1385. To keep Insects out of Bird-Cages.—Tie up a little sulphur in a silk bag, and suspend it in the cage. For mocking-birds this is essential to their health; and the sulphur will keep all the red ants and other insects from cages of all kinds of birds. Red ants will never be found in a closet or drawer, if a small bag of sulphur is kept constantly in these places.
1386. Of Books, Mental Cultivation, &c.—Our work would be incomplete, without some reference to mental as well as material improvement. In truth, we have aimed, throughout this and a former book,[C] to make the connection between the cultivation of the mental faculties and true household economy apparent. To work properly, we must think rightly. Science is as necessary in the kitchen as in the laboratory. The reason why men cooks are preferred above women cooks, and better paid, is, the former study their art as a science. Knowledge is power, in domestic life as well as in the political arena. Let the woman elevate her position by her learning; let her understand the nature and influence of her daily employments, cultivating her taste and refining her manners by the true standard of moral excellence; thus making her home-pursuits conduce to the harmony and happiness of the general plan of life in which she, the wife and mother, is the centre of attraction and volition, and how important for humanity her sphere becomes.
1387. Choice of Reading.—Never keep house without books. Life is not life to any great purpose where books are not. The Bible is indispensable. Out of its treasures of Divine wisdom all best human wisdom is derived or directed. Then have other books, as your means permit. If these are rightly chosen, every volume will be a teacher, a friend—a fountain, from whence may be drawn sweet streams of pleasure and profit. Poetry, story, biography, history, essays, and religious works—I name these in the order a child chooses books—all are needed. American literature—that is, books on subjects connected with our own country, should be first in our reading. Bancroft's "History of the United States," Sparkes' "American Biographies," Lippincott's "Cabinet Histories of the States," Mrs. Ellet's "Women of the Revolution"—these should be accessible to every family in the Union. Read on every subject connected with your own pursuits and employments. Knowledge will aid you even in hand labor; and a good book is a safe refuge in idle hours.
1388. Of Periodicals and Newspapers.—Every family should take a newspaper; this, the lady of the house should insist
upon—kindly, to be sure; for a pleasant request is as powerful as "a soft answer" in "turning away wrath." Men, usually, are willing to subscribe for a paper, though some are indifferent to this great source of family instruction as well as pleasure; but they forget, when the year comes round, to renew their subscription in the right way. So the women of the family should be sure to remember the printer.