The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1882-08-25

Gus oi tue ncOOutheiu enu Ot the united States
cf North America at the present day. They
vary ih color from the sombre shades of
burned stumpiu dark alley at midnight
to the mellow tints of aripe pumpkin tinged
With the rays of the rising sun. They vary
| III other respects. Tho young one is more
inpudeut aud less respectful than the DID,
one. When she comes Il, search cfa place.
she is apt to say that "cullid washlady'
told her that the white woman that lived
here" wanted to hire a cook; but they all
resemble each other iu one particular
ignorance Of cookery is 20 degrees above
proof, aud their Inconsistencies OF their
tfgnSrshcd my Safsfy 81 sas1 % fossser css
least 145 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade
We have not space to describ, all the
varieties of the colored cook, but will tell
| what we know of the commouest type, the
culinary atist who is fat, black aud forty
years of age, or thereabouts. She is proud
of having 'bclonge to de old judge for de
wah, and she is fond of comparing the pre-:
sent with the past Her comparisons are not
complimentary to the pseseut, for her sur.
roundinss are to her as the gloomy ruins of
social and material things standing out
against u brilliant aud gold tinted back.
ground ''oh de gofs; fs;eousness ob Dc god ole
days" With the loyalty of her race, she
is faithful to her o master and mistress to
| the extent Of calling On th,n for the loan,
of half dollar whenever she is financially
embarrassed. She seldom stays at any one
place more than three months AZ a time
When hired she promises to come on Thurs
| day, the day the old cook intends leaving,
but she does not come until the following
| Monday evening, when she arrives accom-
panied by a small trunk with wall paper
pasted on the outside Of it, and large bun
die of f"hcr things" tied up in a patchwork
bed spread. Daring the first few days she
acts 80 that her mistress absorbs the idea that
the new cook is treasure. But her salts.
faction in aud admiration for her treasure
receives successive aud severe shocks as the
idiosyncrases Of the cooks character begin
to develop. She eau couk chicken, but
all the colored people can do that. 1t is u
talent that is hereditary. Beyond that her
capacity is limited. She breathes on the
plates, aud po!ishes them on her sleeve
before putting them on the table. She
develops religious proclivitics which ne,cs
state her attendance ut church three tunes
on Sunday, at prayer meeting on Wednes>
day and oir-practice On Saturday night.
She is also q member Of the benevolent
Order Of tie Sisters Of the MystcG ious Tcu
| Wise Virgins" the weekly meetings of
which require her attendance on Tuesday
nights. Thus her mistress has ONLY three
evenings in the week on which she feels ut
liberty to entertain her friends at her own
house. The favorite dissipation of the
colored cook, besides religious obscrva ICES,
consists of sitting down on the kitchen door:
step to rest, and going to sleep there while
the biscuits bum to cinder ard tn, c,ffes
boils and mixes with the cabbage and other
| hu'sS ~ WIG ooJ 'Ccut "hht ".
She has days on which she suffers with
"a misery" in her head. probably from too
much religious observance on the previous
evening, and on these days she .akes II
gloomy view of life, breaks dishes, forgets to
put ary baking powder in tho batter cakes
and manufactures coffee of the kind that
leaves successive circles of an alluvial deposit
on the inside of the cup. 1t is not well to
demonstrate with her on these occasions
If you do she will talk to herself couiiden.
italy in low tone of voice during the next
few days about being overworked. In tho
cotton picking season nothing short of les
sons on the piauo. the use OF the pirlor to
receive her company in, aud seven nights
out Of the week will induce the average
colored cook to remain at her post Of duty
and continue the destruction Of expen.
sive groceries. Cotton picking with banjo
accompanimonts, and the dance at night 10
the barn, have attractions no pecuniary
offer will outweigh, and the cotton field is
to the cook what the fashionable watering
place is TO her young mistress When she
comes to hire she tells her employers that
she is not married. After awhile when
the latter notices the frequent appearance
| ofa "cullud g'emman" about the kitchen
and the cooks boudpir aud brings her to
task for having concealed the fact thar she
was married, she replies: "Fo' do Lawd IN,
We isn't married; we jes took up wild one
| anodder." Honesty IL her. strong points;