steak nicely, seasoning it with pepper and salt, cutting it up, and pouring waterover it, not quite boiling. Put in a little water at a time, and letit stand to soak the goodness out. 

WINE WHEY. 

Wine whey is a cooling and safe drink in fevers. Set half a pint ofsweet milk at the fire, pour in one glass of wine, and let it remainperfectly still, till it curdles; when the curds settle, strain it, and let it cool. It should not get more than blood-warm. A spoonful ofrennet-water hastens the operation. Made palatable with loaf sugar andnutmeg, if the patient can bear it. 

APPLE WATER. 

This is given as sustenance when the stomach is too weak to bearbroth, &c. It may be made thus, --Pour boiling water on roasted apples;let them stand three hours, then strain and sweeten lightly:--Or itmay be made thus, --Peel and slice tart apples, add some sugar andlemon-peel; then pour some boiling water over the whole, and let itstand covered by the fire, more than an hour. 

MILK PORRIDGE. 

Boil new milk; stir flour thoroughly into some cold milk in a bowl, and pour it into the kettle while the milk is boiling: let it allboil six or eight minutes. Some people like it thicker than others;I should think three large spoonfuls of flour to a quart of milkwas about right. It should always be seasoned with salt; and if thepatient likes, loaf sugar and nutmeg may be put in. In cases of fever, little salt or spice should be put into any nourishment; but in casesof dysentery, salt and nutmeg may be used freely: in such cases too, more flour should be put in porridge, and it should be boiled verythoroughly indeed. 

STEWED PRUNES. 

Stew them very gently in a small quantity of water, till the stonesslip out. Physicians consider them safe nourishment in fevers. 

 * * * * *

VEGETABLES. 

Parsnips should be kept down cellar, covered up in sand, entirelyexcluded from the air. They are good only in the spring. 

Cabbages put into a hole in the ground will keep well during thewinter, and be hard, fresh, and sweet, in the spring. Many farmerskeep potatoes in the same way. 

Onions should be kept very dry, and never carried into the cellarexcept in severe weather, when there is danger of their freezing. Byno means let them be in the cellar after March; they will sprout andspoil. Potatoes should likewise be carefully looked to in the spring, and the sprouts broken off. The cellar is the best place for them, because they are injured by wilting; but sprout them carefully, if youwant to keep them. They never sprout but three times; therefore, afteryou have sprouted them three times, they will trouble you no more. 

Squashes should never be kept down cellar when it is possible toprevent it. Dampness injures them. If intense cold makes it necessaryto put them there, bring them up as soon as possible, and keep them insome dry, warm place. 

Cabbages need to be boiled an hour; beets an hour and a half. Thelower part of a squash should be boiled half an hour; the neck piecesfifteen or twenty minutes longer. Parsnips should boil an hour, oran hour and a quarter, according to size. New potatoes should boilfifteen or twenty minutes; three quarters of an hour, or an hour, isnot too much for large, old potatoes; common-sized ones, half an hour. In the spring, it is a good plan to cut off a slice from the seed endof potatoes before you cook them. The seed end is opposite to thatwhich grew upon the vine; the place where the vine was broken offmay be easily distinguished. By a provision of nature, the seed endbecomes watery in the spring; and, unless cut off, it is apt to injurethe potato. If you wish to have potatoes mealy, do not let them stopboiling for an instant; and when they are done, turn the water off, and let them steam for ten or twelve minutes over the fire. See theydon't stay long enough to burn to the kettle. In Canada, they cutthe skin all off, and put them in pans, to be cooked over a stove, by steam. Those who have eaten them, say they are mealy and white, looking like large snow-balls when brought upon the table. 

Potatoes boiled and mashed while hot, are good to use in making shortcakes and puddings; they save flour, and less shortening is necessary. 

It is said that a bit of unslacked lime, about as big as a robin'segg, thrown among old, watery potatoes, while they are boiling, willtend to make them mealy. I never saw the experiment tried. 

Asparagus should be boiled fifteen or twenty minutes; half an hour, if old. 

Green peas should be boiled from twenty minutes to sixty, accordingto their age; string beans the same. Corn should be boiled from twentyminutes to forty, according to age; dandelions half an hour, or threequarters, according to age. Dandelions are very much improved bycultivation. If cut off, without injuring the root, they will springup again, fresh and tender, till late in the season. 

Beet-tops should be boiled twenty minutes; and spinage three or fourminutes. Put in no green vegetables till the water boils, if you wouldkeep all their sweetness. 

When green peas have become old and yellow, they may be made tenderand green by sprinkling in a pinch or two of pearlash, while theyare boiling. Pearlash has the same effect upon all summer vegetables, rendered tough by being too old. If your well-water is very hard, itis always an advantage to use a little pearlash in cooking. 

Tomatoes should be skinned by pouring boiling water over them. Afterthey are skinned, they should be stewed half an hour, in tin, witha little salt, a small bit of butter, and a spoonful of water, tokeep them from burning. This is a delicious vegetable. It is easilycultivated, and yields a most abundant crop. Some people pluck themgreen, and pickle them. 

The best sort of catsup is made from tomatoes. The vegetablesshould be squeezed up in the hand, salt put to them, and set byfor twenty-four hours. After being passed through a sieve, cloves, allspice, pepper, mace, garlic, and whole mustard-seed should beadded. It should be boiled down one third, and bottled after it iscool. No liquid is necessary, as the tomatoes are very juicy. A gooddeal of salt and spice is necessary to keep the catsup well. It isdelicious with roast meat; and a cupful adds much to the richness ofsoup and chowder. The garlic should be taken out before it is bottled. 

Celery should be kept in the cellar, the roots covered with tan, tokeep them moist. 

Green squashes that are turning yellow, and striped squashes, are moreuniformly sweet and mealy than any other kind. 

If the tops of lettuce be cut off when it is becoming too old foruse, it will grow up again fresh and tender, and may thus be kept goodthrough the summer. 

It is a good plan to boil onions in milk and water; it diminishes thestrong taste of that vegetable. It is an excellent way of serving uponions, to chop them after they are boiled, and put them in a stewpan, with a little milk, butter, salt, and pepper, and let them stew aboutfifteen minutes. This gives them a fine flavor, and they can be servedup very hot. 

 * * * * *

HERBS. 

All herbs should be carefully kept from the air. Herb tea, to do anygood, should be made _very strong_. 

Herbs should be gathered while in blossom. If left till they havegone to seed, the strength goes into the seed. Those who have a littlepatch of ground, will do well to raise the most important herbs; andthose who have not, will do well to get them in quantities from somefriend in the country; for apothecaries make very great profit uponthem. 

Sage is very useful both as a medicine, for the headache--when madeinto tea--and for all kinds of stuffing, when dried and rubbed intopowder. It should be kept tight from the air. 

Summer-savory is excellent to season soup, broth, and sausages. As amedicine, it relieves the cholic. Pennyroyal and tansy are good forthe same medicinal purpose. 

Green wormwood bruised is excellent for a fresh wound of any kind. In winter, when wormwood is dry, it is necessary to soften it in warmvinegar, or spirit, before it is bruised, and applied to the wound. 

Hyssop tea is good for sudden colds, and disorders on the lungs. Itis necessary to be very careful about exposure after taking it; it ispeculiarly opening to the pores. 

Tea made of colt's-foot and flax-seed, sweetened with honey, is acure for inveterate coughs. Consumptions have been prevented by it. Itshould be drank when going to bed; though it does good to drink it atany time. Hoarhound is useful in consumptive complaints. 

Motherwort tea is very quieting to the nerves. Students, and peopletroubled with wakefulness, find it useful. 

Thoroughwort is excellent for dyspepsy, and every disorder occasionedby indigestion. If the stomach be foul, it operates like a gentleemetic. 

Sweet-balm tea is cooling when one is in a feverish state. 

Catnip, particularly the blossoms, made into tea, is good to prevent athreatened fever. It produces a fine perspiration. It should be takenin bed, and the patient kept warm. 

Housekeepers should always dry leaves of the burdock and horseradish. Burdocks warmed in vinegar, with the hard, stalky parts cut out, arevery soothing, applied to the feet; they produce a sweet and gentleperspiration. Horseradish is more powerful. It is excellent in casesof the ague, placed on the part affected. Warmed in vinegar, andclapped. 

Succory is a very valuable herb. The tea, sweetened with molasses, isgood for the piles. It is a gentle and healthy physic, a preventiveof dyspepsy, humors, inflammation, and all the evils resulting from arestricted state of the system. 

Elder-blow tea has a similar effect. It is cool and soothing, andpeculiarly efficacious either for babes or grown people, when thedigestive powers are out of order. 

Lungwort, maiden-hair, hyssop, elecampane and hoarhound steepedtogether, is an almost certain cure for a cough. A wine-glass full tobe taken when going to bed. 

Few people know how to keep the flavor of sweet-marjoram; the bestof all herbs for broth and stuffing. It should be gathered in bud orblossom, and dried in a tin-kitchen at a moderate distance from thefire; when dry, it should be immediately rubbed, sifted, and corked upin a bottle carefully. 

English-mallows steeped in milk is good for the dysentery. 

 * * * * *

CHEAP DYE-STUFFS. 

A few general rules are necessary to be observed in coloring. Thematerials should be perfectly clean; soap should be rinsed out in softwater; the article should be entirely wetted, or it will spot; lightcolors should be steeped in brass, tin, or earthen; and if set at all, should be set with alum. Dark colors should be boiled in iron, and setwith copperas. Too much copperas rots the thread. 

The apothecaries and hatters keep a compound of vitriol and indigo, commonly called 'blue composition. ' An ounce vial full may be boughtfor nine-pence. It colors a fine blue. It is an economical plan touse it for old silk linings, ribbons, &c. The original color should beboiled out, and the material thoroughly rinsed in soft water, so thatno soap may remain in it; for soap ruins the dye. Twelve or sixteendrops of the blue composition, poured into a quart bowl full of warmsoft water, stirred, (and strained, if any settlings are perceptible, )will color a great many articles. If you wish a deep blue, pour inmore of the compound. Cotton must not be colored; the vitriol destroysit; if the material you wish to color has cotton threads in it, itwill be ruined. After the things are thoroughly dried, they should bewashed in cool suds, and dried again; this prevents any bad effectsfrom the vitriol; if shut up from the air without being washed, thereis danger of the texture being destroyed. If you wish to color green, have your cloth free as possible from the old color, clean, andrinsed, and, in the first place, color it a deep yellow. Fusticboiled in soft water makes the strongest and brightest yellow dye;but saffron, barberry bush, peach leaves, or onion skins, will answerpretty well. Next take a bowl full of strong yellow dye, and pour in agreat spoonful or more of the blue composition. Stir it up well with aclean stick, and dip the articles you have already colored yellow intoit, and they will take a lively grass green. This is a good plan forold bombazet curtains, dessert cloths, old flannel for covering adesk, &c; it is likewise a handsome color for ribbons. 

Balm blossoms, steeped in water, color a pretty rose-color. Thisanswers very well for the linings of children's bonnets, for ribbons, &c. It fades in the course of one season; but it is very littletrouble to recolor with it. It merely requires to be steeped andstrained. Perhaps a small piece of alum might serve to set the color, in some degree. In earthen or tin. 

Saffron, steeped in earthen and strained, colors a fine straw color. It makes a delicate or deep shade according to the strength of thetea. The dry outside skins of onions, steeped in scalding water andstrained, color a yellow very much like 'bird of paradise' color. Peach leaves, or bark scraped from the barberry bush, colors a commonbright yellow. In all these cases, a little piece of alum does noharm, and may help to fix the color. Ribbons, gauze handkerchiefs, &c. Are colored well in this way, especially if they be stiffened by a bitof gum-Arabic, dropped in while the stuff is steeping. 

The purple paper, which comes on loaf sugar, boiled in cider, orvinegar, with a small bit of alum, makes a fine purple slate color. Done in iron. 

White maple bark makes a good light-brown slate color. This shouldbe boiled in water, set with alum. The color is reckoned better whenboiled in brass, instead of iron. 

The purple slate and the brown slate are suitable colors forstockings; and it is an economical plan, after they have been mendedand cut down, so that they will no longer look decent, to color oldstockings, and make them up for children. 

A pailful of lye, with a piece of copperas half as big as a hen's eggboiled in it, will color a fine nankin color, which will never washout. This is very useful for the linings of bed-quilts, comforters, &c. Old faded gowns, colored in this way, may be made into goodpetticoats. Cheap cotton cloth may be colored to advantage forpetticoats, and pelisses for little girls. 

A very beautiful nankin color may likewise be obtained frombirch-bark, set with alum. The bark should be covered with water, and boiled thoroughly in brass or tin. A bit of alum half as big asa hen's egg is sufficient. If copperas be used instead of alum, slatecolor will be produced. 

Tea-grounds boiled in iron, and set with copperas, make a very goodslate color. 

Log-wood and cider, in iron, set with copperas, makes a good black. Rusty nails, or any rusty iron, boiled in vinegar, with a small bit ofcopperas, makes a good black, --black ink-powder done in the same wayanswers the same purpose. 

 * * * * *

MEAT CORNED, OR SALTED, HAMS, &C. 

When you merely want to corn meat, you have nothing to do but to rubin salt plentifully, and let it set in the cellar a day or two. If youhave provided more meat than you can use while it is good, it is wellto corn it in season to save it. In summer, it will not keep well morethan a day and a half; if you are compelled to keep it longer, be sureand rub in more salt, and keep it carefully covered from cellar-flies. In winter, there is no difficulty in keeping a piece of corned beefa fortnight or more. Some people corn meat by throwing it into theirbeef barrel for a few days; but this method does not make it so sweet. A little salt-petre rubbed in before you apply the common salt, makesthe meat tender; but in summer it is not well to use it, because itprevents the other salt from impregnating; and the meat does not keepas well. 

If you wish to salt fat pork, scald coarse salt in water and skim it, till the salt will no longer melt in the water. Pack your pork downin tight layers; salt every layer; when the brine is cool, cover thepork with it, and keep a heavy stone on the top to keep the pork underbrine. Look to it once in a while, for the first few weeks, and if thesalt has all melted, throw in more. This brine, scalded and skimmedevery time it is used, will continue good twenty years. The rind ofthe pork should be packed towards the edge of the barrel. 

It is good economy to salt your own beef as well as pork. Six poundsof coarse salt, eight ounces of brown sugar, a pint of molasses, andeight ounces of salt-petre, are enough to boil in four gallons ofwater. Skim it clean while boiling. Put it to the beef cold; haveenough to cover it; and be careful your beef never floats on the top. If it does not smell perfectly sweet, throw in more salt; if a scumrises upon it, scald and skim it again, and pour it on the beef whencold. 

Legs of mutton are very good, cured in the same way as ham. Six poundsof salt, eight ounces of salt-petre, and five pints of molasses, willmake pickle enough for one hundred weight. Small legs should be keptin pickle twelve or fifteen days; if large, four or five weeks are nottoo much. They should be hung up a day or two to dry, before they aresmoked. Lay them in the oven, on crossed sticks, and make a fire atthe entrance. Cobs, walnut-bark, or walnut-chips, are the best to usefor smoking, on account of the sweet taste they give the meat. Thesmallest pieces should be smoked forty-eight hours, and large legsfour or five days. Some people prefer the mutton boiled as soon as itis taken from the pickle, before it is smoked; others hang it up tillit gets dry thoroughly, and eat it in thin slices, like hung beef. When legs of meat are put in pickle, the thickest part of the legshould be placed uppermost, that is, standing upright, the same as thecreature stood when living. The same rule should be observed when theyare hung up to dry; it is essential in order to keep in the juices ofthe meat. Meat should be turned over once or twice during the processof smoking. 

The old-fashioned way for curing hams is to rub them with salt verythoroughly, and let them lay twenty-four hours. To each ham allowtwo ounces of salt-petre, one quart of common salt and one quart ofmolasses. First baste them with molasses; next rub in the salt-petre;and, last of all, the common salt. They must be carefully turnedand rubbed every day for six weeks; then hang them in a chimney, orsmoke-house, four weeks. 

They should be well covered up in paper bags, and put in a chest, orbarrel, with layers of ashes, or charcoal, between. When you take outa ham to cut for use, be sure and put it away in a dark place, wellcovered up; especially in summer. 

Some very experienced epicures and cooks, think the old-fashioned wayof preparing bacon is troublesome and useless. They say that legs ofpork placed upright in pickle, for four or five weeks, are just asnice as those rubbed with so much care. The pickle for pork and hungbeef, should be stronger than for legs of mutton. Eight pounds ofsalt, ten ounces of salt-petre and five pints of molasses is enoughfor one hundred weight of meat; water enough to cover the meatwell--probably, four or five gallons. Any one can prepare bacon, ordried beef, very easily, in a common oven, according to the abovedirections. The same pickle that answers for bacon is proper forneat's tongues. Pigs' tongues are very nice, prepared in the sameway as neat's tongues; an abundance of them are sold for rein-deer'stongues, and, under that name, considered a wonderful luxury. 

Neat's tongue should be boiled full three hours. If it has been insalt long, it is well to soak it over night in cold water. Put it into boil when the water is cold. If you boil it in a small pot, it iswell to change the water, when it has boiled an hour and a half; thefresh water should boil before the half-cooked tongue is put in again. It is nicer for being kept in a cool place a day or two after beingboiled. Nearly the same rules apply to salt beef. A six pound pieceof corned beef should boil full three hours; and salt beef should beboiled four hours. 

The saltier meat is, the longer it should be boiled. If very salt, itis well to put it in soak over night; change the water while cooking;and observe the same rules as in boiling tongue. If it is intended tobe eaten when cold, it is a good plan to put it between clean boards, and press it down with heavy weights for a day or two. A small legof bacon should be boiled three hours; ten pounds four hours; twelvepounds five hours. All meat should boil moderately; furious boilinginjures the flavor. 

Buffalo's tongue should soak a day and a night, and boil as much assix hours. 

 * * * * *

CHOICE OF MEAT. 

If people wish to be economical, they should take some pains toascertain what are the cheapest pieces of meat to buy; not merelythose which are cheapest in price, but those which go farthest whencooked. That part of mutton called the rack, which consists of theneck, and a few of the rib bones below, is cheap food. It is not morethan four or five cents a pound; and four pounds will make a dinnerfor six people. The neck, cut into pieces, and boiled slowly an hourand a quarter, in little more than water enough to cover it, makesvery nice broth. A great spoonful of rice should be washed andthrown in with the meat. About twenty minutes before it is done, putin a little thickening, and season with salt, pepper, and siftedsummer-savory, or sage. The bones below the neck, broiled, make a goodmutton chop. If your family be small, a rack of mutton will make youtwo dinners, --broth once, and mutton chop with a few slices of saltpork, for another; if your family consist of six or seven, you canhave two dishes for a dinner. If you boil the whole rack for broth, there will be some left for mince meat. 

Liver is usually much despised; but when well cooked, it is verypalatable; and it is the cheapest of all animal food. Veal liver isby some considered the best. Veal liver is usually two cents a pound;beef liver is one cent. After you have fried a few slices of saltpork, put the liver in while the fat is very hot, and cook it throughthoroughly. If you doubt whether it be done, cut into a slice, and seewhether it has turned entirely brown, without any red stripe in themiddle. Season it with pepper and salt, and butter, if you live on afarm, and have butter in plenty. It should not be cooked on furiouslyhot coals, as it is very apt to scorch. Sprinkle in a little flour, stir it, and pour in boiling water to make gravy, just as you wouldfor fried meat. Some think liver is better dipped in sifted Indianmeal before it is fried. It is good broiled and buttered like a steak. It should be cut into slices about as thick as are cut for steaks. 

The heart, liver, &c. Of a pig is good fried; so is that of a lamb. The latter is commonly called lamb-fry; and a dinner may be bought forsix or eight cents. Be sure and ask for the sweet-bread; for butchersare extremely apt to reserve it for their own use; and thereforelamb-fry is almost always sold without it. Fry five or six slices ofsalt pork; after it is taken out, put in your lamb-fry while the fatis hot. Do it thoroughly; but be careful the fire is not too furious, as it is apt to scorch. Take a large handful of parsley, see that itis washed clean, cut it up pretty fine; then pour a little boilingwater into the fat in which your dinner has been fried, and let theparsley cook in it a minute or two; then take it out in a spoon, andlay it over your slices of meat. Some people, who like thick gravies, shake in a little flour into the spider, before pouring in the boilingwater. 

Bones from which roasting pieces have been cut, may be bought in themarket for ten or twelve cents, from which a very rich soup may bemade, besides skimming off fat for shortening. If the bones left fromthe rump be bought, they will be found full of marrow, and will givemore than a pint of good shortening, without injuring the richness ofthe soup. The richest piece of beef for a soup is the leg and the shinof beef; the leg is on the hind quarter, and the shin is on the forequarter. The leg rand, that is, the thick part of the leg above thebony parts, is very nice for mince pies. Some people have an objectionto these parts of beef, thinking they must be stringy; but, if boiled_very tender_, the sinews are not perceived, and add, in fact, to therichness of a soup. 

The thick part of a thin flank is the most profitable part in thewhole ox to buy. It is not so handsome in appearance as some otherpieces, but it is thick meat, with very little bone, and is usuallytwo cents less in the pound than more fashionable pieces. It is goodfor roasting, and particularly for corning and salting. The navel endof the brisket is one of the best pieces for salting or corning, andis very good for roasting. 

The rattle rand is the very best piece for corning, or salting. 

A bullock's heart is very profitable to use as a steak. Broiled justlike beef. There are usually five pounds in a heart, and it can bebought for twenty-five cents. Some people stuff and roast it. 

The chuck, between the neck and the shoulder, is a very good piece forroasting, --for steaks, or for salting. Indeed, it is good for almostanything; and it is cheap, being from four to five cents a pound. 

The richest, tenderest, and most delicate piece of beef for roasting, or for steak, is the rump and the last cut of the sirloin. It ispeculiarly appropriate for an invalid, as it is lighter food than anyother beef. 

But if economy be consulted instead of luxury, the round will bebought in preference to the rump. It is heartier food, and, of course, less can be eaten; and it is cheaper in price. 

The shoulder of veal is the most economical for roasting or boiling. It is always cheap, let veal bear what price it may. Two dinners maybe made from it; the shoulder roasted, and the knuckle cut off to beboiled with a bit of pork and greens, or to be made into soup. 

The breast of veal is a favorite piece, and is sold high. 

The hind-quarter of veal and the loin make two good roasting pieces. The leg is usually stuffed. The line has the kidney upon it; thefore-quarter has the brisket on it. This is a sweet and delicatemorsel; for this reason some people prefer the fore-quarter to anyother part. 

Always buy a shoulder of pork for economy, for roasting, or coming toboil. Cut off the leg to be boiled. Many people buy the upper part ofthe spare-rib of pork thinking it the most genteel; but the lower partof the spare-rib toward the neck is much more sweet and juicy, andthere is more meat in proportion to the bone. 

The breast, or shoulder, of mutton are both nice, either for roasting, boiling or broth. The breast is richer than the shoulder. It is moreeconomical to buy a fore-quarter of mutton than a hind-quarter; thereis usually two cents difference per pound. The neck of fat muttonmakes a good steak for broiling. 

Lamb brings the same price, either fore-quarter or hind-quarter;therefore it is more profitable to buy a hind-quarter than afore-quarter; especially as its own fat will cook it, and there is noneed of pork or butter in addition. Either part is good for roastingor boiling. The loin of lamb is suitable for roasting, and is the mostprofitable for a small family. The leg is more suitable for boilingthan for anything else; the shoulder and breast are peculiarlysuitable for broth. 

The part that in lamb is called the loin, in mutton is called thechop. Mutton chop is considered very good for broiling. 

Pig's head is a profitable thing to buy. It is despised, because it ischeap; but when well cooked it is delicious. Well cleaned, the tip ofthe snout chopped off, and put in brine a week, it is very good forboiling: the cheeks, in particular, are very sweet; they are betterthan any other pieces of pork to bake with beans. The head is likewisevery good baked about an hour and a half. It tastes like roast pork, and yields abundance of sweet fat, for shortening. 

 * * * * *

COMMON COOKING. 

It is necessary to be very careful of fresh meat in the summer season. The moment it is brought into the house, it should be carefullycovered from the flies, and put in the coldest place in the cellar. If it consist of pieces, they should be spread out separate from eachother, on a large dish, and covered. If you are not to cook it soon, it is well to sprinkle salt on it. The kidney, and fat flabby parts, should be raised up above the lean, by a skewer, or stick, and alittle salt strewn in. If you have to keep it over night, it should belooked to the last thing when you go to bed; and if there is danger, it should be scalded. 

VEAL. 

Veal should boil about an hour, if a neck-piece; if the meat comesfrom a thicker, more solid part, it should boil longer. No directionsabout these things will supply the place of judgment and experience. Both mutton and veal are better for being boiled with a small piece ofsalt pork. Veal broth is very good. 

Veal soup should be slowly stewed for two hours. Seasoned the same asabove. Some people like a little sifted summer-savory. 

Six or seven pounds of veal will roast in an hour and a half. 

Fried veal is better for being dipped in white of egg, and rolled innicely pounded crumbs of bread, before it is cooked. One egg is enoughfor a common dinner. 

CALF'S HEAD. 

Calf's head should be cleansed with very great care; particularlythe lights. The head, the heart, and the lights should boil full twohours; the liver should be boiled only one hour. It is better to leavethe wind-pipe on, for if it hangs out of the pot while the head iscooking, all the froth will escape through it. The brains, after beingthoroughly washed, should be put in a little bag; with one poundedcracker, or as much crumbled bread, seasoned with sifted sage, andtied up and boiled one hour. After the brains are boiled, they shouldbe well broken up with a knife, and peppered, salted, and buttered. They should be put upon the table in a bowl by themselves. Boilingwater, thickened with flour and water, with butter melted in it, isthe proper sauce; some people love vinegar and pepper mixed with themelted butter; but all are not fond of it; and it is easy for each oneto add it for themselves. 

BEEF. 

Beef soup should be stewed four hours over a slow fire. Just waterenough to keep the meat covered. If you have any bones left of roastmeat, &c. It is a good plan to boil them with the meat, and take themout half an hour before the soup is done. A pint of flour and water, with salt, pepper, twelve or sixteen onions, should be put in twentyminutes before the soup is done. Be careful and not throw in saltand pepper too plentifully; it is easy to add to it, and not easy todiminish. A lemon, cut up and put in half an hour before it is done, adds to the flavor. If you have tomato catsup in the house, a cupfulwill make soup rich. Some people put in crackers; some thin slices ofcrust, made nearly as short as common shortcake; and some stir up twoor three eggs with milk and flour, and drop it in with a spoon. 

A quarter of an hour to each pound of beef is considered a good rulefor roasting; but this is too much when the bone is large, and themeal thin. Six pounds of the rump should roast six quarters of anhour; but bony pieces less. It should be done before a quick fire. 

The quicker beef-steak can be broiled the better. Seasoned after it istaken from the gridiron. 

ALAMODE BEEF. 

Tie up a round of beef so as to keep it in shape; make a stuffing ofgrated bread, suet, sweet herbs, quarter of an ounce of nutmeg, a fewcloves pounded, yolk of an egg. Cut holes in the beef, and put in thestuffing, leaving about half the stuffing to be made into balls. Tiethe beef up in a cloth, just cover it with water, let it boil an hourand a half; then turn it, and let it boil an hour and a half more;then turn out the liquor, and put some skewers across the bottom ofthe pot, and lay the beef upon it, to brown; turn it that it may brownon both sides. Put a pint of claret, and some allspice and cloves, into the liquor, and boil some balls made of the stuffing in it. 

MUTTON AND LAMB. 

Six or seven pounds of mutton will roast in an hour and a half. Lambone hour. Mutton is apt to taste strong; this may be helped by soakingthe meat in a little salt and water, for an hour before cooking. However, unless meat is very sweet, it is best to corn it, and boilit. 

Fresh meat should never be put in to cook till the water boils; and itshould be boiled in as little water as possible; otherwise the flavoris injured. Mutton enough for a family of five or six should boil anhour and a half. A leg of lamb should boil an hour, or little morethan an hour, perhaps. Put a little thickening into boiling water;strain it nicely; and put sweet butter in it for sauce. If your familylike broth, throw in some clear rice when you put in the meat. Therice should be in proportion to the quantity of broth you mean tomake. A large table spoonful is enough for three pints of water. Seasoned with a very little pepper and salt. Summer-savory, or sage, rubbed through a sieve, thrown in. 

PORK. 

Fresh pork should be cooked more than any other meat. A thick shoulderpiece should be roasted full two hours and a half; and other piecesless in proportion. The slight sickness occasioned by eating roastedpork may be prevented by soaking it in salt and water the night beforeyou cook it. If called to prepare it on short notice, it will answerto baste it with weak brine while roasting; and then turn the brineoff, and throw it away. 

ROAST PIG. 

Strew fine salt over it an hour before it is put down. It should notbe cut entirely open; fill it up plump with thick slices of butteredbread, salt, sweet-marjoram and sage. Spit it with the head next thepoint of the spit; take off the joints of the leg, and boil them withthe liver, with a little whole pepper, allspice, and salt, for gravysauce. The upper part of the legs must be braced down with skewers. Shake on flour. Put a little water in the dripping-pan, and stir itoften. When the eyes drop out, the pig is half done. When it is nearlydone, baste it with butter. Cut off the head, split it open betweenthe eyes. Take out the brains, and chop them fine with the liver andsome sweet-marjoram and sage; put this into melted butter, and whenit has boiled a few minutes, add it to the gravy in the dripping-pan. When your pig is cut open, lay it with the back to the edge of thedish; half a head to be placed at each end. A good sized pig needs tobe roasted three hours. 

SAUSAGES. 

Three tea-spoons of powdered sage, one and a half of salt, and one ofpepper, to a pound of meat, is good seasoning for sausages. 

MINCE MEAT. 

There is a great difference in preparing mince meat. Some make ita coarse, unsavory dish; and others make it nice and palatable. Noeconomical house-keeper will despise it; for broken bits of meat andvegetables cannot so well be disposed of in any other way. If youwish to have it nice, mash your vegetables fine, and chop your meatvery fine. Warm it with what remains of sweet gravy, or roast-meatdrippings, you may happen to have. Two or three apples, pared, cored, sliced, and fried, to mix with it, is an improvement. Some like alittle sifted sage sprinkled in. 

It is generally considered nicer to chop your meat fine, warm it ingravy, season it, and lay it upon a large slice of toasted bread to bebrought upon the table without being mixed with potatoes; but if youhave cold vegetables, use them. 

BEANS AND PEAS. 

Baked beans are a very simple dish, yet few cook them well. Theyshould be put in cold water, and hung over the fire, the night beforethey are baked. In the morning, they should be put in a colander, andrinsed two or three times; then again placed in a kettle, with thepork you intend to bake, covered with water, and kept scalding hot, an hour or more. A pound of pork is quite enough for a quart of beans, and that is a large dinner for a common family. The rind of the porkshould be slashed. Pieces of pork alternately fat and lean, are themost suitable; the cheeks are the best. A little pepper sprinkledamong the beans, when they are placed in the bean-pot, will renderthem less unhealthy. They should be just covered with water, when putinto the oven; and the pork should be sunk a little below the surfaceof the beans. Bake three or four hours. 

Stewed beans are prepared in the same way. The only difference is, they are not taken out of the scalding water, but are allowed to stewin more water, with a piece of pork and a little pepper, three hoursor more. 

Dried peas need not be soaked over night. They should be stewed slowlyfour or five hours in considerable water, with a piece of pork. Theolder beans and peas are, the longer they should cook. Indeed, this isthe case with all vegetables. 

SOUSE. 

Pigs' feet, ears, &c. , should be cleaned after being soaked in waternot very hot; the hoofs will then come off easily with a sharp knife;the hard, rough places should be cut off; they should be thoroughlysinged, and then boiled as much as four or five hours, until they aretoo tender to be taken out with a fork. When taken from the boilingwater, it should be put into cold water. After it is packed downtight, boil the jelly-like liquor in which it was cooked with an equalquantity of vinegar; salt as you think fit, and cloves, allspice, andcinnamon, at the rate of a quarter of a pound to one hundred weight:to be poured on scalding hot. 

TRIPE. 

Tripe should be kept in cold water, or it will become too dry forcooking. The water in which it is kept should be changed more or lessfrequently, according to the warmth of the weather. Broiled likea steak, buttered, peppered, &c. Some people like it prepared likesouse. 

GRAVY. 

Most people put a half a pint of flour and water into theirtin-kitchen, when they set meat down to roast. This does very well;but gravy is better flavored, and looks darker, to shake flour andsalt upon the meat; let it brown thoroughly, put flour and salt onagain, and then baste the meat with about half a pint of hot water (ormore, according to the gravy you want. ) When the meat is about done, pour these drippings into a skillet, and let it boil. If it is notthick enough, shake in a little flour; but be sure to let it boil, and be well stirred, after the flour is in. If you fear it will be toogreasy, take off a cupful of the fat before you boil. The fat of beef, pork, turkeys and geese is as good for shortening as lard. Salt gravyto your taste. If you are very particular about dark gravies, keepyour dredging-box full of scorched flour for that purpose. 

POULTRY. 

There are various ways of deciding about the age of poultry. 

If the bottom of the breast bone, which extends down between thelegs, is soft, and gives easily, it is a sign of youth; if stiff, thepoultry is old. 

If young, the legs are lighter, and the feet do not look so hard, stiff, and worn. 

There is more deception in geese than in any other kind of poultry. The above remarks are applied to them; but there are other signsmore infallible. In a young goose, the cavity under the wings is verytender; it is a bad sign if you cannot, with very little trouble, pushyour finger directly into the flesh. There is another means by whichyou may decide whether a goose be tender, if it be frozen or not. Pass the head of a pin along the breast, or sides, and if the goose beyoung, the skin will rip, like fine paper under a knife. 

Something may be judged concerning the age of a goose by thethickness of the web between the toes. When young, this is tender andtransparent; it grows coarser and harder with time. 

In broiling chickens, it is difficult to do the inside of the thickestpieces without scorching the outside. It is a good plan to parboilthem about ten minutes in a spider or skillet, covered close to keepthe steam in; then put them upon the gridiron, broil and butter. Itis a good plan to cover them with a plate, while on the gridiron. They may be basted with a very little of the water in which they werebroiled; and if you have company who like melted butter to pour uponthe chicken, the remainder of the liquor will be good use for thatpurpose. 

An hour is enough for common sized chickens to roast. A smart fireis better than a slow one; but they must be tended closely. Slices ofbread, buttered, salted, and peppered, put into the stomach (not thecrop) are excellent. 

Chickens should boil about an hour. If old, they should boil longer. In as little water as will cook them. Chicken-broth made likemutton-broth. 

FRICASSEED CHICKEN, BROWN. 

Singe the chickens; cut them in pieces; pepper, salt, and flour them;fry them in fresh butter, till they are very brown: take the chickensout, and make a good gravy, into which put sweet herbs (marjoram orsage) according to your taste; if necessary, add pepper and salt;butter and flour must be used in making the gravy, in such quantitiesas to suit yourself for thickness and richness. After this is allprepared, the chicken must be stewed in it, for half an hour, closelycovered. A pint of gravy is about enough for two chickens; I shouldthink a piece of butter about as big as a walnut, and a table-spoonfulof flour, would be enough for the gravy. The herbs should, of course, be pounded and sifted. Some, who love onions, slice two or three, andbrown them with the chicken. Some slice a half lemon, and stew withthe chicken. Some add tomatoes catsup. 

FRICASSEED CHICKEN, WHITE. 

The chickens are cut to pieces, and covered with warm water, to drawout the blood. Then put into a stew-pan, with three quarters of apint of water, or veal broth, salt, pepper, flour, butter, mace, sweetherbs pounded and sifted; boil it half an hour. If it is too fat, skimit a little. Just before it is done, mix the yolk of two eggs with agill of cream, grate in a little nutmeg, stir it up till it is thickand smooth, squeeze in half a lemon. If you like onions, stew someslices with the other ingredients. 

TO CURRY FOWL. 

Fry out two or three slices of salt pork; cut the chicken in pieces, and lay it in the stew-pan with one sliced onion; when the fowlis tender, take it out, and put in thickening into the liquor, onespoonful of flour, and one spoonful of curry-powder, well stirredup in water. Then lay the chicken in again, and let it boil up a fewminutes. A half a pint of liquor is enough for one chicken. About halfan hour's stewing is necessary. The juice of half a lemon improves it;and some like a spoonful of tomatoes catsup. 

CHICKEN BROTH. 

Cut a chicken in quarters; put it into three or four quarts of water;put in a cup of rice while the water is cold; season it with pepperand salt; some use nutmeg. Let it stew gently, until the chicken fallsapart. A little parsley, shred fine, is an improvement. Some slice upa small onion and stew with it. A few pieces of cracker may be thrownin if you like. 

A common sized goose should roast full three quarters of an hour. Theoil that drips from it should be nearly all turned off; it makes thegravy too greasy; and it is nice for shortening. It should first beturned into cold water; when hardened, it should be taken off andscalded in a skillet. This process leaves it as sweet as lard. 

Ducks do not need to be roasted more than fifteen or twenty minutes. Butter melted in boiling flour and water is proper sauce for boiledlamb, mutton, veal, turkeys, geese, chickens, and fish. Some peoplecut up parsley fine, and throw in. Some people like capers put in. Others heat oysters through on the gridiron, and take them out of theshells, and throw them into the butter. 

A good sized turkey should be roasted two hours and a half, or threehours; very slowly at first. If you wish to make plain stuffing, pounda cracker, or crumble some bread very fine, chop some raw salt porkvery fine, sift some sage, (and summer-savory, or sweet-marjoram, if you have them in the house, and fancy them, ) and mould them alltogether, seasoned with a little pepper. An egg worked in makes thestuffing cut better; but it is not worth while when eggs are dear. About the same length of time is required for boiling and roasting. 

Pigeons may be either roasted, potted or stewed. Potting is the best, and the least trouble. After they are thoroughly picked and cleaned, put a small slice of salt pork, and a little ball of stuffing, intothe body of every pigeon. The stuffing should be made of one eggto one cracker, an equal quantity of suet, or butter, seasoned withsweet-marjoram, or sage, if marjoram cannot be procured. Flour thepigeons well, lay them close together in the bottom of the pot, justcover them with water, throw in a bit of butter, and let them stew anhour and a quarter if young; an hour and three quarters if old. Somepeople turn off the liquor just before they are done, and brown thepigeons on the bottom of the pot; but this is very troublesome, asthey are apt to break to pieces. 

Stewed pigeons are cooked in nearly the same way, with the omission ofthe stuffing. Being dry meat, they require a good deal of butter. 

Pigeons should be stuffed and roasted about fifteen minutes before asmart fire. Those who like birds just warmed through, would perhapsthink less time necessary. It makes them nicer to butter them welljust before you take them off the spit, and sprinkle them with nicelypounded bread, or cracker. All poultry should be basted and floured afew minutes before it is taken up. 

The age of pigeons can be judged by the color of the legs. When young, they are of a pale delicate brown; as they grow older, the color isdeeper and redder. 

A nice way of serving up cold chicken, or pieces of cold fresh meat, is to make them into a meat pie. The gizzards, livers, and necks ofpoultry, parboiled, are good for the same purpose. If you wish tobake your meat pie, line a deep earthen or tin pan with paste made offlour, cold water, and lard; use but little lard, for the fat of themeat will shorten the crust. Lay in your bits of meat, or chicken, with two or three slices of salt pork; place a few thin slices of yourpaste here and there; drop in an egg or two, if you have plenty. Fillthe pan with flour and water, seasoned with a little pepper and salt. If the meat be very lean, put in a piece of butter, or such sweetgravies as you may happen to have. Cover the top with crust, and putit in the oven, or bake-kettle, to cook half an hour, or an hour, according to the size of the pie. Some people think this the nicestway of cooking fresh chickens. When thus cooked, they should beparboiled before they are put into the pan, and the water they areboiled in should be added. A chicken pie needs to be cooked an hourand a half, if parboiled; two hours, if not. 

If you wish to make a pot pie instead of a baked pie, you have only toline the bottom of a porridge pot with paste, lay in your meat, seasonand moisten it in the same way, cover it with paste, and keep itslowly stewing about the same time that the other takes. In bothcases, it is well to lift the upper crust, a little while before youtake up the pie, and see whether the moisture has dried away; if so, pour in flour and water well mixed, and let it boil up. 

Potatoes should be boiled in a separate vessel. 

If you have fear that poultry may become musty before you want tocook it, skin an onion, and put in it; a little pepper sprinkled in isgood; it should be kept hung up in a dry, cool place. 

If poultry is injured before you are aware of it, wash it verythoroughly in pearlash and water, and sprinkle pepper inside when youcook it. Some people hang up poultry with a muslin bag of charcoalinside. It is a good plan to singe injured poultry over lightedcharcoal, and to hold a piece of lighted charcoal inside, a fewminutes. 

Many people parboil the liver and gizzard, and cut it up very fine, tobe put into the gravy, while the fowls are cooking; in this case, thewater they are boiled in should be used to make the gravy. 

FISH. 

Cod has white stripes, and a haddock black stripes; they may be knownapart by this. Haddock is the best for frying; and cod is the bestfor boiling, or for a chowder. A thin tail is a sign of a poor fish;always choose a thick fish. When you are buying mackerel, pinch thebelly to ascertain whether it is good. If it gives under your finger, like a bladder half filled with wind, the fish is poor; if it feelshard like butter, the fish is good. It is cheaper to buy one largemackerel for ninepence, than two for four pence half-penny each. 

Fish should not be put in to fry until the fat is boiling hot; it isvery necessary to observe this. It should be dipped in Indian mealbefore it is put in; and the skinny side uppermost, when first putin, to prevent its breaking. It relishes better to be fried after saltpork, than to be fried in lard alone. People are mistaken, who thinkfresh fish should be put into cold water as soon as it is brought intothe house; soaking it in water is injurious. If you want to keep itsweet, clean it, wash it, wipe it dry with a clean towel, sprinklesalt inside and out, put it in a covered dish, and keep it on the_cellar_ floor until you want to cook it. If you live remote from theseaport, and cannot get fish while hard and fresh, wet it with an eggbeaten, before you meal it, to prevent its breaking. 

Fish gravy is very much improved by taking out some of the fat, afterthe fish is fried, and putting in a little butter. The fat thus takenout will do to fry fish again; but it will not do for any kind ofshortening. Shake in a little flour into the hot fat, and pour in alittle boiling water; stir it up well, as it boils, a minute or so. Some people put in vinegar; but this is easily added by those who likeit. 

A common sized cod-fish should be put in when the water is boilinghot, and boil about twenty minutes. Haddock is not as good for boilingas cod; it takes about the same time to boil. 

A piece of halibut which weighs four pounds is a large dinner for afamily of six or seven. It should boil forty minutes. No fish put intill the water boils. Melted butter for sauce. 

Clams should boil about fifteen minutes in their own water; no otherneed be added, except a spoonful to keep the bottom shells fromburning. It is easy to tell when they are done, by the shells startingwide open. After they are done, they should be taken from the shells, washed thoroughly in their own water, and put in a stewing pan. Thewater should then be strained through a cloth, so as to get out allthe grit; the clams should be simmered in it ten or fifteen minutes;a little thickening of flour and water added; half a dozen slicesof toasted bread or cracker; and pepper, vinegar and butter to yourtaste. Salt is not needed. 

Four pounds of fish are enough to make a chowder for four or fivepeople; half a dozen slices of salt pork in the bottom of the pot;hang it high, so that the pork may not burn; take it out when donevery brown; put in a layer of fish, cut in lengthwise slices, then alayer formed of crackers, small or sliced onions, and potatoes slicedas thin as a four-pence, mixed with pieces of pork you have fried;then a layer of fish again, and so on. Six crackers are enough. Strew a little salt and pepper over each layer; over the whole pour abowl-full of flour and water, enough to come up even with the surfaceof what you have in the pot. A sliced lemon adds to the flavor. A cupof tomato catsup is very excellent. Some people put in a cup of beer. A few clams are a pleasant addition. It should be covered so as notto let a particle of steam escape, if possible. Do not open it, exceptwhen nearly done, to taste if it be well seasoned. 

Salt fish should be put in a deep plate, with just water enough tocover it, the night before you intend to cook it. It should not beboiled an instant; boiling renders it hard. It should lie in scaldinghot water two or three hours. The less water is used, and the morefish is cooked at once, the better. Water thickened with flour andwater while boiling, with sweet butter put in to melt, is the commonsauce. It is more economical to cut salt pork into small bits, and tryit till the pork is brown and crispy. It should not be done too fast, lest the sweetness be scorched out. 

Salted shad and mackerel should be put into a deep plate and coveredwith boiling water for about ten minutes after it is thoroughlybroiled, before it is buttered. This makes it tender, takes offthe coat of salt, and prevents the strong oily taste, so apt to beunpleasant in preserved fish. The same rule applies to smoked salmon. 

Salt fish mashed with potatoes, with good butter or pork scraps tomoisten it, is nicer the second day than it was the first. The fishshould be minced very fine, while it is warm. After it has got coldand dry, it is difficult to do it nicely. Salt fish needs plenty ofvegetables, such as onions, beets, carrots, &c. 

There is no way of preparing salt fish for breakfast, so nice as toroll it up in little balls, after it is mixed with mashed potatoes;dip it into an egg, and fry it brown. 

A female lobster is not considered so good as a male. In the female, the sides of the head, or what look like cheeks, are much larger, and jut out more than those of the male. The end of a lobster issurrounded with what children call 'purses, ' edged with a littlefringe. If you put your hand under these to raise it, and find itsprings back hard and firm, it is a sign the lobster is fresh; ifthey move flabbily, it is not a good omen. 

Fried salt pork and apples is a favorite dish in the country; but itis seldom seen in the city. After the pork is fried, some of thefat should be taken out, lest the apples should be oily. Acid applesshould be chosen, because they cook more easily; they should be cut inslices, across the whole apple, about twice or three times as thick asa new dollar. Fried till tender, and brown on both sides--laid aroundthe pork. If you have cold potatoes, slice them and brown them in thesame way. 

 * * * * *

PUDDINGS. 

BAKED INDIAN PUDDING. 

Indian pudding is good baked. Scald a quart of milk (skimmed milkwill do, ) and stir in seven table spoonfuls of sifted Indian meal, atea-spoonful of salt, a tea-cupful of molasses, and a great spoonfulof ginger, or sifted cinnamon. Baked three or four hours. If you wantwhey, you must be sure and pour in a little cold milk, after it is allmixed. 

BOILED INDIAN PUDDING. 

Indian pudding should be boiled four or five hours. Sifted Indian mealand warm milk should be stirred together pretty stiff. A little salt, and two or three great spoonfuls of molasses, added; a spoonful ofginger, if you like that spice. Boil it in a tight covered pan, or avery thick cloth; if the water gets in, it will ruin it. Leave plentyof room; for Indian swells very much. The milk with which you mix itshould be merely warm; if it be scalding, the pudding will break topieces. Some people chop sweet suet fine, and warm in the milk; otherswarm thin slices of sweet apple to be stirred into the pudding. Waterwill answer instead of milk. 

FLOUR OR BATTER PUDDING. 

Common flour pudding, or batter pudding, is easily made. Those wholive in the country can beat up five or six eggs with a quart of milk, and a little salt, with flour enough to make it just thick enough topour without difficulty. Those who live in the city, and are obligedto buy eggs, can do with three eggs to a quart, and more flour inproportion. Boil about three quarters of an hour. 

BREAD PUDDING. 

A nice pudding may be made of bits of bread. They should be crumbledand soaked in milk over night. In the morning, beat up three eggswith it, add a little salt, tie it up in a bag, or in a pan that willexclude every drop of water, and boil it little more than an hour. No puddings should be put into the pot, till the water boils. Breadprepared in the same way makes good plum-puddings. Milk enough to makeit quite soft; four eggs; a little cinnamon; a spoonful of rose-water, or lemon-brandy, if you have it; a tea-cupful of molasses, or sugar toyour taste, if you prefer it; a few dry, clean raisins, sprinkled in, and stirred up thoroughly, is all that is necessary. It should bake orboil two hours. 

RENNET PUDDING. 

If your husband brings home company when you are unprepared, rennetpudding may be made at five minutes' notice; provided you keep a pieceof calf's rennet ready prepared soaking in a bottle of wine. One glassof this wine to a quart of milk will make a sort of cold custard. Sweetened with white sugar, and spiced with nutmeg, it is very good. It should be eaten immediately; in a few hours, it begins to curdle. 

CUSTARD PUDDINGS. 

Custard puddings sufficiently good for common use can be made withfive eggs to a quart of milk, sweetened with brown sugar, and spicedwith cinnamon, or nutmeg, and very little salt. It is well to boilyour milk, and set it away till it gets cold. Boiling milk enriches itso much, that boiled skim-milk is about as good as new milk. A littlecinnamon, or lemon peel, or peach leaves, if you do not dislike thetaste, boiled in the milk, and afterwards strained from it, give apleasant flavor. Bake fifteen or twenty minutes. 

RICE PUDDINGS. 

If you want a common rice pudding to retain its flavor, do not soakit, or put it in to boil when the water is cold. Wash it, tie it ina bag, leave plenty of room for it to swell, throw it in when thewater boils, and let it boil about an hour and a half. The same sauceanswers for all these kinds of puddings. If you have rice left cold, break it up in a little warm milk, pour custard over it, and bake itas long as you should custard. It makes very good puddings and pies. 

BIRD'S NEST PUDDING. 

If you wish to make what is called 'bird's nest puddings, ' prepareyour custard, --take eight or ten pleasant apples, pare them, and digout the core, but leave them whole, set them in a pudding dish, pouryour custard over them, and bake them about thirty minutes. 

APPLE PUDDING. 

A plain, unexpensive apple pudding may be made by rolling out a bit ofcommon pie-crust, and filling it full of quartered apples; tied up ina bag, and boiled an hour and a half; if the apples are sweet, it willtake two hours; for acid things cook easily. Some people like littledumplings, made by rolling up one apple, pared and cored, in a pieceof crust, and tying them up in spots all over the bag. These do notneed to be boiled more than an hour: three quarters is enough, if theapples are tender. 

Take sweet, or pleasant flavored apples, pare them, and bore out thecore, without cutting the apple in two Pill up the holes with washedrice, boil them in a bag, tied very tight, an hour, or hour and ahalf. Each apple should be tied up separately, in different corners ofthe pudding bag. 

CHERRY PUDDING. 

For cherry dumpling, make a paste about as rich as you makeshort-cake; roll it out, and put in a pint and a half, or a quart ofcherries, according to the size of your family. Double the crust overthe fruit, tie it up tight in a bag, and boil one hour and a half. 

CRANBERRY PUDDING. 

A pint of cranberries stirred into a quart of batter, made like abatter pudding, but very little stiffer, is very nice, eaten withsweet sauce. 

WHORTLEBERRY PUDDING. 

Whortleberries are good both in flour and Indian puddings. A pint ofmilk, with a little salt and a little molasses, stirred quite stiffwith Indian meal, and a quart of berries stirred in gradually with aspoon, makes a good-sized pudding. Leave room for it to swell; and letit boil three hours. 

When you put them into flour, make your pudding just like batterpuddings; but considerably thicker, or the berries will sink. Twohours is plenty long enough to boil No pudding should be put in tillthe water boils. Leave room to swell. 

PLUM PUDDING. 

If you wish to make a really nice, soft, custard-like plum pudding, pound six crackers, or dried crusts of light bread, fine, and soakthem over night in milk enough to cover them; put them in about threepints of milk, beat up six eggs, put in a little lemon-brandy, a wholenutmeg, and about three quarters of a pound of raisins which have beenrubbed in flour. Bake it two hours, or perhaps a little short of that. It is easy to judge from the appearance whether it is done. 

The surest way of making a light, rich plum pudding, is to spreadslices of sweet light bread plentifully with butter; on each side ofthe slices spread abundantly raisins, or currants, nicely prepared;when they are all heaped up in a dish, cover them with milk, eggs, sugar and spice, well beat up, and prepared just as you do forcustards. Let it bake about an hour. 

One sauce answers for common use for all sorts of puddings. Flour-and-water stirred into boiling water, sweetened to your tastewith either molasses or sugar, according to your ideas of economy; agreat spoonful of rose-water, if you have it; butter half as big as ahen's egg. If you want to make it very nice, put in a glass of wine, and grate nutmeg on the top. 

When you wish better sauce than common, take a quarter of a pound ofbutter and the same of sugar, mould them well together with your hand, add a little wine, if you choose. Make it into a lump, set it away tocool, and grate nutmeg over it. 

HASTY PUDDING. 

Boil water, a quart, three pints, or two quarts, according to thesize of your family; sift your meal, stir five or six spoonfuls of itthoroughly into a bowl of water; when the water in the kettle boils, pour into it the contents of the bowl; stir it well, and let it boilup thick; put in salt to suit your own taste, then stand over thekettle, and sprinkle in meal, handful after handful, stirring it verythoroughly all the time, and letting it boil between whiles. When itis so thick that you stir it with great difficulty, it is about right. It takes about half an hour's cooking. Eat it with milk or molasses. Either Indian meal or rye meal may be used. If the system is in arestricted state, nothing can be better than _rye_ hasty pudding and_West India_ molasses. This diet would save many a one the horrors ofdyspepsia. 

 * * * * *

CHEAP CUSTARDS. 

One quart of milk, boiled; when boiling, add three table spoonfulsof ground rice, or rice that is boiled, mixed smooth and fine in coldmilk, and one egg beaten; give it one boil up, and sweeten to yourtaste; peach leaves, or any spice you please, boiled in the milk. 

 * * * * *

COMMON PIES. 

MINCE PIES. 

Boil a tender, nice piece of beef--any piece that is clear fromsinews and gristle; boil it till it is perfectly tender When it iscold, chop it very fine, and be very careful to get out every particleof bone and gristle. The suet is sweeter and better to boil half anhour or more in the liquor the beef has been boiled in; but few peopledo this. Pare, core, and chop the apples fine. If you use raisins, stone them. If you use currants, wash and dry them at the fire. Twopounds of beef, after it is chopped; three quarters of a pound ofsuet; one pound and a quarter of sugar; three pounds of apples; twopounds of currants, or raisins. Put in a gill of brandy; lemon-brandyis better, if you have any prepared. Make it quite moist with newcider. I should not think a quart would be too much; the more moistthe better, if it does not spill out into the oven. A very littlepepper. If you use corn meat, or tongue, for pies, it should bewell soaked, and boiled very tender. If you use fresh beef, saltis necessary in the seasoning. One ounce of cinnamon, one ounce ofcloves. Two nutmegs add to the pleasantness of the flavor; and a bitof sweet butter put upon the top of each pie, makes them rich; butthese are not necessary. Baked three quarters of an hour. If yourapples are rather sweet, grate in a whole lemon. 

PUMPKIN AND SQUASH PIE. 

For common family pumpkin pies, three eggs do very well to a quart ofmilk. Stew your pumpkin, and strain it through a sieve, or colander. Take out the seeds, and pare the pumpkin, or squash, before you stewit; but do not scrape the inside; the part nearest the seed is thesweetest part of the squash. Stir in the stewed pumpkin, till it is asthick as you can stir it round rapidly and easily. If you want to makeyour pie richer, make it thinner, and add another egg. One egg to aquart of milk makes very decent pies. Sweeten it to your taste, withmolasses or sugar; some pumpkins require more sweetening than others. Two tea-spoonfuls of salt; two great spoonfuls of sifted cinnamon;one great spoonful of ginger. Ginger will answer very well alone forspice, if you use enough of it. The outside of a lemon grated in isnice. The more eggs, the better the pie; some put an egg to a gillof milk. They should bake from forty to fifty minutes, and even tenminutes longer, if very deep. 

CARROT PIE. 

Carrot pies are made like squash pies. The carrots should be boiledvery tender, skinned and sifted. Both carrot pies and squash piesshould be baked without an upper crust, in deep plates. To be baked anhour, in quite a warm oven. 

CHERRY PIE. 

Cherry pies should be baked in a deep plate. Take the cherries fromthe stalks, lay them in a plate, and sprinkle a little sugar, andcinnamon, according to the sweetness of the cherries. Baked with a topand bottom crust, three quarters of an hour. 

WHORTLEBERRY PIE. 

Whortleberries make a very good common pie, where there is a largefamily of children. Sprinkle a little sugar and sifted cloves intoeach pie. Baked in the same way, and as long, as cherry pies. 

APPLE PIE. 

When you make apple pies, stew your apples very little indeed; juststrike them through, to make them tender. Some people do not stewthem at all, but cut them up in very thin slices, and lay them inthe crust. Pies made in this way may retain more of the spirit of theapple; but I do not think the seasoning mixes in as well. Put in sugarto your taste; it is impossible to make a precise rule, because applesvary so much in acidity. A very little salt, and a small piece ofbutter in each pie, makes them richer. Cloves and cinnamon are bothsuitable spice. Lemon-brandy and rose-water are both excellent. Awine-glass full of each is sufficient for three or four pies. If yourapples lack spirit, grate in a whole lemon. 

CUSTARD PIE. 

It is a general rule to put eight eggs to a quart of milk, in makingcustard pies; but six eggs are a plenty for any common use. Themilk should be boiled and cooled before it is used; and bits ofstick-cinnamon and bits of lemon-peel boiled in it. Sweeten to yourtaste with clean sugar; a very little sprinkling of salt makes themtaste better. Grate in a nutmeg. Bake in a deep plate. About 20minutes are usually enough. If you are doubtful whether they are done, dip in the handle of a silver spoon, or the blade of a small knife; ifit come out clean, the pie is done. Do not pour them into your platestill the minute you put them into the oven; it makes the crust wetand heavy. To be baked with an under crust only. Some people bake theunder crust a little before the custard is poured in; this is to keepit from being clammy. 

CRANBERRY PIE. 

Cranberry pies need very little spice. A little nutmeg, or cinnamon, improves them. They need a great deal of sweetening. It is well tostew the sweetening with them; at least a part of it. It is easy toadd, if you find them too sour for your taste. When cranberries arestrained, and added to about their own weight in sugar, they make verydelicious tarts. No upper crust. 

RHUBARB STALKS, OR PERSIAN APPLE. 

Rhubarb stalks, or the Persian apple, is the earliest in gradient forpies, which the spring offers. The skin should be carefully stripped, and the stalks cut into small bits, and stewed very tender. These aredear pies, for they take an enormous quantity of sugar. Seasoned likeapple pies Gooseberries, currants, &c. , are stewed, sweetened andseasoned like apple pies, in proportions suited to the sweetness ofthe fruit; there is no way to judge but by your own taste. Alwaysremember it is more easy to add seasoning than to diminish it. 

PIE CRUST. 

To make pie crust for common use, a quarter of a pound of butter isenough for a half a pound of flour. Take out about a quarter part ofthe flour you intend to use, and lay it aside. Into the remainder ofthe flour rub butter thoroughly with your hands, until it is so shortthat a handful of it, clasped tight, will remain in a ball, withoutany tendency to fall in pieces. Then wet it with cold water, roll itout on a board, rub over the surface with flour, stick little lumpsof butter all over it, sprinkle some flour over the butter, and rollthe dough all up; flour the paste, and flour the rolling-pin; roll itlightly and quickly; flour it again; stick in bits of butter; do itup; flour the rolling-pin, and roll it quickly and lightly; and soon, till you have used up your butter. Always roll from you. Pie crustshould be made as cold as possible, and set in a cool place; but becareful it does not freeze. Do not use more flour than you can help insprinkling and rolling. The paste should not be rolled out more thanthree times; if rolled too much, it will not be flaky. 

COMMON CAKES. 

In all cakes where butter or eggs are used, the butter should be veryfaithfully rubbed into the flour, and the eggs beat to a foam, beforethe ingredients are mixed. 

GINGERBREAD. 

A very good way to make molasses gingerbread is to rub four pounds anda half of flour with half a pound of lard and half a pound of butter;a pint of molasses, a gill of milk, tea-cup of ginger, a tea-spoonfulof dissolved pearlash stirred together. All mixed, baked in shallowpans twenty or thirty minutes. 

Hard gingerbread is good to have in the family, it keeps so well. Onepound of flour, half a pound of butter and sugar, rubbed into it; halfa pound of sugar; great spoonful of ginger, or more, according to thestrength of the ginger; a spoonful of rose-water, and a handful ofcaraway seed. Well beat up. Kneaded stiff enough to roll out and bakeon flat pans. Bake twenty or thirty minutes. 

A cake of common gingerbread can be stirred up very quick in thefollowing way. Rub in a bit of shortening as big as an egg into apint of flour; if you use lard, add a little salt; two or three greatspoonfuls of ginger; one cup of molasses, one cup and a half of cider, and a great spoonful of dissolved pearlash, put together and pouredinto the shortened flour while it is foaming; to be put in the oven ina minute. It ought to be just thick enough to pour into the pans withdifficulty; if these proportions make it too thin, use less liquid thenext time you try. Bake about twenty minutes. 

If by carelessness you let a piece of short-cake dough grow sour, putin a little pearlash and water, warm a little butter, according to thesize of the dough, knead in a cup or two of sugar, (two cups, unlessit is a very small bit, ) two or three spoonfuls of ginger, and alittle rose-water Knead it up thoroughly, roll it out on a flat pan, and bake it twenty minutes. Every thing mixed with pearlash should beput in the oven immediately. 

CUP CAKE. 

Cup cake is about as good as pound cake, and is cheaper. One cup ofbutter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, and four eggs, wellbeat together, and baked in pans or cups. Bake twenty minutes, and nomore. 

TEA CAKE. 

There is a kind of tea cake still cheaper. Three cups of sugar, threeeggs, one cup of butter, one cup of milk, a spoonful of dissolvedpearlash, and four cups of flour, well beat up. If it is so stiff itwill not stir easily, add a little more milk. 

CIDER CAKE. 

Cider cake is very good, to be baked in small loaves. One pound anda half of flour, half a pound of sugar, quarter of a pound of butter, half a pint of cider, one teaspoonful of pearlash; spice to yourtaste. Bake till it turns easily in the pans. I should think abouthalf an hour. 

ELECTION CAKE. 

Old-fashioned election cake is made of four pounds of flour; threequarters of a pound of butter; four eggs; one pound of sugar; onepound of currants, or raisins if you choose; half a pint of goodyeast; wet it with milk as soft as it can be and be moulded on aboard. Set to rise over night in winter; in warm weather, three hoursis usually enough for it to rise. A loaf, the size of common flourbread, should bake three quarters of an hour. 

SPONGE CAKE. 

The nicest way to make sponge cake, or diet-bread, is the weightof six eggs in sugar, the weight of four eggs in flour, a littlerose-water. The whites and yolks should be beaten thoroughly andseparately. The eggs and sugar should be well beaten together; butafter the flour is sprinkled, it should not be stirred a moment longerthan is necessary to mix it well; it should be poured into the pan, and got into the oven with all possible expedition. Twenty minutes isabout long enough to bake. Not to be put in till some other articleshave taken off the first few minutes of furious heat. 

WEDDING CAKE. 

Good common wedding cake may be made thus: Four pounds of flour, threepounds of butter, three pounds of sugar, four pounds of currants, two pounds of raisins, twenty-four eggs, half a pint of brandy, orlemon-brandy, one ounce of mace, and three nutmegs. A little molassesmakes it dark colored, which is desirable. Half a pound of citronimproves it; but it is not necessary. To be baked two hours and ahalf, or three hours. After the oven is cleared, it is well to shutthe door for eight or ten minutes, to let the violence of the heatsubside, before cake or bread is put in. 

To make icing for your wedding cake, beat the whites of eggs to anentire froth, and to each egg add five teaspoonfuls of sifted loafsugar, gradually; beat it a great while. Put it on when your cake ishot, or cold, as is most convenient. It will dry in a warm room, ashort distance from a gentle fire, or in a warm oven. 

LOAF CAKE. 

Very good loaf cake is made with two pounds of flour, half a poundof sugar, quarter of a pound of butter, two eggs, a gill of sweetemptings, half an ounce of cinnamon, or cloves, a large spoonful oflemon-brandy, or rose-water; if it is not about as thin as goad whitebread dough, add a little milk. A common sized loaf is made by theseproportions. Bake about three quarters of an hour. 

A handy way to make loaf cake is, to take about as much of your whitebread dough, or sponge, as you think your pan will hold, and put itinto a pan in which you have already beat up three or four eggs, sixounces of butter warmed, and half a pound of sugar, a spoonful ofrose-water, little sifted cinnamon, or cloves. The materials should bewell mixed and beat before the dough is put in; and then it should beall kneaded well together, about as stiff as white bread. Put in halfa pound of currants, or raisins, with the butter, if you choose. Itshould Stand in the pan two or three hours to rise; and be baked aboutthree quarters of an hour, if the pan is a common sized bread-pan. 

If you have loaf cake slightly injured by time, or by being kept inthe cellar, cut off all appearance of mould from the outside, wipeit with a clean cloth, and wet it well with strong brandy and watersweetened with sugar; then put it in your oven, and let the heatstrike through it, for fifteen or twenty minutes. Unless very bad, this will restore the sweetness. 

CARAWAY CAKES. 

Take one pound of flour, three quarters of a pound of sugar, half apound of butter, a glass of rose-water, four eggs, and half a tea-cupof caraway seed, --the materials well rubbed together and beat up. Dropthem from a spoon on tin sheets, and bake them brown in rather a slowoven. Twenty minutes, or half an hour, is enough to bake them. 

DOUGH-NUTS. 

For dough-nuts, take one pint of flour, half a pint of sugar, threeeggs, a piece of butter as big as an egg, and a tea-spoonful ofdissolved pearlash. When you have no eggs, a gill of lively emptingswill do; but in that case, they must be made over night. Cinnamon, rose-water, or lemon-brandy, if you have it. If you use part lardinstead of butter, add a little salt. Not put in till the fat is veryhot. The more fat they are fried in, the less they will soak fat. 

PANCAKES. 

Pancakes should be made of half a pint of milk, three great spoonfulsof sugar, one or two eggs, a tea-spoonful of dissolved pearlash, spiced with cinnamon, or cloves, a little salt, rose-water, orlemon-brandy, just as you happen to have it. Flour should be stirredin till the spoon moves round with difficulty. If they are thin, theyare apt to soak fat. Have the fat in your skillet boiling hot, anddrop them in with a spoon. Let them cook till thoroughly brown. Thefat which is left is good to shorten other cakes. The more fat theyare cooked in, the less they soak. 

If you have no eggs, or wish to save them, use the above ingredients, and supply the place of eggs by two or three spoonfuls of livelyemptings; but in this case they must be made five or six hoursbefore they are cooked, --and in winter they should stand all night. A spoonful or more of N. E. Rum makes pancakes light. Flip makes verynice pancakes. In this case, nothing is done but to sweeten your mugof beer with molasses; put in one glass of N. E. Rum; heat it till itfoams, by putting in a hot poker; and stir it up with flour as thickas other pancakes. 

FRITTERS. 

Flat-jacks, or fritters, do not differ from pancakes, only inbeing mixed softer. The same ingredients are used in about the samequantities; only most people prefer to have no sweetening put in them, because they generally have butter, sugar, and nutmeg, put on them, after they are done. Excepting for company, the nutmeg can be welldispensed with. They are not to be boiled in fat, like pancakes; thespider or griddle should be well greased, and the cakes poured on aslarge as you want them, when it is quite hot; when it gets brown onone side, to be turned over upon the other. Fritters are better to bebaked quite thin. Either flour, Indian, or rye, is good. 

Sour beer, with a spoonful of pearlash, is good both for pancakes andfritters. 

If you have any cold rice left, it is nice to break it up fine in warmmilk; put in a little salt; after you have put milk enough for thecakes you wish to make, (a half pint, Or more, ) stir in flour tillit is thick enough to pour for fritters. It does very well without anegg; but better with one. To be fried like other flat-jacks. Sugar andnutmeg are to be put on when they are buttered, if you like. 

SHORT CAKE. 

If you have sour milk, or butter-milk, it is well to make it intoshort cakes for tea. Rub in a very small bit of shortening, or threetable-spoonfuls of cream, with the flour; put in a tea-spoonful ofstrong dissolved pearlash, into your sour milk, and mix your cakepretty stiff, to bake in the spider, on a few embers. 

When people have to buy butter and lard, short cakes are noteconomical food. A half pint of flour will make a cake large enough tocover a common plate. Rub in thoroughly a bit of shortening as big asa hen's egg; put in a tea-spoonful of dissolved pearlash; wet it withcold water; knead it stiff enough to roll well, to bake on a plate, or in a spider. It should bake as quick as it can, and not burn. Thefirst side should stand longer to the fire than the last. 

INDIAN CAKE. 

Indian cake, or bannock, is sweet and cheap food. One quart of siftedmeal, two great spoonfuls of molasses, two tea-spoonfuls of salt, abit of shortening half as big as a hen's egg, stirred together; makeit pretty moist with scalding water, put it into a well greased pan, smooth over the surface with a spoon, and bake it brown on both sides, before a quick fire. A little stewed pumpkin, scalded with the meal, improves the cake. Bannock split and dipped in butter makes very nicetoast. A richer Indian cake may be made by stirring one egg to a halfpint of milk, sweetened with two great spoonfuls of molasses; a littleginger, or cinnamon; Indian stirred in till it is just about thickenough to pour. Spider or bake-kettle well greased; cake poured in, covered up, baked half an hour, or three quarters, according tothe thickness of the cake. If you have sour milk, or butter-milk, it is very nice for this kind of cake; the acidity corrected by atea-spoonful of dissolved pearlash. It is a rule never to use pearlashfor Indian, unless to correct the sourness of milk; it injures theflavor of the meal. 

Nice suet improves all kinds of Indian cakes very much. 

 * * * * *

Two cups of Indian meal, one table-spoonful molasses, two cups milk, a little salt, a handful flour, a little saleratus, mixed up thin, and poured into a buttered bake-kettle, hung over the fire uncovered, until you can bear your finger upon it, and then set down before thefire. Bake half an hour. 

 * * * * *

BREAD, YEAST, &C. 

It is more difficult to give rules for making bread than for anythingelse; it depends so much on judgment and experience. In summer, breadshould be mixed with cold water; during a chilly, damp spell, thewater should be slightly warm; in severe cold weather, it should bemixed quite warm, and set in a warm place during the night. If youryeast is new and lively, a small quantity will make the bread rise;if it be old and heavy, it will take more. In these things I believewisdom must be gained by a few mistakes. 

Six quarts of meal will make two good sized loaves of _Brown Bread_. Some like to have it half Indian meal and half rye meal; others preferit one third Indian, and two thirds rye. Many mix their brown breadover night; but there is no need of it; and it is more likely to sour, particularly in summer. If you do mix it the night before you bake it, you must not put in more than half the yeast I am about to mention, unless the weather is intensely cold. The meal should be siftedseparately. Put the Indian in your bread-pan, sprinkle a little saltamong it, and wet it thoroughly with scalding water. Stir it up whileyou are scalding it. Be sure and have hot water enough; for Indianabsorbs a great deal of water. When it is cool, pour in your rye; addtwo gills of lively yeast, and mix it with water as stiff as you canknead it. Let it stand an hour and a half, in a cool place in summer, on the hearth in winter. It should be put into a very hot oven, andbaked three or four hours. It is all the better for remaining in theoven over night. 

_Flour Bread_ should have a sponge set the night before. The spongeshould be soft enough to pour; mixed with water, warm or cold, according to the temperature of the weather. One gill of lively yeastis enough to put into sponge for two loaves. I should judge aboutthree pints of sponge would be right for two loaves. The warmth of theplace in which the sponge is set, should be determined by the coldnessof the weather. If your sponge looks frothy in the morning, it is asign your bread will be good; if it does not rise, stir in a littlemore emptings; if it rises too much, taste of it, to see if it has anyacid taste; if so, put in a tea-spoonful of pearlash when you mould inyour flour; be sure the pearlash is well dissolved in water; if thereare little lumps, your bread will be full of bitter spots. About anhour before your oven is ready, stir in flour into your sponge till itis stiff enough to lay on a well floured board or table. Knead it uppretty stiff, and put it into well greased pans, and let it stand ina cool or warm place, according to the weather. If the oven is ready, put them in fifteen or twenty minutes after the dough begins to riseup and crack; if the oven is not ready, move the pans to a coolerspot, to prevent the dough from becoming sour by too much rising. Common sized loaves will bake in three quarters of an hour. If theyslip easily in the pans, it is a sign they are done. Some people donot set a soft sponge for flour bread; they knead it up all ready toput in the pans the night before, and leave it to rise. White breadand pies should not be set in the oven until the brown bread and beanshave been in half an hour. If the oven be too hot, it will bind thecrust so suddenly that the bread cannot rise; if it be too cold, thebread will fall. Flour bread should not be too stiff. 

Some people like one third Indian in their flour. Others like onethird rye; and some think the nicest of all bread is one third Indian, one third rye, and one third flour, made according to the directionsfor flour bread. When Indian is used, it should be salted, andscalded, before the other meal is put in. A mixture of other grains iseconomical when flour is high. 

_Dyspepsia Bread_. --The American Farmer publishes the followingreceipt for making bread, which has proved highly salutary to personsafflicted with that complaint, viz:--Three quarts unbolted wheat meal;one quart soft water, warm, but not hot; one gill of fresh yeast; onegill of molasses, or not, as may suit the taste; one tea-spoonful ofsaleratus. 

This will make two loaves, and should remain in the oven at leastone hour; and when taken out, placed where they will cool gradually. Dyspepsia crackers can be made with unbolted flour, water andsaleratus. 

_To make Rice Bread_. --Boil a pint of rice soft; add a pint of leaven;then, three quarts of the flour; put it to rise in a tin or earthenvessel until it has risen sufficiently; divide it into three parts;then bake it as other bread, and you will have three large loaves. 

Heating ovens must be regulated by experience and observation. There is a difference in wood in giving out heat; there is a greatdifference in the construction of ovens; and when an oven is extremelycold, either on account of the weather, or want of use, it must beheated more. Economical people heat ovens with pine wood, fagots, brush, and such light stuff. If you have none but hard wood, you mustremember that it makes very hot coals, and therefore less of it willanswer. A smart fire for an hour and a half is a general rule forcommon sized family ovens, provided brown bread and beans are to bebaked. An hour is long enough to heat an oven for flour bread. Piesbear about as much heat as flour bread: pumpkin pies will bear more. If you are afraid your oven is too hot, throw in a little flour, andshut it up for a minute. If it scorches black immediately, the heat istoo furious; if it merely browns, it is right. Some people wet an oldbroom two or three times, and turn it round near the top of die oventill it dries; this prevents pies and cake from scorching on the top. When you go into a new house, heat your oven two or three times, toget it seasoned, before you use it. After the wood is burned, rake thecoals over the bottom of the oven, and let them lie a few minutes. 

Those who make their own bread should make yeast too. When bread isnearly out, always think whether yeast is in readiness; for it takesa day and night to prepare it. One handful of hops, with two or threehandsful of malt and rye bran, should be boiled fifteen or twentyminutes, in two quarts of water, then strained, hung on to boil again, and thickened with half a pint of rye and water stirred up quitethick, and a little molasses; boil it a minute or two, and then takeit off to cool. When just about lukewarm, put in a cupful of goodlively yeast, and set it in a cool place in summer, and warm placein winter. If it is too warm when you put in the old yeast, all thespirit will be killed. 

In summer, yeast sours easily; therefore make but little at a time. Bottle it when it gets well a working; it keeps better when the airis corked out. If you find it acid, but still spirited, put a littlepearlash to it, as you use it; but by no means put it into your breadunless it foams up bright and lively as soon as the pearlash mixeswith it. Never keep yeast in tin; it destroys its life. 

There is another method of making yeast, which is much easier, and Ithink quite as good. Stir rye and cold water, till you make a stiffthickening. Then pour in boiling water, and stir it all the time, tillyou make it as thin as the yeast you buy; three or four table spoonsheaping full are enough for a quart of water. When it gets about cold, put in half a pint of lively yeast. When it works well, bottle it; butif very lively, do not cork your bottle _very_ tight, for fear it willburst. Always think to make new yeast before the old is gone; so thatyou may have some to work with. Always wash and scald your bottleclean after it has contained sour yeast. Beware of freezing yeast. 

Milk yeast is made quicker than any other. A pint of new milk with atea-spoonful of salt, and a large spoon of flour stirred in, set bythe fire to keep lukewarm, will make yeast fit for use in an hour. Twice the quantity of common yeast is necessary, and unless used soonis good for nothing. Bread made of this yeast dries sooner. It isconvenient in summer, when one wants to make biscuits suddenly. 

A species of leaven may be made that will keep any length of time. Three ounces of hops in a pail of water boiled down to a quart; strainit, and stir in a quart of rye meal while boiling hot. Cool it, andadd half a pint of good yeast; after it has risen a few hours, thickenit with Indian meal stiff enough to roll out upon a board; then put itin the sun and air a few days to dry. A piece of this cake two inchessquare, dissolved in warm water, and thickened with a little flour, will make a large loaf of bread. 

Potatoes make very good yeast. Mash three large potatoes fine; poura pint of boiling water over them; when almost cold, stir in twospoonfuls of flour, two of molasses, and a cup of good yeast. Thisyeast should be used while new. 

 * * * * *

PRESERVES, &C. 

Economical people will seldom use preserves, except for sickness. They are unhealthy, expensive, and useless to those who are well. Barberries preserved in molasses are very good for common use. Boilthe molasses, skim it, throw in the barberries, and simmer them tillthey are soft. If you wish to lay by a few for sickness, preserve themin sugar by the same rule as other preserves. Melt the sugar, skim it, throw in the barberries; when done soft, take them out, and throw inothers. 

A pound of sugar to a pound of fruit is the rule for all preserves. The sugar should be melted over a fire moderate enough not to scorchit. When melted, it should be skimmed clean, and the fruit droppedin to simmer till it is soft. Plums, and things of which the skin isliable to be broken, do better to be put in little jars, with theirweight of sugar, and the jars set in a kettle of boiling water, tillthe fruit is done. See the water is not so high as to boil into thejars. 

When you put preserves in jars, lay a white paper, thoroughly wetwith brandy, flat upon the surface of the preserves, and cover themcarefully from the air. If they begin to mould, scald them by settingthem in the oven till boiling hot. Glass is much better than earthenfor preserves; they are not half as apt to ferment. 

CURRANT JELLY. 

Currant jelly is a useful thing for sickness. If it be necessary towash your currants, be sure they are thoroughly drained, or your jellywill be thin. Break them up with a pestle, and squeeze them througha cloth. Put a pint of clean sugar to a pint of juice, and boil itslowly, till it becomes ropy. Great care must be taken not to do ittoo fast; it is spoiled by being scorched. It should be frequentlyskimmed while simmering. If currants are put in a jar, and kept inboiling water, and cooked before they are strained, they are morelikely to keep a long time without fermenting. 

CURRANT WINE. 

Those who have more currants than they have money, will do well to useno wine but of their own manufacture. Break and squeeze the currants, put three pounds and a half of sugar to two quarts of juice andtwo quarts of water. Put in a keg or barrel. Do not close the bungtight for three or four days, that the air may escape while it isfermenting. After it is done fermenting, close it up tight. Whereraspberries are plenty, it is a great improvement to use halfraspberry juice, and half currant juice. Brandy is unnecessary whenthe above-mentioned proportions are observed. It should not be usedunder a year or two. Age improves it. 

RASPBERRY SHRUB. 

Raspberry shrub mixed with water is a pure, delicious drink forsummer; and in a country where raspberries are abundant, it is goodeconomy to make it answer instead of Port and Catalonia wine. Putraspberries in a pan, and scarcely cover them with strong vinegar. Adda pint of sugar to a pint of juice; (of this you can judge by firsttrying your pan to see how much it holds;) scald it, skim it, andbottle it when cold. 

COFFEE. 

As substitutes for coffee, some use dry brown bread crusts, and roastthem; others soak rye grain in rum, and roast it; others roast peas inthe same way as coffee. None of these are very good; and peas so usedare considered unhealthy. Where there is a large family of apprenticesand workmen, and coffee is very dear, it may be worth while to use thesubstitutes, or to mix them half and half with coffee; but, after all, the best economy is to go without. 

French coffee is so celebrated, that it may be worth while to tell howit is made; though no prudent housekeeper will make it, unless she hasboarders, who are willing to pay for expensive cooking. 

The coffee should be roasted more than is common with us; it shouldnot hang drying over the fire, but should be roasted quick; it shouldbe ground soon after roasting, and used as soon as it is ground. Thosewho pride themselves on first-rate coffee, burn it and grind itevery morning. The powder should be placed in the coffee-pot in theproportions of an ounce to less than a pint of water. The water shouldbe poured upon the coffee boiling hot. The coffee should be kept atthe boiling point; but should not boil. Coffee made in this way mustbe made in a biggin. It would not be clear in a common coffee-pot. 

A bit of fish-skin as big as a ninepence, thrown into coffee whileit is boiling, tends to make it clear. If you use it just as it comesfrom the salt-fish, it will be apt to give an unpleasant taste to thecoffee: it should be washed clean as a bit of cloth, and hung up tillperfectly dry. The white of eggs, and even egg shells are good tosettle coffee. Rind of salt pork is excellent. 

Some people think coffee is richer and clearer for having a bit ofsweet butter, or a whole egg, dropped in and stirred, just before itis done roasting, and ground up, shell and all, with the coffee. Butthese things are not economical, except on a farm, where butter andeggs are plenty. A half a gill of cold water, poured in after you takeyour coffee-pot off the fire, will _usually_ settle the coffee. 

If you have not cream for coffee, it is a very great improvement toboil your milk, and use it while hot. 

CHOCOLATE. 

Many people boil chocolate in a coffee-pot; but I think it is betterto boil it in a skillet, or something open. A piece of chocolate aboutas big as a dollar is the usual quantity for a quart of water; butsome put in more, and some less. When it boils, pour in as much milkas you like and let them boil together three or four minutes. It ismuch richer with the milk boiled in it. Put the sugar in either beforeor after, as you please. Nutmeg improves it. The chocolate should bescraped fine before it is put into the water. 

TEA. 

Young Hyson is supposed to be a more profitable tea than Hyson;but though the _quantity_ to a pound is greater, it has not somuch _strength_. In point of economy, therefore, there is not muchdifference between them. Hyson tea and Souchong mixed together, halfand half, is a pleasant beverage, and is more healthy than greentea alone. Be sure that water boils before it is poured upon tea. Atea-spoonful to each person, and one extra thrown in, is a good rule. Steep ten or fifteen minutes. 

PICKLES. 

Musk-melons should be picked for mangoes, when they are green andhard. They should be cut open after they have been in salt water tendays, the inside scraped out clean, and filled with mustard-seed, allspice, horseradish, small onions, &c. , and sewed up again. Scaldingvinegar poured upon them. 

When walnuts are so ripe that a pin will go into them easily, they areready for pickling. They should be soaked twelve days in very strongcold salt and water, which has been boiled and skimmed. A quantityof vinegar, enough to cover them well, should be boiled with wholepepper, mustard-seed, small onions, or garlic, cloves, ginger, andhorseradish; this should not be poured upon them till it is cold. Theyshould be pickled a few months before they are eaten. To be kept closecovered; for the air softens them. The liquor is an excellent catsupto be eaten on fish. 

Put peppers into strong salt and water, until they become yellow;then turn them green by keeping them in warm salt and water, shiftingthem every two days. Then drain them, and pour scalding vinegar overthem. A bag of mustard-seed is an improvement. If there is mother invinegar, scald and strain it. 

Cucumbers should be in weak brine three or four days after they arepicked; then they should be put in a tin or wooden pail of cleanwater, and kept slightly warm in the kitchen corner for two orthree days. Then take as much vinegar as you think your pickle jarwill hold; scald it with pepper, allspice, mustard-seed, flag-root, horseradish, &c. , if you happen to have them; half of them will spicethe pickles very well. Throw in a bit of alum as big as a walnut;this serves to make pickles hard. Skim the vinegar clean, and pourit scalding hot upon the cucumbers. Brass vessels are not healthyfor preparing anything acid. Red cabbages need no other pickling thanscalding, spiced vinegar poured upon them, and suffered to remaineight or ten days before you eat them. Some people think it improvesthem to keep them in salt and water twenty-four hours before they arepickled. 

If you find your pickles soft and insipid, it is owing to the weaknessof the vinegar. Throw away the vinegar, (or keep it to clean yourbrass kettles, ) then cover your pickles with strong, scalding vinegar, into which a little allspice, ginger, horseradish and alum have beenthrown. By no means omit a pretty large bit of alum. Pickles attendedto in this way, will keep for years, and be better and better everyyear. 

Some people prefer pickled nasturtion-seed to capers. They shouldbe kept several days after they are gathered, and then covered withboiling vinegar, and bottled when cold. They are not fit to be eatenfor some months. 

Martinoes are prepared in nearly the same way as other pickles. Thesalt and water in which they are put, two or three days previous topickling, should be changed every day; because martinoes are veryapt to become soft. No spice should be used but allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. The martinoes and the spice should be scalded _in_ thevinegar, instead of pouring the vinegar _over_ the martinoes. 

BEER. 

Beer is a good family drink. A handful of hops, to a pailful ofwater, and a half-pint of molasses, makes good hop beer. Spruce mixedwith hops is pleasanter than hops alone. Boxberry, fever-bush, sweetfern, and horseradish make a good and healthy diet-drink. The winterevergreen, or rheumatism weed, thrown in, is very beneficial tohumors. Be careful and not mistake kill-lamb for winter-evergreen;they resemble each other. Malt mixed with a few hops makes a weak kindof beer; but it is cool and pleasant; it needs less molasses than hopsalone. The rule is about the same for all beer. Boil the ingredientstwo or three hours, pour in a half-pint of molasses to a pailful, while the beer is scalding hot. Strain the beer, and when aboutlukewarm, put a pint of lively yeast to a barrel. Leave the bung loosetill the beer is done working; you can ascertain this by observingwhen the froth subsides. If your family be large, and the beer will bedrank rapidly, it may as well remain in the barrel; but if your familybe small, fill what bottles you have with it; it keeps better bottled. A raw potato or two, cut up and thrown in, while the ingredients areboiling, is said to make beer spirited. 

Ginger beer is made in the following proportions:--One cup of ginger, one pint of molasses, one pail and a half of water, and a cup oflively yeast. Most people scald the ginger in half a pail of water, and then fill it up with a pailful of cold; but in very hot weathersome people stir it up cold. Yeast must not be put in till it is cold, or nearly cold. If not to be drank within twenty-four hours, it mustbe bottled as soon as it works. 

Table beer should be drawn off into _stone_ jugs, with a lump ofwhite sugar in each, securely corked. It is brisk and pleasant, andcontinues good several months. 

Potato cheese is much sought after in various parts of Europe. I donot know whether it is worth seeking after, or not. The following isthe receipt for making:--Select good white potatoes, boil them, and, when cold, peel and reduce them to a pulp with a rasp or mortar; tofive pounds of this pulp, which must be very uniform and homogeneous, add a pint of sour milk and the requisite portion of salt; knead thewhole well, cover it, and let it remain three or four days, accordingto the season; then knead it afresh, and place the cheeses in smallbaskets, when they will part with their superfluous moisture; dry themin the shade, and place them in layers in large pots or kegs, wherethey may remain a fortnight. The older they are, the finer theybecome. 

This cheese has the advantage of never engendering worms, and of beingpreserved fresh for many years, provided it is kept in a dry place, and in well closed vessels. 

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GENERAL MAXIMS FOR HEALTH. 

Rise early. Eat simple food. Take plenty of exercise. Never fear alittle fatigue. Let not children be dressed in tight clothes; it isnecessary their limbs and muscles should have full play, if you wishfor either health or beauty. 

Avoid the necessity of a physician, if you can, by careful attentionto your diet. Eat what best agrees with your system, and resolutelyabstain from what hurts you, however well you may like it. A few days'abstinence, and cold water for a beverage, has driven off many anapproaching disease. 

If you find yourself really ill, send for a good physician. Havenothing to do with quacks; and do not tamper with quack medicines. Youdo not know what they are; and what security have you that they knowwhat they are?

Wear shoes that are large enough. It not only produces corns, butmakes the feet misshapen, to cramp them. 

Wash very often, and rub the skin thoroughly with a hard brush. 

Let those who love to be invalids drink strong green tea, eat pickles, preserves, and rich pastry. As far as possible, eat and sleep atregular hours. 

Wash the eyes thoroughly in cold water every morning. Do not read orsew at twilight, or by too dazzling a light. If far-sighted, read withrather less light, and with the book somewhat nearer to the eye, thanyou desire. If nearsighted, read with a book as far off as possible. Both these imperfections may be diminished in this way. 

Clean teeth in pure water two or three times a day; but, above all, besure to have them clean before you go to bed. 

Have your bed-chamber well aired; and have fresh bed linen every week. Never have the wind blowing directly upon you from open windows duringthe night. It is _not_ healthy to sleep in heated rooms. 

Let children have their bread and milk before they have been long up. Cold water and a run in the fresh air before breakfast. 

Too frequent use of an ivory comb injures the hair. Thorough combing, washing in suds, or N. E. Rum, and thorough brushing, will keep itin order; and the washing does not injure the hair, as is generallysupposed. Keep children's hair cut close until ten or twelve yearsold; it is better for health and the beauty of the hair. Do not sleepwith hair frizzled, or braided. Do not make children cross-eyed, byhaving hair hang about their foreheads, where they see it continually. 

 * * * * *

HINTS TO PERSONS OF MODERATE FORTUNE

[FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE MASSACHUSETTS JOURNAL. ]

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When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks. --SHAKSPEARE. 

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FURNITURE. 

The prevailing evil of the present day is extravagance. I know verywell that the old are too prone to preach about modern degeneracy, whether they have cause or not; but, laugh as we may at the sageadvice of our fathers, it is too plain that our present expensivehabits are productive of much domestic unhappiness, and injuriousto public prosperity. Our wealthy people copy all the foolish andextravagant caprice of European fashion, without considering that wehave not their laws of inheritance among us; and that our frequentchanges of policy render property far more precarious here than in theold world. However, it is not to the rich I would speak. They have anundoubted right to spend their thousands as they please; and if theyspend them ridiculously, it is consoling to reflect that they must, in some way or other, benefit the poorer classes. People of moderatefortunes have likewise an unquestioned right to dispose of theirhundreds as they please; but I would ask, Is it _wise_ to risk yourhappiness in a foolish attempt to keep up with the opulent? Of what_use_ is the effort which takes so much of your time, and _all_ ofyour income? Nay, if any unexpected change in affairs should depriveyou of a few yearly hundreds, you will find your expenses have_exceeded_ your income; thus the foundation of an accumulating debtwill be laid, and your family will have formed habits but poorlycalculated to save you from the threatened ruin. Not one valuablefriend will be gained by living beyond your means, and old age will beleft to comparative, if not to utter poverty. 

There is nothing in which the extravagance of the present day strikesme so forcibly as the manner in which our young people of moderatefortune furnish their houses. 

A few weeks since, I called upon a farmer's daughter, who had latelymarried a young physician of moderate talents, and destitute offortune. Her father had given her, at her marriage, all he everexpected to give her: viz. Two thousand dollars. Yet the lower part ofher house was furnished with as much splendor as we usually find amongthe wealthiest. The whole two thousand had been expended upon Brusselscarpets, alabaster vases, mahogany chairs, and marble tables. Iafterwards learned that the more useful household utensils had beenforgotten; and that, a few weeks after her wedding, she was actuallyobliged to apply to her husband for money to purchase baskets, ironspoons, clothes-lines, &c. ; and her husband, made irritable by thewant of money, pettishly demanded why she had bought so many thingsthey did not want. Did the doctor gain any patients, or she a singlefriend, by offering their visiters water in richly-cut glass tumblers, or serving them with costly damask napkins, instead of plain softtowels? No; their foolish vanity made them less happy, and no morerespectable. 

Had the young lady been content with Kidderminster carpets, andtasteful vases of her own making, she might have put _one_ thousanddollars at interest; and had she obtained six per cent. , it would haveclothed her as well as the wife of any man, who depends merely uponhis own industry, ought to be clothed. This would have saved muchdomestic disquiet; for, after all, human nature is human nature; and awife is never better beloved, because she teases for money. 

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EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS. 

There is no subject so much connected with individual happiness andnational prosperity as the education of daughters. It is a true, andtherefore an old remark, that the situation and prospects of a countrymay be justly estimated by the character of its women; and we allknow how hard it is to engraft upon a woman's character habits andprinciples to which she was unaccustomed in her girlish days. It isalways extremely difficult, and sometimes utterly impossible. Is thepresent education of young ladies likely to contribute to their ownultimate happiness, or to the welfare of the country? There are manyhonorable exceptions; but we do think the general tone of femaleeducation is bad. The greatest and most universal error is, teachinggirls to exaggerate the importance of getting married; and of courseto place an undue importance upon the polite attentions of gentlemen. It was but a few days since, I heard a pretty and sensible girl say, 'Did you ever see a man so ridiculously fond of his daughters as Mr. ----? He is all the time with them. The other night, at the party, I went and took Anna away by mere force; for I knew she must feeldreadfully to have her father waiting upon her all the time, while theother girls were talking with the beaux. ' And another young friend ofmine said, with an air most laughably serious, 'I don't think Harrietand Julia enjoyed themselves at all last night. Don't you think, nobody but their _brother_ offered to hand them to the supper-room?'

That a mother should wish to see her daughters happily married, isnatural and proper; that a young lady should be pleased with politeattentions is likewise natural and innocent; but this undue anxiety, this foolish excitement about showing off the attentions of somebody, no matter whom, is attended with consequences seriously injurious. Itpromotes envy and rivalship; it leads our young girls to spend theirtime between the public streets, the ball room, and the toilet; and, worst of all, it leads them to contract engagements, without anyknowledge of their own hearts, merely for the sake of being married assoon as their companions. When married, they find themselves ignorantof the important duties of domestic life; and its quiet pleasuressoon grow tiresome to minds worn out by frivolous excitements. If theyremain unmarried, their disappointment and discontent are, of course, in proportion to their exaggerated idea of the eclat attendant uponhaving a lover. The evil increases in a startling ratio; for thesegirls, so injudiciously educated, will, nine times out of ten, make injudicious mothers, aunts, and friends; thus follies will beaccumulated unto the third and fourth generation. Young ladies shouldbe taught that usefulness is happiness, and that all other things arebut incidental. With regard to matrimonial speculations, they shouldbe taught nothing! Leave the affections to nature and to truth, andall will end well. How many can I at this moment recollect, who havemade themselves unhappy by marrying for the sake of the _name_ ofbeing married! How many do I know, who have been instructed to suchwatchfulness in the game, that they have lost it by trumping their owntricks!

One great cause of the vanity, extravagance and idleness that areso fast growing upon our young ladies, is the absence of _domesticeducation_. By domestic education, I do not mean the sending daughtersinto the kitchen some half dozen times, to weary the patience of thecook, and to boast of it the next day in the parlor. I mean twoor three years spent with a mother, assisting her in her duties, instructing brothers and sisters, and taking care of their ownclothes. This is the way to make them happy, as well as good wives;for, being early accustomed to the duties of life, they will sitlightly as well as gracefully upon them. 

But what time do modern girls have for the formation of quiet, domestic habits? Until sixteen they go to school; sometimes theseyears are judiciously spent, and sometimes they are half wasted;too often they are spent in acquiring the _elements_ of a thousandsciences, without being thoroughly acquainted with any; or in avariety of accomplishments of very doubtful value to people ofmoderate fortune. As soon as they leave school, (and sometimesbefore, ) they begin a round of balls and parties, and staying withgay young friends. Dress and flattery take up all their thoughts. Whattime have they to learn to be useful? What time have they to cultivatethe still and gentle affections, which must, in every situationof life, have such an important effect on a woman's character andhappiness?

As far as parents can judge what will be a daughter's station, education should be adapted to it; but it is well to remember that itis always easy to know how to spend riches, and always safe to knowhow to bear poverty. 

A superficial acquaintance with such accomplishments as music anddrawing is useless and undesirable. They should not be attemptedunless there is taste, talent, and time enough to attain excellence. Ihave frequently heard young women of moderate fortune say, 'I have notopened my piano these five years. I wish I had the money expended uponit. If I had employed as much time in learning useful things, I shouldhave been better fitted for the cares of my family. '

By these remarks I do not mean to discourage an attention tothe graces of life. Gentility and taste are always lovely in allsituations. But good things, carried to excess, are often productiveof bad consequences. When accomplishments and dress interfere withthe duties and permanent happiness of life, they are unjustifiable anddispleasing; but where there is a solid foundation in mind and heart, all those elegancies are but becoming ornaments. 

Some are likely to have more use for them than others; and they arejustified in spending more time and money upon them. But no one shouldbe taught to consider them valuable for mere parade and attraction. Making the education of girls such a series of 'man-traps, ' makes thewhole system unhealthy, by poisoning the motive. 

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In tracing evils of any kind, which exist in society, we must, after all, be brought up against the great cause of allmischief--_mismanagement in education_; and this remark applieswith peculiar force to the leading fault of the present day, viz. Extravagance. It is useless to expend our ingenuity in purifying thestream, unless the fountain be cleansed. If young men and youngwomen are brought up to consider frugality contemptible, and industrydegrading, it is vain to expect they will at once become prudent anduseful, when the cares of life press heavily upon them. Generallyspeaking, when misfortune comes upon those who have been accustomed tothoughtless expenditure, it sinks them to discouragement, or, what isworse, drives them to desperation. It is true there are exceptions. There are a few, an honorable few, who, late in life, with Romanseverity of resolution, learn the long-neglected lesson of economy. But how small is the number, compared with the whole mass of thepopulation! And with what bitter agony, with what biting humiliation, is the hard lesson often learned! How easily might it have beenengrafted on _early habits_, and naturally and gracefully 'grown withtheir growth, and strengthened with their strength!'

Yet it was but lately that I visited a family, not of 'moderatefortune, ' but of no fortune at all; one of those people who live'nobody knows how;' and I found a young girl, about sixteen, practising on the piano, while an elderly lady beside her was darningher stockings. I was told (for the mother was proud of bringing up herchild so genteelly) that the daughter had almost forgotten how tosew, and that a woman was hired into the house to do her mending! 'Butwhy, ' said I, 'have you suffered your daughter to be ignorant of souseful an employment? If she is poor, the knowledge will be necessaryto her; if she is rich, it is the easiest thing in the world to lay itaside, if she chooses; she will merely be a better judge whether herwork is well done by others. ' 'That is true, ' replied the mother; 'andI always meant she should learn; but she never has seemed to have anytime. When she was eight years old, she could put a shirt togetherpretty well; but since that, her music, and her dancing, and herschool, have taken up her whole time. I did mean she should learnsome domestic habits this winter; but she has so many visiters, and isobliged to go out so much, that I suppose I must give it up. I don'tlike to say too much about it; for, poor girl! she does so lovecompany, and she does so hate anything like care and confinement!_Now_ is her time to enjoy herself, you know. Let her take all thecomfort she can, while she is single!' 'But, ' said I, 'you wish herto marry some time or other; and, in all probability, she will marry. When will she learn how to perform the duties, which are necessaryand important to every mistress of a family?' 'Oh, she will learnthem when she is obliged to, ' answered the injudicious mother; 'at allevents, I am determined she shall enjoy herself while she is young. '

And this is the way I have often heard mothers talk! Yet, couldparents foresee the almost inevitable consequences of such a system, Ibelieve the weakest and vainest would abandon the false and dangeroustheory. What a lesson is taught a girl in that sentence, '_Lether enjoy herself all she can, while she is single_!' Instead ofrepresenting domestic life as the gathering place of the deepest andpurest affections; as the sphere of woman's _enjoyments_ as well as ofher _duties_; as, indeed, the whole world to her; that one pernicioussentence teaches a girl to consider matrimony desirable because 'agood match' is a triumph of vanity, and it is deemed respectable tobe 'well settled in the world;' but that it is a necessary sacrificeof her freedom and her gayety. And then how many affectionatedispositions have been trained into heartlessness, by being taughtthat the indulgence of indolence and vanity were necessary to theirhappiness; and that to have this indulgence, they _must_ marry money!But who that marries for money, in this land of precarious fortunes, can tell how soon they will lose the glittering temptation, to whichthey have been willing to sacrifice so much? And even if riches lastas long as life, the evil is not remedied. Education has given a wrongend and aim to their whole existence; they have been taught to lookfor happiness where it never can be found, viz. In the absence ofall occupation, or the unsatisfactory and ruinous excitement offashionable competition. 

The difficulty is, education does not usually point the female heartto its only true resting-place. That dear English word '_home_, 'is not half so powerful a talisman as '_the world_. ' Instead ofthe salutary truth, that happiness is _in_ duty, they are taught toconsider the two things totally distinct; and that whoever seeks one, must sacrifice the other. 

The fact is, our girls have no _home education_. When quite young, they are sent to schools where no feminine employments, no domestichabits, can be learned; and there they continue till they 'come out'into the world. After this, few find any time to arrange, and makeuse of, the mass of elementary knowledge they have acquired; and fewerstill have either leisure or taste for the inelegant, every-day dutiesof life. Thus prepared, they enter upon matrimony. Those early habits, which would have made domestic care a light and easy task, have neverbeen taught, for fear it would interrupt their happiness; and theresult is, that when cares come, as come they must, they find themmisery. I am convinced that indifference and dislike between husbandand wife are more frequently occasioned by this great error ineducation, than by any other cause. 

The bride is awakened from her delightful dream, in which carpets, vases, sofas, white gloves, and pearl earrings, are oddly jumbled upwith her lover's looks and promises. Perhaps she would be surprisedif she knew exactly how _much_ of the fascination of being engagedwas owing to the aforesaid inanimate concern. Be that as it will, sheis awakened by the unpleasant conviction that cares devolve upon her. And what effect does this produce upon her character? Do the holy andtender influences of domestic love render self-denial and exertion abliss? No! They would have done so, had she been _properly educated_;but now she gives way to unavailing fretfulness and repining; andher husband is at first pained, and finally disgusted, by hearing, 'I never knew what care was when I lived in my father's house. ' 'IfI were to live my life over again, I would remain single as long asI could, without the risk of being an old maid. ' How injudicious, howshort-sighted is the policy, which thus mars the whole happiness oflife, in order to make a few brief years more gay and brilliant! Ihave known many instances of domestic ruin and discord produced bythis mistaken indulgence of mothers. _I never knew but one, wherethe victim had moral courage enough to change all her early habits. _She was a young, pretty, and very amiable girl; but brought up to beperfectly useless; a rag baby would, to all intents and purposes, have been as efficient a partner. She married a young lawyer, withoutproperty, but with good and increasing practice. She meant to be agood wife, but she did not know how. Her wastefulness involved him indebt. He did not reproach, though he tried to convince and instructher. She loved him; and weeping replied, 'I try to do the best I can;but when I lived at home, mother always took care of everything. 'Finally, poverty came upon him 'like an armed man;' and he went intoa remote town in the Western States to teach a school. His wife foldedher hands, and cried; while he, weary and discouraged, actually camehome from school to cook his own supper. At last, his patience, andher real love for him, impelled her to exertion. She promised tolearn to be useful, if he would teach her. And she did learn! And thechange in her habits gradually wrought such a change in her husband'sfortune, that she might bring her daughters up in idleness, had notexperience taught her that economy, like grammar, is a very hard andtiresome study, after we are twenty years old. 

Perhaps some will think the evils of which I have been speaking areconfined principally to the rich; but I am convinced they extend toall classes of people. All manual employment is considered degrading;and those who are compelled to do it, try to conceal it. A few yearssince, very respectable young men at our colleges, cut their own wood, and blacked their own shoes. Now, how few, even of the sons of plainfarmers and industrious mechanics, have moral courage enough to dowithout a servant; yet when they leave college, and come out into thebattle of life, they _must_ do without servants; and in these timesit will be fortunate if one half of them get what is called 'a decentliving, ' even by rigid economy and patient toil. Yet I would not thatservile and laborious employment should be forced upon the young. I would merely have each one educated according to his probablesituation in life; and be taught that whatever is his duty, ishonorable; and that no merely external circumstance can in realityinjure true dignity of character. I would not cramp a boy's energiesby compelling him always to cut wood, or draw water; but I would teachhim not to be ashamed, should his companions happen to find him doingeither one or the other. A few days since, I asked a grocer's lad tobring home some articles I had just purchased at his master's. Thebundle was large; he was visibly reluctant to take it; and wished verymuch that I should send for it. This, however, was impossible; and hesubdued his pride; but when I asked him to take back an empty bottlewhich belonged to the store, he, with a mortified look, begged me todo it up neatly in a paper, that it might look like a small package. Is this boy likely to be happier for cherishing a foolish pride, whichwill forever be jarring against his duties? Is he in reality onewhit more respectable than the industrious lad who sweeps stores, orcarries bottles, without troubling himself with the idea that all theworld is observing his little unimportant self? For, in relation tothe rest of the world, each individual is unimportant; and he aloneis wise who forms his habits according to his own wants, his ownprospects, and his own principles. 

TRAVELLING AND PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. 

There is one kind of extravagance rapidly increasing in this country, which, in its effects on our purses and our _habits_, is one of theworst kinds of extravagance; I mean the rage for travelling, andfor public amusements. The good old home habits of our ancestors arebreaking up--it will be well if our virtue and our freedom do notfollow them! It is easy to laugh at such prognostics, --and we are wellaware that the virtue we preach is considered almost obsolete, --butlet any reflecting mind inquire how decay has begun in all republics, and then let them calmly ask themselves whether we are in no danger, in departing thus rapidly from the simplicity and industry of ourforefathers. 

Nations do not plunge _at once_ into ruin--governments do not change_suddenly_--the causes which bring about the final blow, are scarcelyperceptible in the beginning; but they increase in numbers, and inpower; they press harder and harder upon the energies and virtue of apeople; and the last steps only are alarmingly hurried and irregular. A republic without industry, economy, and integrity, is Samsonshorn of his locks. A luxurious and idle _republic_! Look at thephrase!--The words were never made to be married together; every bodysees it would be death to one of them. 

And are not _we_ becoming luxurious and idle? Look at our steamboats, and stages, and taverns! There you will find mechanics, who have leftdebts and employment to take care of themselves, while they go to takea peep at the great canal, or the opera-dancers. There you will finddomestics all agog for their wages-worth of travelling; why shouldthey look out for 'a rainy day?' There are hospitals enough to providefor them in sickness; and as for marrying, they have no idea of that, till they can find a man who will support them genteelly. There youwill find mothers, who have left the children at home with Betsey, while they go to improve their minds at the Mountain House, or theSprings. 

If only the rich did this, all would be well. They benefit others, anddo not injure themselves. In any situation, idleness is their curse, and uneasiness is the tax they must pay for affluence; but theirrestlessness is as great a benefit to the community as the motions ofPrince Esterhazy, when at every step the pearls drop from his coat. 

People of moderate fortune have just as good a right to travel as thewealthy; but is it not unwise? Do they not injure themselves and theirfamilies? You say travelling is cheap. So is staying at home. Besides, do you count _all_ the costs?

The money you pay for stages and steamboats is the smallest of theitems. There are clothes bought which would not otherwise be bought;those clothes are worn out and defaced twenty times as quick as theywould have been at home; children are perhaps left with domestics, or strangers; their health and morals, to say the least, under veryuncertain influence; your substance is wasted in your absence by thosewho have no self-interest to prompt them to carefulness; you form anacquaintance with a multitude of people, who will be sure to takeyour house in their way, when they travel next year; and finally, youbecome so accustomed to excitement, that home appears insipid, andit requires no small effort to return to the quiet routine of yourduties. And what do you get in return for all this? Some pleasantscenes, which will soon seem to you like a dream; some pleasant faces, which you will never see again; and much of crowd, and toil, and dust, and bustle. 

I once knew a family which formed a striking illustration of myremarks. The man was a farmer, and his wife was an active, capablewoman, with more of ambition than sound policy. Being in debt, theyresolved to take fashionable boarders from Boston, during the summerseason. These boarders, at the time of their arrival, were projectinga jaunt to the Springs; and they talked of Lake George crystals, andCanadian music, and English officers, and 'dark blue Ontario, ' withits beautiful little brood of _lakelets_, as Wordsworth would callthem; and how one lady was dressed superbly at Saratoga; and howanother was scandalized for always happening to drop her fan in thevicinity of the wealthiest beaux. All this fired the quiet imaginationof the good farmer's wife; and no sooner had the boarders departed toenjoy themselves in spite of heat, and dust, and fever-and-ague, thanshe stated her determination to follow them. 'Why have we not as gooda right to travel, as they have?' said she; 'they have paid us moneyenough to go to Niagara with; and it really is a shame for people tolive and die so ignorant of their own country. ' 'But then we want themoney to pay for that stock, which turned out unlucky, you know. ' 'Oh, that can be done next summer; we can always get boarders enough, andthose that will pay handsomely. Give the man a mortgage of the house, to keep him quiet till next summer. ' 'But what will you do with thechildren?' 'Sally is a very smart girl; I am sure she will take asgood care of them as if I were at home. '

To make a long story short, the farmer and his wife concluded to goto Quebec, just to show they had a _right_ to put themselves toinconvenience, if they pleased. They went; spent all their money; hada watch stolen from them in the steamboat; were dreadfully sea-sickoff Point Judith; came home tired, and dusty; found the babe sick, because Sally had stood at the door with it, one chilly, damp morning, while she was feeding the chickens; and the eldest girl screamingand screeching at the thoughts of going to bed, because Sally, inorder to bring her under her authority, had told her a frightful'raw-head-and-bloody-bones' story; the horse had broken into thegarden, and made wretched work with the vegetables; and fifty poundsof butter had become fit for the grease-pot, because the hoops of thefirkin had sprung, and Sally had so much to do, that she never thoughtof going to see whether the butter was covered with brine. 

After six or eight weeks, the children were pretty well restoredto orderly habits; and the wife, being really a notable and prudentwoman, resolved to make up for her lost butter and vegetables, bydoing without help through the winter. When summer came, they shouldhave boarders, she said; and sure enough, they had boarders in plenty;but not profitable ones. There were forty cousins, at whose housesthey had stopped; and twenty people who had been very polite to themon the way; and it being such a pleasant season, and _travelling socheap_, everyone of these people felt they had _a right_ to takea journey; and they could not help passing a day or two with theirfriends at the farm. One after another came, till the farmer couldbear it no longer. 'I tell you what, wife, ' said he, 'I am going tojail as fast as a man can go. If there is no other way of puttinga stop to this, I'll sell every bed in the house, except the one wesleep on. '

And sure enough, he actually did this; and when the forty-first cousincame down on a friendly visit, on account of what her other cousinshad told her about the cheapness of travelling, she was toldthey should be very happy to sleep on the floor, for the sake ofaccommodating her, for a night or two; but the truth was, they had butone bed in the house. This honest couple are now busy in paying offtheir debts, and laying by something for their old age. He facetiouslytells how he went to New York to have his watch stolen, and his bootsblacked like a looking glass; and she shows her Lake George diamondring, and tells how the steamboat was crowded, and how afraid she wasthe boiler would burst, and always ends by saying, 'After all, it wasa toil of pleasure. '

However, it is not our farmers, who are in the greatest danger of thisspecies of extravagance; for we look to that class of people, as thestrongest hold of republican simplicity, industry, and virtue. It isfrom adventurers, swindlers, broken down traders, --all that rapidlyincreasing class of idlers, too genteel to work, and too proud tobeg, --that we have most reason to dread examples of extravagance. Avery respectable tavern-keeper has lately been driven to establish arule, that no customer shall be allowed to rise from the table tillhe pays for his meal. 'I know it is rude to give such orders to honestmen, ' said he, 'and three years ago I would as soon cut off my handas have done it; but now, travelling is so cheap, that all sorts ofcharacters are on the move; and I find more than half of them will getaway, if they can, without paying a cent. '

With regard to public amusements, it is still worse. Rope-dancers, and opera-dancers, and all sorts of dancers, go through the country, making thousands as they go; while, from high to low, there is oneuniversal, despairing groan of 'hard times, ' 'dreadful gloomy times!'

These things ought not to be. People who have little to spend, shouldpartake sparingly of useless amusements; those who are in debtshould deny themselves entirely. Let me not be supposed to inculcateexclusive doctrines. I would have every species of enjoyment as opento the poor as to the rich; but I would have people consider well howthey are likely to obtain the greatest portion of happiness, takingthe whole of their lives into view; I would not have them sacrificepermanent respectability and comfort to present gentility and loveof excitement; above all, I caution them to beware that this love ofexcitement does not grow into a habit, till the fireside becomes adull place, and the gambling table and the bar-room finish what thetheatre began. 

If men would have women economical, they must be so themselves. Whatmotive is there for patient industry, and careful economy, when thesavings of a month are spent at one trip to Nahant, and more than thevalue of a much desired, but rejected dress, is expended during thestay of a new set of comedians? We make a great deal of talk aboutbeing republicans; if we are so in reality, we shall stay at home, to mind our business, and educate our children, so long as one or theother need our attention, or can suffer by our neglect. 

 * * * * *

PHILOSOPHY AND CONSISTENCY. 

Among all the fine things Mrs. Barbauld wrote, she never wroteanything better than her essay on the Inconsistency of HumanExpectations. 'Everything, ' says she, 'is marked at a settled price. Our time, our labor, our ingenuity, is so much ready money, whichwe are to lay out to the best advantage. Examine, compare, choose, reject; but stand to your own judgment; and do not, like children, when you have purchased one thing, repine that you do not possessanother, which you would not purchase. Would you be rich? Do you think_that_ the single point worth sacrificing everything else to? You maythen be rich. Thousands have become so from the lowest beginnings bytoil, and diligence, and attention to the minutest articles of expenseand profit. But you must give up the pleasures of leisure, of anunembarrassed mind, and of a free, unsuspicious temper. You must learnto do hard, if not unjust things; and as for the embarrassment of adelicate and ingenuous spirit, it is necessary for you to get rid ofit as fast as possible. You must not stop to enlarge your mind, polishyour taste, or refine your sentiments; but must keep on in one beatentrack, without turning aside to the right hand or the left. "But, "you say, "I cannot submit to drudgery like this; I feel a spirit aboveit. " 'Tis well; be above it then; only do not repine because you arenot rich. Is knowledge the pearl of price in your estimation? That toomay be purchased by steady application, and long, solitary hours ofstudy and reflection. "But, " says the man of letters, "what a hardshipis it that many an illiterate fellow, who cannot construe the motto onhis coach, shall raise a fortune, and make a figure, while I possessmerely the common conveniences of life. " Was it for fortune, then, that you grew pale over the midnight lamp, and gave the sprightlyyears of youth to study and reflection? You then have mistaken yourpath, and ill employed your industry. "What reward have I then for allmy labor?" What reward! A large comprehensive soul, purged from vulgarfears and prejudices, able to interpret the works of man and God. Aperpetual spring of fresh ideas, and the conscious dignity of superiorintelligence. Good Heaven! what other reward can you ask! "But is itnot a reproach upon the economy of Providence that such a one, who isa mean, dirty fellow, should have amassed wealth enough to buy half anation?" Not in the least. He made himself a mean, dirty fellow, forthat very end. He has paid his health, his conscience, and his libertyfor it. Do you envy him his bargain? Will you hang your head in hispresence, because he outshines you in equipage and show? Lift up yourbrow with a noble confidence, and say to yourself, "I have not thesethings, it is true; but it is because I have not desired, or soughtthem; it is because I possess something better. I have chosen my lot!I am content, and satisfied. " The most characteristic mark of a greatmind is to choose some one object, which it considers important, andpursue that object through life. If we expect the purchase, we mustpay the price. '

'There is a pretty passage in one of Lucian's dialogues, where Jupitercomplains to Cupid, that, though he has had so many intrigues, he wasnever sincerely beloved. "In order to be loved, " says Cupid, "you mustlay aside your aegis and your thunder-bolts; you must curl and perfumeyour hair, and place a garland on your head, and walk with a softstep, and assume a winning, obsequious deportment. " "But, " repliedJupiter, "I am not willing to resign so much of my dignity. " "Then, "returned Cupid, "leave off desiring to be loved. "'

These remarks by Mrs. Barbauld are full of sound philosophy. Who hasnot observed, in his circle of acquaintance, and in the recessesof his own heart, the same inconsistency of expectation, the samepeevishness of discontent. 

Says Germanicus, 'There is my dunce of a classmate has found hisway into Congress, and is living amid the perpetual excitement ofintellectual minds, while I am cooped up in an ignorant countryparish, obliged to be at the beck and call of every old woman, whohappens to feel uneasy in her mind. '

'Well, Germanicus, the road to political distinction was as open toyou as to him; why did you not choose it?' 'Oh, I could not consent tobe the tool of a party; to shake hands with the vicious, and flatterfools. It would gall me to the quick to hear my opponents accuse me ofactions I never committed, and of motives which worlds would not temptme to indulge. ' Since Germanicus is wise enough to know the whistlecosts more than it is worth, is he not unreasonable to murmur becausehe has not bought it?

Matrona always wears a discontented look when she hears the praises ofClio. 'I used to write her composition for her, when we were at schooltogether, ' says she; 'and now she is quite the idol of the literaryworld; while I am never heard of beyond my own family, unless some onehappens to introduce me as the friend of Clio. ' 'Why not write, then;and see if the world will not learn to introduce Clio as the friend ofMatrona?' 'I write! not for the world! I could not endure to pour mysoul out to an undiscerning multitude; I could not see my cherishedthoughts caricatured by some soulless reviewer, and my favoritefancies expounded by the matter-of-fact editor of some stupid paper. 'Why does Matrona envy what she knows costs so much, and is of solittle value?

Yet so it is, through all classes of society. All of us covet someneighbor's possession, and think our lot would have been happier, hadit been different from what it is. Yet most of us could obtain worldlydistinctions, if our habits and inclinations allowed us to pay theimmense price at which they must be purchased. True wisdom liesin finding out all the advantages of a situation in which we _are_placed, instead of imagining the enjoyments of one in which we are_not_ placed. 

Such philosophy is rarely found. The most perfect sample I ever metwas an old woman, who was apparently the poorest and most forlorn ofthe human species--so true is the maxim which all profess to believe, and which none act upon invariably, viz. That happiness does notdepend on outward circumstances. The wise woman, to whom I havealluded, _walks_ to Boston, from a distance of twenty-five or thirtymiles, to sell a bag of brown thread and stockings; and then patientlyfoots it back again with her little gains. Her dress, though tidy, isa grotesque collection of 'shreds and patches, ' coarse in the extreme. 'Why don't you come down in a wagon?' said I, when I observed that shewas soon to become a mother, and was evidently wearied with her longjourney. 'We h'an't got any horse, ' replied she; 'the neighbors arevery kind to me, but they can't spare their'n; and it would costas much to hire one, as all my thread will come to. ' 'You have ahusband--don't he do anything for you. ' 'He is a good man; he doesall he can; but he's a cripple and an invalid. He reels my yarn, and_specks_ the children's shoes. He's as kind a husband as a woman needto have. ' 'But his being a cripple is a heavy misfortune to you, 'said I. 'Why, ma'am, I don't look upon it in that light, ' repliedthe thread-woman; 'I consider that I've great reason to be thankfulhe never took to any bad habits. ' 'How many children have you?' 'Sixsons, and five _darters_, ma'am. ' 'Six sons and five daughters! Whata family for a poor woman to support!' 'It's a family, surely, ma'am;but there an't one of 'em I'd be willing to lose. They are as goodchildren as need to be--all willing to work, and all clever to me. Even the littlest boy, when he gets a cent now and then for doing a_chore_, will be sure and bring it to ma'am. ' 'Do your daughters spinyour thread?' 'No, ma'am; as soon as they are old enough, they go outto _sarvice_. I don't want to keep them always delving for me; theyare always willing to give me what they can; but it is right and fairthey should do a little for themselves. I do all my spinning after thefolks are abed. ' 'Don't you think you should be better off, if youhad no one but yourself to provide for?' 'Why, no, ma'am, I don't. IfI hadn't been married, I should always have had to work as hard asI could; and now I can't do more than that. My children are a greatcomfort to me; and I look forward to the time when they'll do as muchfor me as I have done for them. '

Here was true philosophy! I learned a lesson from that poor womanwhich I shall not soon forget. If I wanted true, hearty, wellprincipled service, I would employ children brought up by such amother. 

 * * * * *

REASONS FOR HARD TIMES. 

Perhaps there never was a time when the depressing effects ofstagnation in business were so universally felt, all the world over, as they are now. --The merchant sends out old dollars, and is lucky ifhe gets the same number of new ones in return; and he who has a sharein manufactures, has bought a 'bottle imp, ' which he will do well tohawk about the street for the lowest possible coin. The effects ofthis depression must of course be felt by all grades of society. Yetwho that passes through Cornhill at one o'clock, and sees the brightarray of wives and daughters, as various in their decorations as theinsects, the birds and the shells, would believe that the communitywas staggering under a weight which almost paralyzes its movements?'Everything is so cheap, ' say the ladies, 'that it is inexcusable notto dress well. ' But do they reflect _why_ things are so cheap? Do theyknow how much wealth has been sacrificed, how many families ruined, toproduce this boasted result? Do they not know enough of the machineryof society, to suppose that the stunning effect of crash after crash, may eventually be felt by those on whom they depend for support?

Luxuries are cheaper now than necessaries were a few years since; yetit is a lamentable fact, that it costs more to live now than it didformerly. When silk was nine shillings per yard, seven or eight yardssufficed for a dress; now it is four or five shillings, sixteen ortwenty yards will hardly satisfy the mantuamaker. 

If this extravagance were confined to the wealthiest classes, it wouldbe productive of more good than evil. But if the rich have a new dressevery fortnight, people of moderate fortune will have one every month. In this way, finery becomes the standard of respectability; and aman's cloth is of more consequence than his character. 

Men of fixed salaries spend every cent of their income, and thenleave their children to depend on the precarious charity and reluctantfriendship of a world they have wasted their substance to please. Men who rush into enterprise and speculation, keep up their creditby splendor; and should they sink, they and their families carry withthem extravagant habits to corrode their spirits with discontent, perchance to tempt them into crime. 'I know we are extravagant, ' saidone of my acquaintance, the other day; 'but how can I help it? Myhusband does not like to see his wife and daughters dress more meanlythan those with whom they associate. ' 'Then, my dear lady, yourhusband has not as much moral dignity and moral courage as I thoughthe had. He should be content to see his wife and daughters respectedfor neatness, good taste, and attractive manners. ' 'This all soundsvery well in talk, ' replied the lady; 'but, say what you will aboutpleasing and intelligent girls, nobody will attend to them unless theydress in the fashion. If my daughters were to dress in the plain, neatstyle you recommend, they would see all their acquaintance asked todance more frequently than themselves, and not a gentleman would jointhem in Cornhill. '

'I do not believe this in so extensive a sense as you do. Girls mayappear genteelly without being extravagant, and though some fops mayknow the most approved color for a ribbon, or the newest arrangementfor trimming, I believe gentlemen of real character merely noticewhether a lady's dress is generally in good taste, or not. But, granting your statement to be true, in its widest sense, of whatconsequence is it? How much will the whole happiness of yourdaughter's life be affected by her dancing some fifty times lessthan her companions, or wasting some few hours less in the emptyconversation of coxcombs? A man often admires a style of dress, whichhe would not venture to support in a wife. Extravagance has preventedmany marriages, and rendered still more unhappy. And should yourdaughters fail in forming good connexions, what have you to leavethem, save extravagant habits, too deeply rooted to be eradicated. Think you those who now laugh at them for a soiled glove, or anunfashionable ribbon, will assist their poverty, or cheer theirneglected old age? No; they would find them as cold and selfishas they are vain. A few thousands in the bank are worth all thefashionable friends in Christendom. '

Whether my friend was convinced, or not, I cannot say; but I saw herdaughters in Cornhill, the next week, with new French hats and blondeveils. 

It is really melancholy to see how this fever of extravagance rages, and how it is sapping the strength of our happy country. It has nobounds; it pervades all ranks, and characterizes all ages. 

I know the wife of a pavier, who spends her three hundred a yearin 'outward adorning, ' and who will not condescend to speak to herhusband, while engaged in his honest calling. 

Mechanics, who should have too high a sense of their ownrespectability to resort to such pitiful competition, will indulgetheir daughters in dressing like the wealthiest; and a domestic wouldcertainly leave you, should you dare advise her to lay up one cent ofher wages. 

'These things ought not to be. ' Every man and every woman shouldlay up some portion of their income, whether that income be great orsmall. 

 * * * * *

HOW TO ENDURE POVERTY. 

That a thorough, religious, _useful_ education is the best securityagainst misfortune, disgrace and poverty, is universally believedand acknowledged; and to this we add the firm conviction, that, when poverty comes (as it sometimes will) upon the prudent, theindustrious, and the well-informed, a judicious education isall-powerful in enabling them to _endure_ the evils it cannot always_prevent_. A mind full of piety and knowledge is always rich; it is abank that never fails; it yields a perpetual dividend of happiness. 

In a late visit to the alms-house at ----, we saw a remarkableevidence of the truth of this doctrine. Mrs. ---- was early leftan orphan. She was educated by an uncle and aunt, both of whomhad attained the middle age of life. Theirs was an industrious, well-ordered, and cheerful family. Her uncle was a man of soundjudgment, liberal feelings, and great knowledge of human nature. Thishe showed by the education of the young people under his care. Heallowed them to waste no time; every moment must be spent in learningsomething, or in doing something. He encouraged an entertaining, lively style of conversation, but discountenanced all remarks aboutpersons, families, dress, and engagements; he used to say, parentswere not aware how such topics frittered away the minds of youngpeople, and what inordinate importance they learned to attach to them, when they heard them constantly talked about. 

In his family, Sunday was a happy day; for it was made a day ofreligious instruction, without any unnatural constraint upon thegayety of the young. The Bible was the text book; the places mentionedin it were traced on maps; the manners and customs of differentnations were explained; curious phenomena in the natural history ofthose countries were read; in a word, everything was done to cherisha spirit of humble, yet earnest inquiry. In this excellent family Mrs. ---- remained till her marriage. In the course of fifteen years, shelost her uncle, her aunt, and her husband. She was left destitute, butsupported herself comfortably by her own exertions, and retained therespect and admiration of a large circle of friends. Thus she passedher life in cheerfulness and honor during ten years; at the end ofthat time, her humble residence took fire from an adjoining house inthe night time, and she escaped by jumping from the chamber window. In consequence of the injury received by this fall, her right arm wasamputated, and her right leg became entirely useless. Her friends werevery kind and attentive; and for a short time she consented to liveon their bounty; but, aware that the claims on private charity arevery numerous, she, with the genuine independence of a strong mind, resolved to avail herself of the public provision for the helplesspoor. The name of going to the alms-house had nothing terrifying ordisgraceful to _her_; for she had been taught that _conduct_ is thereal standard of respectability. She is there, with a heart full ofthankfulness to the Giver of all things; she is patient, pious, anduniformly cheerful. She instructs the young, encourages the old, and makes herself delightful to all, by her various knowledge andentertaining conversation. Her character reflects dignity on hersituation; and those who visit the establishment, come away withsentiments of respect and admiration for this voluntary resident ofthe alms-house. 

 * * * * *

What a contrast is afforded by the character of the woman who occupiesthe room next hers! She is so indolent and filthy, that she can withdifficulty be made to attend to her own personal comfort; and even themost patient are worn out with her perpetual fretfulness. Her mindis continually infested with envy, hatred, and discontent She thinksProvidence has dealt hardly with her; that all the world are proudand ungrateful; and that every one despises her because she is in thealms-house. This pitiable state of mind is the natural result of hereducation. 

Her father was a respectable mechanic, and might have been a wealthyone, had he not been fascinated by the beauty of a thoughtless, idle, showy girl, whom he made his wife. The usual consequences followed--hecould not earn money so fast as she could spend it; the house became ascene of discord; the daughter dressed in the fashion; learned to playon the piano; was taught to think that being engaged in any usefulemployment was very ungenteel; and that to be _engaged to be married_was the chief end and aim of woman; the father died a bankrupt; theweak and frivolous mother lingered along in beggary, for a while, andthen died of vexation and shame. 

The friends of the family were very kind to the daughter; but herextreme indolence, her vanity, pertness, and ingratitude, finallyexhausted the kindness of the most generous and forbearing; and asnothing could induce her to personal exertion, she was at lengthobliged to take shelter in the alms-house. Here her misery isincurable. She has so long been accustomed to think dress and paradethe necessary elements of happiness, that she despises all that isdone for her comfort; her face has settled into an expression whichlooks like an imbodied growl; every body is tired of listening to hercomplaints; and even the little children run away, when they see hercoming. 

May not those who have children to educate, learn a good lesson fromthese women? Those who have wealth, have recently had many and bitterlessons to prove how suddenly riches may take to themselves wings; andthose who _certainly_ have but little to leave, should indeed bewarehow they bestow upon their children, the accursed inheritance ofindolent and extravagant habits. 

 * * * * *

APPENDIX

TO THE

AMERICAN FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. 

Those sentences marked with a star relate to subjects mentioned inother parts of the book. 

To PRESERVE GREEN CURRANTS. --Currants maybe kept fresh for a year ormore, if they are gathered when green, separated from the stems, putinto dry, clean junk bottles, and corked very carefully, so as toexclude the air. They should be kept in a cool place in the cellar. 

CANDLES. --Very hard and durable candles are made in the followingmanner: Melt together ten ounces of mutton tallow, a quarter of anounce of camphor, four ounces of beeswax, and two ounces of alum. Candles made of these materials burn with a very clear light. 

*VARNISHED FURNITURE. --If you wish to give a fine soft polish tovarnished furniture, and remove any slight imperfections, rub it onceor twice a week with pulverized rotten-stone and linseed oil, andafterward wipe clean with a soft silk rag. 

CREAM. --The quantity of cream on milk may be greatly increased by thefollowing process: Have two pans ready in boiling hot water, and whenthe new milk is brought in, put it into one of these hot pans andcover it with the other. The quality as well as the thickness of thecream is improved. 

*TEETH. --Honey mixed with pure pulverized charcoal is said to beexcellent to cleanse the teeth, and make them white. Lime-water with alittle Peruvian bark is very good to be occasionally used by those whohave defective teeth, or an offensive breath. 

TAINTED BUTTER. --Some good cooks say that bad butter may be purifiedin the following manner: Melt and skim it, then put into it a pieceof _well-toasted_ bread; in a few minutes the butter will lose itsoffensive taste and smell; the bread will absorb it all. Slicesof potato fried in rancid lard will in a great measure absorb theunpleasant taste. 

TOMATOES PIE. --Tomatoes make excellent pies. Skins taken off withscalding water, stewed twenty minutes or more, salted, prepared thesame as rich squash pies, only an egg or two more. 

*It is a great improvement to the flavor of PUMPKIN PIES to boil themilk, stir the sifted pumpkin into it, and let them boil up togetheronce or twice. The pumpkin swells almost as much as Indian meal, andof course absorbs more milk than when stirred together cold; but thetaste of the pie is much improved. 

Some people cut pumpkin, string it, and dry it like apples. It is amuch better way to boil and sift the pumpkin, then spread it out thinin tin plates, and dry hard in a warm oven. It will keep good all theyear round, and a little piece boiled up in milk will make a batch ofpies. 

*Most people think BRASS KETTLES for washing are not as likely tocollect verdigris, if they are never cleaned in any other way than bywashing in strong soap suds just before they are used. 

INK SPOTS. --If soaked in warm milk before the ink has a chance to dry, the spot may usually be removed. If it has dried in, rub table-saltupon it, and drop lemon-juice upon the salt. This answers nearly aswell as the salts of lemon sold by apothecaries. If a lemon cannotbe easily procured, vinegar, or sorrel-juice, will answer. White soapdiluted with vinegar is likewise a good thing to take out ink spots. 

STARCH. --Frozen potatoes yield more flour for starch than fresh ones. The frost may be taken out by soaking them in cold water a few hoursbefore cooking; if frozen very hard, it may be useful to throw alittle saltpetre into the water. 

FEATHERS. --It is said that tumbled plumes may be restored toelasticity and beauty by dipping them in hot water, then shaking anddrying them. 

ICY STEPS. --Salt strewed upon the door-steps in winter will cause theice to crack, so that it can be easily removed. 

FLOWERS. --Flowers may be preserved fresh in tumblers or vases byputting a handful of salt in the water, to increase its coldness. 

WHITE-WASHING is said to last longer if the new-slaked lime be mixedwith skim-milk. 

HORSE-FLIES. --Indigo-weed stuck plentifully about the harness tendsto keep flies from horses. Some make a decoction of indigo-weed, andothers of pennyroyal, and bathe horses with it, to defend them frominsects. 

PINE APPLES will keep much better if the green crown at top be twistedoff. The vegetation of the crown takes the goodness from the fruit, inthe same way that sprouts injure vegetables. The crown can be stuck onfor ornament, if necessary. 

*THE PILES. --Those who have tried other remedies for this disorder invain, have found relief from the following medicine: Stew a handfulof low mallows in about three gills of milk; strain it, and mixabout half the quantity of West India molasses with it. As warm as isagreeable. 

WARTS. --It is said that if the top of a wart be wet and rubbed twoor three times a day with a piece of unslaked lime, it cures the wartsoon, and leaves no scar. 

*CANCERS. --The Indians have great belief in the efficacy of poulticesof stewed cranberries, for the relief of _cancers_. They apply themfresh and warm every ten or fifteen minutes, night and day. Whetherthis will effect a cure I know not; I simply know that the Indiansstrongly recommend it. Salts, or some simple physic, is taken everyday during the process. 

EAR-WAX. --Nothing is better than ear-wax to prevent the painfuleffects resulting from a wound by a nail, skewer, &c. It should be puton as soon as possible. Those who are troubled with cracked lips havefound this remedy successful when others have failed. It is one ofthose sorts of cures, which are very likely to be laughed at; but Iknow of its having produced very beneficial results. 

*BURNS. --If a person who is burned will _patiently_ hold the injuredpart in water, it will prevent the formation of a blister. If thewater be too cold, it may be slightly warmed, and produce the sameeffect. People in general are not willing to try it for a sufficientlylong time. Chalk and hog's lard simmered together are said to make agood ointment for a burn. 

*BRUISES. --Constant application of warm water is very soothing tobruised flesh, and may serve to prevent bad consequences while otherthings are in preparation. 

SORE NIPPLES. --Put twenty grains of sugar of lead into a vial with onegill of rose-water; shake it up thoroughly; wet a piece of soft linenwith this preparation, and put it on; renew this as often as the linenbecomes dry. Before nursing, wash this off with something soothing;rose-water is very good; but the best thing is quince-seed warmed ina little cold tea until the liquid becomes quite glutinous. Thisapplication is alike healing and pleasant. 

A raw onion is an excellent remedy for the STING OF A WASP. 

CORNS. --A corn may be extracted from the foot by binding on half a rawcranberry, with the cut side of the fruit upon the foot. I have knowna very old and troublesome corn drawn out in this way, in the courseof a few nights. 

HEART-BURN. --Eat magnesia for the heart-burn. 

CHLORIDE OF LIME. --A room may be purified from offensive smells ofany kind by a few spoonsful of chloride of lime dissolved in water. A good-sized saucer, or some similar vessel, is large enough forall common purposes. The article is cheap, and is invaluable in theapartment of an invalid. 

EGGS IN WINTER. --The reason hens do not usually lay eggs in the winteris that the gravel is covered up with snow, and therefore they arenot furnished with lime to form the shells. If the bones left of meat, poultry, &c. Are pounded and mixed with their food, or given to themalone, they will eat them very eagerly, and will lay eggs the sameas in summer. Hens fed on oats are much more likely to lay well thanthose fed on corn. 

PEARLS. --In order to preserve the beauty of pearl ornaments, theyshould be carefully kept from dampness. A piece of paper torn off androlled up, so as to present a soft, ragged edge, is the best thing tocleanse them with. 

VARNISHING GILDED FRAMES. --It is said that looking-glass framesmay be cleansed with a damp cloth, without injury, provided theyare varnished with the _pure white alcoholic varnish_, used fortransferred engravings and other delicate articles of fancy-work. Thiswould save the trouble of covering and uncovering picture-frames withthe change of the seasons. I never heard how many coats of varnishwere necessary, but I should think it would be safe to put on morethan one. 

COLOGNE WATER. --One pint of alcohol, sixty drops of lavender, sixtydrops of bergamot, sixty drops of essence of lemon, sixty drops oforange water. To be corked up, and well shaken. It is better forconsiderable age. 

GREASE SPOTS. --Magnesia rubbed upon the spot, covered with cleanpaper, and a warm iron placed above, will usually draw out grease. Where a considerable quantity of oil has been spilled, it will benecessary to repeat the operation a great many times, in order toextract it all. 

RECEIPT FOR MAKING EXCELLENT BREAD WITHOUT YEAST. --Scald about twohandsful of Indian meal, into which put a little salt, and as muchcold water as will make it rather warmer than new milk; then stir inwheat flour, till it is as thick as a family pudding, and set it downby the fire to rise. In about half an hour, it generally grows thin;you may sprinkle a little fresh flour on the top, and mind to turn thepot round, that it may not bake to the side of it. In three or fourhours, if you mind the above directions, it will rise and ferment asif you had set it with hop yeast; when it does, make it up in softdough, flour a pan, put in your bread, set it before the fire, coveredup, turn it round to make it equally warm, and in about half an hourit will be light enough to bake. It suits best to bake in a Dutchoven, as it should be put into the oven as soon as it is light. 

RICE JELLY. --Boil a quarter of a pound of rice flour with half apound of loaf sugar, in a quart of water, till the whole becomes oneglutinous mass, then strain off the jelly and let it stand to cool. This food is very nourishing and beneficial to invalids. 

APPLE MARMALADE. --Scald apples till they will pulp from the core; takean equal weight of sugar in large lumps, and boil it in just waterenough to dip the lumps well, until it can be skimmed, and is a thicksyrup; mix this with the apple pulp, and simmer it on a quick fire forfifteen minutes. Keep it in pots covered with paper dipped in brandy. 

QUINCE MARMALADE. --To two pounds of quince put three quarters of apound of nice sugar, and a pint of spring water. Boil them till theyare tender; then take them up and bruise them; again put them in theliquor, and let them boil three quarters of an hour, then put it intojars, covered as mentioned above. Those who like things very sweet putan equal quantity of quince and sugar; but I think the flavor is lessdelicious. 

RASPBERRY JAM. --Take an equal quantity of fruit and sugar. Put theraspberries into a pan, boil and stir them constantly till juicy andwell broken; add as much sugar, boil and skim it till it is reduced toa fine jam. Put it away in the same manner as other preserves. 

BLANC-MANGER. --Boil two ounces of isinglass in one pint and a half ofnew milk; strain it into one pint of thick cream. Sweeten it to yourtaste, add one cup of rose-water, boil it up once, let it settle, andput it in your moulds. 

Some prefer to boil two ounces of isinglass in three and a half pintsof water for half an hour, then strain it to one pint and a half ofcream, sweeten it, add a teacup of rose-water, and boil up once. 

Isinglass is the most expensive ingredient in blanc-manger. Somedecidedly prefer the jelly of calves' feet. The jelly is obtainedby boiling four feet in a gallon of water till reduced to a quart, strained, cooled, and skimmed. A pint of jelly to a pint of cream; inother respects done the same as isinglass blanc-manger. Some boil astick of cinnamon, or a grated lemon-peel, in the jelly. The mouldsshould be made thoroughly clean, and wet with cold water; the white ofan egg, dropped in and shook round the moulds, will make it come outsmooth and handsomely. 

PORK JELLY. --Some people like the jelly obtained from a boiled handof pork, or the feet of pork, prepared in the same way as calf's-footjelly; for which see page 31. 

The cloths, or jelly-bags, through which jelly is strained, should befirst wet to prevent waste. 

CRANBERRY JELLY. --Mix isinglass jelly, or calf's-foot jelly, with adouble quantity of cranberry juice, sweeten it with fine loaf sugar, boil it up once, and strain it to cool. 

RICH CUSTARDS. --Boil a pint of milk with lemon-peel and a stick ofcinnamon. While it is boiling, beat up the yolks of five eggs witha pint of cream. When the milk tastes of the spice, pour it to thecream, stirring well; sweeten it to taste. Give the custard a simmer, till of a proper thickness, but do not let it boil. Stir the wholetime one way. Season it with a little rose-water, and a few spoonsfulof wine or brandy, as you may prefer. When put into cups, grate onnutmeg. 

TO PRESERVE PEACHES. --Scald peaches in boiling water, but do not letthem boil; take them out and put them in cold water, then dry them ina sieve, and put them in long, wide-mouthed bottles. To a half dozenpeaches put a quarter of a pound of clarified sugar; pour it over thepeaches, fill up the bottles with brandy, and stop them close. 

COCOA-NUT CAKES. --Grate the meat of two cocoa-nuts, after pealingoff the dark skin; allow an equal weight of loaf sugar, pounded andsifted, and the rind and juice of two lemons. Mix the ingredientswell; make into cakes about as big as a nutmeg, with a little piece ofcitron in each. Bake them on buttered tin sheets about twenty minutes, in a moderately hot oven. 

*TO CLARIFY SUGAR. --Put half a pint of water to a pound of sugar; whipup the white of an egg and stir it in, and put it over the fire. Whenit first boils up, check it with a little cold water; the second timeset it away to cool. In a quarter of an hour, skim the top, and turnthe syrup off quickly, so as to leave the sediment which will collectat the bottom. 

*RICH WEDDING CAKE. --One pound three quarters of flour, one poundone quarter of butter, do. Of sugar, one dozen eggs, two poundsof currants, one gill of wine, half a gill of brandy, one pound ofcitron, cut in slices, a wine-glass of rose-water, three quartersof an ounce of nutmeg, quarter of an ounce of cloves, the same ofallspice. The rind of two lemons grated in. See page 72 for baking. 

STILL RICHER WEDDING CAKE. --Three pounds of flour, three poundsof butter, three pounds of sugar, twenty-eight eggs, six pounds ofcurrants, and six pounds of seeded raisins; one ounce of cinnamon, oneounce of nutmeg, three quarters of an ounce of cloves, half an ounceof mace, one pound of citron, two glasses of brandy, two glasses ofrose-water, and one glass of wine. For baking, see page 72. 

*FROSTING FOR CAKE. --It is a great improvement to squeeze a littlelemon-juice into the egg and sugar prepared for frosting. It givesa fine flavor, and makes it extremely white. For frosting, seedirections, page 72. 

WHIP SYLLABUB. --One pint of cream, one pint of wine, the juice andgrated peel of a lemon, and the white of two eggs; sweeten it to yourtaste, put it into a deep vessel, and whip it to a light froth. Fillyour glasses with the froth as it rises. It is a good plan to put someof the froth in a sieve, over a dish, and have it in readiness to heapupon the top of your glasses after you have filled them. Some peopleput a spoonful of marmalade or jelly at the bottom of the glasses, before they are filled. 

LOBSTER SALAD. --The meat of one lobster is extracted from the shell, and cut up fine. Have fresh hard lettuce cut up very fine; mix it withthe lobster. Make a dressing, in a deep plate, of the yolks of foureggs cut up, a gill of sweet oil, a gill of vinegar, half a gill ofmustard, half a teaspoonful of cayenne, half a teaspoonful of salt;all mixed well together. To be prepared just before eaten. Chickensalad is prepared in the same way, only chicken is used instead oflobster, and celery instead of lettuce. 

ESCALOPED OYSTERS. --Put crumbled bread around the sides and bottomof a buttered dish. Put oysters in a skillet, and let the heat juststrike them through; then take them out of the shells, and rinse themthoroughly in the water they have stewed in. Put half of them on thelayer of crumbled bread, and season with mace and pepper; coverthem with crumbs of bread and bits of butter; put in the rest of theoysters, season and cover them in the same way. Strain their liquor, and pour over. If you fear they will be too salt, put fresh waterinstead. Bake fifteen or twenty minutes. 

FRIED OYSTERS. --After they are prepared from the shell, they aredipped in batter, made of eggs and crumbs, seasoned with nutmeg, maceand salt, stirred up well. Fried in lard till brown. 

VEGETABLE OYSTER. --This vegetable is something like a parsnip; isplanted about the same time, ripens about the same time, and requiresabout the same cooking. It is said to taste very much like realoysters. It is cut in pieces, after being boiled, dipped in batter, and fried in the same way. It is excellent mixed with minced saltfish. 

PARTRIDGES should be roasted ten or fifteen minutes longer thanchickens, that is, provided they are thick-breasted and plump. Beingnaturally dry, they should be plentifully basted with butter. 

 * * * * *

EXTRACTS FROM THE _ENGLISH_ FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. 

 [It was the intention of the author of the _American_ Frugal Housewife, to have given an Appendix from the _English_ Frugal Housewife; but upon examination, she found the book so little fitted to the wants of this country, that she has been able to extract but little. ]

CHEESE is to be chosen by its moist, smooth coat; if old cheesebe rough-coated, ragged, or dry at top, beware of worms. If it beover-full of holes, moist and spongy, it is subject to maggots. Ifsoft or perished places appear, try how deep they go, for the worstpart may be hidden. 

EGGS. --To prove whether they are good or bad, hold the large end ofthe egg to your tongue; if it feels warm, it is new; but if cold, itis bad. In proportion to the heat or cold, is the goodness of theegg. Another way to know is to put the egg in a pan of cold water; thefresher the egg, the sooner it will fall to the bottom; if rotten, itwill swim. If you keep your eggs in ashes, salt or bran, put the smallend downwards; if you turn them endways once a week, they will keepsome months. 

VEAL. --If the vein in the shoulder look blue or bright red, it isnewly killed; but if black, green, or yellow, it is stale. The leg isknown to be new by the stiffness of the joint. The head of a calf or alamb is known by the eyes; if sunk or wrinkled, it is stale; if plumpand lively, it is fresh. 

MUTTON. --If it be young, the flesh will pinch tender; if old, it willwrinkle and remain so. If young, the fat will easily part from thelean; if old, it will stick by strings and skins. Strong, rancidmutton feels spongy, and does not rise again easily, when dented. The flesh of ewe mutton is paler, of a closer grain, and parts moreeasily. 

BEEF. --Good beef has an open grain, and a tender, oily smoothness;a pleasant carnation color, and clear white suet, betoken good meat;yellow suet is not so good. 

PORK. --If young, the lean will break in pinching, and if you nip theskin with your nails, it will make a dent; the fat will be soft andpulpy, like lard. If the lean be tough, and the fat flabby and spongy, feeling rough, it is old, especially if the rind be stubborn, and youcannot nip it with your nails. Little kernels, like nail-shot, in thefat, are a sign that it is measly, and dangerous to be eaten. 

To judge of the age of POULTRY, see page 53. 

 * * * * *

CARVING. 

[WRITTEN FOR THE _AMERICAN_ FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. ]

TO CARVE A TURKEY. --Fix the fork firmly on one side of the thin bonethat rises in the centre of the breast; the fork should be placed_parallel_ with the bone, and as close to it as possible. Cut themeat from the breast lengthwise, in slices of about half an inch inthickness. Then turn the turkey upon the side nearest you, and cut offthe leg and the wing; when the knife is passed between the limbs andthe body, and pressed outward, the joint will be easily perceived. Then turn the turkey on the other side, and cut off the other leg andwing. Separate the drum-sticks from the leg-bones, and the pinionsfrom the wings; it is hardly possible to mistake the joint. Cut thestuffing in thin slices, lengthwise. Take off the neck-bones, whichare two triangular bones on each side of the breast; this is doneby passing the knife from the back under the blade-part of eachneck-bone, until it reaches the end; by raising the knife, the otherbranch will easily crack off. Separate the carcass from the back bypassing the knife lengthwise from the neck downward. Turn the backupwards, and lay the edge of the knife across the back-bone, aboutmidway between the legs and wings; at the same moment, place the forkwithin the lower part of the turkey, and lift it up; this will makethe back-bone crack at the knife. The croup, or lower part of theback, being cut off, put it on the plate, with the rump from you, andsplit off the side-bones by forcing the knife through from the rump tothe other end. 

The choicest parts of a turkey are the side-bones, the breast, andthe thigh-bones. The breast and wings are called light meat;the thigh-bones and side-bones dark meat. When a person declinesexpressing a preference, it is polite to help to both kinds. 

A SIRLOIN OF BEEF. --Place the curving bone downward upon the dish. Cutthe outside lengthwise, separating _each slice_ from the chine-bone, with the point of the knife. Some people cut through at the chine, slip the knife under, and cut the meat out in one mass, which theyafterward cut in slices; but this is not the best, or the most properway. The tender loin is on the inside; it is to be cut crosswise. 

A HAM. --Begin in the middle of a ham; cut across the bone, and takethin slices from either side. 

A GOOSE. --A goose is carved nearly as a turkey, only the breast shouldbe cut in slices narrow and nearly square, instead of broad, likethat of turkey; and before passing the knife to separate the legs andwings, the fork is to be placed in the small end of the leg-bone orpinion, and the part pressed close to the body, when the separationwill be easy. Take off the merrythought, the neck-bones, and separatethe leg-bones from the legs, and the pinions from the wings. The bestparts are the breast, the thigh-bones, and the fleshy parts of thewings. 

A PIG. --If the pig be whole, cut off the head, and split it in halvesalong the back-bone. Separate the shoulders and legs by passing theknife under them in a circular direction. The best parts are thetriangular piece of the neck, the ribs, legs and shoulders. 

A FILLET OF VEAL. --This is the thick part of the leg, and is to be cutsmooth, round and close to the bone. Some prefer the outside piece. Alittle fat cut from the skirt is to be served to each plate. 

MUTTON. --A saddle of mutton is the two loins together, and theback-bone running down the middle to the tail. Slices are to be cutout parallel to the back-bone on either side. 

In a leg of mutton, the knife is to be entered in the thick fleshypart, as near the shank as will give a good slice. Cut towards thelarge end, and always to the bone. 

INDEX. 

 Page Advice, General, 3 to 8 Alamode Beef, 49 Apple Pie, 67 Apple Pudding, 63 Apple Water, 82 Arrow-root Jelly, 31 Ashes, Care of, 16 Ashes for Land, 13 Asparagus, 34

 Balm of Gilead, 28 Batter Pudding, 61 Beans and Peas, cooked, 51 Bed-bug Poison, 10 Beef, cooked, 48 Beef, corned, 40 Beef, salted, 40 Beef Soup, 48 Beef Tea, 32 Beer, 86 Bees, Sting of, 29 Bird's Nest Pudding, 63 Bleeding Wounds, 26 Blisters of Burns broken, 29 Bottles of Rose-water, 14 Bottles, Vials, &c. , 14 Brass Andirons, &c. , 11 Brass Kettles, 11 Brasses in Summer, 16 Bread, Yeast, &c. , 76 to 80 Bread Pudding, 62 Brine, 40, 41, 42 Britannia Ware, 10 Brooms, 17 Broth, 49 Bruises, 36 Buffalo's Tongue, 43 Burdock Leaves, 37 Burns, 28 Butter, 15

 Cabbages, 34 Cakes, 70 to 76 Calf's-foot Jelly, 31 Calf's Head, 47 Cancers, 26 Canker, 28 Carpets, 11 Carrot Pie, 67 Castor Oil, boiled, 29 Catsup, 35 Celery, 35 Cement, 19 Cheapest Pieces of Meat, 43 to 46 Cheeses, 14, 86 Cherry Pie, 67 Cherry Pudding, 63 Chickens, 53 Chicken Broth, 55 Chicken fricasseed, 54 Chicken Pie, 56 Chilblains, 27 Chocolate, 83 Cholera Morbus, 25, 29 Chopped Hands, 27 Chowder, 59 Cider Cake, 71 Clams, 58 Clothes Line, &c. , 17 Clothes washed, 17 Cockroaches, 19 Cod, 57 Coffee, 82 Colds, 27, 36 Coloring, 38 to 40 Combs, 9, 20 Cooling Ointments, 29, 26 Corn, 34 Coughs, 36, 37 Court Plaster, 20 Cranberry Pie, 68 Cranberry Pudding, 61 Croup, or Quincy, 24 Cucumbers, 18 Cucumbers, pickled, 85 Cup Cake, 71 Currant Jelly, 81 Currant-leaf Tea, 13 Currant Wine, 82 Curry Fowl, 54 Custards, cheap, 65 Custard Pie, 68 Custard Pudding, 62 Cut Wounds, 25

 Dandelions, 34 Diet Bread, 71 Dish-water, 16 Dough Nuts, 73 Ducks, 55 Dye Stuffs, 38 to 40 Dysentery, 25, 29, 37 Dyspepsia, 24, 37, 65 Dyspepsia Bread, 78

 Ear-ache, 24 Earthen Ware, 11 Education of Daughters, 91 Eggs, 11 Egg Gruel, 31 Election Cake, 71 Elixir Proprietatis, 28

 Faded Carpets, Cloth, &c. , 9 Feathers, and Feather Beds, 12 Fevers, 28, 37 Fish, fried, 58 Fish, salt, 59, 60 Flour Pudding, 61 Fresh Meat in Summer, 17, 47 Fresh Wounds, 27 Fried Pork and Apples, 60 Fritters, or Flatjacks, 74 Furniture, 89

 Geese, 55 Gingerbread, 70 Ginger Beer, 86 Glass, cut, 20 Glass Stoppers, 20 Gloves, white, 10, 13 Gold cleansed, 21 Gravy for Fish, 58 Gravy for Meat, 52 Gravy for Poultry, 57 Green Peas, 34 Gruel, 30

 Haddock, 57, 58 Hair, 12 Hams, cured, 41, 42 Hasty Pudding, 65 Head-ache, 26, 36 Hearths, 18 Herbs, 36 to 37 Honey, 22 Horseradish, 18 Horseradish Leaves, 18 How to endure Poverty, 111

 Icing for Cake, 72 Indian Cakes, 75, 76 Indian Puddings, 61 Inflamed Wounds, 29 Inflammation, 24 Iron, 11 Ironing, 17

 Jaundice, 28

 Knife Handles, 9 Knives, washed, 14

 Lamb, cooked, 49 Lard, 14, 15 Leaven, 80 Lemon Brandy, 18 Lemon Syrup, 20 Lettuce, 35 Loaf Cake, 72 Lobster, 60 Lockjaw, 24

 Mackerel, 53, 59, 60 Mangoes, 84 Marble Fireplaces, 12 Martinoes, 85 Mats for the Table, 10 Mattresses, 15 Maxims for Health, 87 to 88 Meal, 9 Meat, Choice of, 43 to 46 Meat, corned and salted, 40 to 43 Meat Pie, 56 Meat in Summer, 17, 47 Milk Porridge, 32 Mince Meat, 50 Mince Pies, 66 Molasses, 16, 29 Mortification, 27 Moths, 13 Mutton, corned and dried, 41 Mutton and Lamb, cooked, 49

 Nasturtion-seed, pickled, 85 Navarino Bonnets, 13 Nerves, excited, 37 Night Sweats, 29

 Ointment of Elder Buds, 29 Ointment of Ground Worms, 26 Ointment of House Leek, 26 Ointment of Lard, 29 Ointment of Lard and Sulphur, 28 Oil, sweet, 18 Old Clothes, 13 Onions, 33, 36 Ovens, heated, 78

 Pancakes, 74 Paper, 15 Parsnips, 84 Pastry, 69 Peas, dry, 51 Peas, green, 34 Philosophy and Consistency, 104 Pickles, 84, 85 Pictures, covered, 17 Pie Crust, 69 Pig, roasted, 50 Pigeons, 56 Piles, 28, 37 Plum Puddings, 64 Potatoes, 34 Potato Cheese, 86 Pork, cooked, 49 Pork, salted, 40 Poultry, injured, 57 Poultry, young or old, 53 Preserves, 81 Provisions, 17 Prunes, stewed, 33 Puddings, 61 to 65 Pump Handle, 16 Pumpkin Pie, 66

 Rags, 12, 16 Raspberry Shrub, 82 Rattlesnake-bite, 30 Reasons for Hard Times, 108 Red Ants, 21 Rennet Pudding, 62 Rhubarb or Persian Apple Pie, 69 Rice Bread, 78 Rice Pudding, 63 Ring-worms, 30 Run Rounds, 30 Rusty Crape, 11 Rusty Silk, 19 Rye Paste, 21

 Sage Jelly, 32 Salt Fish, 59 Salt Fish, warmed, 60 Sauces for Pudding, 65 Sausages, 50 Short Cake, 75 Silk, washed, 14 Sinews, contracted, 26 Soap, 22, 23 Soda Powders, 20 Sore Mouth, 28 Sore Throat, 26 Soup, 48 Souse, 52 Sponge Cake, 71 Spots on Furniture, Cloth, &c. , 10 Sprain, 24 Squashes, 34, 35 Squash Pie, 66 Starch, 19 Stewed Prunes, 33 Sting of Bees, 29 Stockings, 19 Straw Beds, 16 Straw Carpets, 21 Suet, 15 Sweet Marjoram, 37 Swellings, 27

 Tapioca Jelly, 31 Tea, 84 Tea Cake, 71 Teeth, 12 Throat Distemper, 27 Toe Nails, 30 Tomatoes, 35 Tongue, 42, 43 Tooth-ache, 29 Tortoise-shell Combs, 20 Towels, 17 Travelling and Public Amusements, 99 Tripe, 52 Turkeys, 55

 Vapor Bath, 27 Veal, cooked, 47 Vegetables, 33 to 36 Vials, 17 Vinegar, 15

 Walnuts, pickled, 84 Wash-leather Gloves, 11 Water, purified, 14 Water, soft, 13 Wax, 22 Wedding Cake, 72 Wens, 27 White Kid Gloves, 10, 13 Whortleberry Pie, 67 Whortleberry Pudding, 64 Wicks of Lamps, Candles, &c. , 10 Wine Whey, 32 Woollens, washed, 14 Woollen Yarn, 11 Worms, 24

 Yeast, 79, 80

APPENDIX. 

 Apple Marmalade, 118

 Beef, 122 Blanc Manger, 118 Brass Kettles, 115 Bread without yeast, 117 Bruises, 116 Burns, 116 Butter, tainted, 114

 Cancers, 116 Candles, 114 Carving, Directions for, 122, 123 Cheese, 121 Chloride of Lime, 117 Cocoa-nut Cakes, 119 Cologne Water, 117 Corns, 117 Cranberry Jelly, 119 Cream, 114 Currants, green, preserved, 114 Custards, rich, 119

 Ear-Wax, 116 Eggs, 121 Eggs in winter, 117

 Feathers, 115 Flowers, 115 Frosting for Cake, 120 Furniture, 114

 Grease Spots, 117

 Heart-Burn, 117 Horse-Flies, 115

 Icy Steps, 115 Ink Spots, 115

 Lobster Salad, 120

 Mutton, 121

 Oysters escaloped and fried, 120 Oysters, Vegetable, 121

 Partridges, 121 Peaches, preserved, 119 Pearls, 117 Piles, 116 Pine Apples, 115 Pork, 122 Pork Jelly, 119 Pumpkin Pies, 115 Pumpkin, dried, 115

 Quince Marmalade, 118

 Raspberry Jam, 118 Rice Jelly, 118

 Sore Nipples, 116 Starch, 115 Sugar, clarified, 20, 119

 Teeth, 114 Tomatoes Pie, 114

 Varnishing Gilded Frames, 117 Veal, 121

 Warts, 116 Wasp-Sting, 116 Wedding Cake, rich, 119, 120 Whips, 120 White-washing, 115