Waterbury Democrat., 1902-04-28
THE HOUSE MOTHER.
Must Provide IntelIigentIy as We'll as BountifuIly, for the Needs
 of Her Family.

The good mother who looketh we'll to the ways of her household must not only be a good cook, but a good 4aterer. She must know how to pur- chase food so that it will be the most economical and the best in it's season, and she must know how to cook it so that there wills be the least waste of food value. She must provide food suitable to the physical needs of each of her family, individ- ualy as well as collectively. It is no small task that the provider of food for the household undertakes, says the New York Tribune.
 The more refined the type of the individual the more careful he must be in the selection of his food. Only the grossest and lowest animals eat whatever is given them. There is more animalism in eating with satis- faction heavy dinner of many courses, badly cooked and second rate in quality, and ima gining because it is elaborate you have dined we'll than there is in that fastidiousness in re- gard to food which the epicure shows. The term epicure should not be one of reproach, yet it often is, even to those who should remember there is only one animal in the farmyard who does not select his food, but eats promiscuously whatever is thrown to him.
 There are certain class of house. keepers who seem to think their fam flies should be served in regard to food, with no greater care than the poor pig. They boast that they feat to live" The highest and most intel lectual life requires a body in the most perfect physical condition. The food must meet the requirements of the body. Badly cooked and badly selected food causes the great ma jority of ills to which human nature is heir. Most diseases may be traced back to malnutrition or the con- sumption of food which has failed to do it's duty as food.
 The woman who makes homemade bread which is "a heavy compound of putty and lead" is guilty of crim- inal incapacity and lack of intelli- gence which are far more contempt ible and more far reaching in their evil results to those who are de- pendent on her table than any otle.. ignorance. No intellectual achie,.a- ment of any woman whose position makes her a housekeeper and puts human health and life in her hands can be considered if she fails in the primary duties which are necessarily hers. There are many women who are never called on to cook or to fa, n, full in other ways, but the woman whose circumstances are such that she must accomplish the duties of a housemother and who fails to meet those duties intelligently and sue cessfully can have no possible sym pathy from any intelligent person.
 It is not intellectual women who have made notable failures in house keeping, but shallow, silly women, who would make failures in any po- sitioa in life. It is pleasant to re- .member George Eliot's interest in her cooking recipes and Charlotte Bronte's tenderness toward the old servant who failed to take the eyes out of her potatoes, which Miss Bronte removed surreptitiously, for
 V Aiui OiiiS tHC icciiHgS ol tnc purblind old woman. Numberless in- stances might have been exceedingly capable in household matters and fas- tidious in the choice of food.
 Let no one boast that she "eats to live' unless she eats in such a way l that she lives as an intelligent hu- man being, not as decrepit invalid with impaired digestion and weak ened intellect, which may be easily traced to malnutrition. We are to a large extent what we eat. Years of beef have made the Anglo-Saxon the intellectual giant that he is. Centu- ries of 3 rice diet has stunted the growth and the mind of the poor Chi nese coolie.