Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts

Here is an open
field, where their heads and hearts as well as hands may find ample
scope and noble objects. The really great woman never undervalues her
own sphere. Madame Roland excelled in her _ménage_; Mrs. Somerville
is eminent for domestic qualities; Mrs. Sigourney is a pattern
housekeeper; and a multitude of other names and examples may be
met with in my recent work,[A] where genius is found adorning home
pursuits.

There should be Lectures on Housekeeping, and other subjects
connected with domestic life, instituted in every Ladies Seminary.
This would serve to remedy, in some degree, the evils that now attend
a boarding-school education. The grand defect of this is, that
teachers too often leave out of sight the application of learning
to the home pursuits of young ladies. So when these return to the
parental roof, they give themselves up to novel reading, as their
chief mental resource.

A better time is coming. Women, capable of using their faculties for
the improvement of society, will not much longer remain in the castle
of indolence. Miss Nightingale will find followers. And as the active
pursuits of women will naturally centre in the domestic circle, great
advances in the art of making home the place of happiness must be
made.

May this book help onward the good work.

  S. J. H.

  _Philadelphia_, October 1st, 1857.




  CONTENTS


  PREFACE                                                         3

  CONTENTS                                                        5

  PART I.

  HOME AND ITS EMPLOYMENTS.

  House Cleaning--Repairing Furniture--Cleaning Stoves and
  Grates--Mending Glass, China, &c.--Coloring and Polishing
  Furniture, &c.--Removing unpleasant Odors--Fires--Water and
  Cisterns--Carriages and Harness--Washing--To remove Stains--To
  clean Silks, Lace, &c.--Paste, Glue, and Cement--Dyeing--Blacking
  for Boots, Shoes, &c.--To destroy Insects--The
  Kitchen, &c.                                        _Page 9 to 88_

  PART II.

  HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

  Rules for the preservation of Health--Simple Recipes efficacious
  in common diseases and slight injuries--Burns and Scalds--Fevers
  --Plasters, Blisters, Ointments, &c.--Poisons and Antidotes--Baths
  and Bathing--The Toilet, or hints for the preservation
  of Beauty--The Dressing-Table                     _Page 89 to 150_

  PART III.

  HOME PURSUITS AND DOMESTIC ARTS.

  Needle-work--Explanation of Stitches--Preparation of House-Linen
  --Patchwork--Silk Embroidery--Fancy-work--Ink--Birds,
  Fish, Flowers, &c.--House-Plants--Window-Plants--To
  manage a Watch                                   _Page 151 to 187_

  PART IV.

  DOMESTIC ECONOMY, AND OTHER MATTERS WORTH KNOWING.

  Teas--Coffee--Various Recipes for making Essences, &c.--Preserving
  Fruit, Vegetables, Herbs, &c.--Hints to Farmers--Management
  of a Horse--Raising Poultry--Preservation from
  Fire--Drowning--Suffocation--Thunderstorms       _Page 188 to 209_

  PART V.

  MISTRESS, MOTHER, NURSE, AND MAID.

  Of the Table--On the management of Infants, young Children,
  and the Sick--Qualifications of a good Nurse--Food for the Sick
  and for Children--Drinks for the Sick--Simple mixtures--Rules
  for Women Servants                               _Page 210 to 264_

  PART VI.

  HINTS ABOUT AGRICULTURE, GARDENING, DOMESTIC ANIMALS, &c.

  Manure--Soil--Hay--Grains--Vegetables--To destroy Insects--Vermin
  --Weeds--Cows, Calves, Sheep, &c.--Gardening--The
  Orchard--Timber--Building--Bees                  _Page 265 to 318_

  PART VII.

  MISCELLANEOUS.

  Choice and cheap Cookery--New Receipts--Southern Dishes--Cakes,
  Bread, Pies, and Puddings--Home-made Wines, Mead,
  Nectar, &c.--Washing--Hints on Diet, Exercise, and Economy
  --Painting--Books--Periodicals and Newspapers    _Page 319 to 384_

  PART VIII.

  ELEGANT AND INGENIOUS ARTS.

  Water-Colors used in Drawing--Directions for mixing Colors--Wash
  Colors for Maps--To paint Flowers, Birds, Landscapes,
  &c., in Water-Colors--Potichomanie--Grecian Painting--Diaphanic
  Feather Flowers--Sea-Weeds--Botanical Specimens, Leaf
  Impressions, &c.--Transferring to Glass, Wood, &c.--Emblematic
  Stones--Staining Stone, Wood, &c.--Ornamental Leather work--Dyeing
  --Games--Evening Pastime                        _Page 385 to 431_

  PART IX.

  WORK IN DOORS AND OUT.

  Household maxims--Household receipts for many things--Care
  of Furs--Wise economy--Things to know--Cleanliness--Prevention
  of accidents--Domestic hints--More hints on Agriculture--Cattle
  --Gardening--Drying Herbs--Properties and uses of Vegetables
  --Vegetables to cultivate--Fruit Trees and Fruit--Vermin
  on Trees                                         _Page 431 to 484_

  PART X.

  PERSONAL MATTERS.

  Dress of Ladies--Dress of a Gentleman--Manners--Rules of
  Etiquette--Dinner Parties--Balls and Evening P