ON THE COOKING OF PISH. 273 



sum of all that is wortli living for lq life. It is 

 of importance to the rich, but it is life and death 

 to the poor ! 



"What ensues from that dirty, drabbish practice, 

 begot by unions and pauperism, of putting a pinch 

 of sloe leaves into a pot and serving the debilitating 

 wash out to the labourer, instead of a good, whole- 

 some, cheap, and strengthening houilli for his 

 dinner? 1 Why, as it saves trouble and aids gossip, 

 it saves the woman the only opportunity of a 

 healthful use of the small amount of brains she 

 does possess, in the study of how she can best pro- 

 vide something answering the above description for 

 her husband's, son's, or brother's dinner: it results 

 in the ignoring of the art of cookery, and the neces- 

 sity of practising or performing any duties at all : 

 it causes a fearful waste of our resources ; it drives 

 the husband to the beer-shop, and often the wife 

 too, to supply, by an artificial, unsustaining, and 

 poisonous stimulus, the absence of what should be 



^ Even supposing that, by way of strengthening himself, he takes 

 beer — ^what is that beer ? Granting, at the very best, that it be 

 made from malt and hops, it is a very bad substitute ; but granting 

 it to be what public-house beer in the country usually is, it is 

 practically gout, gravel, stone, dropsy, or any other disease which 

 poisons are most likely to generate. But it may beget worse than 

 this, for drunkenness, ruin, and crime may be and often are added 

 to the list. 



