The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1896-11-05
WDEN TINE BAKING.
y. CUSTOM OF SATURDAYS THAT
HAS BEEN RUDELY BROKEN.

mo Almost Forgotten Sunday Teas of Our
:. GrandmOthers and SONG afihe painties
- which Distinguished the wholesome
: Dinners of Other Days.
The New York Post In reminiscent
VEN, says that no more remarkable
change has come acros the social face
OF American city and country lfe-es-
pacially in the cities and their sub
urbs-than the gradual fading away
OF baking day. Less than a genera
ton ago every Saturday morning in
the house of each family of standing
was sanctlied to the use Of the bak-
ihg-tin, and mothers and daughters
with whatever cousins or aunts hap
pened to be visiting or within call,
used to spend at least half the day
in the depths of their Kitchen arrayed
In dainty print dresses and big ging-
ham aprons, only going up stairs
when the cupboard shelves were
loaded down with deftly Drowned
loaves of cake and rows of 6aky pies.
The girls" which was the proper
term for hOusemaids, were superflu-
ops these mornings, except as hum
5fe helpers and fetchers of wood, wa
ter and concomitauts. Baking day"
was the supreme weekly event in the
households that were households.
Nowadays, save in the most old-fash-
toned of families, the kitchen maid
has her kitchen to herself on Satur-
days quite as much as on any other
day of the week.
This has resulted in the almost COM
plete disappearance of the rio,I, and
solid while light Gales of many sorts
that formerly every good housewife
thought necessary to keep up the rep
utatfon Of her establishment. 1t has
made the once fashionable flaky pies
That Were feminine accomplishments
quite as much as French and dancing
disappear completely. And the ban
hhment of baking day" is RESPONSE
hie for the ending of a function that
was at one time well nigh universal
the old Sunday tea" which was YER
ftably tea, and consisted of a cold
dish or two, fragrant Oolong or Sou
chong and heaps of sweet goodies ga
lore, oblong silver cakc-baskets piled
with wedges of flaky cake. preserves,
tellies, hot biscuits and pickles.
There may be some towns in the
country where the old-fashioned bak-
ing still goes on, and Sunday tea is
still what it used to be. but these
places are few. 1t is no longer the
fashion for ~ ietr %
hold to be prepared and able to make
the delightful old dishes her grand
mother was an expert at. The major
lily of these delicacies are beginning
to be lost in oblivion nowadays. The
cook-books and tons of recipes that
md their way into print do not con-
cern themselves with this lost section
Of American cookery. They deal with
the sauces, the dressings, the garnish-
mgs, and the meats of European
chefs, but they leave out the rich,
creamy fiakiness of the old pies and
cakes.
Cakes and pies, too, have somehow
come to be merely incidentals of a
meal instead of the staple features
they used to be. The old-time rules
and recipes, the quantity of eggs,
cream, sugar and butter they called
for, would certainly shock any house
keeper of today. These articles were
thrown in with n lavish hand and an
implicit faith in the infallibilty of the
'rule." Housewives We're not infre-
quent in those days who made ten to
fifteen pies and as many loaves of
cake in a single morning. While the
full glory of baking day" was re-
neeted Sunday night, and the richest
ioaves and the finest preserves were
set forth then for the visitors who
We're always there, the supply never
theless was planned to last the whole
week through. Especially was this
the case in the suburbs, to which city
folks used frequently to journey on
the first day of the week to see their
relatives and friends, and when n
marriageable girl Of any popularity
was sure to have four or five of her
best young men drop in late Sunday
afternoon with the full expectation of
being asked to tea" Nor did the in
vitation ever fail to come, and many
Jack proposed marriage to Jill af-
Ter being hypnotized by her mammals
cooking.
MODERN PROVERBS