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Lydia Maria Francis Child (born Lydia Maria Francis) (February 11, 1802 – October 20, 1880), was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction and domestic manuals, reached wide audiences from the 1820s through the 1850s. At times she shocked her audience as she tried to take on issues of both male dominance and white supremacy in some of her stories.

Written in 1832 to give poor people practical methods on how to live on less by being more frugal with what they did have. There are actually some good pointers we could all use in our present economy. ( )

Review of the free KINDLE version of "The American Frugal Housewife"

"The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments, so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time as well as materials. Nothing should be thrown away so long as it is possible to make any use of it. However trifling that use may be; and whatever be the size of a family every member should be employed either in earning or saving money."

This is for the most part, the only proper "Introduction" that the reader encounters when starting "The American Frugal Housewife, for Ms. Lydia Maria Francis Child plunges right in and begins dishing out advice left and right, providing a veritable flood of information. She advises, for example, that children not be allowed to frolic about until 13 or 14 years of age.

"This is not well. It is not well for the purses and patience of parents; and it has a still worse effect on the morals and habits of the children. Begin early is the great maxim for everything in education. A child of six years old can be made useful and should be taught to consider every day lost in which some little thing has not been done to assist others."

Other advice consists of how economize and how keep what you have in good repair. Everything from stockings to hearths, from apples to sausages. In addition, there is medical advice, and instructions on how to cook a variety of foods. Everything from porridges to cows brains, herbed wines to pies.

STEWED PRUNES.

Stew them very gently in a small quantity of water till stones slip out. Physicians consider them safe nourishment in fevers.

BEANS AND PEAS.

Baked beans are a very simple dish, yet few cook them well. They should be put in cold water, and hung over the fire, the night before they are baked. In the morning, they should be put in a colander, and rinsed two or three times; then again placed in a kettle, with the pork you intend to bake, covered with water, and kept scalding hot, in hour or more. A pound of pork is quite enough for a quart of beans, and that is a large dinner for a common family. The rind of the pork should be slashed. Pieces of pork alternately fat and lean, are the most suitable ; the cheeks are the best. A little pepper sprinkled among the beans, when they are placed in the bean-pot, will render them less unhealthy. They should be just covered with water, when put into the oven; and the pork should be sunk a little below the surface of the beans. Bake three or four hours.

THE SKINNY:::
To be perfectly honest, there is some sound advice here. Some of it inspired by Ben Franklin, and some of it coming from friends and articles read by the author.

I found this an absolutely fascinating book that gives some wonderful insight into the daily life of early American families. We get to see what the concerns of housewives were, and how life was lived amongst a class of people -- the less well-off -- that is frequently overlooked by historical studies.

Ms. Child was born in 1802. She was raised by a strict Calvinist father and later she married a lawyer who proved to be an improvident dreamer who at times was imprisoned for his debts. As a consequence she knows frugality quite well.

The American Frugal Housewife is extremely well written, and was extremely well received at the time it was first put up for sale. In fact, it was republished 27 times between 1835 and 1841.

I HIGHLY recommend this work to students of history and those who are interested in early American life.

As for the "Kindle" format, I must say that this particular version comes with 'highlights', some of which are definitions. These are easy to access or ignore. (Which is why I can't tell you what they all are.) Being a FREE book it's hard to complain, but I should note that there are images from the original book that don't appear in the Kindle copy. They pertain to the parts of animals -- rumps, chops, etc.-- and aren't particularly valuable. But if you are curious you can find them at GoogleBooks and Archive-dot-org, both of whom have their own free copies.

ASIN (Amazon's Internal ID #): B002RKTKXO

Pam T~
pageinhistory ( )

One of the classics. Foreword by Mary Louise Baker, Worthington Ohio Historical Society, 1965. Reprinted 1980 ( )