USES TO WHICH [Chap. 



not proceed from wheat I But thinking about 

 such a mother is not all that a husband has to 

 do. Jf reasoning, if persuasion, if enough to con- 

 vince perverseness itself; if means of this sort be 

 tried in vain (and they ought to be tried till all 

 hope has expired), more effectual means ought to 

 be resorted to; and the only means in so desperate 

 a case is that of keeping a tight hand upon the 

 purse-strings, which is, indeed, the only remedy ; 

 complete in all its effects, without noise and 

 without any one disagreeable consequence. With 

 the absence of the means of squandering^ the 

 ^'prejudice" is very apt to grow feebler and 

 feebler every day ; and, in this case, the porridge 

 and the mush have all their sweetness, all their 

 utility, and all the saving of labour and expense^ 

 at the end of about a month, generally speaking, 

 though, in certain cases, it might last longer. 

 Upon the disappearance of the '^prejudice,'' not 

 only might the purse strings be slackened, but 

 that would be accompanied by the agreeable dis- 

 covery that porridge and mush had made a con- 

 siderable addition to the contents. I must, in jus- 

 tice to the party, observe, that 1 do not here speak 

 con amore, as the Italians call it ; for my wife 

 has always been ready, not only to imitate every 

 good piece of management of this sort that she 

 saw in America, but has actually made great 

 improvements in two or three instances upon that 



