The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-03-02

How "a Geaoese E6tfchen-5Iafd
ERecanse the Patron SafnE
Of CssOf<s.
In the Italian caiendar-martyrol-
Ogy, beadrell, whatever you please TO
call iI-there IL Saint Zita, and Saint |
Zita is the patron saint of cooks and |
kitchen-maids.
III.
Saint Zita was Genoese cook ,devot- |
ed to her master and mistress, but more |
devoted TO Heaven and heavenly |
things. the people of the house were |
kindly folk, fairly well-to-do, and not
inclined to NEEDLE or find fault with |
Zita so long as dinner was ready at the |
appointed hour. Zita was an accom- |
plished cook, probably In virtue of her
application TO spiritual things, for the
cookery of Genoa ia simply heliish.
III.
1t is, however, written that we can
not serve two masters, and so Zita,
while serving as faithfully as she
might her earthly, lords, sometimes
neglected her Kitchens cares for the
care of her soul. She attended church
as We might say inveterately, and with
all her skill and attention, it some
times happened that the dinner was
few minutes late or the roast a trifie
burned. She promised not to offend
fagain, and was again reinstated; be-
sides then, as now, goed cooks were
rare in Genoa, and she could not easi-
ly be replaced.
One day Zita's master and mistress
grve dinner, q rare, a memorial BILE, a
monumental thing in Genoa, and she
was commanded to surpaSs herself.
Rising at dawn she went to market,
brought back two huge baskets of fish,
| flesh, fowl and fruit; then-for it was
so early-before even kindling fire,
fastened to the church to say prayer.
While on her knees, absorbed in med
itation, she fell int an ecstasy. Mass
| was concluded, noon came, hour after
| hour she remained kneeling before the
altar with no thought OF time, the
earth, or dinner.
O. y. i
When at last, Zit2, with a sigh
returned to herself and stepped from
the church, what was her horrer7 and
surprise to see the sun-setting! It
was dinner time and the vegetables
were net even washed and pared
She would be ANONYMOUSLY driven
from the house, and her innocent mas
ter would suffer for her fault. Be-
cause, look you, they do not give din
ner-Parties without due provocatiOn
in Genoa. A dinner is q grave-an
important affair for those who give it,
and interesting, unusual and curious
for those who see it gwen. What
would the neighbors say when, the
guests being Assem- bled, there would
be no dinner waiting for them? The
hosts would be sneered at, lampooned,
pointed at in the streets and driven
from society. She, too, would be ru-
ined, for how could she ever find an
| other place after leaving one under
such circumstances
/ VI.
The humble and pious woman would
not mind losing her place; that was
only a just eXpiation of her crime, but
THAT she should have involved in the
calamity her employers (kind people
though lax in observing the statutory
fasts OF the churchN-this was terrible.
Arrived at the door she was inclined
to fly, but remembered that it was cow
ardly and unchristtan to seek to avoid
a punishment SO so justly due. There
was no patron saint of cooks at that
time, and being unable to select one,
she commended herself TO Heaven,
praying for strength to enable her to
bear her Affections. This done, she
humbly but resolutely entered the
house.
VII.
On the kitchen step she paused; an
exquisite odor of cooking came to her
nosGrils. est cannot be, and yet it
must" she said to herself; "dinner is
in course of preparation. The mistress
has missed me and given me up-then
sent for another girl. None the less
no h.ae -.
} employers will not suffer. She advanced
} few steps further and drank in again
the perfect perfume. "The author of
that stew" she said, sis up in her bus
mess. thought myself unapproaeha-
ble," she added, with little outburst of
human frailty, which was promptly
repressed, "but that cook is my equal"
So saying she entered the kitchen.
AS she did so she heard soft sound,
like the rustling of wings, but seeing
no one, concluded that it was the dress
of her accomplished successor, who
was doubtless moving about in the
pantry. The range was lit, the stew
pans were all at work; from each es-
capped an iueffable fragrahce. She lift
ed the lids and tasted. 81 was wrong,
she said, Sin thinking that this cook
is cook of my class. She is one the
strings of whose apron I am not Wor-
thy 70 unloose. l never thought that
J my art could be carried to such per-
lection, But where is the cook? How
J can an artist expose such a dinner to
being overdone ?" She gently get the
fsimmering meats back from the fire,
and then observed that the fire was
neither red nor fieree-it was a lam
bent blue. fame, with faint odor OF
iucense.
TX.
More and more amazed, she went mp
to the dining room. The table was set
with exquisite neatness. t''st a.g
''Well, Zita," said her mistress, kind
ly, contemplating the table with pride,
sis dinner ready 30
} cit is, Signora," replied the maid :
'dinner is ready to serve. but de not
see any body"
"Not see anybody? No, of course
not. The guests are out on the terrace
with your master. You and / are
alone in the house,
Zita pinched herself to be quite sure
she was not dreaming.
X. g
She served the dinner. 1t was din
ner that - II! They still speak of
it with ecstacy and awe in the families
of those descended from the guests.
where have been faithfully preserved
the traditions of it for more than two
centuries.
Zita had only to render thanks TO
Heaven, for, as you will have readily
: guessed, the angels had taken possess
sion OF the pioqs girls kitchen while
she was in her rapture before the altar.
: What pretty picture il must have
, been 10 see the dimpled cherubs fsuch
as MurillO drew, without a doubt }
lowering from pan to pot, with little
aprons and white caps, finishing the
sauces and tasting the dishes from the
tips OF their pink fingers.
Such is the story of Saint Zita, as
told TO this day by the pious cooks OF
Genoa, whom, slasi no angels ever
assist.
The New York Churchman is
high authority among Episcopa
lians, and this is what it says of
the financial prohlaUo NJ v.sS.iir,s .,