The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-11-14
BnmFn's DnrIo.
The Cooks of the Future.

4 NN~@-'
/. for one. believe that the girls Of to-
day. generally speaking. are not prof.
cient cooks. and. l unhesitatingly add.
rightly 30. There is too much expected
OF the girls OF to-day. without saddling
upon EN- the burdens which their moth
ers were not able to bear. Women were
intended to be something else besides
cooks. The numerous exhortations in
the papers and magazines In the do
mestic economy" style tell far more than
their authors thought or intended. They
tell that the girls OF this age are not
taking kindly TO cookery. but they also
tell that the writer's CT such eesays are
not able 20 discern In this fact the true
signs OF progress. By preaching cookery
to generation which Is rapidly growing
beyond IL they are uncnnsclously trying
to turn back the wheels OF time.
or louise understand that we are In
a transision age. I know that we cannot
all at once reach the period In which
cooking will be done out OF the house by
professionals. just as weaving and dye
ing are to-day. We scarcely stop TO
think that our grandm0thers spun and
eolored their own yarn. How many OF
I
weaver, and "spinster," or maiden,
spinner But we have mothers and
daughters who never spun or wove; in
mother century there will be just as a
many mothers and daughters who never
cooked.
The person who Is arguing so forcibly
in favor OF girls learning TO cook Is really
upholdlng the servility OF women. He Is
actually resentlrg the Idea that In these
days women are learning better
/ was once romantic enough TO agree
With Lady Mary Wortley Montague
when she said that preparing a dinner
/ for her husband was not fnenial employ
ment-"it is providing refreshment for
him whom / love- But the question has
occurred to me. Would he have done as
much for her? Would he not have
thought It unmanly2
In simple justice. then. let US have
reciprocity before We begin to talk of
| what Is or Is not manly or unmaniy,
mental or dignified-that Is, il we can.
woman's true mission Is intellectual
and spiritual. Besides which. men have
already invaded woman's traditional
sphere" Men. whether French or Af-|
rican. make better cooks than women;
and men-American as well as Chinese
are performing the greatest part OF our
laundry work all over the United States.
Now. when women are even partly eman-
eipated from the cruelty OF old custom.
why seek TO reverse the present verdict
of centuries /?
II you viii say that boys ought to be
taught domestic science" / will agree
/ rfsalo
much time to learn as have girls, for
girls go to school quite as long and earn
their own living just as soon; or II they
don't earn their living they can afford 70
hire their cookery done; and bows have
quite as much probable need for the ae-
cOmpllshment as have girls. II boys
and gi-ls both learned cookery. as a sort
Of laying up for rainy day, it would
be ell right, for the idea OF the seryility
Of women would be taken away.
A short time ago read an open letter
from a woman who said that she was
teaching her little daughter to be use
/ ful. The little daughter was years
old. The mother stated, with pride, that
t1is little daughter could sew on buttons
FOR her brother, q year and a half
older" Now. 1 should have liked to box
that mothers ears. She was already IN
stilling Into the minds of those two in
nOeent little ones the pernicious doctrine
uf the serviiity of woman II that
brother was year and half older than
his sister he was big enough to sew on
his own buttons. and, II need be, his
sisters too.
II ever you see man sitting at
table while his wife stands by the stove
and turns cakes for him you may safely
draw your own conclusion as to the In
/ ferior social position of the parties.
gentleman. even in reduced circum-
stances, would stand by the stove too
until there were cakes enough for both.
and then they would sit at the table to-
gether.
1 believe that cooking is a suitable
Employment for men, but not for
women. Men are better cooks than
women. They know more about it, and
are, as we say, better "diners." The
time ls rapidly coming when men will
10 all our cooking. In the meantime, II
girls want to cook let them do it as am
at urs. just as some already dabble in
painting and photography; but under
stand, womanly character does not de-
pend upon cookery. nor does the sane
Lity OF the home, nor love, friendship
nor hospitality. any more than they do
On coal stoves or gas ones.
Keep things in their right places, or,
IL you choose, separate the permanent
from the temporary and the eternal
from the temporal.-Margaret B. Har-
vey In Rural Press.
/