Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-11-22

The AngIO-Egyptian Household


some women, who are neither house
wives by nature nor blessed with sub
stantial means, the management of a
household is a luty principally made
up of worries.
In Egypt, however, if one has a
sense of hQmor, one is largely helped
over minor difficulties of housekeep-
ing by the ludicrous occurrences which
are part Of ones daily life; but the
sense of humor Is really a necessity.
The woman who lacked 1t, and expect.
ed her menage in that country to
run on conventional English lines,
would have to settle down to life
Of worry, and her face would be
wrinkled ana her hair grow gray in
a fortnight.
Servant, TO begin with, in the
average Anglo-Egyptian house are ma
tives, generally of the Berberi tribe,
and very good servants on the whole
they make But in taking up the
reins Of such an establishment one
must necessarily drop many of ones
precc1ceived notions, and can only
learn by experience how best to man
age it.
I had considerable difficulties to
face when ! began a sojourn of two
years in the land of Egypt, as was
perfectly inexperienced both in cook
ing and in the interior economy of the
household; in short, totally ignorant
of the art of management, my only
fixed idea being a desire to learn and
not to be done" by that same ignor-
ance.
Our indoor servants, who slept out
of the house, and fed themselves,
were five in number ALI the cook,
was a dark shifty-looking scoundrel,
with a hang dog expression; his looks,
however, were the worst. part OF him,
for he turned out treasure in his
own way, There were two suffragis,
or buffers, Abdool, the head one, hay
ing been my husbands personal ser
want for many years, and being pre-
sumably devoted to him. The house
maid" was a quiet. docile young man,
about six feet high, the only Egyptian
in the house, the others all being
Berberi a woody headed cook 5
boy. or marmtton, named Mahmud,
completed the menage.
The first conclusion came to was
that in catering for the household oRe
must be TO a great extent ia the
hands of ones cook. No tradesmen
call in Egypt, ard with the exception
of the bread which is supplied by
European bakers, everything must be
bought in the market. 1t Is impos
sible, or rather useless, to go out ones
self to inspect and ask the price Of
meat, vegetables, etc. To a European
there is one price, o a native another.
For this reason nobody except those
who can afford TO pay more than is
necessary for their food go in for
European cooks They are a luxury,
and much to be envied; but they are
inevitably cheated more or less in the
market, whereas a native need pay no
more than the proper value for what
he buys. l do not deny that he gen
orally thinks himself entitled to put
on an extra piastre here and there in
the book he presents to you weekly,
but that one must expect. Even with
what he makes cut of you lac costs
you less than would a European, who.
however honest he may be. is unable
10 cope with The cunning Of an orien
tai market
Frt fhe HFsCf
were, of course, excessive, Ali natural
ly taking advantage of my obvious
ignorance of prices, and making a
handsome thing out of it. However,
after comparing notes with friends
who were old campaigners, soon
brought my expenditure within rea-
sonable limits.
The cook had no ideas of proper
iion, ana well remember my first
meal in the country. | had Just ar
rived, and we sat down to tete-a-
tete dinner, which had OF necessity
been left to the cooks discretion. The
first course consisted of an enormous
tueen full of thick soup, which
would alone have almost satisfied
dozen hungry men. The next was
even mere overwhelming mountain
of mashed potato. with sixteen nut
ton outlets arranged round ii IL a
formidable row
AS the want Of common language
was an Inconvenience, the servants
talking nothing but Arabic, with tie
exception OF Ali, who could converse
in a weird kind of French, set my
self at once to learn Arabic, and be-
fore long had picked up enough to
make myself understood. Ais limit
ed French was often incomprehens.
ible. and this led to some ridiculous
MISUNDERSTANDING.
One morning after his marketing
he came and said he must so out
again | asked him why; he replied
that he wished TO buy some (word
incomprehensible) for luncheon. For
about five minutes tried TO under
stand what this mysterious word was
and then in desperation asked him Il
he knew the English of il. He bright
ened at once.
"Oui. madame Kittens"
Kittens?" easped. "Yon near
chickens-poulets!"
Non, madame; kittens.
l felt horror struck. To what kline
Of a savage country had tome?
Not kittens, Ali" l pleaded
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