The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-01

when he claimed that the Southern opera
tive in the cotton mills could live well on
wages that would mean starvation In the
North. The Southerner looks upon a
Northerner of "A similar class as the vic
tim Of a dyspeptic diet. which Consists,
according to tradition, chiefly of pies and
cake and greasy doughnuts. Yet bread
sweet wholesome. homemade bread
is the one luxury of the South. In
the place OF The Tight bread" as they
discriminatory term it, they eat soda bis
cult, and the heavy corn pone-which Is
not to be compared with the faky light
ness OF our corn bread or Johnny cake.
Apparently the meal made from c ORR
grown in the North is sweetef and finer
in quality than the average product OF the
South. This is measurea.bly true of almost
everything that Is common TO both parts
or the country, excepting, of course Vege-
tables and fruits that are distinctlveIy
southern in character and are rarely pro
cuced in the North For instance o,lI
apples and strawberries are much finer
in flavor, but the orange and Crane
truit is never seen in the Northern mar
ket in its full perfection 1t must be nd
mitted that the average of Northern cook
ing is superior. Ii is the inevitable out
come of more complex conditions and of
the growing fastidiousness that is perme.
atlng all ranks. We have not the South
erners easy-going acceptance of unpleas-
ant things, The Northern spirit is satu-
rated with the desire to alter everything
that is not up to the standard OF the hour
we SIT longer at the table and are more.
scrupulous in our observance of les for
malites, while the meal in many Southern
households is less a function than an in
cident, an episode that interferes with
rather than adds to the comfort OF living
IL instead Of our brief Northern summer
the thermometer were to remain at 80 for
months together, we would doubtless alter
our idea of the relative Importance of
many of these things
The same absence of the esthetic quality
that is apparent in the cooking and eerv
ing OF meal q am not speaking of the
ways of the smart set or Of The old re-
gime) is noticeable all through the house
With comparatively few exceptions there
IS nothing like the taste displayed in the
furnishing of houses, that we see in the
North. You New England people make
your homes so attractive" said a Young
married woman in Savannah to one OF
our party. 1--WE have to live Indoors more
months in the year, was the eply The
Southern woman is essentially domestic
and home-loving, but not house loving In
the same sense that we are, who are com
PEELED to order our lives to meet the ext
gencies of harsher climate The love OF
house which leads many a woman in
New England of a superior sort to do her
own work rather than forego ats privacy
and seclusion is not characteristic of the
Southerner. On the contrary. the board
ing-house is everywhere, and 1t Is always
full. The Northern woman with increas
ing means lavishes time and thought and
money on her home until her own person
ality is so embodied In it that we find it
difficult to dissociate her from her sur
roundings. She becomes a connoisseur In
bric-a-brac and a collector Of old china
and furniture, and Is such an integral part
of her house that we speak of her taste or
her want of it, as If 1t were an ethical
quality part OF her character, or as II it
had some saving grace like religion. The
Southern woman par excellence has
little of this. Her house is as 1t
happens She Is not in any way dependent
upon it and stands apart from her Slr-
roundings as a distinct individuality This
Is one of the reasons why mere possession
counts for less IN our general estimate Of
her. Her family may have been made des-
perately poor by the civil war and she may
manufacture rag dolls or homemade con-