Good Fare for Little Money. By Mrs. E. H. Pitcairn.
(Griffith, Farran, and Co.)—Mrs. Pitcairn gives estimates for parochial entertainments of various kinds, and also for domestic manage- ment. Her book, she explains, is "not a cookery-book." It is, in its main purpose, a scheme for housekeeping and parish " serving of tables." For instance, we have the items for a " Girls' Friendly Society" tea-party of one hundred and twenty at 4id per head. It can be done with only a very small loss. A plain tea for one hundred can be given for .21 7s. 9d. One hundred old people can have a Christmas dinner for £4 ls. 2d. To pass to another phase of society, one hundred guests at a dance can have supper for £9 18s. 5d. (with a good deal left over). No liquors, of course, are allowed for. Dinner for fourteen is estimated at £1 17s. 7id. In this wine is allowed for to the amount of lls. (But would two pounds of salmon-trout suffice for fish ?) The greater part of the volume is given to the ordinary housekeeping. It would take too much space to examine these in detail. But though some details are open to criticism (does Mrs. Pitcairn get legs of mutton at ninepence per pound P—London butchers charge a shilling), the book as a whole is of unquestionable usefulness.—Luncheon Dishes. By Mary L. Allen. (Kagan Paul, Trench, and Co.)
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