, 1857-07-10
Brigham YOung's Notions Of Economy

In late discourse delivered by Brother
Brigham, he thus enjoins economy on the
Saints:
If man is a good husband and knows
how to live, let him teach his wife how tC
cook the food be provides, as l have some
Of my wives, more or less, Notwithstanding
| have some excellent cooks; but do moi
think that have one but what can teach
in the art Of cooking some particular varie-
ties Of food, for | have at times been
obliged to pay considerable attention to
this matter. And when l go into house
| cau.soon know whether the woman is on
economical housekeeper or not; and if
stay few days l can tell whether a hus-
band can get rich or not. If she is deter
mined on her own course, and will waste
and spoil the food entrusted to her, that
man will always be poor.
Some women will set emptings in the
morning and let them stand until they sour,
and mix up the -four with them and sweeten
it with saleratus, and then knead it ready
for baking, and if sister Somebody comes
in they will sit down and begin to talk
over old times, and the first they know the
bread is sour; dear me, forgot all about
that bread" and into the oven she puts it
and builds up large fire and again sits
down to visiting with her neighbor, and
before she thinks Of the loaf there is q crust
burnt on it from quarter to half an inch
in thickness. So much of the bread is
spoiled, there goes one quarter Of the -four,
it is wasted, and the bread is sour and
disagreeable to eat; and the husband comes
home and looks sour and is sour, as well
as the bread. He finds fault, and that
makes the wife grieVe, and there are fee
lings and unhsppiness and dissatisfaction in
the family. The husband may be a good
man, aud the wife may be good woman,
and try 10 pleas her husband, and to do
as much as the old lady did who said, at
was impossible for her to please her hus-
band in baking bread, for If it was half
dough be did not like it, and II 1t was half
burnt up he scolded about It."
You may say that it is hard work to
please man, yes, and women too. But
when man does his duty in providing for
family, there can reasonably be but little
complaint on the part Of any sensible
woman. .f
A man may be good and industrious,
may be On excellent mechanic and often
diligent man, as is>the case with q num-
Der with whom l am acquainted, yet go 10
his house and ask, have you pig Ia your
peni" "No, l have nothing TO feed q pig
with, cannot keep one" Sit down tol
his table and be has not a mouthful Of
meat from weeks end to weeks end, unless
be buys little. Have you q coWl" "No,
have nothing to feed q COW; cannot
hire pasture, aud were to hire one driV-
en- to grass as far as the herd boys 60 she
would not give milk enough TO pay the
herd bill" l have been in worse places
than this and kept COW. 4
l have taught the brethren how TO live
upon less than Eve, three, or even two dol
lars day for the support Of small family,
and when men complain that they live here
on bread alone, they do not reflect that
they do not know how to provide for them
selves. Years pass away. one after anoth-
er, and see more and more that there are
but very few men and women that are even
capable Of taking care Of themselves tem-
porally.
You will see women, II their husbands
have got fifty cents, who must buy crack
ors with II, or something nice. Johny,
Susan, Betsy and Billy come along and
want q cracker, and the FIRST you know the
crackers arc in the hands Of the children
who are out Of doors playing with them,
breaking them up, wasting and scattering
them abroad. i will leave It TO you, sis
ters, if some Of you do not act in this man
ner. When children crumble up the bread,
what do you do with iti You throw It
into the 6re. learned my wife, In the
first place, what the swill pail was made
for, and said to her. do not let one crumb
or kernel of anything be wasted, but put it
into the swiIl pail, and when night came |
had something to feed the pig with. But
often out Of door 60 the pieces Of bread
and meat, or II half q gill Of corn should be
on the aoor it is swept out Of doors or
more frequently into the FIRE to be wasted,
A great many men do not know that
they can keep pig, but there is not a
family in this city, where there are two,
three, four, or Eve persons, but what can
save enough from their table, from the
waste made by the children and what must
be swept in the ERE and oct Of door, to
make pork sufficient to last them through
the year, or at least all they should eat.
When you know enough to put pig in q
pen, do so; and when you have an opportu-
nifty to buy bushel Of corn, or oats, or
bran, get your bins ready and lay it away.
Will the people continue to liVel Many
of them will merely manage to stay, just as
family did in Illinois. During a confer
ence held in their neighborhood we would
sit down at the table, in the centre Of
which was great big milk pan piled full
of lean beef, and sour bread to eat with it;
after while plate Of butter would be
brought on, quite white and full of butter
milk; aud those articles comprised our din
ner. When Sunday morning came we had
the rarity. In the meantime l found out
who owned the farm, the sheep, and horses,
Al