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ladies’ department. 
really alarmed husband, were those death-knelling 
ones, consumption—-and incurable ! Consumption 
how induced ? Not by any hereditary taint, but as 
his conscience too surely told him, by a violation of 
all nature’s laws, the disregard of which he himself 
had compelled, and these compunctions received only 
additional strength from his wife’s dying request, 
<e that in seeking one to fill her place, he should pro¬ 
cure a mother for his children, not a servant for his 
work.” 
Mr. B.’s wife was thought to be, when he married 
her, a woman of a high order of intellect, as well as 
an excellent housekeeper, and she might have re¬ 
mained till this time, the pride of her husband and 
friends, as she was. then, had her intellect been al¬ 
lowed any nourishment. We do not know why it 
is, but it has often been remarked, and is certainly 
very true, that let a woman, possessing ever so supe¬ 
rior intellectual endowments, suffer them to be neg¬ 
lected and run into disuse, she becomes in time more 
apparently devoid of mental culture, than those who 
never laid any claim to it. So it has been with Mrs. 
B. She could not give up her favorite pursuits 
without a struggle, but when once fairly set aside, 
she sank rapidly into that characterless being, a do¬ 
mestic drudge, “ cookery her Christianity, and hers a 
kitchen creed.” And now you may find her with no 
higher ambition than to invent a new dish for the 
table, out of some odds and ends there is no economy 
in saving, with but one literary companion, and that 
a book of recipes! Her friends cannot visit her, un¬ 
less they are willing to pass their whole time among 
pots and kettles in the kitchen ; her children roam 
at large, attending school or not, as they please; 
while her husband sighs over the sleep of an intel¬ 
lect which was once his boast, and well he may, for 
his own hand laid the spell. 
The next example is a common one. It is that of 
an apparently amiable temper soured by continual 
thwarting of desires, physical fatigues, and vexing 
mental cares. Mr. C. could hardly recognize the 
gentle maiden he wooed for his wife, in the scolding 
termagant who now rules his house. He forgets, 
however, that the gentler nature was crushed by the 
weight of burdens heavier than it could bear, and that 
the spirit which has arisen from its ruins, is but a 
power determined to assert its own rights. 
But let us turn to the fairer side of the picture. 
Mr. D. possesses land amounting to just the same 
number of acres as that of Farmer A. first mentioned, 
though he does not possess the same amount of 
means; what he has laid by, having been entirely 
from the results of his own labors. He is a man, as 
Mr. A. would think, exceedingly ultra in his notions 
upon subjects, especially so upon the very one of 
which we have been treating. His wife is an intel¬ 
ligent, highly-cultivated woman, fully capable of ap¬ 
preciating her good fortune, in being connected with 
one upon whose head the organ of benevolence is as 
largely developed, as upon her husband’s. The 
number of his out-door laborers is large, yet he 
allows her a cook, a chambermaid, and oh, tell it not 
in Gath, a third domestic to assist in taking care of 
the children'. Mrs. D. has time to walk for exer¬ 
cise, to visit her friends and have them visit her, to 
read not only all her husband’s farming books, but to 
keep up with the useful knowledge of the day. She 
is teaching her oldest boy Latin, and his sister 
botany, while the instruction of the younger ones 
devolves almost entirely upon her. She is never 
idle, and her husband’s fear oftener is that she will 
do too much, rather than that she will not do 
enough. What is the result of this? Some will 
answer, or they ought to, if their theories are in con¬ 
formity with their practice, that such a farmer is on 
the high road to ruin ; that everything will be going 
to waste while his wife is gadding; he will be be¬ 
hindhand every year from the expense of so much 
“ help,” and that before long he will find out his mis¬ 
take. Unfortunately for our theorists, evidences are 
to the contrary of all this. His house is as neat in 
every part, as neat as can be, though his wife does 
sometimes allow the chambermaid to sweep and dust 
and scour on her own responsibility ; his meals are 
well cooked, the strictest economy observed, and no¬ 
thing wasted, although his wife is not for ever in the 
kitchen. She has sometimes been so rash as to 
allow the cook to try out the lard, yet it has never 
been spoiled; but worse than all, their butter has 
more than once received a premium, and yet Mrs. 
D. does not churn it, or skim the milk, or even scald 
the pans ! As 1o this last matter, however, I would 
observe, that she thinks in common with most good 
housekeepers, that the business of the dairy is much, 
more secure of good care when under the sole man¬ 
agement of the mistress herself, than when given into 
the charge of others; but she thinks also, as does her 
husband, that there may be things of more import¬ 
ance sometimes interfering with such an arrange¬ 
ment, which should be first attended to. His farm is 
becoming more productive, and he is laying by more 
money every year—yet with such ultra motives ! 
E. M. C. 
To Preserve Biscuit from Putrefaction.— To 
preserve biscuit a long time sweet and good, no other 
art is necessary than stowing it well-baked in casks 
exactly caulked, and carefully lined with tin, so as to 
exclude the air; at the same time the biscuit must be 
so placed as to leave as little vacant room as possible 
in the cask; and when the same is opened through 
necessity, it must be speedily closed again with great 
care .—Family Receipt Booh. 
To Make Artificial or Potatoe Bread.— 
Put a pound of potatoes in a net, into a skillet with 
cold water, and, lest the skin break and let in the 
water, hang it at a distance, so as not to boil over 
the fire, till they become soft; then skin., mash, and 
rub them so as to be well mixed, with a pound of 
flour, a very large spoonful of salt, and two large 
spoonfuls of yeast; but less of the yeast is better. 
Then add a little warm water, and knead it up as 
other dough; lay it a little while before the fire to 
ferment or rise, then bake it in a very hot oven. 
Bread made in this manner has been frequently tried, 
and found to be well-tasted, wholesome, and of good 
consistence.— lb. 
To discover if Bread is Adulterated with 
Alum. —Make a solution of lime in aquafortis, and 
ut a little of this solution into water, in which you 
ave steeped the bread suspected to contain alum. 
If such should be the case, the acid, which was com¬ 
bined with the alum, will form a precipitate or chalky 
concretion at the bottom of the vessel.— lb. 
