The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-05-23
Cream.

4
vet carry away in one's memory only
one sentence to recur again and again
IN after wears. The above / remember
from one OF DIR. Holmes best books.
He describes a summer tea-drlnklnS
given by a notable widow who knew
a thing or two besides how 10 dress.
She knew. for instance, how TO set a
tea-table. She knew that the effect
must be light and delicate as well as
appetizing. No fried ham nor heavy
biscuit. nor sad-colored preserves for
her but the lightest and crispest of
waters, snowy bread, golden-brown
wafies, amber-hued honey, and SO
forth and SO on, GROWING the delicious
preparations with a noble pitcher of
richest cream. The widow tea-party
was entirely successful, as it deserved
to be for" says the Doctor, Large
heart V loved little cream-pOt.
Mrs. X. says if YOU want good coffee
put in the cream" Now it Is very
wonderful 10 me that SO many other
: wise good house-keepers, are ignorant
of the virtues of cream in coffee.
How many a h~ospitable a table have
sat down at. covered with good things
beautifully provided, and then been
made to shudder at the sight of a great
coffee cup full of muddy black liquid,
tinged a ~greenish brown by the add
ton of skim-milk mo more like
Mrs. Ks generous, golden, fragrant
nectar. than shadow is like substance.
.sTake another cup" says, the hospl-
table matron, at the head of the table.
.No, / thank you not any more,
says the unhappy guest, who wonders
in secret why it is that on a farm
where three or four COWS are daily
MIXED, no cream can be spared for
the table? Some good women appear
to think its sinful waste and e%Xtrava-
gance to use cream for any purpose
but to make butter. 1t is sacrllege to
break the cream on a pan OF milk.
Maybe if the milk was richer, and ii
there was more Of it, their hearts
would eADd1u. lHtIC 10 NV hIuSi
cream going in North Carolina. Twas
on a small farm in New Jersey, where,
every morning were twenty great pans
of milk to be SKINNED, and the same
at night. Only three or four cows
were MIXED. l could not get over
that spectacle. Nothing like it had
ever greeted my eyes in North Carroll
M and vet it was but a small farm,
and a small dairy. Here, we live. in
one of the first States of the Union
climate and soil. in many respects,
unparaleled-no reason to be given
WHY we should not fare as well as any
people on the face of the globe, and
live on cream if we choose. But
cream is, perhaps, one of the rarest
articles seen on Our farmers tables
nor are we celebrated for our butter
and cheese, after all.
Now, l believe in cream, and | be
lieve in having enough of it for our
coffee: that is, l believe in having a
good article l believe in having the
best, when Providence puts it within
u reach, and l believe in enjoying it
after we get it. | call it a wretched,
skin-fint economy that keeps a poor
scrawny breed of cattle, when a little
pains and wise expenditure would en-
rich the country with an improved
stock. A COW that gives three gallons
of milk will not eat any more than
: one that gives three pints. and is dry
one-third of the time besides. l cal
it poor economy that refuses to go in
for grasses and clover, but turns the
COWS out to waste your W or your
neighbours woodlands, in a vain en-
deavor to make milk out of leaf-bud.
and wild grass. And / call it a pitifu
sort of thrift that refuses to enjoy, O.
knows not how to distribute in wise
= proportion, whatever of the best i
may be that God has given it.
Let us all have more cream. NORTH
Carolina has used sklm-milk too long
and she hasn't made a fortune at but
ter. either; and even if she made fir
kins and firkins of butter, | still con
tend for cream elsewhere than in til,
churn. l contend for more generosit,
and fullness in all our ways. w,
ought to give more than we do
There's very little cream in our benev
olences and public expenditures an,
charities. We spent $40, 600 on a Pen
r. itentiary-where our rogues are board
IS ed and lodged at public expense--an,
! we let our orphans cry for bread fror
door to door. This is skim-milk &c
i, ings. We have got the best Governo
IS the State has ever had,-the best Gov
S. ernor and the best loved Governor
nIl ne rnf,,rn - -. 49,