The Van Buren press., 1896-10-03
COOK QUITS BILL ARP.
PHILOSOPHER Gives q Dissertation
on the Ways Of Cooks.
-h., the Family Il Doing : william
Has TO Hustle Up Early In the
Morning and Make the
Kitchen Fire.

some TIL IN lHe GlouN7 tAA :.
life worth living. The cook has quit,
spI thought from the family tax that
the bottom had dropped out, for she was
4 good cook and kept the kitchen as
clean as a parIor. and the knives ana the
silyerware always bright and the dishes
shining. and there was napkin spread
a the head of the table TO keep me from
selling the damask when ! carved the
chicken. or the steak, for | am niue
careless about those things. she dloehs
talk rnueh. nor seem TO be in hurry.
and she was kind to the grandchildren
and made them little biscuits. She TOOK
GOOD care of the COW and kept me IN zee
cold buttermilk and made enough but
Ter to do us when we dident have com
many. 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 enc fault. She will quit
when she takes notion - when the
shirt moves her-and you never know
when i Is going to move her. She said
she was tired and l reckon she was.
She might come back in week or two
ar she might not. So we concluded TO
20 aloar without a cook for few days
aHsi see row Il Vas, and it is not 50 bad,
after a.. 1t nearly kills my wife 10 get
NJ soon. but Ike IL In fact, l can't
Il abed after sunrise. and so we par
eeled CIT the work to suit US all, VIII
lam unsr fire up the stove and put on
the homiay and grind the coffee and
prepare the ham. or the breakfast
bacon. or the heefsteakt and then call
enc of the girls to make the biscuit and
FRY the battereakes or bake the watfies.
By the time breakfast is ready my wife
is ready and we all enjoy it, and theF
her part comes in, for she had rather
wash tie 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 it is relief to eat cold lunch
these hot days. II saves work and saves
time and expense and makes digestion
easy. My opinion is that the average
family has too much cooking done, and
50 If we have no cook and have to do
the work ourselves, 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 two dollars a week in silver at
sixteen to one, and if penny saved Is
two pence gained. as DIR. Franklin says,
then we are ahead at the rate of four
dollars week. That's big lot of
money now. l pay that over to my wife
and daughter to keep them reeonciled,
but | verify believe they would be glad
to see Mrs Sicily Minis back here to-
morrow mornlg. They hired a colored
neighbor to milk the COW and some
times to kill and dress chicken, and
so we are getting along splendid while
running this independent line.
But there is no Independent line. II
is curious and somewhat humiliating to
think how dependent we are upon one
another. If the Vanderbilts and AS
tors were wrecked at sea and cast on an
island they would perish to death with.
in week. Dick Wilson wouldent, fol-
he was raised in the woods and woulo
soon grabble up something. We are
dependent on the butcher and the baker
and grocer for our daily supplies ant
they are dependent upon the farmers
who raised them and on their customers
who buy them. Even the salt they sci
us is an absolute necessity. Then there
is the family doctor. How could W,
few months ago when | had to get up il
the night and go half mile for him il
fox trot, and | feared the little CIR
would die before l got back, but sh,
dident and he relieved her and relieved
our great anxiety, too. There is NJ
such thing as independence in this life
but it is Appropriated by those VIII,
were raised to work. The boys who car
chop wood and pillow and fix an AK hely'
to an AK or repair leak in the roof o
get tack out Of shoe, or take off par
of the heel tap or mend a chair or a win
dow blind, or lay hearth or put in
pane of glass, or do a hundred it'll
things about the house and home, viii
save many dollar, where others woul'
send for a man and lose it. The girl
who have learned to cut and fit an,
| make their own garments, and those o
their younger sisters, and who can cool
a good meal when ii is necessary, an,
hang picture on the wall or make
firescreen or a lampshade or pillow
for the sofa, Or even put 4 new coat c
paint on the mantel, will make goo,
wives and good mothers. You won
find many of these boys and girls il
high life nor in what is called societ,
and the danger is that if misfortun
comes in these perilous times and richie
take wings and fly away these childre
OF the rich will be utterly helpless.
The trouble with me now is that
am the only boy about the house an,
my legs don't obey me with that alac
rity they used to. 1 fell up the step
this morning with an armful of stow
wood, but it is better TO fall up thai
down. The COW dident come home las
night and our little grandchild said sh
reckoned she was in the woods irwin,
&c find a calf. who said SOP" asked
"Sicily told me So" she said, "and
wish she would find one. A pretty it'll
white one or a brown one would do.
That COW has got over the dead lin
I'll bet and some farmer has taken he