The Brookhaven leader., 1886-02-11
TEMPERANCE READING.
POOR COOKERY.

Probably One of the leading Causes of the
Formation of the Alcohol Habit.
Among the various causes which lead
to the formation of the alcohol habit,
poor cooking unquestionably holds
leading place. Our markets are sup.
piled with everything needed for human
food, and at prices the lowest in the
civilized world; our laborers are the
best paid in the world; rich and poor
are therefore able to supply their tables
with food materials of the best descrip.
ton; yet it is a melancholy fact that Il
very large proportion, probably much
the greater portion of these materials.
are so injured in preparation as to bc
utterly unfit for food. More than this
the philosophy of nutrition is so imper.'
fectly understood, even among the
most intelligent of our people, that
most of those whose food may be pre-
pared in an unobjectionable manner
are still unable, from ignorance, to Sc
lect such articles as will best subserve
their needs. The consequence is that
the well-paid but poorly-fed laborer
goes to the beer saloon for something
to supply the want caused by the inn
proper adjustment and poor quality of
his food. The hard-working mechanics
and farmers, though perhaps the best
served of any classes of our citizens,
except the very wealthy, still manage
to destroy much of the value of their
food by ignorant cookery or more ig-
norant methods of eating, and the re-
suit is premature breaking down,
craving for something which the table
does not supply, and which the tenn
porary stimulus given by alcohol leads
the afflicted one TO suppose may be
found in the bottle.
The remedy for this state of affairs
lies in the more rational education Of
our daughters. The whole drift of our
present educational methods, both secu-
lar and religious, is to cultivate the
idea that the intellect and soul are
everything, the body nothing. Were it
possible to develop a sound mind in op-
position to the laws governing the
health of the body-laws of equally di-
vine origin with those relating to the
moral conduct of mankind-this idea
might be rational; but the mind and
soul live not until first born in materi-
al body; their highest intellectual ca
pacity is only realized in connection
with physical health; and transgression
against the laws which govern the well
fare of the body is no less sin than
transgression against the moral laws by
which society is bound together. When
this shall have been recognized. and
our daughters shall be taught that the
highest and holiest study of woman
hood is that of the laws of life; when
they shall see that the art of cookery is
yet more noble and ennobling than
that of music and painting; when they
shall learn that it is better to under
stand the true functions of food and
clothing than to be versed in all the lit
erature of the ancients, then we shall
enter upon an era when prohibition"
shall be useless, because needless.
Such an education by no means inn
plies a return to the drudgery of which
so many housewives complain. 1t
means deep and reverent study of the
Divine law-that written in the book of
nature equally with that which has
come through revelation. 1t means the
making of our daughters true help
meets, in every sense of the word, men
tally, physically, with the sons who are
now so eagerly grasping the truths of
this new book, SO recently opened be-
fore us.-Fdrm and FtreStde.