, 1889-12-22
KITCHEN
The Traditional American waste In Kitchen
and at Table.

Again and again d We hear it reiter-
sted thsr the people Of these United
States 1--we -extraragnntiy, and right
roundIy are they abused therefor By the
domestic economists. In part we may
admit rae general truth Of this Gus
ton, but we must be permitted to make
some reservations. We do live ezpen-
sively, but that does not of itself mean
e~xtravagauce. If we look into the mat
ter carefully we may find that there are
abundant and good reasons for this, as 1t
appears on the surface, e=travagance in
living expenses.
Companions between the cost of living
here and abroad are apr TO be deceptive,
for the reason that there is no common
basis from which to start the considera-
ton Of the topic. The average American
makes more money than the average
man abroad. and, as an inevitable conse-
quence. ia accordance With the laws of
demand and supply. TO preserve the
natural cqulihrium .he must pay morefor
house rent, Tor food, for servants wages,
for fuel, for clothes And, of course, he
is financially able TO do this.
Taking these things into consideration,
il is an open question whether this large
cost Of living, as compared with that of
other people, is, after ell, e-xtravagant.
lhave lived among q Latin people where
oranges were iixty for q cent, bananas
ten cents n bunch, and other food in pro-
portion. Tie Kitchen economy there
would astound a New York housewife
Twenty cents worth Of food would NAL
a meal for a large family, and an exc
lent meal it would be, for the cook
sure to be an adept. But wages th
we're from ten TO thirty cents a day,
a big income was 81, 900 a year..
cost of living had 70 be low, and, besi
that, time was of 90 little consegb
that it could be very profitably ext
ed in planning economies and in ST.
ing how to make the soup bone go the
farthest for the dining table.
The essence of real economy is not al
ways in the economy that is most super
icially apparent. You cannot have an
inexpensive table unless you make a
study of the subject. You must take
time to think out your bills of fare; you
must learn the relative values of food
products as nutritive elements; you
understand the science of cooking; you
must know meats, vegetables, fruits as
NOu hhOM NOhA aAGhhDCbg .Oo nus az
ouent the markets and learn when t o
buy, where to buy and how to buy.
Now, when you have lone all this, you
will, no doubt, be abundantly able to set
a table that will be the delight of your
most dainty epicurean neighbor, and the
source of plentiful satisfaction to your
own pocketbook.
But what has this cost your YOU will
find that it has consumed a great part of
vour time; it has absorbed your atten-
tion in all your leisure time-nay, in
even more than your leisure time. Now,
true it is that time is money, and you
will suddenly discover that while you
have saved at one end you have wasted
at another. That is, where ones earn
ing power is large, it is decidedly a false
economy to spend time in small saving,
and thereby lose more in lessened in
com than is saved in these retrench-
ments. 1t is only the very rich who
have plenty Of time to spare and can in
dulge in the kitchen as a pastime, or the
very few whose time is of little worth
and whose circumstances compel TO the
most rigid economy, who can afford to
give the requisite attention to this mat
ter. The time of the average American
IS too valuable, either for business or
pleasure, to warrant hun in this pursuit
of economical living and saving. For
every dollar saved he would lose two in
wasted opportunities,
So, the talk and argument of all theo-
rists to the contrary Notwithstanding we
shall probably, at least the most of US,
continue to live along about as we have
been and are now doing. Our bills OF
fare will be large and substantial, even
if they lack many niceties of touch. We
shall not spend our time in planning 70"
our dinners, but we shall probably
Just us good a time as though we
that, will rave quite as much money
in the end, and, on the whole, be quit,
happy and as long lived.
Alexander Dumas used to boast {
no one could excel him in maxim,
salad, but probably even he, with all !
leisure, scarcely would have cared
spend all his time over the kitcb'
range. Few men care to haunt the ma
kets, even if they have the time, an
most Of us prefer to have u wives al
sometime companion, rather than al
way cooks and housakeepers.-W. H. L
in New York Star.