atterns used in
cutting and fitting. These are done up in separate parcels, and
labelled. In another trunk, are kept all pieces used in mending,
arranged in order, so that any article can be found, without loss of
time. A trunk, like the first mentioned, will save many steps, and often
much time and perplexity; while by purchasing articles thus by the
quantity, they come much cheaper, than if bought in little portions as
they are wanted. Such a trunk should be kept locked, and a smaller
supply, for current use, retained in a workbasket.

A full supply of all conveniences in the kitchen and cellar, and a place
appointed for each article, very much facilitates domestic labor. For
want of this, much vexation and loss of time is occasioned, while
seeking vessels in use, or in cleansing those employed by different
persons, for various purposes. It would be far better, for a lady to
give up some expensive article, in the parlor, and apply the money, thus
saved, for kitchen conveniences, than to have a stinted supply, where
the most labor is to be performed. If our Countrywomen would devote more
to comfort and convenience, and less to show, it would be a great
improvement. Expensive mirrors and pier-tables in the parlor, and an
unpainted, gloomy, ill-furnished kitchen, not unfrequently are found
under the same roof.

Another important item, in systematic economy, is, the apportioning of
_regular_ employment to the various members of a family. If a
housekeeper can secure the cooperation of _all_ her family, she will
find, that "many hands make light work." There is no greater mistake,
than in bringing up children to feel that they must be taken care of,
and waited on, by others, without any corresponding obligations on their
part. The extent, to which young children can be made useful, in a
family, would seem surprising, to those who have never seen a
_systematic_ and _regular_ plan for securing their services. The writer
has been in a family, where a little girl, of eight or nine years of
age, washed and dressed herself and young brother, and made their small
beds, before breakfast, set and cleared all the tables, at meals, with a
little help from a grown person in moving tables and spreading cloths,
while all the dusting of parlors and chambers was also neatly performed
by her. A brother, of ten years old, brought in and piled all the wood,
used in the kitchen and parlor, brushed the boots and shoes, neatly,
went on errands