The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-02-14
Mrs. Joney Experience.

Mrs. Jones, Experience. H
II can't see for my life, how you get along
SO easy, Mrs Jones, z said the merry Ellen to
4 her mothers nearest neighbor, your family is
larger than ours, and you have less help-but
1 YOU are always in time come when will, i
/ find things in order--no hustle, fuss, or con-
fusion. Now we all work from morning till
might, at our house, and our work is never done
/ There must be some witch work about it-some
secret, do tell lus,won't you?''
ssWhy, Ellen, don't know that there's any
great secret about it, all Isean tell is, that
don't seem to work very hard, but some how l
get along very easy, as you say, with all that
seems to fall to my lot.
aWel, we all know that, Mrs Jones, and
1 we know too, that you do more reading and
writing than any Of the rest Of US, and visit thp
sick more, and find time for everything that's
good oh, there is asecret, know there is,
/ and YOU must tell me all about it,
Eyes, Ellen, / will tell you all I know about
1 it, and will try to make you first rate wife for
our Fred, some day, but you must first promise
to make my secret Of practical use to yourself
and teach every body else
Ellen bushed, and almost wished she had
not been SO impertinent But Ellen was a
good sensible, girl, and was impressed withthe
idea that Fred would want a wife somewhat
resembling his mother in domestic matters, SO
she stopped down and tied her shoe, to hide her
confusion. Mrs Jones laid down the cheese
knife, for twas early in the morning, took up
the baby which her kind heart and arms had
taken home, and picked up basket OF green
peas that were to be shelled for dinner and sat
down to nurse her orphan to sleep, take the
peas out of the pod and tell her story.
/ ..Well, Ellen my story is just this, when go
4 out to shake the table cloth, / always bring IN
/ stick Of wood, or when nurse the baby, i
/ shell the peas, or read my newspaper, OF in
other words economise my time, seldom take
/ two steps where one will answer, and try to do
everything the shortest and easiest way. l
4 pulyerise saleratus to last month at one time,
! keep it in a convenient vessel and then it Is
scattering the floor and cupboard, no table
rolling pin, Or morter 70 clean, but once, IN
stead Of beating my eggs with knife OF spoon,
i Ihaye a whip made of pieces Of wire bent IN an
q oblong shape like a tasfell, and tied with bit
of twine to a hickory handle, and ! can beat
i the white Of six eggs to A standing foam IN two
minutes, as easily as you will in half an hour
With knife. Any body can make an egg whip
that can whittle stick OF find piece OF wire,
sEif they cannot afford to buy one. only mem
j ton these as samples Of my time saving. But
4 ifyou will not be offended, / will tell you a
i story
4 esOfended not L It's the slliest thing in
the world to get offended, particularly at those
who do US good The doctor has often to adj
minister unpleasant drugs to effect cure. s
eWell then, Ellen, I was out taking tea with
a neighbor last week, and we went into the
q milk room and cheese room to see the cheese.
s and as we came back we stopped few minutes
to chat in the kitchen, the lady told one Of the
girls she might make some flannel cakes, o.
) griddle cakes, as some call them, for tea. She
f Started off on bound Of her duty. First she
, ran down in the cellar and brought up the but
t ter milk jar, holding almost pail full, theI
| she ran back for the eggs, united a half pounc
] saleratus, scattered spoonful on the floor anc
another on the table, rolled and tied it up, mex
turned her butter milk outand spattered a new
dress all about the waist, splashed it over the
] table, on divers things, said oh shawl picked
up the saleratus from the floor, cleaned her
4 dress, and caught plate and ran to the meal
|, room, came back with heaping plate of flour,
threw it into the pan and stirred away, back
. and forth, till it was all submerged and all
Z Jumps. There was not flour enough, and the
J. third Journey had to be made, in it was all
. dashed, and she stirred away till her face
Eglowed like a pceony, all at once she thought OF
i her eggs and broke them into batter. She
s had forgotthe salt and ran the fourth time to
Il the meal room. Now her batter was too thick
{ and more buttermilk had to be used, and con
i Isequently the saleratus paper had to undergo
another operation. Finally, after much labol
i and toll, and an expenditure Of much time and
awaste of material the lumpy batter was. fit fo1
i use But here was anew trouble, the fire that
was Just right half an hour, before was ex-
4 hausted, the griddle which had been set on the
Istove in the beginning had burned rough, the
/ kitchen and the anti-rooms full of the unpleas-
! ant smoke and odor Of burnt grease-the
/. cakes stuck fastto the iron-two messes were
wasted before the griddle could be rubbed
smooth the dish cloths were all in sad plight,
and the young lady had expended as much
actual labor as would have prepared the whole
j meal and set the table and all
II should have taken my pan and spoon put
my saleratus into the pan, gone to the cellar
and with my cup, which ! keep in the jar for
that purpose, dipped the butter milk without
splatterlng it, into my pan, then broke the eggs
carefully into the milk, gone from there to the
meal room and sifted the proper quantity of
flour in and stirred it carefully, thus beating
the eggs while stirred in the flour, dropped in
! a little salt and returned to the kitchen, all in
FIVE minutes, without having one thing out OF
place, except the egg shells and those should
\ have removed at some other time, So yousee
instead Of four journeys to the cellar, two to
/ fetch and two.to carry back, and four to the
meal room, Ishould have done the whole work,
/ saved my strength, saved the wear and tear Of
shoes, saved the soil3of my dress, saved the
fire, the annoyance, good half hour for some
/ thing else, and had a better mess of cakes for
supper, into the bargain. And thisis only one
1 half hour saved in getting supper by one hand,
Ittook three that night longer to get tea BY one
half, than it would have taken me to get it
] alone = s
But, law me! here's the baby fast asleep
the peas are all shelled, and my story must be
wound up, for it's time to whey off the curd. Il
u. Il