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taken towards it. We began to save at once, and put so much a month into a building society. In a year or two's time, our garden became very productive, so that we had more than sufficient vegetables and fruit for our own consumption, and sold all we did not require. Then we always keep two pigs, and these are also very profitable. My wife earns a few shillings every week by needlework, and all these extra sums we put away, in addition to the small sum we first began to save. In seven years' time these savings have purchased our cottage. It is but small, but it is healthy, and in every way suffices for our wants. It is my opinion, madam, that every working-man might live in his own house if he chose. But as long as workingmen help the brewers and publicans to build grand houses, by spending their hard-earned money with them, it is not likely they can purchase a house for themselves too.'

'But you see, John, those who live in town have not quite so much chance of saving as you have here; they have so many more temptations to spend their money, in addition to the fact that house-rent is higher and gardens scarce.'

'True, madam; but if they would come to the determination to do without what is not essential to health and comfort, they might save something in time.'

'After all, John, I suppose a great deal depends upon the wives of working-men, as to whether they shall save or not?'

'Very much depends upon the wife, madam, as I have great reason to acknowledge. It matters little how hard a man works, if there is no management in the household. I know men who earn more money than I, whose homes are simply miser

able.

The reason is evident.

Their wives have no idea of managing the money, much less of saving any of it. They don't know how to cook a cheap relishable dinner, nor how to turn the clothing to the best account. They fritter away their time in idleness and gossip, leaving their homes and children untidy, and the food badly prepared, or perhaps they buy something ready cooked to save themselves trouble. Then they often buy what they do not really need, and go into debt for the necessaries of life. You see, madam, we should never have possessed this cottage, had we not made it a rule. that our expenditure should be less than our income. We still stick to that rule although we have secured our home. We do not forget that our three children will become more expensive as they grow older; nor do we fail to remember that our parents are getting very old, and will probably have to look to us for some little assistance, should long illness overtake them.'

It was now time for me to retrace my steps homeward. I thanked my unexpected friend for his kind entertainment, and this was not my last visit to him, by a long way. When I reached home, I found my expectant husband wondering what had become of me. While we supped, I related the adventure of the evening with my friend John. It set us both thinking. The result was, we set to work to see where we could cut down our expenditure, so as not to spend all our income, and save enough in time to buy a house. With paper and pencil we put down our expenses, both necessary and unnecessary. The relative proportion of the unnecessary expenses caused us to feel alarmed, ashamed, and I don't know how many more unpleasant things I might add; so we.

resolved 'to turn over a new leaf.' We have kept our resolve for some years now, and the consequence is, we have a house of our own, with a charming little garden, which my friend John keeps in order in his spare time.

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As my two sisters and I completed our education at school, we were, as mother used to say, apprenticed to Peggy in the kitchen for twelve months.

You must not arrive at the conclusion that we became expert cooks in that short time. We got pretty well grounded in the preliminaries essential to a good knowledge of cookery, but practice and experience (not Peggy) made us become tolerably well accomplished in this domestic art.

We always commenced our apprenticeship by preparing and cooking potatoes. How Peggy used to laugh at and scold us for our ignorance and awkwardness sometimes! We dirtied our hands all over with the potatoes, and then discovered

that we ought to have washed them well before peeling them. Then it was some time before we could manage to peel them thinly, and Peggy used to say she would not like to have to live on our potatoes, for we peeled away all the nourishment, which is next the skin. We were often reprimanded, too, for our extravagance in peeling them away so.

Then we learnt to prepare and cook all other kinds of vegetables, Peggy always impressing upon us that scrupulous cleanliness must be observed in washing them. Then came lessons in saucemaking, soup-making, pastry and pudding making, using up cold meat, potatoes, vegetables, and scraps of bread.

Great was our astonishment at times upon finding what nice dishes might be made almost out of nothing by a little management, not to mention the amount of money saved in a year by a judicious using up of everything usable.

But feeling assured you are curious to know how things in the kitchen were turned to account, I shall just put down a few of Peggy's recipes, such as we used to practise from. It would be an easy matter to fill a book with this important subject of cookery, but as my space is somewhat limited, I must treat it accordingly. Before giving you the recipes, let me say it is every girl's duty to learn to cook, not in a mere mechanical fashion, but with a common-sense reason for every step in the process. It is well to have a good reason for everything we do, and cooking is by no means an exception to this rule.

Peggy used to say the public-houses would not be half so full if poor men could get well-cooked food, and greater variety in it. The diet of a large

number of the working-classes is excessively monotonous, owing to the ignorance of the wives. But girls have every advantage in the present day of obtaining a good knowledge of cookery, and it is to be hoped they will make good use of it.

Mother used to spend an hour with us in the kitchen occasionally, and used to impress upon us that badly-cooked food is prejudicial to health, because if badly cooked it cannot be properly digested, and therefore fails to perform its functions.

This is a fact requiring our serious consideration, and I hope, girls, you will ponder it well. But here I am preaching away to the girls only, and at the same time am fully convinced that there is no really good reason why my more mathematical friends, the boys, should not study this subject. It might some time prove very useful to them, for 'we never know what we may come to,' as the frog said to the tadpole, and it is well to be able to trust to ourselves under all circumstances.

I know perfectly well that the boys into whose hands these books fall will exclaim, when they reach the Domestic Economy Section, 'Oh, that is for the girls!' and pretend to take no further notice of this section. But I have seen enough of boys to know that they are quite as curious to know what is in a thing as girls are, and herein lies my hope that they will read the section in each book, and be almost as much interested as the girls.

E. M. G.

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