The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-01-26


The Porto Rican stove is especially
interesting. In shape il is something
like carpenters beIch, about two
feet wide. five feet long and as high az
| an ordinary table. The outside frame
is Of wood, and when the kitchen iz
being freshly painted, the stove must
! not be neglected, says the American
| Misaionnry. The top and inside are
| made Of bricks and cement SO ar
ranged as to leave an opening running
! from end to end below the freplaces
for draught. Along the top and at
regular intervals are four iron hre-
| places, 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 is necessary with
these stoves. The American house
wife who prefers to have her food
baked, can use gasoline oven over
one Of these fires, and the result Is
quite satisfactory.
But even this oven. however crude
and inconrenient, is seen only in the
better homes of Porto Rico. After
good-natured Candida, our negro
cook, has finished her days work and
has found her way down the hill along
the steep, narrow path that leads to
'sshacktown," where she lives, If she
wishes to prepare an evening meal for
hungry children she viii 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 below for
draught.
The making Of the stove has cost
her 70 cents, and she possesses q bet~
ter 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 low bench and popped
corn over the Goals In the oil-can
stove, while one or more wondering
natives stood around seeing the oper-
alton for the first time, and afterward
some OF them would try to pop their
own corn. Charcoal Is the fuel used
in these stoves, but many OF the poor
people too poor to buy charcoal make
their fire with bits of wood and sticks
which can be picked up.
Small, green bananas are the most
common food Of the poor people.
Cooken with q little Goldfish they are
considered great treat It ] want
to give especial pleasure to my
cook, furnish the bananas and cod
fish, and she VIA prepare her At
vorite dish.
We have been called pioneers in
Porto Rico, and many times what we
do and see reminds us of some OF
the stories we have heard our grand
fathers 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 fayorite article OF food ia
the family. One day, after an unsuc-
cessful search for the meal, Candida
helped me out Of my difficulty by
offering to have the corn ground for
me in her own mill, and gladly ac-
cepted the offer. Candida's mill, like
those seen throughout the interior
OF the island, differs little from the
mills used in Bible times.
It consists of two stones, resem-
bling grindstones, each foot or
more in diameter and from three to
five inches in thickness, the upper
and neither millstones" Of the Scrip
lures. The lower stone, which rests
on the floor. has its upper surface
slightly followed, and into this con-
cavity fits the convexity Of the up
per stone. Through the center Of the
upper stone is q 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 it's upper end
r1HRCo lntO O Twp teSt>@.~N ~
beam above. Occasionally this hole
is replaced by short handle, only
six or eight inches long, as in the
mill used 1000 or 5000 years ago.
The women or children who do the
grinding sit on the floor, and slowly
pour the corn or rice into the CEN
trail opening as they rotate the upper
stone, the fineness of the meal being
determined by the amount of press
ure, the rate of rotation, or the num-
ber of times it passes through the
mill. The meal escapes at the sides
from between the stones. Travelling
along the mountain roads of the in
terror, 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
f<s4 \