The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-06-10
A Voice from the kitchen.


steps. =" A1his. result is to be brought
about By the aid of mechanical con
trivance, to be evolved from the brain
OF some man who has nothing else to do.
"A still better way to save steps can
be suggested. Men must stop eating
don't be frightened, brother; so must
women-so much, and so many elabol-
ate dishes.
If this is an age Of doubt, it may also
be said to be an age of eaters; to be
sure, no one has. as vet, managed TO go
through life without something to eat,
but now cooking is fast developing into
most complex art. Cooking schools
are being established from one end OF
the country TO the other, while the ma
jority Of the people, especially the doe
tors, dock on cDmplacently and approx
ingN. And for what are these schools
established? To teach us how to pre-
pare simple, healthful dishesP No,
ma am. There is where you are mis-
taken. They are for the purpose of
conjuring up all sorts of complex dishes,
special, wined branded, what not, till
ones heart aches, both for the tired
cooks and gluttonous consumers. i o.
Imagine the labor necessary to get up
the dinners common nowadays; and as
for the eating OF them, it is IN excellent
way to kill time .Qife is so long, you
know, but a better way to fill grave-
yards, or worse fate, to fill the world
with weakly, sickly. whining specimens
of men and women. In the good old
/ days of our foremothers the cooks had
one day of rest each week and cold
baked beans; but, sadto relate, we have
somewhere read that those days are past
/. Let Us stand up. for simple Diet, let
US have food more plainly served. Let
I'us eat to live, not live to eat. This,
with small and convenient kitchens,
will do more to save housekeepers and
servants alike from being :" tired to
j death and leave fewer miserable, mar
.rowSmnded drpdges than any mechan-
ical contriyance man may invent f,
p With simpler food and less gorging l
would come healthier, HAPPIER race,
and, in time, Diogenes' ong-sought-for
man might make his appearance. 1t
must be confessed that things do not
look very hopeful for any such reform
now. Eating has come to be the grand
business of life, and the :" best fellow
in town. is the man who gives the cost
lest dinners. We love our friends dear
ly because they are so mindful of the
inner man, even the stomach, or at least
it would look that way, TO "a disinter-
ested observer, if such person could
be found.
d, No one will deny that what is deSig.
mated plain food is more healthful than
that which is its opposite Who ever
heard of a horse grumbling and growl.
ing his way through life victim?
of Dyspepsia, or an elephant with
the goutP Whatever else Mary's
little lamb was guilty of doing,
it never had the nightmare from over
indulgence at a modern supper table.
No, indeed. The animal world has de-
veloped neither cooks nor Kitchens
A young lady came to us, not long
ago, with the startling intelligence that
she knew how to make CANCELS Food"
Judging from the ingredients thereof,
one would imagine that whatever her
success might be in making angel food,
she would be pretty sure to make angels
out of many who partook of the heay-
emily results of the labOrs in the culinary
department.
We do not contend that a universally
simpler and palmer diet would do away
with all the ills that flesh is heir to, nor
that it would leave housekeepers with
no steps to take and next to no work to
do. Housekeeping will always cause
tired hands and tired feet, as must be
the case with any work which men and
women perform. But we do contend.
and believe it is a self-evident truth,
that it would tighten the labor; it would
lessen the number of steps to be taken
and cause less care both for women and
men. Women would have, not only
more time, but encouragement to cult.
tivate the mind, that divine attribute
which distinguishes man from the lower
animal. ..' ..-|
The talk of the, average woman is
largely confined, after marriage, to her
wonderful cooking and the trouble 81
have with my servant girls" What
of thatg" some excited masculine in
quires; "what better can awoman doo"
Well, sir, if she has house to keep, the
very best thing she can do is to keep
it to the best of her ability, but need she
be forever cabling" about it? Let
her spare the world the recital of her
housekeeping trials and triumphs. How
can she do this if she has no time to
keep up with the tide of human events
| if she has nothing else to talk aboutP
She cannot, unless housekeeping be sim
plified, and, though well done, not be so
complex that all a woman's time and
thought must be give up to it. '
Unless we can live with less extensive
and expensive winning and dining,
| thousand mechanical cOntrivances will
not lessen the number of steps or
the hard work which fall to the lot of
housekeepers. Always with new ma