The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-04-07
HOUSEKEEPING IN VERONA
Kitchens Are Separate From the Rest O.
the House.

Kitchens Are Separate From the Rest O.
the House.
Mr. w. H. Bishop, in IAN American
at Home in Europe in the Atlantic
gives some details of his housekeep
ing in Verona:
The kitchen was across the terrace
a small building by itself It had {
very wide Dutch window that would
have suited painter. Into the
squares of the grating that protected
the window all Verona was wrought
like vivid pattern Of tapestry. The
cooking here was done by means of
crane and tripods, over fagots o.
wood, upon broad hearth of pre-
cisely the kind that Cinderella hud-
dies before in the picture. Contrary
to all expectation, S., the house
keeper, was able to find much good ia
these primitive appliances, and to
say that the wood made . reader
and hotter fire than coal.
The servant question was naturally
one pressing for immediate solution.
A stately sort of dame in q Spanish
mantilla, who had been employed by
the Franceschine nuns below, came
to us. but was totally incapable OF
compromising that we could not
wait for her ten days. What was to
become OF us in the meantime was NO
affair of hers; the only important
fact was that the place suited her and
she would be glad to take it in ten
days. A certain Giacinta was secured
to come in by the day for the cooking
and other heavier work. She was d
stout, smiling, willing girl, faithful
according to her lights, but easy
going and shiftless in her methods
She had most extraordinary equa-
nimity of temper. With her every
thing went always we'll. The ques-
ton OF wages gave her no great con-
Germ; no rivalry upset her; no extra
demand, no Juggling of heavy sup
plies up the steep from the market
ever appeared to her inconvenient or
inopportune. Then we got for a
nursemaid a thin, very blonde, and
German-looking girl from the PROV
ince OF Mantua, inclined to be cross
grained and moody, but much more
efficient. Upon her trunk was neatly
lettered by some friend, probably
clerk. 'La gentilissima Signorina
Melania So-and-So.'' Melania's pay
was ten francs month with board,
and Giacinta's was twenty francs
without. These were the Italian
prices; there was nothing exceptional
about them; strange as it may seem,
they were even liberal We knew of
well-to-do families where there was
washing and the like-and the paw
was less. The ladies of Verona COM
plain OF their servants. like their SEX
the world over, so that it appears
paragOns are not produced even I'M
der these primeval rates. The Gus
tom was, if either side were dissatis-
fled, to give eight days notice; or
this might be committed, on the en-
ployer's side, into eight days. pay.
keeping house again in a new lam
guage was considerable part of the
opening trials; and, as usual, it was
not even language. but dialect,
and even two dialects, one of each
province represented. We got sau-
sage sometimes for salad, and cheese
for ice. Once Melania quarreled VIC
lently in the kitchen, and came to US
and gave in her resignation We
were serenely unconscious of what
she said, and she, nonplused by such
situation, seeing day after day that
we had no idea she was going, felt
obliged, in sheer despair, to remain.