The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-07-11
BILL ARP.
The Cook Quits and Your Uncle William
Gets HIs Own Breakfast.

BILL ARP.
Tho Cook QuHss and Your Uncle William
Gets dis Own Breakfast.
Aslanta Constitution.
aBoast moi thyself Of tomorrow, for
thou knowest not what a day may bring
FORTH" No NE don't. / dident know
last night thpt Mrs. Angelina Peacock
wouldn't be .aere this morning. Nobody
knew it until there was a tap at the door
and a voice aaid "Mrs. Peacock sent me
| to tell you she sick-can't come no more
for to cook Till her got well." David
saith, aWeep!Dg may endure for a night,
.butjoy cometh in the morning. That
lis SO as q general thing, but smart de-.
pends on whether the cook cofnes in the
morning. Nj cook, no JOY Mrs. Arp
wasent we'll, nohow, and 80 I persuaded
her to be calm and serene, and let me
manage the breakfast; and SO | called
Carl and Jessie, and we made regular
frolic Of it, and had the best breakfast we
] have had for a month. Mrs. Angelina
Peacock can't compare with US when we
take notion TO cook. Che does her best:
but she is old and rheumaty, and weighs
about 25O pounds, and got fat and greasy
while cooking in old Virginny befo' de
wah.. She is not the, lovely maiden that
Goldsmith wrote about in ths Hermit,
when he said
.sTurn Angelina-ever dear,
MY c:.armer, turn to see." El..s
That mas apather Angelina. I used to
cry over her end wish that L Was Edwin
when he clasped her to his breast.
But we made division Of labor and
got along splendid in preparing the
morning meal. Carl fred up the stove.
and MIXED the COW and cooked the
meat. I totsd water and made up the
biscuit and stood around generally and
talked while Jessie took charge Of the
hominy and coffee and milk toast and
scrambled eggs and potatoes. They al'
ways fatter me up to making the biscuit
and they do say that I csn make better!
biscuits than anybody, though | never
studied a cook book nor attended lectures
on the culinary art. You, sec I use butter
instead of lnrtl; I don't rub it in the flour
butI melt il in tin cup and after it
cools q little pour it in tie sweet milk.
After the horGaord has been put in the
,aonr, then silf 1t twice ortbree times and
pour in the milk and butter and mix
thoroughly. anybody can make good
biscuit that way. Every member Of 9:
family ought to know how to cook.
There is no ctier way OF feeling indepen-
pent. Let this cook quit if she wants to.
White folks opght to be ashamed TO admit
that they can'tget along without negroes.
1t is no discredit to anybody to cook. It
lis about as honorable as it is to eat, and
is more scientific and takes more brains:
IA hog can eat, but he cs!n't cook. But ]
want it understood that I am not q.
standing candidate for that business. /
Just want my family to feel independent,
80 that when tIse cook quits it is not
case Of utter despair. Our children have
never rebellei against these domestic ac.t
compIishmenis. They can cook and milk
the COWS and snake Up the beds and make
their own clothes, and are always willing
to do it N..ssan there is a necessity.
II saw Carl milking the other evening,
and q sweet, pretty girl, who was no kin
to him, was standing close byholding the,
bucket for him, and it did look SO
CONFECTIONERY" as Cobe says, that /
wanted a photograph Of the lanctean
scene. There was Savannah girl up
here not long ago, and she had never seen
COW MIXED and Carl had to explain to
her the process, how that one teat was
for sweet milk and one for buttermilk
and one for. cream and one for the calf,
and the sweet, innocent believed it every
word.
But about this cooking business, I am
not uttering Che sentiments of Mrs. Arp.
She is constitationally opposed to getting
up early in ti:s morning. She is willing
20 cook dinrar and supper, but has no
liking for cooking breakfast nor washing
the dishes. She conspicuously believes
chat the darkies we're specially created for
this business, She is mo great admirer Of
King Solomon, either, and sometimes
hints that Ills respect for women and
children are very limited, for he wanted
switches and thresh poles for the boys,
and kept three or four hundred wives to
wait on him and his definition of virtur.
ous woman: was s'she riseth while it is yet
highland giveth. food to her household" !"
He actually wanted his wife to get up be.
fore day and go to cooking, while he
slept until the bell rang for breakfast.
She thinks it enough for a mother to
nurse and worry with raising eight or ten
children, and after the crop, is laid by she
| is entitled to rest and think 30 too.
| She shan't cock if I can help it. She
has made thousand little garments, and
worked ten thousand button holes in her
Bfe, but, thank the good Lord, her eye
Is not dimmsd nor her natural force aba.
ted. No; she shan't cook. Our colored
nabor, Mrs. Fletcher, always comes when
she can, but she is raising crop herself
and can't make full hand in our kitch.
en-. But variety is the spice of life, and
somehow I Ike for something to happen
that changes the monotony of things and
gets.up commotion aud stimulates our
energies. I like for the cook to quit aud
the washerwoman to strike once in 8
while. I like for the bucket to get into
| the we'll or young cyclone to threaten
E.us. 1 like for my vest buttons to come