The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-09-24
Ideas for TQao1nen.

husband and the other Is the COOK
Against these powerful and a~ntagonis-
tic influences the frugal h~ousekeeper has
her daily fight. OF the two the cook Il
the frankest. She Is under nc delusions
about her opinions, her principles, nor hei
practice. She does not hesitate for 9
moment in saying that one method OF
administration is laudable and becoming
10 a lady, and another is mean, and moi
to be encouraged by any cooperation.
The two are alike in their opinion OF
desirable results. Both the husband AND
the cook like the. liberal, well spread
table. but they totally disagree about the
means of reaching these results The hus-
band believes In the traditional soup made
out Of a boot leg; the cook will put up
with a soup bone, but what she likes best
Is a standing rib, well boiled down. The
first principle In housekeeping. he says,
is vigilant. thorough supervision. He
approves of the housekeeper who goes to
market, and then. receiving the stores as
they come home, sees that the bunch of
beets is the one that she selected.
He likes her to follow this bunch OF
beets-to know that they are properly
cooked. and that nothing is lost in the
pairing. II the skin can be used in a
stew, or the water made to sweeten a
cake, he would consider that a triumph of
housewifery. She ought to know how
many beets are needed, too, for the family
and If any are left she should follow them
from the table to the refrigerator, and
thence to the table again.
If she has not enough for another dish
she should make a salad of some of the
mysterious economical dishes mentioned in
the cooking school formulas
To all this the wife theoretically agrees.
Whether she personally likes to do it or
not. she has faith In some supervision
and direction of stores. When she at
tempts to put her theory into practice she
meets the cook standing like a Greek in
her way. She may also take on the cour-
age of the Ionian Isles against modern
Athens, but the odds are on the side of
the cook
When Il comes to the bootleg question
the husband has a clear idea that this
needs to be boiled in water (Which is
cheap, and then seasoned. The cook
makes out the list for. the seasoning-so
much stock. so much cream, SO many
dllllODuS, ana 4Ccfld1tl fOtucT COMMITMENTS at
her fancy. gTheshusband agrees with the
cook that the soup ought to be good. but
they inexperienced zach other about
the means of making 1t SO. To him the
merit of the soup is two-fold. 1t ought
to be excellent and cheap. To her the
bootleg is the disadvantage. and she
CALAMITY brings the larder to the rescue.
He looks to the wife to nave the soup
answer his just demands. The cook looks
to her for her resources.
The two are alike in another respect
they believe in the feast, and have nj re-
gard for the consequent famine. Moth
ing SO frritates the cock as to have to
keep things on hand. What Is left from
breakfast she wants to use for lunch, and
il anything remains from Inner that cau-
not be used for breakfast she wants to
put It In the slop-pail, or give 1t away
at the back gate. She hates to have pre-
serves and pickles and canned goods put
away, as If they were never to be used
She would have plum preserves
three times a day II she had her way.
n her rule Is to empty the jar without
regard to the fact that it holds two quarts
and there are out three people to eat
them
The husband has the same idea. why
don't you have the strawberries preserv-
ed and the watermelon pickled2' he asks;
then he adds that he doesn't see the
use in putting up things to spoil. They
also agree in exp=~4ng her to be ready
for emergencies, and always have some
thing In the house.
The husband is an enemy to small
economies In another direction. He OBJ
jects to the door plate on which Thomp-
son Is spelled with a Pr and cannot
understand a woman's passion for a bar
gain when she does not need it. 1t is of
no use to tell him that 1t would be best
to buy the children,s coats in February
for next November. because they are
cheaper at the end of the season than
they VIII be at the beginning. He thinks
their coats are good enough, and so far
as their o~utgrowing them by another
season, il is best to wait and see. II the
wife has a pair of gloves. why on earth
should she buy another pair simply be-
cause they are non the bargain counter?
He grinfFy smiles when he sees a pro-
cession Of women filing out of a store
Nadt las LaAicQ cdh ali dupcT tiStiueul
s.great reductions He Is confident that
zach one OF the paper bundles which
they carry contains something which was
bought because IT was cheap, and not be-
cause it was needed.
But he forgets tina these bargains are
sometimes very convenient affairs. A
Bargain has its own laws, and one OF
them is that 1t comes at the moment
when there isono pressing need for 1t,
and when there is no money idle for In
vestnent. II may be wanted next month,
and the prophetic soul Of the wife COM
prehends the fact. When the day Of
need does come and she pays full mar
ket price. she regrets that she had not
the money to take advantage of the bar
gain.
No woman could have written that crue.
satire that spells Thompson In the most
ordinary and natural way. She knows
too well that when IS has to buy $40
worth, that a dollar out Of season is the
bird In the hand. She knows what 1t is
70 have the bootleg bought for her, and
then to have to find the cream ant the
almonds and the stock. Hers is the fight
for small economies. but it is her hus-
band who wears the judicial crown, and
her cook who ave the triumphant palm.
80
when we come to oun over the quail
tiles that endear our friends to us al
most all of us think first of cheerful