The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-09-20

olack COOK Tor the meals of the dav
This is serious and difficult businos'
She cannot send out and buv wbato,,o..
she wants at large assortment Of
shops nearby, as most America
housewives can do. She must sena
her servant to the market early in tbo
morning to chatter with the negro
women who bring in vegetables ana
frult from the remote country dis.
tricts.
She must remember that meat 10
only purchasable twice or thrice a
week at certain spots where an amin
happens to be slaughtered. 1t is ber
business to find out what is going 70
be killed and where, unless she wants
to condemn her family to a vegetaria,,
dlet.s And when, after careful calcu-
lation and good generalship, she GET
all the food she requires. she ms
take care that it is placed on ice in ~
swinging safe, or in cupboard where
the ants cannot possibly get at it. II
she neglects this, she may find no
dinner left within an hour.
The tropical housekeeper seldom,
goes into her kitchen, except on ne-i'
odical visits of inspection to see thai
1t is kept clean, as the kitchen is an
outbullding right across the yard in
the servants quarters. The bathroom
is also detached building.
OF course, there is the servant nrob-
lem in the tropic. as there is every
where else; but in the West Indies
the part of the tropics to which most
Americans go, 1t is not so acute as ~
is in America. The trouble is not to
get a servant, but to refuse the nu-
merous applicants who call almost
every day, even when the HOUSEHOLDS
staff is fully equipped.
A typical West Indian household has
at least three servants-a cook. a won7-
an called a ''housecleaner, who poljshes
the floors, and butler" Do NOT con
jure up visions of a staid and portIv
major domo. The West Indian butIer
is young colored girl who waits AZ
table and does light chores.
AS rule, these servants are fairly
good, their greatest faults being lazi-
ness Wnen they are not carefully
watched, a certain stupidity which Is
often due to the housekeeper's inabil-
ity to understand the negro dialect and
the negro mind, and the tendency tn
annex petty trifies of no value. Money
and Valuables are safe from them. but
they have magpies fondness far
picking up bright and useless articles
They have to be told to do the same
thing day after day. for they either
cannot or will not remember They
are usually paid $1.25 week, and live
very well on it, too.
Although she has so many servants
no woman has buster life than the
tropical housekeeper The task of su-
perVision is no sinecure, and there are
many things to be made or mended
which cannot be given out as thew
could be in an American town or viii
lage. Her social duties also take I'm a
lot of time. In small tropical COM
munity, where there are few whita
people, everybody knows evervbodv
else, and no one is readily forgiven Il
she forgets her friends.
The day in typical West Indian
household is interesting.
At $50 every morning the butler
knocks at each door, saying, Good
marnin', missus, I bring de coffee.
num-" Coffee which is taken in
bed, consists of a cup of delicious cot
fee, a plate of crisp toast, and a cou-
pie of oranges or bananas.
After this is over, the men saunter
out in their pajamas and have their
morning dip in the big stone bath
across the way, and then the family
gather on the veranda and talk and
laugh and have jolly time, for West
Indians are nearly always lght-heart-
ed.
Presently the breakfast bell rings,
and all troop downstairs to breakfast.
The breakfast is thoroughly West
Indian, with hardly an article of
American food. Here is favorte
menu: Very hot, highly seasoned
curried beef, salt fish and ackees, fried
ripe plantain, mashed yam and but
ter, cho-chos with butter sauce, and
roasted green plantain to eat with
cheese. And very good breakfast
it is.
In the center of the table there is
always an immense plate piled high
with pineapples, star apples, oranges,
mangoes, golden apples, bananas, and
many other kinds of fruit The drinks
that are handed around are the favor
lite planters punch" and lemonade,
cocoanut water or pine drink.
After breakfast there is a general
breaking up of the family party. The
men go to their business on the PLAN
tation, the children to school, If there
is a school to go to, and the women
and elder girls TO their various duties
about the house. Mary arranges the
flowers for every room, Alice sees thaC
the housecleaner is doing her work
properly. Maude mends the boys
socks, Ethel feeds the hens and ducks,
and so on until there is not an Idle
hand in the house. Mother, of course,
sees that everything is done correctly
and nothing is left undone.
After their duties are finished the
girls return to their bedrooms for
quiet read or siesta. At 8 o'clock they
begin to think it is time to dress, SO
one by one they go across the yard 10
take a bath in the cool, clear water IN
the big stone tank. After the Dalh
they dress in pretty muslins ana go
into the garden to await afternoon ted'
Some lounge in the hammocks, some
in easy chairs, and some on the grass
reading or doing fancy work as the
mood takes them. Here they receive
their friends who drop in to pay AFTER
noon calls. About o'clock the men
come home from work, and all are d
jolly party again.
Often in the evenings after dinner,
when friends come in, the furniture
in the drawing-room is pushed asloe'
or out of the room, and a pleasant III
tie dance is given; or, if there are
lot of young people who like daTh
verandas and moonlight nights pest,
they go outside and sing Spanish iote
songs to the accompaniment OF panJo
and guitar.
Across the yard the servants chat
volubly and enjoy themselves in theIr
own way, and now and then rag
ment of African melody float up 10
those on the veranda:
Matte no dead, but Matte drowned
Matte no dead, but Matte drowned;
Somebody call out Matte drowned
A Philadelphia. paper publishes the
following original joke: