The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1905-09-30
BY MARGARET e. sANGsTER.


BY MARGARET e. SANGSTER.
Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
take it for granted that most young
girls would like to know how to cook.
a lew years ago l would have been
sure that all girls desired to know
everything they could about this use
tul and necessary art of woman's work.
But found in connection with classes
In social settlements that girls who
had been working hard all day in
shops and factories did not take much
interest in the evening in a chafing
dish or a stove or anything connected
with the kitchen. They told me that
they We're too tired to enjoy this sort
of work, and that it was a greater rest
and refreshment to them TO take up
studies connected with books. or to
do something which would help them
in making their clothes.
To-day l am writing for school girls,
and l feel quite sure that they some
times enjoy dropping their books and
taking hold of one of the most prac-
liCdl Sl1plON L1GulS III l1lS- NQCA yOo
think of it, nothing is more practical
than the proper preparation of daily
food. What to eat, how to cook it and
how to serve it are departments which
no woman can afford to neglect.
Ill-cooked and ill-chosen food cause
indigestion, ill-temper and ill-health.
A great deal of food in this dear u
try of ours is ruined in the cooking.
With the finest markets in the world,
with plenty of everything brought to
our doors, we waste and destroy and
throw away food which in other oun
tries where people are more econOm-
zeal is used to the best advantage, and
then we wonder why we continue poor.
We might as we'll wonder why we are
often plain when we might be beauti-
full and cross when we might be ami
able and out Of spirits when we
should be calm and tranquil Our
foolish extravaganza and i~neXcusable
of the mischief.
Of course every girl wants to be at
tractive in appearance, to have bright
eyes, a smooth skin, and a look of vi
tally. No girl will be beautiful or
have anything else than a sallOw skin,
ugly pimples and dull eyes, if she
h~abitually eats poorly cooked food.
There is, for instance, a widespread
prejudice against hot biscuits and cot
fee. Soggy biscuits and muddy coffee are
enough to poison whoever touches
them, but when biscuits are light as
puffs, and coffee is clear as amber,
both are %innocuous to people in health.
Every girl should learn how to make
light biscuits and clear coffee, and this
part of her education is just as impOr-
tant as her arithmetic, her grammar,
her French, her German, her geOm-
etry or any one of the numerous
branches in science which now occupy
the attention of girls.
The best cooking school any girl can
have is her mothers kitchen, provided
her mother knows how to cook. Moth
ing else equals the opportunity one has
Just there. Three meals a day are
set upon the table in most houses.
The father comes home tired after a
days work, the growing boys are al
ways hungry, and the children may be
depended upon to eat their share. 1t
does not seem as if it would take a
great deal of skill to make an appetiz-
ing plate of toast and a really good
cup of tea for mother when she has a
headache, yet l know any number of
girls whose toast is a scorched, messy
looking affair, and whose tea is not
fit to drink.
A girl at home should take pains
about these simple everyday things.
She should learn how to broil steak
and chops, how to cook potatoes in
many delicious ways, how to prepare
salads in a variety which is legion.
Little by little, if a girl is interested,
we'll at home, and especially she should
learn how to make a good loaf of
bread.
Dear girls, believe me that until
you have really tried to do this you
do not know what an accomplishment
it is, and how much care and trouble
must be taken before you can know
the right quantity of flour and ina
right quantity of yeast and the length
of time to be spent in kneadIng the
bread and in letting it rise, nor have
you the least idea about the tenn
perature of the oven. In the south.
where bread is made in perfection, |
have known the cook to go down.
stairs in the middle of the night that
she might see how her bread vas COM
ing on. This is not necessary, and
vet bread will not brook neglect. 1t
must be carefully watched and every
step of the process must receive intel
ligent care. Good cooking demands as
much thought as any other good thing
in the universe.
Al artist cannot paint a picture, nor,
for that matter, can a house painter
decorate a house without taking pains.
AS much thought and skill and dex-