[Gutenberg 46254] • 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

Mrs Hale was editor of Godey's Ladies Book for 40 years and the author of many works of both fiction and non-fiction. This extensive reference work was first published in 1857.

Excerpt from 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, and in the Conduct of Life Being a Complete Family Directory

"All the labor of man knowledge used for good purposes is wisdom. Knowledge, like gold, must be gained by personal effort; and usually, in small quantities, and by continued exertions, both wisdom and gold are accumulated.

It has been by washing the sands of common experience and gathering the small bits of science and art found here and there on the mining ground of common knowledge, that this large work, containing the pure gold of truth, applicable to all the needs of common life, has been made. A few nuggets will be seen, such as the collected maxims of Franklin, and the "Words of Washington," never before placed within the reach of the popular mind.

In the economy and well-being of the family, personally and individually, improvement should be sedulously kept in view. It is not enough that woman understands the art of cookery and of managing her house: she must also take care of herself; of children; of all who will be dependent on her for direction, for health, for happiness.