The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-09
BELLIES OF THE KITCHEN.
They Amaze the Ordinary Woman
Who EmpIoys Them.

| ~
free to put to fight her summers sum
burn.
The ether woman, who had come about
wrinkles. smiled in sympathy and interest,
says listener who told it all to The
| Commercial Advertiser continued:
During the last six months l nave had
! three different servants who had romantic
histories. inv they happened 10 tell them
to me i don't understand, as ! seldom talk
/ with my MAIDS. but they were all as volu-
bic they were picturesque, and tae
| strongest part Of il was that none OF ,he
four knew any of the others ald could
| MOI have conspired to fiji my ears with
fairy tales.
IL bssan last spring wnen / advertised
for cOoa. Among TIE applicants sas a
coiorea t5afi, Sa9-caiBe VITA eAe-lleut -et-
| e4eGces. l engaged her aud she proved
! satisfactory as a cook, but 81 aIrly I,ssr
she was brilliant failure. She sxpla.oe 81
I the fact by informing me that she was
used to being iadys maid and was ae-
| customed to sittins UP iase at Ilsllt and
/ sleeping late in the morning. This led to
the revelation thar she was ab expert ms
seuse, hairdresser, and uiaaIcuflst. and al
! so undeIs tood something OF face steaaI.n;.
! She had wearied OF that work and prefer
( red to cook for the present. She explain
! ed her proficiency in lhe iatte1 AT ~ say
1 ing that she had spent much time in the
kitchen when she was in Italy, where her
former mistress ha0 villa. The cook
/! was a Frenehman, and from him she had
learned many tricks OF The trade. | asked
no more questions, as l WAS somewhat daz-
/ zled by the varied experiences and attain
1 ments of my dusky cordon-bleu.
AT Easter, some one sent me a gr5 at
! pot of lilies. which was placed in the
J paTlor window where Emneline saw them.
When l went into the kitchen she in
formed me that the lilies reminded her
| of Bermuda So you have been IN Ber-
muda too?' / observed. Yes NJ. l STAYED
there five months while my lady was in
I prison in Cuba. said Enmeline in her
( matter-of- fact voice. she went in dis
guise to take ammuniticn TO the ilsur
/ gent army. / waited all winter. and was
! just thinking of coming back to NV Ycrk
| when Miss Maria came baca one n ght
| hardly knew her; she was SO tiia AMI
white, and dressed as a boy. Shg aad es-
capped from the prison. but she was siarv-
! ed and dying of consump. ion We - nt
to southern California, where poor Miss
/ Maria died. The last thing she did was
I to make me promise TO have trunk vita
/ false bottom built and send il with am
munition TO General Maquero. Size left
NE 5000 in her will. / went to Canada
and rested for year
! N4en L udu recovered from LllS re-
! cital ! gave my orders for dinner and in
| cidentally some special Instructions about
/ curry that was 10 be one Of the dishes.
! Don't worry about that, Mrs. Blank. said
Emmeline, / know how to make eurries.
learned from the Eiceroy's cook, who
was on the ship with US coming from In
/ dia.'
After that I subsidsd In addition to
her knowledge Of all the arts and nations,
( my gifted servant was also Free Mason
and member of half a dozen benevolent
/ societies and insurance companies. she
/ was III for month at one time and re-
ceiyed S12 Il week from her various unions
and associations. But l had to part with
her, superior as she was She demoraliZed
the kitchen, and her globe-trotting habit
CT sleeping till noon became inconvenient.
az We are just plain Americans, who like
to breakfast at s."
The stout matron paused and her com
panion said:
1t would- have been very convenient if
you could have induced such a versatile
person to manicure and massage ard oth-
erwise beautify you, as well as do the cook
! ing.
"She would have charged almost as
much as the beauty doctor does" sighed
the stout woman. She said she earned
/ $50 month as a lady's maid until she
learned manicuring and massage Then
she got $50
Was the next one as imaginative?"
| laughed the other woman.
Almost" said the stout matron. "She
was great, unwieldly creature, very good
natured, a good cook, and middle-aged
Her stories were marvels. She had lived
as a girl, in the old Jumel mansion on
Washington Heights. Old Commodore Van
derbilt was guest at the house frequently
and was known among the servants as the
rich Cd man who never gave a tip Clor-
linda 1nelly ran away with servant OF
the cid eommodore's and they went to
Washington TO live. They kept a hotel,
and from her account every prominent
man from George Washington TO Grover
Cleveland stopped with them. Then she
went to Saratoga and kept a boarding
| house for jockeys. Thanks to these sport
ing gentlemen she won 81 $50 on single
big race and moved to New York, where
she and her husband opened restaurant.
She became trained nurse and finally
went back to housework, as the most con-
genial If not the most exciting way OF
earning a living. She was an interesting
creature, but her outlook on life had been
! too broad to permit of her being contented
! in back kitchen. She left me TO go to
| Atlantic City, and the last heard of her
she had opened boarding house ard was
prospecting.
For a month or two after her depart
ure no romance foated upstirs from the
| kitchen. and ] often thought of the trav-
! eled Emmeline and the adventurous Clio
| rinda with amusement but the other day
l went down 10 speak to the laundress-
a fat, prosaic German woman-and apro-
I pos OF nothing at all she began reninis-
cling. / was not at all amazed to hear
| that she was of noble birth, and that her
| father disgraced his family By making a
| large fortune out of vulgar beer. They
cast him off, but he married a peasant girl
| and lived in schloss and were one OF
| the happest families in all Bavaria Then
| he lost his money and emigrated Four
| of his servants accompanied him, paying
| their own passage and working for him
| for nothing until he had established him
/ self in business in the new world. He
| and his sons became citizens, and all
went to the civil war. The father and
one son were killed Then the daughter
married, and now in her old age she does
washing"
| The woman who had come about wrin-
| stout matron smiled placidly at her com
| panions' hilarity.
II don't suppose your daughters leave
| paper-covered novels around where the
| servants can read them?" enquired the
younger at last.
NO. indeed" said the stout woman
And Emmelines one pleasure seemed
| TO lie sewing white Clorindas was posi-
! lively devoted to a greasy old cook book
| that nust have served as memory-aid to
| Noah's chef"
And then the operator" appeared.