62 MORE POT-POURRI 



always have been exaggerated, and it is certainly untrue 

 in our day. The 'Stores' have replaced the old 

 markets, and without doubt ladies, and even gentle- 

 men, do go to them — tiresome places though they are — 

 and the girls of the present day are very few who do not 

 look after and think about their clothes. Fathers still 

 find the same difficulty in providing dowries for their 

 daughters; but the girls themselves — among them those 

 who have every right, from the way they have been 

 brought up, to look for dowries — are now always striv- 

 ing to do some work of their own. The over -strained 

 gentility that my author speaks of does still and must 

 always exist. He touches on too many subjects for me 

 to go on quoting him. But the employments he recom- 

 mends for women, laying especial stress on nursing, do 

 make one realize the changes and the improvements of 

 the last thirty years. All his advice about stores and 

 cooking utensils and general management of the kitchen 

 is excellent. It is carried out far more in the beautiful 

 kitchens of modern Germany than anywhere here. He 

 is as strong as even I could wish about the use of earth- 

 enware casseroles and fireproof dishes. But both 

 servants and mistresses hate them because of the 

 breakage, which, of course, is very troublesome ; and 

 the excessive heat of our fireplaces makes them more 

 difficult to manage. English servants, too, are so con- 

 servative that it is extremely difficult to interfere in any 

 way with their method of work. They only like to do 

 things as they have always been done. 



On looking over these two books, I find the receipts so 

 good and so unlike those in the ordinary cookery book 

 that I shall copy several of them to disperse through the 

 months as they seem to me seasonable. It is often 

 difficult to remember how each generation requires to be 

 told the same things over again. Among other good 



