But this task was by no means an easy one. There were no preexisting plans to follow; qualified teachers and suitable text-books were wanting; it was an expensive form of education; the public thought it a doubtful innovation; and educational authorities discouraged it. But the parties interested decided that the time had come for a systematic and persistent effort. They felt their way cautiously, and in 1874 organized classes for graded courses of practice. The object was to give women the best possible instruction in practical cookery, and for this purpose the school was open to all. But to make its work most largely useful, it was constituted as a Normal School for training teachers to go out and establish other cooking schools in different parts of the country. This has been since done with the most encouraging success, so that there are already a large number of cooking schools in England connected with the National or Common School system.

As no cook-book to be found was worth anything to aid the practical instruction proposed, the teachers had to take this matter in hand at the outset. They began by drawing up a careful set of directions to be followed by the learners in doing their work. For each lesson in all the grades each pupil was furnished with a printed sheet of these directions, stating the ingredients of each dish to be prepared, the quantities and separate cost of these ingredients, what was to be done first, what next, and so on through the whole series of operations, nothing being assumed as known, and all the minute steps being indicated in the order that was found best. These guides were necessarily imperfect at first, and were subject to constant revision and extension as experience suggested corrections; in fact, they embodied the progress of the school in the successful attainment of its object. At each new printing the improvements that had been made were incorporated, and only after years of trial were these guides to practice at length combined and issued in a book-form. The lessons or receipts of this volume were all slowly elaborated in this painstaking manner, and the mode of working proved perfectly successful with the pupils. It was easy and pleasant, yet careful and thorough, and secured a rapid and gratifying proficiency.1

In saying that the South Kensington Cooking School has been successful, I speak from direct knowledge of it. I was a pupil there for several weeks, and carefully observed its operations. The classes showed the most extraordinary mental and social diversity. There were cultivated ladies, the daughters of country gentlemen, old housekeepers, servants, cooks, and colored girls from South Africa, together with a large proportion of intelligent young women who were preparing to become teachers. They worked together with a harmony and good feeling that, I confess, somewhat surprised me, but they were all closely occupied and thoroughly interested in a common object. There were teachers to provide materials, to plan the daily work, to direct operations, and to be consulted when necessary; but the admirable method adopted left each learner to go through her task with but a small amount of assistance. Indeed, the completeness of the directions in hand seemed to assure the success of every pupil from the start. There was, of course, a difference in dexterity, and in facility of work previously acquired; but raw beginners went on so well that they were astonished at what they found themselves able to do.

1 The honor of contributing chiefly toward the establishment of this school and superintending its development is due to Sir Henry Cole, the able director and master mind of the South Kensington Museum. By his firm purpose and excellent judgment a novel experiment, surrounded by many difficulties, became a recognized success and a great national benefit. The "Lessons" were gradually brought into shape by the teachers, under the supervision of the accomplished daughter of Sir Henry Cole, whose initials (R. O. C.) were appended to them as revised for use in the school, and are also subscribed to the English Preface of this work.

American ladies when looking over these lessons are apt to smile at their extreme simplicity and triviality, but it must be remembered that the difference between good and bad cookery is very much a matter of attention to trifles. Slight mistakes, small omissions, little things done at the wrong time, spoil dishes. The excellence of these lessons consists in their faithfulness in regard to minutiae, and the habits they enforce of attention to trifling particulars. They make no claim to literary merit. The receipts are homely, direct, and meant only to be easily and distinctly understood. They are full of repetitions, because processes are constantly repeated, and it was necessary that the directions in each receipt should be full and complete. They are not enticing reading, because they were made to work by. The book, in fact, belongs in the kitchen where cookery is done; and it is now republished because its success there has been demonstrated. Many hundred persons totally ignorant of the subject have become efficient and capable cooks by pursuing the mode of practice here adopted-by going through these lessons-and the same results can be obtained by pursuing the same method anywhere. American housekeepers who have any real interest in home improvement, and are willing to take a little pains to instruct their daughters or their servants in the art of cooking well, will find the volume an adequate and invaluable help toward the attainment of this object. It will prove a useful text-book in the cooking schools and young ladies' cooking clubs that are springing up in this country, and classes could be advantageously formed, by its help, for kitchen practice in every female seminary.

In revising these lessons but very slight changes have been made, and those only of form. The prices of articles, an important feature in the original work, and essential in the cooking school, have been omitted, as they do not apply in this country; and American prices have not been substituted because they vary so much in different localities. As the lessons were furnished on separate sheets for daily use in the school, they all took the form of the following example, and have been modified in the manner shown by referring to the same lesson on page 180 of the present volume: