The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-05-25
The Woman Who Eats.

r.
| Some Of us who are 'Iniddlelaged have
. vivid recollection of q time in American
social history when it was fashionable
i and genteeln toeschew eating as viul-
gar and sensueus matter, Il Those were
the times when it was the custom for
1 high-bred and refined people to discuss
only the most ethereal diet. The dear
creatures who (nominally, at least,
Edinedi on a canary birds wing, or sufl
fered a ssurfeit when they. had absorbed.
a spoonful of clover honey, are no more.
How web we remember them! They
wore white muslin and blue ribbons
i BYRON byron who hated to see a woman
eat, and talked Of Kant, and wished
that there could be a new moon all the
Iyear round. The younger portion Of
that generation ate slate pencils to im-
prove their compilations, and smelled at
vinegar eruets to make them look pale
and Interesting. To lock at one Of, these
/ girls one would say that they had never
I9seeIl any food more substantial than tea
and toast. To follow them into the pri-
vacy of home would be to find them Sc
cretly addicted to- bacon and green's!
| The public scorn for all, solid food was
an afectation. It was fashionable to eat
next to nothing. q Itwas needful to eata
i great deal, And fashion carried the. day,
la Fashion moves in cycles. In the time
of the great Samuel johnson it was
| thought fit and proper for young women
! in high life to boast of their gastronomic
achievements and to- announce their
preferences for certain dishes. A charm
i ing young friend of Mime. *d'Arblay,
eiasping her hands rapturous1y, and
i docking DR.. johnson in Che face, said.
20, I do love mashed t,lrnipsra The
aged cynic, slowly pulling himself to-
i Igether, said. my dear young. lady, as
the experiences Of life accumulate, and
| the attractions of this mortal existence
Isink to their, true valuation, I hope you
will find something more worthy of your
affections than mashed turnips. q 1t was
d after ] Johnson's time; that young ladies
at boarding schools adored Byron and
were contentswith a diet of slate pencils
4 and water. When the muscular cricket
/ playing and hrawny school began to be
I popular with men, the women very nat
nraHy took to advertising their liking for
what our plain-speaking California
4 friends call q .ssquare meal The dear
j creatures no longer pretended that they
| lived on all, and that eating and drink
ling were vulgar. The languishing, die
! away Creatures whom we meet in the
old-fashioned novels, exist no longer.
The young lady of the present time is
not afraid Of sunshine, rain, fog and
lreekles. She is robust, athletic, and
hearty She can tel Burgundy from
bordeaux, knows the difference between
|ffroaange Roquefort and Gprgonzola, and
is critical as to the exact time required
flor the cooking of canvas-back, and the
j number of minutes safe for the proper
broiling of lobster Something good
TO eat is more to her than art or even
i fashion. Such a one, describing an
evening entertainment, said; 1T was
/ unusually swell. The, gentlemen were
witty and clever, and the rabsalad was
simply heavenly naUslai 39sn saI s.
I This is not an exaggeration. It is
q Enlerely reaction from the lackadaisical
| and sentimental age of our ,grandmoth-
ers. The days are gone when it was
fashionable to wear thin slippers, lace
4 tightly assume al languishing air, and
pretend to live on next tosnothing, If
the matter-of-fact, eating and drinking
tgenaration OF young women that has
come in does sometimes trench nearly
on the bounds Of genuine refinement,
we can forgive the apparent trespass.
Even . coarse and boisterous affectation
4 Of hearty liking for good eating and
i drinking is better than deceitfuI pre-
4 tense of abstemiousness that deceived
/ nobody Men and women must eat to
iVe.a Itsaisg a high state of society in
i which the pleasures of the table are made
| to minister to the stern necessities Of ex-
jiistence. 1T is q low state in which men
and women fill themselves mechanically,
never considering anything but the vol
ume OF food absorbed And there is no
reason why women who are not con-
IgviYial,l at least, should not be competent
judges of what's best in food and drink
OF course, we admit that all women are
angels, but so long as angels dwell
among men they must partake of the
81 nature of sfnortals. The woman who
cannot appreciate "a good dinner is a
libel on her sex.
81 Let no man say that the change OF
i woman from the sentimental, insipid and
angelic creature of the last. century to
ltheo vigorous and hearty person Of to-
day is aDchange that begins and ends
with eating and drinking habits. Let
,4the pessifnists say what fley VIM, Tie
present-isa an age of sgenuineness and
candor. Ihere is. less modesty, less Of
the humbug OF seeming, than In any
that has gone before us, II
we may accept as true Che pictures OF life