Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-15
The Genius of Cooking.

When the troops marched to Pekin the
agent went along as a correspondent, and
took The Pirate" with him. He entered a
newspaper mess, and said to 1.-The Pirate
that he must cook for the mess. and get up
as fine meals as he had at home Pekin
had been stripped of food. The natives in
the country surrounding did not dare at
first to bring in supplies from the gardens
and poultry yards and the army commissa-
ries were scant and not very palatabe.
There were five men in the mess, who
wanted at least three good meals a day.
The house In which the mess quartered
contained one pot fit for cooking, and
stove SO poor that another had to be built
outdoors Of stone, to hold the pot.
From the day that THE Pirate" took
charge the mess had meals that betrayed
no evidence Of scarcity Of supplies Of any
character. While the troops and the thou
were worrying along ordinary rations,
none too plentifully given out, THE Pr
rates. single pot and outdoor fire provided
his household with meals as varied and as
well cooked as they would expect to get In
Pekin in times Of peace. He got hold of
coolies, made 1t worth their while to go out
into the country and bring supplies to him
past the guards, and used commissary
lions, which the British permitted the cor
respondents to draw, to piece out the meals.
How he managed to serve successive courses
with only cooking pot was a mystery that
no one tried to probe.
It is not every one who has 1.-The Pirates"
resourceful skill Of talents, but the per-
sonal servants taken along on that Pekin
march were nearly all of the boy class.
and besides doing what they call their
proper work they cooked and washed, at
tended to horses and carts, gathered in pro-
visions and made themselves generally in
dispensable.
The policy of treatment adopted by en-
ployers has doubtless much to do with the
adaptability of the boys. 1t Is a settled
practice with experienced masters to order
thing done, ana II the boy begins to par
ley about 1t to cut him short and act as If
the matter were dismissed from the mind
of the one ordering it. Feeling that the
thing must now certainly be done, the boy
often given out of spirit Of pure mischief,
but the boys take them all Seriously and
the ingenious, ones will produce some result
rather than be thought stupid, while the
tax on their ingenuity does them no harm.
Responsibility intrusted to a boy is some
times q littlei costly. When 1.-The Pirate
and his master started southwark in Octo-
Der the masteF remained ashore too long at
Pirate" and all the luggage on board. Che
Foo was to be the first stopping place.
but there were other ships to come, not
all stopping taereioand 1.-The Pirate" could
an,y epess what his master, who had been
left ashore without money. might do to
esch Shanghai. ,He took off the luggage
at Chee-Foo and Engaged for his master
the best vacant room at the hotel there.
The master got credit across to Port Ar
thur. supplied himself with funds, and then
sailed for Che-Foo, where 1.-The Pirate
greeted him with a smiling II knew YOU
would come and escorted him to his room.
His boxes had been unpacked and every
thing was as homelike as possible. He al
SO found bill waiting for him for $50 for
one weeks room rent. 1.-THE Pirate" knew
when he landed that no ship could arrive
for a week and 1t was as easy to store the
luggage In warehouse at few cents
daily as to engage a choice hotel room for
them. But he meant well. and that was
the end Of it. He had excelled in too many
things to make 1t worth while to find fault
with him.
Things Boys Cannot DO.
For all boys good points. he has dis
tinct limitations. Among them are his In
ability to carry q verbal message straight