Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-07-03
Domestic EeOn00y.


There is no place in this world where
reform is more imperatively needed
than in the American kitchens. Male
professional cooks, who make cooking
a study, and who take great pains in
their skill and proficiency in the art,
rants, and in idle mems palaces, but
for the great mass Of the world, female
cooks will continue to provide the food
for the human race. And it is becom-
ing too fashionable for the daughters of
well-to-dO farmers and town tradesmen
to pride themselves in their total igno-
rance of the operations in the kitchen.
As consequence the race is degenerat-
ing into dyspeptics and to petulant
and irritable citizens. A man can not
be expected to be pleasant or display
Christian spirit when his coffee is no
better than dishwater, his beefsteak in
sipid, raw or burnt, his biscuit hard
| and green with saleratus, and his bread
soggy, solid and half-baked And il
the woman of the house is ignorant of
the first principles of domestic economy
and has to rely on an ignorant, careless
Irish Biddy for the preparation of his
food, there is no wonder that divorce
cases are SO common or that so much
unhappiness exists in the households
where content and happiness ought tc
dwell. There is no way to have food
cooked so as to be palatable and healthy,
unless the housekeeper thoroughly I'M
derstands this important part of living
so that she can direct, at least. her
girls and cooks properly in all OF the
may be unpopular in some quarters.
and some beautiful noses may be turned
up at the idea of being associated with
the kitchen routine.
England, France and Germany, with
the credit of being far more aristocratic
than the United States, in the edu :ation
of their girls, high or low, do not neg
lect teaching them the art of cooking.
And it is an art which must be learned
first by the skill and experience of
others, as well as by practical demon
stration in the preparation OF the vari-
GUS articles of food. Especially every
French woman is supposed to know
enough in the art of cooking to direct
the work in her kitchen. But how is it
with us? Ladies rejoicing in their ig-
norance of the first principles Of house
keeping. Our hired kitchen help prin-
cipally comes from the poorest foreign
families, many of the girls having spent
their earlier life in outdoor work; or,
if in the kitchen, in cooking such arti-
Giles, and in way unknown to our way,
of living. These crude girls are in
stalled in our kitchens, and our house.
keepers are glad enough to get any
kind of help. The wives who ought to
be able to direct and instruct these raw
specimens of kitchen help. are more ig-
norant than they. And food cooked
under such circumstances is what a
man spends much of thought and toll
to obtain. And after eating such food
year after year, he is expected to be
good humored, a pleasant man and a
Christian. And yet humanity was
never intended to overcome impossible
bilities.
The cooks in the most of our houses
are not cooks at all. They have had
no chance to be cooks. 1t is not their
fault. Many of them grow up in fami-
| lies where cooking was not done, eX-
cept in the rudest shape. From there
they are ushered into some kitchen the
mistress OF which is ignorant, careless
and proud, who reads novels, and
spends her time in fashionable gossip.
The man concludes he can not come
home to dinner, SO he takes his dinner
down town at some fashionable restaur-
ant. so gets one good meal per day.
There he meets boon companions. and
it is good luck if he does not contract
some habits not beneficial to the peace
and happiness of his family. The wife,
feeling neglected and sighted, con-
cludes she has rights and she INDUCES
in liberties, which she imagines will
contribute to her happiness. And thus
things progress. The meal at home
has no attractions for a hungry man.
Its preparation was not directed by one
whom in his courtship days he thought
perfection-nor the immaculate table
cloth spread by that sweet hand with
which he fell in love. There are vari-
Gus ways to wean husband and sons
from the love of home and the compan-
| ionship of the dear ones who ought to
make that home the sweetest and dear
L
est place on earth.
These are not idle words. nor fine
spun theories which have no real exist
ence. On the contrary in them are in
volved the most of the real happiness
which men should enjoy upon earth.
And that young lady who spends her
girlhood ignorant OF the most important
branch of her education, and who
marches boldly to take charge of a
household ignorant of the first and most
important duties OF her position is rash
ly rsking her own happiness and the
happiness of him whom she pretends to
love and honor. What fatal mistake.
fashion and folly are preparing for the
health and homes of those who should
be our happiest people.-Iowa State
Register.
Still Another Dodge.