Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-12-17
The PIRin Cook.

A writer in the Saturday Review says
of the contemporary cook: Her des
truction of articles Of food is well match
ed by her treatment of the crockery
and kitchen utensils in her charge. She
warns the best china dinner plates to q
white heat The dishes she puts into the
oven until their surface resembles that
of the crackie porcelain admired by col
lectors. If they are adorned with arms
or monograms in color and gliding she
early discovers the efficacy of strong
soda and soft-soap in the removal of such
vanities. A few dexterous movements
will chip the edges on stone sink, and
she thinks it well to remove such ex-
crescences as the handles of dishes or
the tops of their covers. Her reasons
for these measures may be sanitary, as
handles only form recesses for grease
and dust, and it is impossible to clean
them without trouble. Pudding basins
she consumes in in large numbers, and
uses butter.boats to feed the cat. The
dishes she sends to the table
invariably soil the cloth, and are
SO full of gravy that they very
often spill on the way np stairs. The
covers are sneared with greasy finger
marks, ani it is we'll if the outside only
is dirty. The kitchen is her fortress;
from it drGwing-room company is care.
fully and jealousy excluded. In all
families the children look upon the
kitchen as a paradise OF dainty devices.
In some they are never allowed to enter
it; but in others the little missy is some
times privileged to make bit OF paste
into ducks and drakes, or knead some
dough into cake for the dolls birthday.
Such friyolities modern cook sternly
represses. She supposes the young
ladies will want 10 make puddings next
or to come down and try recipes out OF
them rubbishing books She has no
notion of encouraging such pranks. A
favor has to be made of leave TO use her
bowls and spoons, and the young officer
lust home from his regiment dare not
venture into the sacred precinct to con
coct a real Indian curry or Mulligat.
awny pillaw unless he has first ascer-
tanned that cook is in a good hui
NOR. Even the lady of the house is
informed very plainly that after her
morning visit she is not expected
to disturb the quiet OF the lower
regions. The trap is always missing
from the kitchen sink, and thirgs run
into the drain which should never go
there; the valve itself disappears among
the ashes, and is carried away by the
dust cart, together with the shoppers and
sauce bottles, the heads OF pepper cas-
ters, jam pOts, end half burnt Goals.
Indeed one might think that the cook
had a personal interest Ia the dHstman,
and wished to bestow as many useful
articles upon him as possible; or per
hans her benevolent feelings are stirred
by soma tale OF the poor sorters in the
einder yards, to whom these things are
perquisites, aud she Voale be charitable
BY proxy. She has kind heart for all
sorts Of tramps, and frequently has her
fortune told. The woman whose babies
seem endowed with a perpetual youth,
the man who sells pencils, the various
folk Who exc out precarious livelihood
by hawking mittens, combs, and pen
wipers, hnd in her q sympathetic patron,
and draw from her large supplies OF her
masters bread and meat.