Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-10-17
A WINTERS MORNING,
SCENE ONE.

SCENE ONE.
A cold kitchen, the cooking stove
choked up with ashes, wood outdoors.
no kindling prepared. the breakfast
potatoes in the cellar, and no bread
ready for that meal.
Mr.. Farmer gets up and calls the
boys and the hired help; Mrs. F. hur-
ries into the kitchen with hair flying,
and this is about what follows: Mrs.
F. to boy-''Jimmy, run out and get
me some wood and kindling; Mary.
hurry and bffng up the potatoes and
wash them"
While these orders were being exc
cuted Mrs. F. cleans out the stove
CRATE preparatory to making the fire.
When the fire is started and the pota-
toes on she hurries to make biscuit;
after which meat must be fried, coffee
be made. and the table set. When
breakfast is about half cooked in comes
Mr.. Farmer from the barn.
breakfast ready?"
s.No," says Mrs. F., sit isn't Do
you suppose I can cook breakfast in
minutePn
1.-The men ought to be in the field
this minute, " saws Mr.. F. There's
time enough wasted here every morn
ing waiting for breakfast to run q
small farm. Why is it we can't have
breakfast earlier? There's Smiths
hands now going to work. 1 wish
there was such management in this
house."
Perhaps you had better take hold
and manage YOURSELF" snaps Mrs. f.
ssIf you were like Mr. Smith, and got
the wood and kindling ready over
night, there wouldn'tbe so much delay
in the morning. But everything is
left for me to see to, and then you fuss
because the meals are not ready the
minute you want them. There is
nothing so unreasonable as an unrea-
sonable man."
Except a woman" retorts Mr. F.
And with the comfort Of the last word
still lingering on his lip he stalks back
to the barn.
Mrs. F. lin a ahurried .irritated manner,
proceeds with breakfast, which in time
is ready for the waiting men.
The day has commenced wrong, and
throughout all its hours the husband
and'wife labor under a cloud. The
couplet, Commence the day well, and
well it will end; but poorly begun It's
q hard thing to mend" is a very true
one. If the mornings work is retard-
ed all the duties of the day seem to
lag. And if words of discord are
spoken before the family members sep
arate for the day, they bear like
heavy weight upon the heart But
under different management we shall
see how smoothly they started in.
SCENE TWO.
A cold kitchen; but in the well-clean-
ed CRATE of the cooking-stove Is fire
material just ready for the match.
This was put in readiness by Mr.. F. the
night before. On the back of the
stove is a kettle for the potatoes,
waiting to be placed over the fire. On
the table is a pan of potatoes ready for
cooking, and meat sliced for frying.
Coffee and coffee-pot were near at
hand. Plenty of bread in the bread
box, and the table set ready for break
fast.
MIR. F. gets up, and, after calling his
boys and the ''help, proceeds to the
kitchen, lights the fire, puts water in
the kettles. and places them over the
fire. Mrs. F. soon appears, with hair
nicely combed. By this time the fire
is burning briskly, and breakfast is
soon cooking. Without any furry or
worry on the housekeeper's part,
when the men are through with the
morning ''chores" breakfast is waiting
for them. There is no loss of time or
loss of temper. The farmer and his
wife are both gamers by the good
management, to say nothing of the
comfort of having fire quickly on Il
cold morning.
There is just so much work to be 4
done in getting breakfast, and where
that meal must be served early for
working hands. it is a great help to
have some of the work done over night
1t Is so much pleasanter working in
the warm rooms in the evening than
to jump out of bed on a cold morning
and have to go to work before the fire
is well burning. 1t is by forethought
and good management that many of
the rough places are smoothed out of
the housekeeper's life.-Country GeT-
He77aGu