The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-18
ONE CAUSE FOR DIVORCE.
Rad Cooking the Entering Wedge of
Marital Infelicity.
From the Nets York World.


From the NeLs York World.
HThe very light manner in whichAmerican
u;-lssnd women toss off the oft-quoted Mere
S;,bismthat civilized man cannot live with
-, cooks is only another instance OF the
,a+ioaal lack of reverence for really serious
4h,rgs - duoth a lady of broad culture and
Io-,s experience, who was one Of group Of
x,r7inine summer boarders at a well-known
I'5,-,ntain resort Some of the younger
Llsn1hers of the group are inclined to treat
~, subiect iOkingly and to shruR their
-o+tv shoulders over the idea Of there
taing ANYTHING serious in so material
D0es7ion. but their elderly friend would
ffsve none of their hippancy.
81 assure you, girls, it IS my firm convlc-
zion that more divorces are to be traced to
tba fact that American women know moth
inc about cooking than to any other one
na7,sa under the sun. 1t is, in nine cases
o',t of fen. the little rift within the lutte,
the entering wedge, the apple of discord
,broyvn into the newly formed and appar-
o1+Iy harmonious domestic circle, TO create
discortent alienation and final dissolution.
Coo,inp is an art which no woman should
fail 10 ACQUIRE, the rudiments of which
sbnrId he inculcated with the three Rs, and
tbe finer touches added with the finishing
off efforts of her music, drawing and
French masters, The few cooking schools
that have been established and the very
limited accommodations that have been
nnada for teaching the subject practically
in a few of our larger institutions of learn
inc are tally inadequate to effect the re-
mIts reouired to remedy the almost univer-
sal Ignorance of American women upon
this important subject.
The matter should go deeper; the i'm
nortance of the subject should be preached
from the housetops until every woman
shall feel as much ashamed of not knowing
how to cook as she would Of not knowing
how to write her name. The number of
people who can afford to hire French cooks
Is so limited as to exclude that way out Of
the difficulty from the general question.
The art of living, of dining, is an out
growth of civilization which cannot be
ignored, and coming. as it does entirely
within woman's province, should receive
he. most serious attention, since the results
to be obtained are well worthy of her
highest efforts and utterly redeem the ap-
parent meaness of the occupation.
sit is the wise woman who will study
her husbands material tastes and cater to
them; it is the sensible and rightly balanced
woman who will descend from her aesthetic
and sentimental nights long enough to
realize that so per cent. of this lie is
material, and that by nourishing her hus-
bands body we'll she is really improving his
morals. You will tell me that | am talking
platitudes, that you have heard all this
before, but you cannot hear it too often.
This subject of cooking is of far more i'm
portance to women than that of suffrage,
or prohibition, or foreign missions, or faith
cures. 1t is the key to the social problem,
the paddock to the divorce courts" And
our enthusiastic elderly boarder, quite
warmed up by her own eloquence, gathered
up her knitting and marched off to her
room, while certain of the younger matrons
whose consciences were whispering to them
the secret meaning of certain little domestic
clouds, went off to ponder these things in
their hearts-perhaps to profit by them.