52 MAKING BREAD. [No. 



more careful of their character, more careful not to 

 lessen by misconduct the value which they possess 

 from their skill and ability. 



90. Thus, then, the interest of the labourer; his 

 health ; the health of his family ; the peace and hap- 

 piness of his home ; the prospects of his children 

 through life; their skill, their ability, their habits of 

 cleanliness, and even their moral deportment ; all 

 combine to press upon him the adoption and the 

 constant practice of this branch of domestic econo- 

 my. " Can she bake ?" is the question that I always 

 put. If she can, she is worth a pound or two a year 

 more. Is that nothing' ? Is it nothing for a labouring 

 man to make his four or five daughters worth eight 

 or ten pounds a year more; and that too while he is 

 by the same means providing the more plentifully for 

 himself and the rest of his family? The reasons on 

 the side of the thing that I contend for are endless ; 

 but if this one motive be not sufficient, I am sure, all 

 that I have said, and all that I could say, must be 

 wholly unavailing. 



91. Before, however, I dismiss this subject, let me 

 say a word or two to those persons who do not come 

 under the denomination of labourers. In London, or 

 in any very large town where the space is so confin- 

 ed, and where the proper fuel is not handily to be 

 come at and stored for use, to bake your own bread 

 may be attended with too much difficulty ; but in all 

 other situations there appears to me to be hardly any 

 excuse for not baking bread at home. If the family 

 consist of twelve or fourteen persons, the money ac- 

 tually saved in this way (even at present prices) 

 would be little short of from twenty to thirty pounds 

 a year. At the utmost here is only the time of one 

 woman occupied one day in the week. Now mind, 

 here are twenty-five pounds to be employed in some 

 way different from that of giving it to the baker. If 

 you add five of these pounds to a woman's wages, is 

 not that full as well employed as giving it in wages 

 to the baker's men ? Is it not better employed for 

 you ? and is it not better employed for the commu- 



