Mrs. Owens' cook book and useful household hints ...

Front matter

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Preface

Every housewife has a notably good way of doing certain things. When it became known that I had undertaken to publish this book, letters came to me from friends living in all sections, containing choice cooking recipes and hints for the household, culled trom practical, everyday experience. In many cases, the writers collected from their immediate friends, thus adding to my list. The province of this boolc, then, is to present a large number of these successes in a desirable form for daily reference. The different departments will be found sufficiently elaborate for almost any occasion in domestic life. For the special benefit of our sisterhood who unite the qualities of wives, mothers, and housemaids, the easiest way has been selected, whenever a choice could be made, with that end in view.

The housewife whose means are unrestricted need not study little, harrowing details, trying to make one dollar do duty for five in providing for her table. But the masses must count their pennies and tighten their pursestrings when tempted to indulge the appetite beyond a prescribed limit. There are suggestions in these pages which, if carried out, will vary a bill of fare, and make it pleasing to the eye and appetizing to the palate, at the .smallest possible outlay of money.

In the section devoted to "Hash" there are directions for using up remnants of food that will go very far towards furnishing the bulk of one meal per day to a family. These dishes are palatable, too, and very distinct from the cheap boarding-house commodity known by that name.

The inexpensive Cake recipes in this book are good in every case, and the cakes, if eaten fresh, arc as satisfactory as the more expensive ones. 1 earnestly hope they will be given a fair trial before being frowned upon. It was not my purpose to mtroduce elaborate dishes ; but, as all families on special occasions require such, I have interspersed some.

"The Laundry" hints, if acted upon, will add years to the lives of our women who toil. I know whereof I speak. A woman with a house full of little ones, having but two hands to do the work which would give employment to six, must husband her strength if she would be spared to her children. It is worse than folly to devote ten hours to a

The Revised Edition. PREFACE. Publisher's Announcement,

task which may be accomplished in five. These aids will make that difference. Give them one month's trial, and the old ways will belong to the dead past, never to be revived.

The letter, "An Old Citizen to a Young Wife," is from the pen of the well-known author and poet, Mr. John McGovern.

The recipes in this book are National, having been gleaned from the extreme East, West, North, and South, as well as from intermediate points.

THE REVISED EDITION.

Since the first pubhcation of "Mrs. Owens' Cook Book," it has r>un rapidly through numerous editions, and the plates have become so worn that it is necessary to have them renewed. From the first, the •^ork has been very popular. Letters commending it have been received hom all parts of the country, and many have kindly interested themselves in its success, sending us new recipes and offering valuable hints and suggestions. The author hi this revision has sought to embody these suggestions in the book. A great mass of new recipes, many entirely new t hapters, and some expensive colored plates have been added ; but, although the book is much larger than Ijcfore, tlie general character of the work is not materially changed.

No popular feature has been sacrificed, for the one object kept constantly in view has been the everyday wants of the average housewife.

In submitting this revised edition to the public, it remains only to say that the most painstaking care has been exercised, and many months' time devoted to the work of revision, and it is hoped it will be much more helpful than the other, to the busy housewife.