( II ) 



CHAPTER II. 



FOR MOTHERS AND CHILDREN. 



It is a rare thing to take up a cookery book in which the 

 reader is not solemnly warned against the evils attendant 

 upon frying chops and steaks in the pan, the deterrent 

 paragraph usually winding up with : " Nevertheless, for the 

 benefit of those who will not be brought to acknowledge 

 the superiority of the gridiron as a cooking utensil, we 

 append a few instructions." It is as though the writer of 

 the volume meant solemnly to say, " I have told you how 

 to avoid the horrors of dyspepsia ; but, if you will go in for 

 them, I may as well show you the least objectionable way 

 of doing it." 



On this principle, or something bearing a close resem- 

 blance to it, I have, as in duty bound, made known my 

 objections to girls of immature age being permitted to 

 indulge in equestrian exercise; and having eased my 

 conscience by doing so, I shall lay down a few rules for the 

 guidance of those who pay no heed to friendly warnings, 

 but prefer taking their own way, and who, in short, will 

 have the pan, in preference to the gridiron. 



First, then, I will surmise that the child to be instructed 

 is at least five years old. There are, I am aware, mothers 



