New-York tribune., 1908-01-06
THES0UTH
There Haze GrleUances
Greater than Northern Ones.


IF the Northern woman considers her afiiiction
grievous in the matter of domestic help let her
change places for couple of years with the
Southern woman says Mrs Katherine swan. a
cooking teacher. whose work off the lecture plat
form has taken her directly into kitchens all over
the country of the Mississippi for seven years
The domestic service conditions in the South
whole worse" Mrs Swan asserts than
in any other section of the United States
There is a large supply of material out Of which
the unintated would expect cooks TO be made.
but the cooks not. Washing and ironing,
which the negro do in their own homes
present difficulty but cooking in another per-
sons house is a stumbling block and rock OF
offence to the dark skinned sisterhood Not only
are they not willing cook. but they don't kno"
how.
Last fall after the cotton was picked, visited
on an island off the South Carolina coast where
there FIVE white families to twelve hundred
negroes. There were two negro women IN the
kitchen, both of the stock that once furnished
the finest house servants the state Neither OF
them could cook hominy. and they had never even
heard OF the commonest kitchen utensils An
eggbeater was toy, and whether IL stooo on l''
handle its head neither knew until taught III
their own homes they usually cook over an open
fireplace.
/ The first cool morning of them didn't ap-
pear and Jake man of all work, brought Woro
it was too cold for Melinda come over the fields
After the middle OF October the cold IS a common
COOKS STAY ONLY TEN DAYS
In Tampa Fla the conditions worse than
in any other Southern city. Any woman VINO Keeps
a days considers herself more than clever
Owing the demand for labor. greater Tampa
being creation Of the years since the Spanish
war men far outnumber the women and no man
who wants to work need be idle So there Is sell
dom to be found a negro woman without some
kind of TO pay for her food and lodging 80
of course. woman would be foolish to go out to
work under those conditions. and in addition no
fairly thrifty and steady negro lahorer will let
his women folk work. On Saturday afternoon no
one works, and who can avoid it works on
Saturday forenoon. So much preparation Is mace
for Sunday that one expects extraordinary fiestas
Then Monday no one works who can help H.
because they are recovering from Sunday
In Tampa the black list is openly admitted by
both mistress and maid. The mistress is its OBJ
ject. not the maid. and fancied ohence is sur
fcient cause for placing name upon IT. Ihe
housekeeper who changes her cook once week
is infinitely better of than she whose name is on
the black list
yet, the greatest objections to a cooks life IN
the North. lack of suitable sleeping quarters IT.
regular hours of labor and especially the night
work not TO be met in the real Southern home
To be sure kitchens in older houses are not all
equipped with modern arrangements, as are those
later construction. but the other conditions are
ideal. The cook Is the cook. She does no washing
ironing cleaning no upstairs work dining room
! answering bell. Rarely does maid now wear
cap and apron. and il a cook should answer the
doorbell rarely with even the regulation
apron. Neither does she care for the children
The cook cooks That was settled long ago by the
fact that there many house slaves that
each did only one sort of work. The Southern
cook has never changed that habit These condi-
tons almost realize ideals of reforers and in
vestigators of domestic labor matters
IMMIGRATION PROBLEMS.
Nowhere in the real South does the cook live IN
the house of her employer. In some parts OF South
Carolina the one-room house in the yard begins to
appear In Florida it is the common thing and the
newer houses built by NortheTners have the yard
ca bin in preference setting aside in the
house itself. The cook generally considers the
cabin quite her and keeps open house there
Usually. however, the cook lives at home and then
she expects be allowed to help herself to about
ali the food left in the house after any meal That
is relic of the old tote privilege. And tote they
still do all over the South. The Northern mistress
who complains because the cook caters to the po-
liceman the beat or blarneys the iceman with
piece of turkey and then ought to a negro
cook feed her relatives to the third and fourth
generation of cousins in the house kitchen and then
tote what may remain away with night
Cold pieces and 1eftovers are not bugbears TO the
Southern housekeeper who possesses a genuine
negro cook. At Christmas every cook or individual
who worked for the housekeeper expects pres
of food. at least. and the Southern woman
provides a sausage breakfast for all of them on
Christmas morning They get all the old clothes
of the family OF course A Florida negress would
rather old garment that had adorned the
back Of white woman than buy a better new
one
But all these perquisites do not suffice
cOunterbalance the stigma which attaches the
woman who works in another's kitchen. Negro
girls who go to cook looked down on by
those of their color. Also, there is a negro
aristocracy. When there is be entertain
ment for negroes the leaders of the swell set
buy up the best seats in the hall. and sell them
10 only such people they approve. and cooks
included. For this reason there seems TO be
little hope in training schools Southern women
have repeatedly tried TO trained cooks from
negro institutions where domestic science is
taught. only to DC answered that pupils were not
being trained for cooks A Few cities are teaching
cooking in the negro schools but these attempts
too recent and widely scattered to have had an
appreciable effect yet Moreover. of the
negro girls who have received any domestic train
ing develop overwhelming desire to see the rest
of the United States.
so the Southern housekeeper is looking 10 i'm
European steamers landing regiments cooks IN
New York. and longs TO divert the precious stream
10 her own doors. I have heard stories of pas
sage money advanced to who remained
hardly month with the mstresses whom
they came. leaving long before the passage money
had been earned. when offered more money than
they were receiving. This has been the frequent
experience of Southern women. The most
common result of coaxed immigration especially
where the is taken te a small town. village
or into the country. her prompt marriage
NJ be- hO