Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-10-02
The HUSBANDS GOT DINNER.


An Ehort That Succeeded In Convincing
Two Men That Cooking Means Work.
"There is absolutely no need of having a
bad cook" said the master of the house,
somewhat dictatorially, with a good ma
tured albeit lofty pity for feminine incom-
petence. He and his friend had been lis.
tening with lanRuid interest to a converse
ton between their respective wives on the
ever fertile theme of servants. Now, | do
Not pretend to know anything" he went
on, "but | am sure | could train any Biddy,
and ! venture to say that Tom here and !
could serve up IA perfectly well cooked,
palatable dinner, with no other aid than
our common sense and general knowledge
of cooking, which was obtained during our
camping out expeditions. | think you
women make altogether too much fuss
over such matters; the whole affair is SO
simple and easy"
81 have often thought the same thing"
joined in the graceless Tom, 'it ought to
be easy enough to teach a woman to be a
good cook" His wife turned upon him
with Il stare OF amazement. EFT tn Brute!'
she exclaimed, laughing. "But | tell you
what it is, Amy" she said suddenly to her
friend, "let us challenge these men to pro
duce the dinner they seem to think is such
an easy matter to c%oncoct, and prove their
assertions"
The husbands, nothing 10th, consented
to the trial, and it was finally agreed that
the next evenings dinner should be the
proof of the argument. Cook was made
happy by a couple of theater tickets and a
holiday, and the two men took possession
of the kitchen early in the afternoon, and
at the regular hour the ~undeniably excel
lent little repast was served.
Neither of the cooks, however, made his
appearance, so the ladies sat down to-
gether to discuss the following menus: A
delicious, clear clam soup; smelt, done to
a turn with n sauce tartare; chicken dis
osse," with Il cream sauce, with very young
green peas and new potatoes; and some
delightful little birds blanketed with thin
slices of pork, accompanied by IA salad with
~mayonnaise dressing (the sauce tartare,
by the way, for the fish, was the SAINT
dressing, with capers and cut up cucum-
Der pickles.. "There is no dessert, ma'am,'
said the giggling waitress, the gentle
men say they are all done up"
The dinner, however, had been a dis
tinct success, and, quite ready to confess
themselves v%anquished, the young wives,
finding that their husbands did not put in
an appearance, descended to the lower re-
gions in search of them. There they found
the conquerors each extended on "A couple
of kitchen chairs, perfectly limp and too
utterly played out" even to boast of their
victory. 81 never had a backache before
in my life" groaned one, land how it does
hurtl' "Our triumph has cost us DEAR"
whimpered the other. Il feel like going
straight to bed" mo, we could not touch
a bit of dinner" they protested in chorus.
Amy, what do yeu pay your cook?"
asked the now humbled master of the
house. "Only twenty dollars!' MAKE it
thirty, forty, fifty, anything. | consider
her cheap at any price. We have con-
cluded that to serve up three good sub
|stantial meals a day a woman must not
only be a genius but an angel. | will
never say another word against IA cook us
long as | liver "Amen," added Tom
solemnly.
The above being an exact account of a
dinner cooked by the aforesaid grumblers,
may interest our young -housekeepers, al
though the victory gained seemed "A very
doubtful one. The result, however, was
eminently satisfactory, inasmuch as the
ladies frankly acknowledged that an in
telligent knowledge of what should be
could create wonders, md the masculine
mind was made to realize some of the
labOrs and discOuraGements of the cook
New York Tribune.