The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1882-08-17
Bread Baking In Lon don.

ably Situated in cellar. Generally it is
cellar that might do we'll enough for
the. reception of lumber, but is utterly
UNFIT for any other purpose; and, of all
purposes to which it might possibly be
put, for the manufacture Of bread. The
writer spent night in such q place q
short time ago. The walls were bulging,
cobwebby and old; the ovens were u1-
der the pavettient of the street; the
refuse of the bakehouse was deposited
hear the ovens; the four or FIVE COM
partments into which the cellar was
divided were sriall and close, and when
the gas was lighted at midnight cock
reaches were swarming over walls and
ceilings, chasing each other about the
sacks OF flour, ,and holding assemblies in
superior bakehouse. The dirty and
bread is made are Inaccessible. If the
baker does not regard cleanliness as 8
moral obligation; he Is, at any rate,
fully aware that the cellars in which he
practices his mystery are not quite such
show places as they ought to be. The
circumstance that they are underground,
and that the ovens are so placed rs to
draw the air which feeds tterti-~often
from the close proximity of the drains
over the troughs in which the dough is
kneaded, is in itself sufficiently appall-
ing. Bread readily absorbs the air that
surrounds it, and ought never to be
made or to be kept in confined places.
i'll London, however, it is habitually
made In dens SO confined and nauseous
that the bakers trade is one Of the most
unhealthy in existence.
The condition of the bakehouses is
one Of the least evils Connected with
the existing system of bread making.
Bread is made now after much the same
fashion as was in vogue, probably, in
the Cities of the Plain. The baker still
uses his naked arms in the process of
knoading. The "sponge" is laid in long
wooden troughs. Over these the Jour
neyman baker, often working in tenn
perature OF ninety degrees, bends for
halt an hour or so while he kneads the
dough. Of course he perspires. His
occupation is as laborlous almost as that
of the blacksmith, and produces similar
3utward effects. However much he may
be disposed to cleanliness, he can not
pursue his occupation except under
conditions that to any one not aceus-
toned to the process are sickening to
behold. After belaboring the dough
|
bed, he "rubs his arms out''-that is,
he clears them of the paste with which
they are encrusted by dipping his hands
in dry flour and rubbing them down his
arms. The dough comes off in little
rolls, which are returned 70 the trough
ane kneaded in with the bread. This is
not the case only in bakehouses whicls
are doing ''cutting" business 1t is
the process common in all bakehouses.
The dough which adheres to the arms,
saturated as it must be with impurity,
would otherwise be so. much waste, and
in bakehouse nothing is wasted
Such things are not pleasant to dwell
upon; but bread Is the chief food of the
people, and it is as we'll that we should
know how it Is manufactured. Before
being made up into loaves and put in
the oven it goes through q tiresome
amount of handling. After being
kneaded in the troughs it is pulled out
in pieces and rolled vigorously on q
bench. Now and then q knife is taken
up and the bench is scraped, and the
scrapings are returned to the trough.
The old proverb about eating peck of
dirt has more literal application than
Is generally supposed. We take great
deal of our allowance in our bread. 1t
is q remarkable fact that there is moro
popular ignorance on the subject OF food
than on anything else which is nccessa
ry to our daily life. In nothing, more
over, do we take SO much on trust as in
the article of bread. If, by some acci-
dent, the public could watch our bakers
at work for few hours there would be
a general and immediate resort to home
made bread.-PatL Mall Gazette.
A Story With Moral.
The following bit of history is from
the Cleveland Hcrald: Once upon {
time-this has nothing to do with tn,
Cincinnati, Hamilton 81 Dayton, re
member there was corporation
The stock of the company amounted t,
10000, shares and was equally owned
by John Jones and Sam Smith. Th,
profits yielded a regular annual divi
dend of ten per cent. on the capita
stock of 81, 900, 900, which was 800, 600
This was equally divided between tho
Jones was thrifty. While he had IN
eye to John Jones. Sam Smith was not
30 thrifty, but was a good follow. One
day John Jones said to Sam Smith:
"Sam, let's increase the stock 5000
shares. You said the other day you
wanted to use $10O,00O. If YOU like, [
will take the odd thousand shares and
pay you cash for it," Sam agreed to
that, as he was good fellow. But aft
or time the Company met and had an
election. Then it was that John Jones
made substantial use of his odd thousand
shares of stock. 1t gave him major
ity, and he voted himself President and
Treasurer of the Company. He fixed
the salary of President at $50, 900, and
that used up the 100000 which had
formerly been called dividend. Sam
Smith got left, all on account of John
Jones owning q little more than ma
jority of the stock"
Land in England
Behind the land question in England
is the question of habits. The land is
held in these great tracts, not for en-
ioyment but from pride. The brains
of men are so equal, under modern facil-
tiles of education, that hereditary de-
scent would be inconsequential if it did
not hauA haradiforu nafofa fn a1vortiaa