BERKSHIRE HOTEL, _Pittsfield, Mass._, _Sept. 22, 1850._
MY DEAR GODEY.--You know I do not often _brag_ of _Hotels_, and it is perhaps out of the line of the "Book." But, in this particular instance, I know you will excuse me, when I write of a spot in which you would delight. I wish, in the first place, to introduce you to MR. W.B. COOLEY, the perfect pink of landlords, wearing a polka cravat and a buff vest, externally; but he has a heart in his bosom as big as one of the Berkshire cattle. If you ever come here--and by _you_, I mean the 100,000 subscribers to the Lady's Book, don't go anywhere else, for _here_ you will find a home--a regular New England _home_. His table is magnificent--his beds and rooms all that any one could ask; and his friendly nature will make you perfectly _at home_. Indeed, it is the only hotel I have been at, on my protracted tour, where I have felt perfectly _at home_.
How I wish you, and your wife and daughters, and lots of our mutual friends, were here with me. We would have glorious times--music, dancing, singing, sight-seeing, conversation, &c. &c. I cannot write much; but I wish you to understand that this is the _ne plus ultra_ of hotels. Don't fail to patronize it. Lebanon Springs and the Shaker settlement are within a short ride.
VARIOUS USEFUL RECEIPTS, &c., OF OUR OWN GATHERING.
Rice for curry should never be immersed in water, except that which has been used for cleaning the grain previous to use. It should be placed in a sieve and heated by the steam arising from boiling water; the sieve so placed in the saucepan as to be two or three inches above the fluid. In stirring the rice a light hand should be used, or you are apt to amalgamate the grains; the criterion of well-dressed rice being to have the grains separate.
ARROW-ROOT FOR INVALIDS.--The practice of boiling arrow-root in milk is at once wasteful and unsatisfactory; the best mode of preparing enough for an invalid's supper is as follows: Put a dessertspoonful of powder, two lumps of sugar, into a chocolate cup, with a few drops of Malaga, or any other sweet wine; mix these well together, and add, in small quantities, more wine, until a smooth thick paste is formed. Pour boiling water, by slow degrees, stirring all the while, close to the fire, until the mixture becomes perfectly transparent.