“No: their doom is inevitable. Woman is foreordained to roll her life away. Is there no escape? No escape. The rolling-board is planted squarely in the path of every little daughter; and sooner or later, if her life be spared, she will walk up to it. May we not call it an altar upon which human sacrifices are performed daily? “I observed, on the morning just mentioned, that, in the intervals of pastry-making, the _genius of the long-handled spoon_ took control, demanding its customary tribute of eggs, sugar, fat, spices, &c., demanding, also, the usual outlay of time and strength which goes to the compounding of cakes; and thus, with rolling, beating, and stirring, the forenoon wore away, leaving in each house its accumulation of unwholesome food. “You _do_ know, madam, that plain living is better for your children? You _would_ like more time to devote to them, or for books, or for recreation? Then, pray, why not change all this? Is palate forever to rank above brain? Change your creed. Say, ‘I believe in health, in books, in out-doors.’ Why don’t you _rise_, slaves? Now is your time. Now, when slaves everywhere are demanding their freedom, demand yours. “_Company?_ Thanks for teaching me that word. The kind hospitality of this social little village of Tweenit enables me to be ‘company’ myself very frequently. And I am aware that much time is spent in the preparation of viands to set before me, which, for variety and richness, could not be excelled. Shall I add, that whenever, at the bountifully-spread tea-tables, I have attempted to start a rational conversation, the attempt usually has been a failure? Books, public men, public measures, new ideas, new inventions, new discoveries, what is doing for the elevation of women,--on none of these subjects had my entertainers a word to offer. Their talk was, almost without exception, trivial, not to say gossipy. “Therefore, as a member of that institution, which, as everybody says, ‘makes a sight of work,’ namely, ‘company,’ I protest. I petition for less variety in food, and more culture. And your petitioner further prays, that some of the spices and good things be left out in cooking, and put into the conversation.” “But the ‘men-folks’? Ah, to be sure! Perhaps, after all, it is they who need an appeal.” II. A WORD TO THE “MEN-FOLKS.” “What! do without cake entirely?” cries Mr. Livewell in alarm. By no means, sir! Poor human nature craves something sweet. The trouble lies in making palate king. In many families this is done at terrible cost on the part of the woman. I say terrible, because human sacrifice, in whatever shape, is terrible. And when a woman uses herself up in cooking, and, as a consequence, dies, or half-dies, what is that but human sacrifice?