The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-06-22
Sc GOSSIP FOR THE LADIES. s.

own homes than upon the finest French
entrees and such stuff He says, too,
that a hotel is the worst possible place
to bring up children in, and Il perfect hot
bed OF gossip'-and much more of the
same sort have not patience to repeat.
"NoW, we all know that more and more
people are giving up the housekeeping
experiment every year as a hopeless I'M
dertaking. Finer and finer hotels are be-
ing built and filled with families: AS
do they keep on With it? I don't want
to be unreasonable, but after all these
years of toll and worry, it does seem as
If l might have relief and rest. Ameri-
can housekeeping is mistake, out and
out! l am weary! weary! of studying
and dinner for 365 days in the year.
weary sometimes think, almost unto
death. The smell of the KITCHEN clings
to H< ny life and servants arg NUS
1 give the long letter-apparently the
work of an educated womanlbe because it
large class of housekeepers and be
cause there is much force in some things
my correspondent says.
Let me answer, first that she is worn
and weary and needs il Temporary change
It must surely be practicable for her to
managing servants, for a few weeks.
Even ten days would get the smell of the
Kitchen out of the nostrils of her mag
nation. The machine must have rest,
now and then, to restore temper" and
brace nervous forces.
the thousands who crowd our splendid
caravanseries-the finest in the world
live in them all the year round. AS
town houses are given up the number of
seaside and mountain cottages multi
plies. The gayest lover of pleasure longs
for taste of domestic life; the matron
who has. abandoned housekeeping as Il
breath of the old life in an Adirondack
camp, or furnished country house.
where she can have her family to her
self and get away from the glare and
stare of what call contract living
The 'indulgcnt husband" is altogether
right in what he says of the sameness of
hotel fare, however palatable it may be
as the plain food prepared in our own
kitchens never does. We complain some
times that we are "tired of our own
cooking but it never bores the appetite
as do the catalogued delicacies that come
from the hands of the salaried chef.
| confess myself unable to account for
this to my own satisfaction or to nv cor
L
truth i'll asserting that in time-and not
so long time, cither-what once pleased
the palate of Il hotel boarder becomes in
sipid or distasteful Roast turkey tastes
as much like chicken as it does like the
bird whose name it bears, and cannot be
distinguished from duck if the eater
closes his eyes. Beef. mutton, veal and
one rooster and at the same time How
ever aluring the list of croquettes, ris-
Soles. timbales. outlets and salmis. one
becomes unccmfcrtably familiar with
them all, and would honestly prefer n
juicy steak blood rare" broled in his
mothers kitchen and served with mealy
potato, to the entire collection.
Some part of this gastronomc boredom
is due to the circumstance that hotel
cookery is done on so large scale that
it is next to impossible to preserve dis
tinctive flavors. l incline to the belief
that more is owing to the lack of what
may be styled the personal and individual
element that is wrought into each dish
which appears on the home table. 1
wish ! had time to discuss this interest
ing point.
indulgent husbands remark that hotel or
boarding house is an undesirable place
in which to bring up children. l won
der if he-SenSible parent as he iS-knows
how forcible is this objection! The
mightiest safeguard our children can
have against the manifold evils Of this
present world is Home influence: the holy
and tender associations that cling to the
name and the reality of the home which
is theirs and of which they are an inte-
grail part.
My frank and full reply" to letter
that has cost ME much and grave
thought, is to cntreat this particular wife
and mother to think long and seriously
before she and her now-united household
join the nomadc tribes who are making
American home life a by-word and a
kissing to other Christian nations.
recreation she may, and apparently
does, need. When the approaching sum-
mer is upon her. let her seek this for
herself and her brood in hillside farm
house or seaside hotel Let her not hope
-or-try to find the fine. exquisite. mimi
table essence of HOME in either, much
less i'll the gilded hives, swarming with
human incongruities, which my CORE
spondent reminds me are growing more
superb and populous every year.
All! the pity Of it!