THREE HOUSEHOLD BOOKS.* THE writer of Leaves from a Housekeeper's
Book tells us in her last chapter that the nearer she comes to "the end of the long passage" of life, the more she "longs to help those who are just starting out on the journey for which we are, most of us, so badly equipped, so slightly provisioned for the long and toilsome day." "Young women," she remarks, "are often impatient of advice," but then so are most of us, even if we do not like to admit it, or, at any rate, we are impatient of advice that comes to us by word of mouth. Counsel, be it wise or only dogmatic, is popular (to judge from the many handbooks that are published) if we receive it from a printed page. There is much, however, that will interest and help the reader in this book, from the planning of a house, the aspect of the rooms and their furniture, to the care of children and the management of maidservants. The advice our author gives is founded on experience and observation, but some- times she is inclined to "generalize from too few particulars," as when she asserts that, if a child's temperature is normal, "even if it [the child] flags" there is no need to take any special precaution. But as a matter of fact it is unwise to place blind reliance on amateur deductions from the readings of a thermometer. When, however, she tells us of "the most profitable joints to order for a household" she is on sure ground, and her advice may be taken with undoubted advan- tage. But when she says, "No woman should discuss her servants or the meals with her husband," we feel impelled to protest against a course which would seem to require the master of the house to play the dull part of a mere lodger. And why should a woman deprive herself of the satisfaction of discussing her work with her "man," who is after all the person most interested in its success, and who can best help her in the carrying out of the plans they have laid together ? Various other points on which the reader and the author may sometimes agree and sometimes differ are raised throughout the book and add to its interest.
In Foods and Household Afanagement2 Miss Helen Kinne and Miss Anna M. Cooley, Professors of Household Arts Education at Columbia University, have given us a useful and practical text-book, which, though it was written for "high schools and normal schools," and begins with "Suggestions to Teachers," will be of real help to those older students of the art of "good management" who wish to add to their knowledge. "Doubtless the housekeeper has always found the task of supplying food to her family one of the tnost perplexing," say the authors, and they proceed to show Weil= pupils how to grapple successfully with the everlasting queation of "What shall I plan for the three meals?" -There are lessons on "Food Materials and Foodstuffs," "Kitchen Furnishings," "The Preparation of Meals and
'Table Service," besides others on the right balance of food values in relation to the household budget. Those food values, which we all consciously or unconsciously aim at -when we endeavour to vary our daily bill-of-fare, are worth careful attention, and the housekeeper who has the health of her family at heart will do well to study the chapter on "Menus and Dietaries." Besides theories, we are given plenty of practical teaching, and many useful and appetizing receipts. The keeping of accounts, the general care of a house, washing, and dry-cleaning are also touched upon, though less fully than are the subjects of food end- cooking. The book is so well arranged that, with the help of the "exercises" at the end of each chapter, it 'might be used as the basis of home as well as University
4. (1) Leaves from a Houeekeeper's Book. By the Author of From Kitchen to *amt. London: Eveleigh Nash. [5s. net.]—(2) Foods and Household Alanag.rateat. By Helen Kinn° and Anna M. Cooley, B.S. London : Macmillan and Co. f5s. net.]—(3) Things Mother Used to Make. By Lydia
5. (gurney. Same publishers. [3s. net.]
teaching in the art of domestic economy. It is illustrated with pictures and diagrams, and has an index.
Things Mother Used to Makes is a little book of old-fashioned American dishes that we can do no more than point out to our readers as worth their attention, if only for the delightful names, such as "Real Johnny Cake," "Old-Time Custard Pie," and various quaint directions for doing household jobs, such as "To wash small pieces of lace," which begins: "Put in a horseradish bottle," whatever that may be.
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