7 Y77 Mai PRESENTED TO THE ENGLISH LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BY r.1 / iv N I I - - -L THE HOME MANUAL; OR, THE ECONOMICAI COOK A1D OUlSE-BOOK: Aints ai tte ailg Putits of a fetlutper. COMPRISING NEARLY FIVE HUNDRED RECEIPTS FOR COOKING, PRESERVING, PICKLING, WASHING, IRONING. GARDENING, PLAIN AND FANCY NEEDLE-WORK, PUTTING UP OF WINTER STORES, AND NUMEROUS OTHER RECEIPTS, USEFUL AND NEEDFUL ] EVERY WELL-REGULATED HOUSEHOLD. BY ELIZABETH NICHOLSON. Who sweeps a room as by Thy laws, Makes that and the action fine. —HEEBERT.,jiftIh bitifo, 3Utbltu anR inlartrb. PHILADELPHIA: ASHMEAD & EVANS. 724 CHESTNUT STREET. 1865. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by ELIZABETH NICIOLSON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PREFACE. "IN the days of other years," when persons in the middle walks of life were in the habit of keeping but one "maid of all work," the daily thought of " what we shall eat," &c., was not only the province of the female head of the family, but her occupation also. That is, to a certain extent; on any extra occasion, or the arrival of an unexpected guest, her hands prepared the fitting dessert, or the evening refreshment. And ably and well did she perform the task. Flinging rules to the winds, her judgment, skill and experience, stood her in good stead. Now, we have fallen on other days. If, as C. M. Sedgewick says, "the division of labor is the perfection of the system," then in cities we have it, truly. And, in many cases, it is well. Mothers of rising families can command much more leisure for higher'and nobler duties. The sciences, heretofore brought to bear only upon massive machinery, have descended to aid woman in the thousand details of her daily task-work. Philosophy and chemistry have come to our preparation and preservation of food. Instead of the cooking range, with its bushel of coal, to prepare our dinners, while the thermometer ranges at 90 degrees, we shall ere long forget, in our beautifully systematized gas cooking, that our houses were heated from the kitchen, through our protracted summers; just as we now forget, in our brilliantly lit rooms, the vexation of the astral. (3) '/.