Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1854-03-22
MisGfliancou5.
USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.

Among the common things to the teaching
Of which public attention is now SO strongly
directed, it is to be hoped that the art Of cook
cry, one Of the commonest, and yet apparent
ly, one Of the most difficult and neglected of
all-will not be forgotten. The instruction
of the female peasantry 10 the useful art would
be as advantageous to themselves when set
tied on their own hearths as to them of the
middle classes, in which before marriage they
oiiciate as domestic servants. Emigration
and abundance of employment have given to
the servants at home an upperhand as CON-
pletely as if they were in Australia. On all
sides we hear complaints Of the difficulty Of
finding aud of retaining when found, a cook
who can roast leg of mutton, and make bat
ter pudding or pea soup. In point If fact,
we have heard of ladies who have it in seri-
Gus contemplation to dispense with servants
altogether and as the least troublesome al
tentative. Without wishing matters carried
quite so far, we are convinced that many Of
our fair friends would lose nothing, either in
point of responsibility or happiness, while
they could add at least one. third to the effec-
tive income Of their husbands, ifthey were to
spend little more time in their kitchens, su
perintending the preparation Of the family
dinner il stead of connecting themselves in
ordering it-if, indeed they condescend to do
even that.
Some 40 years back, ladies we're driven to
shoe making as fashionable way Of killing
time. Why not try little cooking? Thanks
to the modern stoves, with their nicely ar
ranged skillets and stew pans which science
and mechanical skill have substituted for the
blazing kitchen hearth of other days, young
ladies of the 10th century, just passing its
prime, many cook without soiling their fingers
or ipjuring their complexion. Were it not SO
we could not recommend them to cook, We
would rather live on bread and cheese all the
days of our lives 1t will be said, perhaps,
that our notions with regard to female educa
ton and employment are too antiquated.-
That in these matters, as in everything else
new era has dawned' and the solid course
OF instruction now given in colleges for ladies
will be triumphantly appealed to. Ladies
however who posses these solid acquirments
who, like Lady Jane Grey. prefer Plato
to c-nic-will be least likely to neg
lect the economy of the kitchen. They will
thoroughly understand the dignity of the
employment, and CAL to mind all the poetry
of cooking. To say nothing of the dinner
which Milton describes Eve as preprring
when ION hospitable thoughts intent" there
are the Homesic banquets, at which Kings
literally "ki!led their own meat" and at which
queens and prineesses turned the spit for the
roasting or drew the water, aud chopped wood
for the boiling.
Cooking is classical, and no lady will dis
dain to take part in it who has read of the
feasts in the original Greek. Let it be OBJ
served that it is the middle and working elias
ses ON whom we wish TO urge the Importance
of the study An earrs daughter can afford
to be SO ignorant of common things as not to
recognise chickens in poultry yard, because
they do not run about with a liver under one
wing and giz1ard under the other, though
our modern poultry shows, il must be con-
fessed. viii tend much to disipate this error
] A knowledge. however, of the art Of cooking
is of more Importance 70 the wives of the la
boring population than to those of the middle
classes. because it is the art when properly
cultivated of making little go great way.
A French army can subsist where an English
one would starye, and chiefly FOR this reason,
that tho French soldiers can cook.-Mdrk
! Lane Express.