Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Education, Human Development, Domestic Economy, Nutrition, Manufactories, Adulteration

    Begins by advocating the need for 'everybody' to 'have a partial, if unable to obtain a thorough knowledge of the manufacture' of common articles of food. Presents a drama which the author hopes will 'show the result of a few examinations instituted extemporaneously during meal-times'. The 'dish of instruction' features Paterfamilias and his children, Mary, Tom, and Ellen. Besides correcting Tom's sloppy grammar, Paterfamilias manages to induce Tom to trace the production of butter to the stirring of the milkman. Despite his efforts, Paterfamilias is unable to interest either his children or wife in his 'lecturing' and he is forced to stop.