The Washington herald., 1907-09-06

a
The father and mother and most of the
children go TO work in cotton mill.
After year Of living under circum-
stances which cannot be compared with
th-lr former estate for natural healthful
advantages. what is the result? They
are no longer salIow, sickly, sad. They
have taken on a better color. they are
quicker Of step and more vigorous in
action. They appear to take a much
more lively interest in life. What has
worked this change? Cooking.
Living in his one-room log cabin on
the mountain side, the mounta!neer and
his family know little or nothing of the
art cooking. In his younger days there
was nothing to eat but the inevitable
salt pork and corn bread. 1t is hard TO
make a mistake in cooking corn bread
when the only ingredients are water and
salt and meal But flour bread began to
be used. and nobody knew how to cook
il. Vegetables that were grown on the
place were. all cooked aiike-bOlled, fire.
quently without salt.
Coming 10 the mill village the family
was forced for the first time to buy
everything that went on the table.
knowledge Of how and what 10 buy was
lacking. The grocer was patronized,
while the truck wagon was passed by.
Canned goods came into the family bill
OF fare. 4 can Of baked beans is tried
for an experiment It's superiority when
compared 10 beans boiled in clear water.
without seasoning, cannot be denied.
Whatever may be said OF the wholesome
of a1 q
they are so much better than this typical
family had ever known that the improve
ment in health begins from the first
The thrifty families soon find that the
grocer is too expensive. and they turn
TO the truck wagon to buy those vege-
tables which they used 10 raise in the
garden patch" Cooked in the old way.
the things are now unpalatdble. There
fore. the woman of the family decides to
learn how 10 cook. In even the poorest
of mill villages she Will find help and ad-
vice from her neighbors. Cooking begins
TO takey on an Importance never before
given to It in that family, and some MEM
Der of the household is soon developed
into a cook
In the better class Of mill villages there
are cooking teachers who go into the
homes. introduce simple and wholesome
dishes. and show the women how 10 pre-
pare them These cooking teachers are
employed by the mill companies The
mill managers know that the poor health
OF the people they bring in from the
country is largely due 10 bad cooking.
They want healthy men and women who
VIII work six days a aeek therefore they
send instructors 10 teach the women TO
cook
Oatmeal, for instance, is an inexpensive
article of food. It is wholesome and is
easily prepared. The average farm fam
lily coming to the mill village has never
heard Of oatmeal The cooking teacher
introduces oatmeal RIce-which few
Americans anywhere know how to cook
properly-has long been familiar to the
farmers Of the Carolina lowlands. but
the mOuntaineers know il not Light
bread" they viii not eat Their bread
must be hot, and nearly always It is
made of corn meal But when wheat
flour is used, it is the cooking teacher
who shows how to save the soda and
make the biscuits white and light, instead
of yellow and heavy.
All Of the labor in the Southern cot
ton mills has come from the farms-first
next from the foothills of the Piedmont
section, and now from the mountains. It
Is remarkable that the physical health OF
all three classes has been improved by the
change from farm life to factory life
Better food is responsible for much Of the
Improvement, but other things have con-
tributed greatly.
From farm 70 factory may sound like
a fate 10 be dreaded. but it must be re-
membered that there are farms and
farms The family forced 10 exchange a
free life on a good Indiana farm for the
factory would look upon itself as ruined
So would a family from a farm in the
better agricultural parts Of North Caro-
lima. But the poor tenant farmer from
the sandhills or the mountains, who has
never known a house Of more than two
rooms, who has never known what II
was 10 have more than SO In cash in a
year. who has never had a school for his
children 10 go TO, who has not known
either the moral or social advantages of
a ehurch-to him the mill village is a
revelation and a benefaction.
The mill operatives Of the South are
VIGOROUSLY nomadic, although there IS
some Improvement to be noted in the last
year or Jw) because more Of the opera.
uves realize that the promotions come
10 those who stay in the same mill. This
tendency 10 move from mill town to mill
town Is one Of the curious manifestations
OF the broadening lives Of these people.
Until they left their native mountain side
they had never gone anywhere. They 20
10 work in a mill at Concord, and there
they hear a great deal of Charlotte. It
IS less than an hours ride TO Charlotte.
and an hours ride to Charlotte and an
excursion rate aften makes il a very in
expensive trip But the idea Of spending
money TO go on a trip" is abhorrent to
this man who used to think SO in cash
year Godsend. Finally his curiosity to
see Charlotte becomes so great that he
thinks he must so. So he takes his whole
family his household goods, and gods
and moves 10 Charlotte. There he finds
work for himself and his family in the
mills, taking the places OF some other
family which has moved on to Gastonia,
just to see the town"
The fact that there Is always a lob in
mill town makes these migrations very
easy. even when undertaken at the ex-
pense Of the family. But when an agent
from another mill in another town offers
to pay the expenses of the trip-tben
human curiosity ana a newborn spirit
Of the love OF travel outweigh the hone
OF promotion which Is bound up in the
monotOny OF staying on the lob. One
third OF the mill operatives Of this section
belong to this nOmadic class. Some mills
are always short of labor, and these
mills send out the agents to tempt the
hands" who are victims Of the wander
lust.
Other mills never have any trouble with
keeping full supply OF labor. Whvg