The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-29
CHAPTER VIII.

Useless Anger Servants Manners-Bills of Fare
One Reason Why an Oven Will not Bake--How
to Cook with ito Make a Hash, Curry, a
Mince-Why Men are Frequently Cross-How
an Estate Can Waste Away.
Like ali servants and many mistresses, Keziah
was very torgetiul. Day after day the greatest
vigilance my part was necessary. Some
times she inclined TO be restIve or obstinate.
ever found that remonstrance availed nothing;
that 10 be veXed and out of temper only made
her my mistress. When girl | had often read
the morals OF EpiCtetus with more attention and
remembrance than had supposed at the time.
l had found the book in my fathers library
having the appearance of being well read, for it
was an edition OF 1867. And when | was in
clined 10 be angry, the following lines always
occurred to met
"Suppose you call your servant, he's at play;
Or when he's present, minds not what you say;
And Is the quiet of your soul perpleXed
AT This! He gets the better If you're UeTed;
He gTOUS your master SOhtte he can torment.
Glve not such power to the vile Negligent"
If one would only consider that, with brains
trained by discipline OF learning and reading,
now soon and how frequently we forget many
things which should be remembered, we should
have more iorbearance with our servants. A
young woman oil twenty comes into house as
cook, knowing as much about her duties as
child, 1or, like child, she knows how to spoil
things and ''hoW not to do it." And she is
rapidly or slowly told, as the case may be, all
that VIII be required Tor dinner; and as ior the
necessary sauces which should accompany the
meats she has never before heard of them. One
cannot but wonder how she gets ON as well as
she does, although her 'set on" is nothing but
a series of dlsappontments to her unfortunate
and perhaps equally ignorant mistress. There
is no royal road to cooking, to management, or
to the acquisition OF a Tetentive memory. All
must have teachl1 and practice
MistTesses Will find II greatly to their comfort
If thoy viii write out every day Dill OF lare of
dinner, no matter now few articles for this meal
there may be. When they are written down,
they are impressed on the girls memory, if she
can read; II not, some one must read it for her.
| found it of great use to say
"There are three lour. five, or six things las
the case might have been) to be cooked to-day
but even for my own satisfaction, / often
found reference to the bill Of Iare for dinner
frequently necessary; Tor, with the numerous
cares OF family, and the many demands there
are upon a m0thers time, especially in the
morning, and vita a two O'Clock dinner, my
memory often failed me, which an instant's re-
ference 10 The written paper restored Five
minutes suficed for writing out this, which
saved me much WEAKNESS.
For all my little Cookeries. whether hashes
minces, cuIries or steWed steak or chops, L
never used saucepans. To be always looking
INTO these was apt-in American parlance-to
,ite Keziah's temper, who, on the WHOLE kept
these articles tolerably clean but yet all the little
neSses not only required excessive cleanliness,
but also moderated degree of heat, which
only an oven could give. All hashes, curries,
stews, minces, and apple sauce were placed in
| PIE or baking dishe", and FIAT dish, placed on
| the top OF each, kept the articles moist and
| prevented their burning Let it not be imagined
| that my oven, or the CRATE to which it was
| attached, was one of the bran tangled
| kind. 1t literally was, as l heard one OF my
| brightest cooks call 1T, "a rascal of range"-
| Tor Tor 1t could COOK everything with liVSle fire,
| but was altogether shabby, shattered affair
without boiler, Tor that, it wilt be remem-
| bered, helped us to drink the black beetle
water. The back was brieked, but space was
| lett Tor hot air to penetrate round, and thus
kept dish warm over what had once been
| the escape-hole for the steam. The check OF the
| range was fixed by brick, so that on the oven
| side 10 great waste OF coal could t@ke place,
| as the FIRE could be only large enough to roast
| joint OF meat; on the other side OF the check
a fire was lighted only when fish had to be
| trIed, or ham to be boiled, or when any extra
| fire wss needed.
The small oven did its work well at all times,
| provided that the tiny aperture at the back was
| kept Tree from the hne dust OF the ashes, which
| would settle there and become an impenetra-
BILE mass, through which no heat conld pene-
| uate.
This one little trouble among many others,
| upon which depends the comfort or the PROGRESS
| OF greater things, could never Get properly
| done unless made Keziah every morning rake
| it out in my presence. She was no better in this
| respect than all the unmanageable cooks that
had been in my service. 1t was no trouble to
see TO this, but it was quite certain that the
cooking would be spoiled by the oven being
| cold, If II were not done. Half the cooking
ranges IN the kingdom, that "won't bake" may
be made to do so by attending to this little
matter. The large, unmanaee cable, and formi-
dable affair called kitchen-poker, isluseess tor
the purpose; a small, and perhaps Worn-out bed
room-poker, or crooked but strong iron rod, is
the best 10 use tor raklg out the fine ash.
| A great deal has been said about the lndiges
tibllity of baked meats, and with truth; but il
ID not because they are baked that indigestion
comes from eating them; IL is because l1hjt
| bdki1g The OUeT-dooT has been shut and the steam
| from the meat ia hDrOt nv the heat and
is absorbed again by the Joint or other food
The first ten minutes after the meat is first pu
in, the oven-dOor should be closed, and after
wards be opened halt an inch. The ventilation
in the open-door is delusion, II is not sufli
cient. To put water in the bakingtin Is of ne
use, and it soddens the meat, which there is M
occasion to mount on meat stand, but placeC
in simple hatbaking tin IS all that is needed
7 BY cooking the join, in this way the gravy i
| retained more uniiormly IN the meat, and al
] dust and cinders are kept out OF the dripping