The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-08-20
WORDS FROM A DYSPEPTIC.

we ind IN the american hf(CHeN,
for August, letter from Eliza Noyes
Sumner, giving recollections OF the
Atlanta exposition, from which we
make the following extracts:
When we visited Atlanta last year it
seemed to US as if the Southern cooks
were starving the people in the midst
Of plenty. 1t was our fortune to take
our meals with very pleasant, hospita-
be people, where the housekeeper
looked after the cooking herself, and
urged by her cordial invitation and evil
dent pride in her culinary triumphs, we
tried 10 eat. Turnips cooked with
pork, green tops and all, beef roasted
to cinder, and coffee Of Chatahoo-
checau flavor, often left US unsatistied.
The Southern woman is not quite
ready to believe that work is not dis
grace, and does not realize that food
poorly cooked by her landmarks is not
as praiseworthy as simpler viands
properly prepared or overlooked by
herself. She does not know how to
convert the supplies at her hand into
nourishing food. and change the thin.
,,allid .'cracker' into a healthy, robust
man.
We regret exceedingly that the wri-
ter of the above was SO unfortunate as
to secure boarding house that did not
sui, her taste. This is possible in any
city, even in New England. "Pork
and turnips" is considered a good dish
all over the land, and the "green tops
and all" cooked together, is not an
unusual dish, even in the North. Roast
beef and coffee are also sometimes
cooked in different ways, even in the
home Of Miss Sumner, and first class
coffee is not always to be expected at
a boarding house in any part of the
land.
The criticism upon The Southern wo
men and the "hin, pallid cracker is
the result, we fear, Of indigestion on
the part Of Miss Sumner. The true
Southern woman never did believe
that there was any disgrace in work.
The hardest worked person in the
world before the war was the mistress
on Southern plantation. She trained
the cooks, she trained the nurses, she
was the physician of the plantation, and
frequently had TO overlook the farming
interest. She did not consider it then
a disgrace to work; she had no time
to study the question of woman
rights and to delve into various "isms' .
that prevail in the lands, but she u.ade
the best of wives and mothers and al
ways set Il table that was attractive to
any one-North, East or West. The
'rhin, paliid cracker" of the South
will compare favorably with the same
class in other States. Nourishing food
will not in Georgia, any more than i,
will in Massachusetts, make healthy,
robust men out Of men who are natu-
rally of thin temperament.
We notice Ole fact about Northern
people who criticise Southern cooking:
Whenever a train stops at an eating
house in the South every man on the
train gets out and eats with very fine
appetite and pays a very moderate
| price for dinner. Of course some ex.
pect to get dollar and a half dinner
for IS cts and are disappointed. 1t
is an invariable rule that people who
have least to eat al home make the
most fuss about what they get at pub.
lie eating houses, and we generally
have this kind of people to contend
with. We have our faults and are sub
ject 10 criticism, butt it does not lay at
the door of our women nor our tables.
We are very we'll stisfied with the
! way we live and think that everybody
who comes among US that can be salts
fed has but little room to grumble.-
Atlanta Constitution.