The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-06
SCHOOLS FOE COOKERY.
| Work Of the English National House
Wifery Association.

In a London letter to the Philadelphia
Times about cooking schools Blakely Hall
writes that during the past hve years an
unususI amount of attention has been de-
voted TO the question of the domestic train
ing of Young women in England. In the
state aided schools the training is chief y
and of little value Ia after life.
The girls are collected once or twice week
in special classes and solemnly lectured by
domestic economy professor or a profess
sional cook who has developed oratorical
gifts. The professor warns the lasses
against the waste involved in the use of the
fryingpan, and the cook explains how much
better 1t is to use butter, aud not drlppings,
in making pastry, oblivious OF the fact that
the parents of the majority OF the pupils
are in position to afford neither butter
nor pastry as part of their daily meals.
There is much learned talk at these lessons
about the constituents Of various kinds Ct
food But of practical knowledge little s
either impaired or acquired.
Middle classes and aristocratic girls are
even worse off, for in their schools there Is
rarely even a pretepse of teaching house
wifery. A few years ago correspondence
was started in one of the big daily news
papers upon this lack Of domestic training.
Young men wrote pathetic letters setting
were unable to do so because they could not
find the right kind of girls to take charge
of their household and make the best of
their slender incomes. The girls replied
with equal pathoS, lamenting their short
comings and pointing out that it was really
not their fault, because they had no chance
of lie 'rning things which would make them
useful wives The correspondence was not
without effect, for it led them to the estab-
IF N al riafi fort h
ing housewifery and of practical cooking
classes, where girls and ladies for a small
fee could learn all about the culinary art
The classes have proved a great success,
andincrease in number and usefulness every
year. The teachers are supplied chiefly
from the National School of Cookery, and
the teaching is severely practical. Food is
actually prepared and cooked before the
eyes of the pupils, who follow each detail,
ask questions and make experiments on
their own account. 1t is sometimes very
funny to see class of grown-up women
following with rapt attention the deft
hands of a smart young teacher banging
on a pasteboard or making an omelette.
They are generally half-ashamed of being
present, and rarely speak to each other.
The teacher are in most cases women, but
in the West End of London George Mar
shall, well-known English chef, has started
year by them. They are attended by
cooks-male and Misunderstanding to mid
dle-class families, which pay an average
fee Of schillings lesson to have their SER
wants taught how to make particular
kind of dish, or improve their knowledge
as to the preparation of entrees, salads and
and the like. On certain days Of the week
Marshall and his wife give lessons to the
mistreSses of the servants, who seem to
look upon the business as great fun.
The National House wifery Association
undertakes to teach woman everything
connected with domestic economy, from
the scrubbing of floor to the cooking of
joint. A fine mansion has been hired on
the banks of the river Severn as a training
college, and good work is being doLe The
association has practically provided a new
profession for women. Ladies are received
at the college aud boarded, lodged and
taught for less than $500 a year. The cur
riculum of this curious college includes the
domestic kindergarten, plain cooking, home
dressmaking and needle work, home nursing,
all branches OF home work, hygiene, nur
sing babies and domestic sanitation. Girls
are received for training at the age of IS
and upward, and quick and clever young
women are turned out perfect housewives
in year or less. Armed with the associa-
tion'S certificates of efficiency, they have
little difficulty 10 obtaining well-paid en-
ployment as teachers. But they rarely re-
main teachers for any length of time, for
their value in the matrimonial market is
obviously so great that they soon have at
their feet the most eligible young men in
the district in which they happen to
settle.
In some of the more enlightened towns
efforts are being made to include cooking
and domestic training generally as part of
the regular school course. Sanguine re-
formers even hope that some time before
the arrival of the millennium the govern
ment education department viii recognize
that it is of more advantage to the state for
women to become useful wives than to fill
them up to the cdin with ornamental learn
ing. Good domestic servants are growing
more and more rare in England. Within
the memory of middle-aged men it was the
almost universal custom for the daughters
OF working people to enter domestic SER
vice. But in these days decent artisans
and clerks, here as in America, do not
consider the position of cook or house
maid genteel enough for their daughters,
and the girls themselves too often prefer
the ill-pald comparative freedom of the
factory or the shop counter to the excel =
lent wages and good feeding obtainable as
domestic servants. No tradesman in Lon
don need advertise for a shop girl. He has
only 10 put up notice III his window,
"Shop girl wanted, wages 6 shillings a
week." TO obtain choice of scores of APP
plicants. There are thousands Of girls in
London shops and restaurants whose wages
range from 81 so to So week, out of which,
too often, they have to lodge and clothe
themselves, and sometimes even to find
food. The same girls could obtain liberal
wages and comfortable homes as domestic
servants, but domestic service implies con-
slant restraint, and they will have none of
it.
The British housewife never advertises
because it would be money thrown away.
When she wants servant she makes a pil
grimage to a registry office" and pays go
cents Tor the privilege of having her wants
recorded. In the ordinary course of bust
ness she then returns home and waits in fear :
and nervous trembling for the arrival of
an applicant. Sometimes the period of
suspense will be prolonged for weeks, and
half crowns are paid to other registry
offices. When at length likely girl pre-
sents herself, and mistress and maid agree
upon terms, personal inquiries
are made as to character, and if they
result satisfactorily the bargain is strucle
A smart girl of 16 years Of age win proba-
bly, receive at the beginning $50 year,
and il she develop a few faults the mistress
will make any sacrifice to retain her. Moth
ing in reason is denied TO decent servant.
She is well fed and considerably treated,
allowed frequent holidays and not over
worked For brief period the much wor-