avoiding the expense by cooking herself; on
the contrary, I think no woman is justified in doing work herself that
she has the means given her to get done by employing others. I have no
praise for the economical woman, who, from a desire to save, does her
own work _without necessity for economy_. It is _not_ her work; the
moment she can afford to employ others it is the work of some less
fortunate person. But in this country, it often happens that a good
cook is not to be found for money, although the raw material of which
one might be made is much oftener at hand. And if ladies would only
practice the culinary art with as much, nay, half as much assiduity as
they give to a new pattern in crochet; devote as much time to attaining
perfection in one dish or article of food, be it perfect bread, or some
French dish which father, brother, or husband goes to Delmonico's to
enjoy, as they do to the crochet tidies or embroidered rugs with which
they decorate their drawing-rooms, they could then take the material, in
the shape of any ambitious girl they may meet with, and make her a fine
cook. In the time they take to make a dozen tidies, they would have a
dozen dishes at their fingers' ends; and let me tell you, the woman who
can cook a dozen things, outside of preserves, in a _perfect_ manner is
a rarity here, and a good cook anywhere, for, by the time the dozen are
accomplished, she will have learned so much of the art of cooking that
all else will come easy. One good soup, bouillon, and you have the
foundation of all others; two good sauces, white sauce and brown, "_les
sauces meres_" as the French call them (mothers of all other sauces),
and all others are matters of detail. Learn to make one kind of roll
perfectly, as light, plump, and crisp as Delmonico's, and all varieties
are at your fingers' ends; you can have kringles, Vienna rolls,
Kreuznach horns, Yorkshire tea cakes, English Sally Lunns and Bath buns;
all are then as easy to make as common soda biscuit. In fact, in
cooking, as in many other things, "_ce n'est que le premier pas que
coute_;" failures are almost certain at the beginning, but a failure is
often a step toward success--if we only know the reason of the failure.

CHAPTER II.

ON BREAD.

OF all articles of food, bread is perhaps the one about which most has
been written, most instruction given, and most failures made. Yet what
adds more to the elegance of a table than exquisite bread or breads,