The Young Lady's Friend, by a Lady [E W Farrar]

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: HOW TO SAVE LABOUR. 23 Chapter III. DOMESTIC ECONOMY. Woman's Peculiar Calling.?How To Save Labour.?. Domestic Affairs Honourable. Example. French Housekeeping. Useless Discussion. House-work Good Tor The Health. Pouring Out Tea A fd Coffee. ? Preparation For Cookery. Preparation Foe Dinner Company. Expense. Allowance. Anecdote. Uncertainty Of Riches. Anecdote. Best Things.? General Rules. For a young woman in any situation in life to be ignorant of the various business that belongs to housekeeping, is as great a deficiency as it would be in a merchant not to understand accounts, or the master of a vessel not to be acquainted with navigation. If a woman does not know how the various work of a house should be done, she might as well know nothing, for that is her express vocation; and it matters not how much learning, or how many accomplishments, she may have, if she is wanting in that which is to fit her for her peculiar calling. Whether rich or poor, young or old, married or single, a woman is always liable to be called to the performance of every kind of domestic duty, as well as to be placed at the head of a family; and nothing short of a practical knowledge of the details of housekeeping can ever make those duties easy, or render her competent to direct others in the performance of them. All moral writers on female character treat of domestic economy as an indispensable part of female education. Madame Roland, one of the most remarkable women of the last century, says of herself, The same child who read systematic works, who could explain the circles of the celestial sphere, who could handle thecrayon and the graver, and who at eight years of age was the best dancer in the youthful parties, was frequently called into the kitchen to make...