Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-11-29
KITCHENS IN PORTO RICO.
A Woman's Account of the House,
wife's OUTFIT In the Island.

wife's Outfit In the Island.
The Porto Rican stove is especially
interesting. In shape 1t Is something
like a carpenters bench, about two
feet wide, five feet long and as high as
an ordinary table. The outside frame
is Of wood. and when the kitchen Is
freshly painted, the stove must not be
neglected. The top and inside are made
to leave an opening running from end
to end below the fireplaces for
draught. Along the top at regular in
tervals are four iron fireplaces, five
inches square and four inches deep, so
set into the stove that the tops are on
level with the top Of the stove. A
maid who often neglects one fire would
feel overburdened with the care Of
these four separate fires at the same
time, as 1t is necessary with these
stoves The American housewife who
prefers to have her food baked, can
use q gasolene oven over one Of these
fires, and the result Is quite satisfac-
tory.
But even this oven, however crude
and inconvenient, Is seen only In the
better homes Of Porto Rico. After
good Candida, our Negro cook,
has finished her days work and has
found her way down the hill along the
steep, narrow path that sleads to
"shacktown," where she lives, If she
wishes to prepare an evening meal for
hungry children, she will bring out
from the corner Of the room an empty
oil can, which has been given her by
the missionary, and which has been
fitted up by the tinsmith with CRATE
near the top and an opening belc,! for
draught.
The making Of the stove has cost her
20 cents, and she possesses better
outfit for housekeeping than many OF
her neighbors. The writer had one OF
these stoves made for her own use, and
as it can be easily carried about, 1t Is
very convenient. Many times has she
sat on a low bench and popped corn
over the Goals in an oil-stove, while
one or more wondering natives stood
around seeing the operation Tor the
first time, and afterward some OF them
would try to pop their own corn. Char
coal is the fuel used in these stoves,
but many Of the poor people. too poor
to buy charcoal. make their fires with
bits of wood and sticks which can be
picked up.
Small, green bananas are the most
common food Of the poor people. Cook
ed with a little Goldfish they are con-
sidered great treat. II want to give
especial pleasure to my cook furnish
the bananas and Goldfish and she VIII
prepare her favorite dish.
We have been called pioneers In Por-
to Rico and many times what we 90
and see reminds US Of some OF the
stories we have heard our grandfather
tell of the pioneer days out west, when
many Of the needs Of the family were
supplied by labor within the household.
Many times have difficulty In buying
cornmeal, which is favorite article OF
food in the family. One day after an
unsuccessful search for the meal, Can
dida helped me out Of my difficulty by
offering to have the corn ground for
me In her own mill. and gladly accept
ed the offer. Candida's mill. like those
seen throughout the interior Of the is
land, differs little from the mills used
in Bible times.
It consists Of two stones, reserR bling
grindstones, each foot or more IN d.
amter and from three to five inches In
thickness, the upper and neither mill
stones" of the Scriptures. The lower
stone, which rests on the floor, has Its
upper surface slightly followed, and
into the concavity fits the convexity OF
the upper stone. Through the center of
the upper stone Is hole, through which
the corn passes down to the grinding
surface between the stones. Near the
outer rim is another hole for the end
of the handle-a pole seven or eight
feet long, with its upper end slipped
into loop fastened to a beam above.
Occasionally this pole Is replaced by a
short handle only six or eight inches
long, as in the mill used two or three
thousand years ago.
The women or children who do the
grinding sit on the floor, and slowly
pour the corn or rice into the central
opening as they rotate the upper stone.
the flneness Of the meal being deter
mined by the amount Of pressure, the
rate Of rotation or the number Of times
it is passed through the mill. The
meal escapes at the sides from between
the stones. Travelling along the noun
tain roads Of the interior the Sound
Of the grinding" can often be heard.
1t Is slow work and tiresome, and the
workers have to change off," but the
result is satisfactory and the meal Is
always fresh. They grind the rice in
the same way, and from both kinds Of
-four Candida can make fritters that
are very pleasant to the taste.-Amer-
lean Missionary.
THE KAISER SPEAKs.-An enterpris-
ing British newspaper man has gotten
together the following collection Of the
Kaiser's aphorisms:
A law Is the expression Of the ac-