Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-21
NEGLECTED FINE ART.

AL nOIlU 10 dndho W l0o Importance Oh
the crops If the weevil gets into the wheat ;
there is too little rain for the potato, or too
much for the corn if the fruit has been pinched
by the frost or eaten by the worm, no matter in
how limited locality, We are all sure TO hear
Of it. The markets sympathize with the news,
and the commerce Of the whole world responds
to the intelligence. Now, tho strange thing in
all this is, that while the public feels so much
concern about the produce Of the soil, they give
comparatively so little thought about the use
that is made Of it in other words, use So little
intelligence and skill in preparing it for con-
sumption. "GOd sends food, says the proverb,
Z" but the Devil sends cooks" That is moro
true of this country than Of almost any other
Our cooking, as general thing is committed
to very incompetent hands. Little preparation
or teaching is deemed necessary to qualify a
woman to prepare our dinners for u.s. and most
people are obliged to content themselves with
the very narrow range Of dishes which, in the
course Of time, such persons learn to make the
least unpalatable. The result Of EMPLOYING
and depending upon cooks bred in this way is,
that four -ffths of the good things within the
reach OF even the poorest classes are wasted,
because no one knows how to dress them There
is scarcely an animal dressed for the ia bic, nor
a vegetable taken from the garden, OF which a
large portion Of its edible matter is not lost
through ignorance, and good part of the rest
is half spoiled from the came cause. We should
scarcely be chargeable with overstat:ng the
case, if we were to say that the cooks Of this
city throw away enough, from not knowing how
| to use il, to feed the entire population.
We have sometimes doubted whether pretty
sharp famine would not, on the whole. be "a good
thing for the United States whether the country
would not be actually richer, instead of poorer
| by failure of the crops, which would teach all
classes to find out the uses and value Of what is
| now thrown away, and to use more prudently
what is now used most Wastefully. 1t will re-
| quire some Providental lesson like this to sup
| ply what this country needs now as much as
| anything elsa race of capable cooks In this
sense, the breadth and prOdigious frutfuness
Of our country is IL calamity. We have no need
| to exhaust all the resources Of our larder food
| Of one sort or another is always so abundant.
| The consequence is, that, with every thing
plentiful, the Americans are very badly fed
| people, and hence the uniyersality ofdyspepsia
and consumption among Us.
We want schools for the training of cooks
Our large eating Embellishments ought to be
| prepared to graduate class Of male and fe-
| male cooks every half year, whose diplomas
would be sufficient evidence of their compe-
tence. They could In part, pay for their tut
tiOn by their service, and partly in money. III
the head cook Of such hotels as the Astor House
or the ST. Nicholas would engraft a branch OF
instruction like this upon their culinary depart
ments, his pupils would soon command large
premiums. Wewant schools for cooks as much
as for physcians-even more for people want
to eat every day, but they only want doctor
occasionally, and they would want one much
less frequently if they were better fed-that is
if their food were better prepared. How often
does it happen that the protesting cooks of this
metropolis know how to make good bread or to
| boil potato or n cabbage! 1t is as much as a
mans life is worth to travel through the inte-
rior and less frequented portions of our western
country, SO apt are they at spelling the produce
| of the soil in preparing it for the table,
The more We look at this subject, the more
extraordinary it seems that schools are not
opened for giving systematic instruction in this
really fine art. In three months, man or wo-
man of fair intelligence could be taught more
of the art of preparing the gifts of Providence
| for the nutriment of man, than is possessed by
ninety nine hundredths Of the most experienced
| of our American cooks. Who will move In the
matter, Who is prepared to take his rank
among our great national DenefactOrs, by set.
| ing such an institution in motiOn,-N. \
| ErenIHO Post