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N.B. The rice is soaked in the milk the night before baking, and produces, with the other materials, about 80lb. weight of pudding.

TUESDAY. Beef-stew, and soup.

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WEDNESDAY. Baked rice pud-5 6

ding, as on Monday.

THURSDAY. Peas-soup.

4lb. of pork

6 quarts of peas

2 quarts of oatmeal

1 8

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Pepper, salt, and allspice

...

61

4 31

FRIDAY. Baked rice pudding,}

SATURDAY. Beef-stew, and soup.

567

54lb. of beef...

2 34

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Onions, mint, and carrots forthe week 1 0
A quarter of a pound of bread allowed
on each of the three soup days,
being 55lb, a week...

4 10

Six days' dinner for 77 persons £1 14 1

Epping Parish Dinner.

41

The children are generally those whose behaviour is approved, and who are paid for by the week; but any others, in cleanly and decent order, are allowed to dine at the same rate, when there is room. In case of sickness they may send for their dinners home. "The situation of Epping, (says Sir T. Barnard,) a large market-town, the scene and object of petty thefts, and a public road through it, was not very favourable to the industry and regular habits of the poor; nor was their usual dinner of a hunch of bread, part to be swallowed with a little water as they went along, (the other part being sometimes thrown away,) conducive either to their health or to habits of economy. It is therefore a most pleasing circumstance to state, that, within one month after this dinner had been regularly provided at Epping, the appearance and the manners of the poor children there were totally altered. Their sallow complexions had acquired a healthful appearance and tone, from the daily and regular supply of a plentiful meal; and their manners, by the habits of an orderly table, regularly served and attended, were greatly improved and meliorated. To those who had been confined by illness, this dinner has proved of particular service, as it has afforded them the means of re-establishing their health after they have begun to amend; a period when the poor. are subject to great disadvantages, and are frequently a long time in recovering their health and strength, because they are not provided with regular and nourishing food."

We have taken the above account from the Report of the "Society for bettering the condition of the Poor," where much is said of the advantage of this establishment. It seems that many of the labourers of Epping found that they could maintain their children in this manner much better, and a great deal cheaper, than in the usual way. Whatever may be

* Vol. I. Page 202.

thought of this, there certainly is great room for improvement in the manner of feeding children at home; and the above account may, perhaps, lead to the consideration of a subject in which the comforts and habits of the poor are so materially concerned.

ON BOILING POTATOES.

SOME of our readers are anxious to know the best method of dressing potatoes. There are so many different opinions on this point that it is difficult for us to say which is the best. In London, and the neighbourhood, there is great carelessness on this subject, and great complaints are often made of the quality of the potatoes, where the fault has been in the dressing, In Ireland they are very particular in their mode of dressing potatoes, and so they are in some parts of England, especially in Lancashire. We have given their method in page 399 of our third volume. The principal points are to take care to boil potatoes nearly of the same size together; they are to be washed clean, not pared or scraped; to be boiled in a quantity of water not sufficient to cover them, as they will of themselves produce a quantity of liquid. If the potatoes are large, a little fresh cold water should be added, when they are beginning to boil, to keep them back, that they may be done to the heart: this may be repeated once or twice. The water should then be poured off, and the vessel put again on the fire to get rid of the moisture.

Contentment.

CONTENTMENT.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

SIR,

43

THE letter of your correspondent in the number for October, pointing out the folly as well as the sin of discontent, has led me to recollect the numerous instances of contentment I have met with in many poor people, from whose condition one would, at first, have only expected to hear repinings at their hard lot. I remember, the first time I was in the country, going with an old faithful female servant to visit an old man who lived in a poor cottage on the borders of a wood, in a bleak but very beautiful situation in Kent, and at a mile or two's distance from any other cottage. As we came near his house, my maid, who had spent all her life amidst the comforts of a gentleman's house, bewailed the misfortunes of people condemned to live in such a miserably poor place; but, when we began to talk to the old man, we were amused to hear him rejoicing in the very situation which she had considered so pitiable. How comfortable it was to have a house over his head rent-free, to get wood for firing for the trouble of picking it up, to get honey enough from his bees to make him a little mead, and that the 'look-out' from his door was so beautiful in the summer-time;" and he ended with, " and in the winter I live here as happy as a prince," and his eyes brightened with pleasure at the recollection of his comforts as he said this. I may instance another of my poor ac quaintance, an old man and his wife, the former of whom was quite disabled from paralytic strokes, and the latter almost so from rheumatism; but she was able to earn a trifle occasionally by binding shoes, and this was nearly all they had to support them. remember visiting them to give them some assistance in a cold winter, in their almost empty room, with

hardly the remains of a fire. The poor woman regretted she could get no work of any kind, and "indeed, Ma'am," she said, "we have got nothing at all to eat, and not a halfpenny left, but I trusted in God that he would send us some support, and just as we most wanted it, you have come to bring us something, and that is the way we have always found it, in all our troubles; for, when we have been quite destitute, God has raised us up a friend in our greatest need. What a comfort it is, Ma'am, to think that he cares for all his people."

Such pious content may read a lesson to most of us; and I wish that these little anecdotes may remind some of your readers that they have repined in discontent under much smaller grievances.

Your humble servant,

E. E.

SHUTTING UP THE HOUSE AT NIGHT.

(From the Footman's Directory.)

CONCERNING the fastening and shutting up the house and the gate of the area at night; neglect in this respect may be of fatal consequence to yourself, as well as to those whom you serve; therefore it behoves you to pay particular attention to it. In the first place, when you go to shut the parlour or drawing-room shutters; let your hands be clean that you may not dirty the paint; see that the sashes are made fast before you put the shutters to; when this is done, then close the shutters, and see that they are pro perly fastened. If there are bells to the shutters and doors, let them be put up; or, if the shutters and doors be secured by an alarm bell, be sure to put the wire off the alarm bell to them, so that they cannot be opened

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