The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-09-02
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Philosopher Gives a Dissertation on the
Ways of Cooks.
atlanta Constitution.

Every good thing in this world has
its dark side, it's shadow, and every
shadow is frightened by some com
pensation-some riftin the clouds that
still makes life worth living. The
cook has quit, and I thought from the
family talk that the bottom had drop.
ped out, for she was a good cook and
kept the kitchen as clean as parlor
and the knives and the silverware al
ways bright and the dishes shining
and there was napkin spread at the
head of the table to keep me from soil
ing the damask when | carved the
chicken or the steak, for | am a little
careless about those things. She
dident talk much, nor seem to be in a
hurry, and she was kind to the grand,
children and made them little biscuits.
She took good care Of the cow and
kept me in ice-cold buttermilk and made
enough butter to do us when we dident
have company. Sometimes she brought
US some green corn or some butter
beans from her own garden, and, take
her all in all, she was the best servant
we have had since the war.
But she has one fault. She will
quit when she takes a notion-when
the spirit moves her-and you never
know when It's going to move her.
She said she was tired and [ reckon
she was. She might come back in a
week or two or she might not. So we
concluded to 60 along without cook
for few days and see how it was, and
it is not SO bad, after all. It nearly
kills my wife to get up soon, but
like it. In fact, I can't lie abed after
sunrise, and so we parceled out the
work to suit. US all. William must fire
up the stove and put on the hominy
and grind the coffee and prepare the
ham, or the breakfast bacon, or the
beefsteak, and then call one of the
girls to make the biscuit and fry the
battercakes or bake the wafles. By
the time breakfast is ready my wife is
ready and we all enjoy it, and then
her part comes in, for she had rather
wash the dishes than do anything.
She wants to be sure that they are
clean. And then she churns to be
sure that the butter is clean. We
cook dinner if we feel like it, and we
don t if We don't. In fact tits relief
to eat a cold lunch these hot days. It
saves work and saves time and expense
and makes digestion easy. My opinion
is that the average family has too
much cooking done, and so if we have
no cook and have to do the work our
selves, there will be less done and less
to surfeit ourselves with, and we will
have better health and sleep better
and snore less and feel brighter in the
morning. This is the bright side of
doing without cook. Then, again, !
save 81 week in silver at l6 to /, and
a penny saved is two pence gained.
as DR.. Franklin says, then we are
ahead at the rate of 81 week, That S
a big lot of money now. pay that
over to my wife and daug liter to keep
them reconciled, but I verify believe
they would be glad to see Mrs. Sicily
Minis back here tomorrow morning.
They hired colored neighbor to milk
the COW and sometimes to kill and
dress chicken, and 80 we are getting
along splendid while running this in
dependent line.
But there is no independent line.
tits curious and somewhat humiliating
to think how dependent we are upon
one another. If the Vanderbilts and
Astors were wrecked at sea and cast
On an island they would perish to
death within week. Dick Wilson
wouldent, for he was raised in the
woods and would soon grabble up
something. We are dependent on the
butcher and baker and grocer for our
daily supplies and they are dependent
upon the farmers who raise them and
on their customers who buy them.
Even the salt they sell us is an abso-
lutte necessity. Then there is the
family doctor. How could we get
along without him ? It was only a
few months ago when I had to get up
in the night and go half mile for him
in fox trot, and I feared the little
girl would die before I got back, but
she dident and he relieved her and
relieved our great anxiety, too. There
is no such thing as independence in
this life, but it is approximated by
those who were raised to work. The
boys who can chop wood and plow and
fit an ak helve to an ak or repair a
leak in the roof or get tack out of a
shoe, or take off part of the heel tap
or mend chair or a window blind, OF
lay hearth or put in a pane of glass,
or do hundred little things about
the house and home, will save many
dollar where others would send for a
man and lose it. The girls who have
learned to cut and fit and make theil
own garments, and those of thei1
younger sisters and who can cook a
good meal when it is necessary and
hang a picture on the wall or make a
frescreen or lampshade or pillow
for the sofa or even put new coat OF
paint on the mantle will make good
wives and mothers. You won't find
many of these boys and girls in high
life nor in what is called society, and
the danger is that if misfortune comes
in these perilious times and riches
take wings and fly away these children
of the rich will be utterly helpless.
The trouble with me now is that ]
am the only boy about the house and
my legs don't obey me with that
alacrity they used to. I fell up the
steps this morning with an armful Of
stove wood, but it is better to fall up
than down. The COW dident come
home last night and our little grand.
child said she reckoned she was in
the woods trying to find calf. "Whc
said so ?" I asked "Sicily told me
so," she said, "and I wish she would
find one. A pretty little white one or
brown one would do" That COW
has got over the dead line I'll bet and
some farmer has taken her up and it
will cost me dollar to get her back.
Now, if I had boy I could send him
after her, but they all deserted us
lor. ago. If we had life to live over
again We wouldn't raise boys. They
60 too far away. l would like little
grandson to run about and wait on me
but there is none within reach. Oul