this danger, we are afraid of encouraging the opposite one of those who are ready to avail themselves of any excuse for neglecting a positive duty. And hence arises the difficulty. But we may perhaps take an opportunity of returning to this subject. V. HYMN. "This do in remembrance of me." Ir human kindness meets return Shall not still warmer accents tell To Him who died our fears to quell, While yet His anguish'd soul survey'd Remember Thee!-Thy death, Thy shame, O! mem❜ry leave no other name But His recorded here! HINTS ON FRUGALITY.. MUCH waste is occasioned in many families by careless and slovenly habits. Such as carrying a candle aslant, or not properly fixing it in the candlestick with paper (if it is but a pound in a year that is so wasted it is something, and it does no good at all by being spilt on the floor). It is a very wasteful plan to allow a lighted candle to stand in the draft of a door, or broken window, for it will thus be burned out in less than half the time. Candles in the day-time, instead of being put in the candle-box, în a cool place, are sometimes left in the candlestick exposed to the heat of the fire or the sun. A frugal cot Hints on Gardening. 131 tager puts the end of a candle into a save-all, instead of letting it burn away in the socket. We are sometimes told that poor people cannot afford such things as candle-boxes and save-alls. It would be more reasonable to say that they cannot afford to do without them. Perhaps the best sort of save-all is that which is like the nozzle of a candlestick, but has a point at the bottom to stick the short piece of candle on; and any fragments of tallow may be laid round, and will all melt, and supply the wick so long a time, that those who have not seen it will scarcely believe. It will perhaps be said that it is of no use attending to such trifles.; There are some people, however, to whom care and economy are of very great necessity; and if habits of consideration and contrivance are once gained, they will be seen in every part of the house, and a very great saving will thus be made. In snuffing a candle, take care not to cut the wick too short; it makes the candle gutter, and is very wasteful. If you snuff it out by accident, you find that it will not light again without running down, which is not only wasteful, but spoils the looks of the candle. Never stick a candle into the grate to light the fire. It is very dirty and very wasteful. If the candle is your own, you are doing a very extravagant and foolish thing; if it belongs to your master or mistress, you are dishonest towards them. V. HINTS ON GARDENING. GOOSEBERRY and currant plants that have stood one year, or rather more, may be planted out any time from November to March. It may not be too late You should put them into the place where you wish them to stand. If your trees have not shot out their leaves, it will not be too late to plant now. out cuttings. Take care to get good sorts; they are as easily raised as bad ones. Stick in one on each side of an old large tree of a bad sort, and when the young ones are in good bearing you can take away the old one, after stripping off the fruit. Something may be got at the market by gooseberries and currants and other small fruits, and the young trees which you raise in plenty may be sold to those who have thought it too much trouble to stick the shoots into the ground themselves. Take care to put your cuttings in a shady place, and nineteen out of twenty of them will strike root. Many Cottagers, who have a few good apple trees, contrive to pay their rent out of them. And if you take pains, and learn to graft dexterously, you will have some young trees to dispose of; and these, too, will pay you well. A flower-bed, well attended to, is very pleasant to the eye. Many persons have turned it to good profit, too, by sending nosegays to the next markettown, or pots with pinks or mignionette, or little china-roses, or heart's-ease, or stocks, or wall-flowers. Perhaps these things may not pay a man for his day at the market, but a woman or a girl may do it. Even if there is nothing to be got by it, it is well worth the labour, to have your cottage-garden ornamented and scented with roses, honey-suckles, stocks, and mignionette, instead of seeing a slough, or a heap of rubbish, or a quantity of thistles and nettles. But there is often a good deal to be got by a flowergarden, if proper pains are taken; and nothing yields profit without taking pains, except it be money in the funds or in the saving bank. If a person could get but three pence a week by his flowers, that would be thirteen shillings a year, and that would buy a new hat, or a pair of shoes, or even a warm coat for a child; or, if nothing particular of that kind is wanted, let the money go into the saving-bank; you will hear of it again with Hints on Gardening. 133 advantage in course of time, especially if you add a little more to it. Gardening is a pleasant employment too, and brings no expense with it. A man who is very fond of his garden, soon finds that he is better there than in the alehouse. Collect the seeds too of your flowers, dry them, and wrap them up neatly in paper, and write the names upon them. You will thus have a supply of annuals for the next year yourself, and may likewise get something by selling the seeds in March, in little penny or twopenny parcels. Your perennials, too, will grow thick, and want parting; instead of throwing away what you have to spare, take them up neatly with a ball of earth, and they will have a chance in the market. Bulbous roots, such as tulips, hyacinths, &c. multiply fast: so do the roots of the ranunculus and anemone. The commonest tulip bulb of a good size is well worth a penny; but you might as well try to get good sorts; I don't mean the very scarce and expensive ones, but good showy garden flowers. summer. And this is all besides your vegetables: take good care to have these: they will pay you well and be of great use in your own family besides. If you have the good brown coss lettuce, which stands the winter, it makes a fine large white sallad (if tied up a few days with a shred of matting) early in the These will sell well, if you get them early into the market. You should have cabbages, too, according to your space of ground, and potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, &c. as well as turnips, if your ground will do for them. This, with a very little meat indeed, and Scotch barley or rice, will make capital broth, and feed a family of children well, really well, and comfortably; a hot dinner for a very little money. You should have pot-herbs, too, parsley, mint, thyme, marjoram, balm, sage, &c., as they will add greatly to the flavour of your soup, and some of them may be sold, or laid up to dry for winter. 8 Your peas, too, will be capital in the soup, or to eat in any way, or to sell. You will try some beans, too, capital with bacon; for if you are the prudent man I take you for, I know you have got a pig, and I need not tell you the advantage of it: many people have made a good deal by rabbits, too, and for these your garden will supply a good part of the food. (For the two last articles, I am principally indebted to that useful little book called Cottage Comforts, from which I have before made frequent extracts.) V. COTTAGE DINNERS. FROM the account which I gave of the Eppingparish dinner, in the last January Number, it appeared very plain, that a good, comfortable, hot dinner, could be provided for the poor at a very moderate rate. Now, what could be done in this parish-house, might be done also in private families. And it is very satisfactory to think, that the family of a labourer, who is in full employ, may sit down every day to a regular meal, at a less expense than they can be fed with hunches of bread, given to the children without any of the advantages and order of a good and stated meal. For my own part, I care not what I eat; but still the comfort of sitting. down to a regular meal with my family, is a thing that I look forward to; and the greatest dainty in the world eaten from my hand, would not give me half the gratification of the regular meal, where we all sit down sociably together. And I am sure, that if all cottage families did the same, the kind and social feeling which this would encourage, would attach all the family to their home: and we know that a love of home saves a world of trouble and expense. A cottage neighbour of mine says, "People may talk of expense; but, for my part, can feed my family in comfort, and give them a I |
