Princess Sara, Abram's wife, baked cakes for his guests, down to the age of the great Elizabeth, to prepare and distribute food was one of woman's noble offices. She superintended the salting tubs of beef and pork; she brewed great casks of ale; she saw to the making of butter, cheese, soap, and candles; she directed the spinning and weaving of linen and woollen fabrics, from carpets and wall-hangings down to shifts and kerchiefs; she distilled essences and flavours, and compounded medicines and ointments;[1] she delighted her guests with the fantastic elaborations of her cookery; and the splendours of her intricate embroidery shone on holy altar and priestly vestment quite as often as on her own person.
Woman in history, then, appears in general as preparing the food, making the clothing, and ordering the households of the race. The practical value of these vocations will be taught us by Political Economy.
Society as Classified by Political Economy.
This science separates mankind into two chief classes, viz., those who produce the wealth and supplies of a community, and those who consume them. Consumers are divided again simply into productive and unproductive consumers, but producers[2] are of various types, the three principal being:—
1st. Agricultural and mining producers, or those "who obtain from nature the raw materials of food, clothing, and shelter.
2d. Manufacturing producers, or those who prepare these materials for use.
3d. Distributing producers, or those who convey the raw material to the manufacturer, and the manufactured article to the consumer,—comprehending the commission merchants, wholesale dealers, importers, grocers, butchers, and shopkeepers of every description; their vast machinery being
