The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-12-18

THE SERVANT QUESTION FROM A SOUTH
ERN STANDPOINT.
ID. Wyatt Akin in Rural Carollnian

III. wyatt Akin in Rural CarOllnian,1
Anterior to 1871, southern farmers
and planters, like the centurion of old
had servants under them to whom tbey
sad go, do thus and SO, and it was done
1hlS authority ended with the war. bnt
the lesson taught has not been commit
ted to memory, nor have we ATTEMPTED
to forget this peculiar but lost privilege,
A servant to black my boots as we'll as
to harness my horse, to fetch me a pitch
er OF water, or to build me a fire, to 90
on crrands, or otherwise consume val1-
able time, is a perplexing luxury too
frequently INDUCED in by men who con-
less their poverty, and are ever ready to
lament their condition. To be waited
upon Is a normal arrangement of south
ern life. The cost of such indulgence is
an attcrthOught, and is seldom calcu-
lated. From seven to ten dollars a
month and his board (the latter often
considered the scraps from the table,, is
thought to be the sum total of the cost.
whilst the scraps,7if vigilant economy
were habItually practiced, would be
found to exceed III value the monthly
wages, and the countless perquisities Of
his position would amount to moro than
both wages and board. These employees
are everywhere among farmers, and tiev
are expensive super1uities. ShOuld
they be discharged at Christmas, and
the farmers resolve to do this work them
selves during 1875, one years experience
will teach them how extravagant and
useless are such attaches.
ItIs ubiquitous servant frequently
has a wife, who is the cook or washer
woman, with an attendant tribe of little
ones. These must be fed, and they,
too, seemingly get "scraps,n which are
%0ftener thrown to the dogs and pigs,
much more dainty food. But wood must
be cut and hauled, and fires built to keep
these brats warm, for negro children
seldom wear clothes nOwadays: and
here begins another lack of economy.
If the farmers house is on the road
side, the wOad-pile is On the opposite
side, the kitchen as far in the real of
the house, the well OF water is away off
at the horse lot, and the "cabin is per-
haps still further off in the woods, or
beyond the spring. But time costs moth
and the cook spends hers hunting
up wood and water, and looking after
her "chillun,7 except when standing
over the kitchen fire, built of a cord Of
wood, and hot enough for a smelling
furnace.
Let us systemic q little Just there,
and see what might follow. Rebuild
kitchen within twenty feet Of the
connect the two by a shed, un-
der which have the well or pumps, with
the wOOdshed hard by filled with sea-
sOned wood and why should not the
own daughter be the cook
The wholesome exercise of kneading
5he dough with her own tiny fingers,
md plying the improved stove, would
teVClOp her into a matrOnly robustness,
And other beneficial results would fol-
oW this change, not the least of which
would be neat and tidy kitchens. Are
southern kitchens proverbially clean
Not more so than negro cooks, who are
Systematically filthy. They are adopts
vt hiding cleanliness with dirt, and con-
equently most housewives are ashamed
,ver to have a visitor think of stepping
or q mOmentinto their kitchen. South
IN farmers, look inspectingly into the
conduct of your cooks for one week. See
hem throw the coffee grounds here out
# the door, there slop through the
yOndeT pile up eggs shells and
zones OF the shelf in the corner; now
cOuring q table all smeared with filth
With a dirty rag, and then sousing the
anne rag into q pot of dirtier water to
it, and then cleaning out with it
he pan or oven into which the food is
Immediately dropped that is to grace
our table, or tickle your palate within
n hour. Is it any wonder that each of
eats his peck Of dirt before we reach
ur teens? And yet negro cooks are O
niversality at the south, and our daugh-
ers are seldom taught to perform this
a~intiest of all work.