People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-10-14
PRAISE THE COOK.
An Experience That Taught the Major .
Lesson In Domestic Economy.

Lesson In Domestic Economy.
Now, Major, You must not praise
the cook in her hearing" Mrs Max
said. you will only spoil her or mako
her demand an increase of wages"
Not much" the Major replied EN-
phstically. Il had little experience
in that matter which taught me les
son. 1t was before we were married,
my dear, and before resigned. Our
regiment was with Gen. Howard, chas-
ing the Nez Perces Indians across the
mountains in Montana and Idaho. One
of our lieutenants had been stationed
at the Preside in San Francisco, and
the mess made arrangements with him
TO bring Chinese cook My, how that
cook could cook! The beggar brought
along, in some mysterious manner, the
most unexpected things. remember
one day-we'd had venison roast the
day before-that adorable celestial
gave us venison stew with picked
walnuts! All the officers in the mess
appreciated this, but bless me! how
they jumped on me when I said to the
cook: Plenty good stew, Chung, plenty
good All said l was fool"
major! How could they?" said Mrs
Max.
20, that's only messroom talk.
Everybody calls everybody fool at a
mess dinner. Well, was saying, all the
boys said Chung would strike for higher
wages, get impudent or naughty, and
lesveif we praised him. So they laid
out scheme. Whenever he brought in
a particularly good dish we were to
turn up our noses and make mean re-
marks. That would keep Chung in a
proper and lowly spirit, and generally
promote harmony and discipline. The
next day he gave US some mountain
quail roasted in envelopes of baDn; and,
really, my dear, wish your cook could
roast a quail like that. The boys all
said ughr or pish! or 'tushH and the
last one threatened to throw the dish
away. Chung regarded that with calm
exterior, but after dinner he appeared,
swaddled in every one of his jackets and
babe US good-by. We were nearly fright
ened to death and asked what allied him.
you no like my cooking, me nc
cook" that heather answered.
1--WE assured him we would try and
stand it, and he grinned and said we
could stand it for just ten dolla' more
per lunar month. OF course we felt sill.
ly, but there was nothing to do but to
pay it to him. That made $40 month.
They were the biggest lot Of fool officers
ever saw, for they insisted on their
scheme. One day Chung brought in
tenderloin of mule"
Mule? Major"
eyes, we were down in the bad lands
then, hundreds of miles from any settle
ment, and mule was pretty good. You
never happened to eat young mule,
suppose? Of course not. Well, he had
seasoned that mule with kind Of little
pepper he had found, and it was i'm.
mense. Then those fool boys went
through the same idiotic performance.
The last one the dish was passed to
turned his nose up to his eyebrows and
said, %, hell"
"Major!"
81 was not the man, my dear. Chung
had watched the proceedings to the
end, silently, but when the remark
have quoted was made Chung turned
on his heel and he, too, said -"
"Maior?"
mo, not Major but the word you
object to. After dinner he appeared
again all dressed up in his Sunday
clothes and babe us good-by. We re.
monstrated, but it did not work. We
threatened, and he pretended not to
understand. Finally we asked him how
much.
"'0he bundled dolla month";" an
swered Chung, with never ghost of q
smile.
"We paid it Since then I've believed
little praise to the cook, judiciously
administered, approaches G in domestic
economy"
"l'm sure" Mrs Max remarked, after
thoughtful observation Of her finger
nails, which are very pretty, "rm sure
] don'tsee why you didn't advertise for
another cook."-N. Y. Sun.
THE man who figures in an explosion be.
gins at the bottom and works up.