The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-05

must bankrupt a family to feed all these
servants; but that part is not quite as
bad as il looks. If you were 10 feed them
on New York beef and celery they would
complain. They are used TO living on fsh
and grits, and must have them. Every
day you send out TO the cook slab OF
salt pork and, perhaps, peek Of grlts,
which IS what we call hominy, and he
cooks them for the servants. A siXpence
or two a day viii buy enough fine fresh
tish for them all. and they have the run
of the orchard ION the sly. They con-
tinue 10 eat oranges from morning TIL
night, and, OF course, they are your or
anges, either from your own trees or from
the barrel of oranges that is kept. con-
stantly on the piazza. But oranges are
plenty, and the best of them sell for
about 80 cents a hundred.
1t is curious TO see the cook preparing
the pot of grits. 1t is an immense iron
pot and he fills il with grits and water
and pork, and stands it over the fire
When it is done and he ladies it out there
is crust of black burnt stuff an inch
thick sticking TO the pot
Dat de pot cake, boss, he explains
We does always do him so
you might like to see him preparing
the coffee for breakfast. He takes the
green berries for roasted coffee is never
kept on hand in the West Indies) and
shakes them in a shallow pan over the
fire till they are burned pretty black
Then he pours the coffee into big iron
mortar, such as the druggists use, and
the kitchen girl carries it out under a
tree and sits down with the mortar be
tween her knees She pounds away with
the pestle till the coffee is reduced to d
powder as fine as -four, and the cook
mixes this with cold water and bOils it
till II is done. But he makes good coffee,
which you drink with condensed milk
If you want fresh milk you can buy it for
% cents quart; but don't expect to see
any cream on it.
"All these strange habits of the ser
wants would be enough 10 make an Amer
lean in the West Indies uncomfortable if
1t were not that the servants are so good
natured They are always singing and
laughing, and ready to please you in any
way they can. They make such show
of sorrow for anything they do wrong
that IL is hard to scold them; but they
will do the same thing next day. You've
read, no doubt, of how the Hindoo SER
wants in the East Indies glide about like
ghosts in their bare feet. It's the same
thing down in the West Indies. You think
you're alone, and pretty soon you find
there are two or three of them in the
room with you.
Steals Well, now, that's matter of
opinion. l don't believe that they think
they'd steal. They'll take any eatables
they can lay their hands on as a matter
Of course; they seem to think they have a
right TO anything TO eat that belongs to
their boss. But in larger matters l al
ways found them entirely honest You
can leave your watch and your purse and
all your little treasures lying about and
they will not be disturbed. l didn't make
a practice of doing this, but it happened
sometimes without any bad results.
If you want to see a scared household,
you should see the servants when there 5
hurricane coming on. ] suppose it's
natural they should be afraid, because
they have seen so much damage done BY
hurricanes. They can tell as well by
the Cloudsu asa YOU tell by the baron
eter Up here we look TO the west for
our weather, but on an island in the sea
look to windward. When there are hurri-
cane indications you begin to watch the
glass, of course. Every West Indian
house has its barometer and thermom-
eter hanging on the piazza. The ,serv-
ants often begin to make preparations
before you tell them to. They'll fasteD
all the shutters, make everything tight.
tie down anything that may get away, in
Guiding sometimes gates and fences. and
get COOK stock of pork and grits into
the kitchen.
why do they look out for the pork
and gritsi Because whoever is in the
kitcheN.wh the hurricane comes NAV
not De able to get into the house for sew
eral days. No, sir; no man alive could
walk across that yard while a hurricane
is blowing; he'd be swept across the isl
and The hurricanes sometimes last four
or five days, and all that time the sky is
so black that you can't see to read at
midday without a lamp. Then there IS
no way TO get anything from the kitchen,
and your cooking has to be done in the
house. You may have an oil stove or a
brazier in the pantry; if you haven t,
you'll have to eat cold food till the storm
is over. The thing is TO keep all the doors
and windows tight. If one should blow
open, so as to let in the wind, you'd soon
see your roof sailing off through the air.
Il think our New York housekeepers
would find it a trife harder to get along
down there than they do at home, don't
your