The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-10-24
Common Sense for Table Use.
BY MARY SIDNEY.

Common Sense for Table Use.
BY MARY SIDNEY.
There is great deal of use for COM
mon sense in this life and there is no
place or situation where it can be used
to greater advantage than in the culi-
nary department. We cannot stay in
this world long without nourishment of
some kind. DIR. Tanner and other
cranks have tried it, but they soon had
to fall back among the solid ranks that
eat to live. Most people enjoy this or
der of things, and make such pride in
it, that they act as though they lived
especially for that purpose.
The babe that receives the purest
nourishment, is the one that has the
surest chance to reach an older growth;
so the man or woman who is most
properly fed, is the one who has the
most reason to hope for we'll ripened
age, if not given to other abuses of body.
The recklessness that people display in
examining their stomachs is something
both wonderful and fearful; and the
thoughtlessness of many housekeepers,
in placing ill assorted jumbles of food
upon their tables is enough to usher en-
tire families prematurely into Paradise.
Instinct in measure settles the ques-
tion of what we should eat. Who rel
ishes heavy dinner of roast beef, plum
pudding and mince pie as we'll in the
Summer heat as they do in Winter?
This is evidence that nature demands
lighter food, such as fruits, vegetables,
light desserts, &C., during the heated
term, while richer sauces and meats may
be safely used in cold weather.
The taste rebels. against sour bread !;
and what is this but nature teaching US
to beware of itp So of rum and tobacco,
the novice rarely finds pleasure in their
use, but goes on, madly thinking he can
conquer the Higher law and establish a
natural condition of his own, to suit an
acquired habit. The effort is vain, and
only results in damage to him who un-
dertakes it. A grand old teacher is
Mother Nature. The stomach revolts
at the mere thought of fermented fruits,
tainted meats, stale pies and cakes and
such, and yet women often put such
things on their table to keep them
from being wasted.(O 1t is an ill wind
that blows no good, and this kind of
economy furnishes employment for the
doctor and the patent medicine man !;
but common sense would dictate that
such things be given to the pigs; nature
has given them stomachs that require
acids and fermented food, but we do
not belong to the lop-eared variety of
animals, and can not thrive on what
affords them excellent sustenance.
There are few people but have keen
relish for fresh, ripe, seasonable fruits,
and they damage no one when eaten in
moderation and at proper times. Even
harmless things must be partaken of in
a harmless way; yet there are house
keepers who devote unnumbered hours
to canning and spicing choice fruit for
future use, while on their tables will be
found the contents of some last year, S
lar, not in first-class condition, but
must be eaten to be saved; so the fresh
fruit is stored away to be kept till it too
has lost its crispness and aroma. Good
women this won't do. When will you
learn to quit preserving more than you
need? once took tea at place where
canned fruit was on the table and a
basket of1ipe peaches in the house wait
ing to be canned next day. "Thrift,
thrift, Horatio!"
Henry Simpson, M. D., of the Man
chester Royal Infrmary, in a lecture
delivered before the sanitary association
of that city, says :-"Without proper
care of the body the cultivation of the
intellect is of little use; and you should
remember that nothing is more valuable
to your daughters than a knowledge of
simple, economical methods of prepar-
ing food, so that it shall be wholesome
and pleasant; and help to build up a
sound body-the best casket for sound
mind"
1t does not require deep or profound
study to know how to cook good nutrl-
tious food; but it does require a lavish
use of common sense to know how to
get them on the table in order, and to
diversity the bill of fare, and keep uE
an appetizing variety. One can not
stand for a housekeeper of the first
order, without knowing which meats
blend with which vegetables, what dishes
are best for breakfast, and what for tea
to neither surfeit with over much, ol
stint with too little.
While men are studying business mat
tiers, and how to make money, womer
should make the welfare of the family
their peculiar care, and study to devise
plans and ways of economical cooking
and living that will add to the healtl
and pleasure of all. This makes woman
truly helpmeet-this is why she wa
made. We were in no part ofthe origina
plan, but man had not enough ego" II
him to keep from starving, and SO Natur
brought her last finished work (Ahem
to the rescue, to stir him around. LIE
us be faithful in our work. Farm /ourinal
B@"No, indeed!" exclaimed Mrs
Jones Brown, energetically. 1 don
believe in the extension of woman SUI
I rxt ~