When I wrote the ‘Frugal Housewife,’ some booksellers declined publishing it, on account of the great variety of cookery books already in the market. I was perfectly aware of this circumstance; but among them all, I did not know of one suited to the wants of the middling class in our own country. I believed such a book was needed; and the sale of more than six thousand copies in one year has proved that I was right in my conjecture. If the same remark is made with regard to adding another to the numerous books on education, I have the same answer to give—I do not know of one adapted to popular use in this country. I make no pretensions to great originality. The leading principles contained in this little volume have already been advanced in the[Pg v] standard works on education; and I owe a great deal to frequent conversations with an intelligent and judicious mother. Perhaps some will think there is egotism and presumption in the frequent repetition of ‘I think,’ and ‘I believe,’ and ‘It is my opinion’—but it must be remembered that this could not well be avoided in a work where familiarity and directness of expression were particularly required. I have endeavored to give the result of my own reading and observation in maxims of plain practical good-sense, written with earnestness and simplicity of style. How far I have succeeded must be decided by my readers...