New-York tribune., 1912-03-18
No VIRTUE TO Be A COOK
On the Contrary, 1t Is Usually a
Wicked Waste of Time.

,-,osA suffragists who pride themselves
,bs,r homemade preserves and dough-
sr,s had better look to their laurels, after
N Navbe It isn't such a virtue TO be a
-ood cook. Maybe II is a waste Of time.
Tbat is the disquieting thought that Mar
.hs Bensley Bruere suggests in her article
~ The New Homemaking'' in the current
rurnber OF that se6ate publication, THE
outlook (Which is not noted for It's ad-
rsnced views on the woman question:.
.eThere is no use getting sentimental" Z"
-. warns the dear domestic women who
.riov hemstitching. when some favorite
drudgery bursts out Of the front gate. We
NAV as we'll face the fact cheerfully that
Industry in the home is doomed. All the
eutteration to put hand sewing and home
,ak,ng and preserving and the making OF
christmas mincemeat on a plane Of what
might be called moral elegance is just a
brscing back against tomorrow"
Instead Of hanging on to the coattails"
A. those industries on which the home de-
bends Mrs. Bruere would have the house
kseper follow them out Of the front gate
Because they have become public utilities
she argues, I'VE cannot escape personal re-
,popslbility toward those who serve us.
The girls who make our pastry in the
hakeshop, the women who wash our clothes
IN the laundry, the men who work sixteen
hours a day at the machines when 1t is
.rush season by ladies' cloaks on the East
Side. the mill operatives in France who
starve when we choose to reduce the
amount OF cloth in our gowns by half are
nv
The time is not past by any means when it
Is q personal reproach to the housewife TO
serve her family unwholesome bread, to let
her wash be badly done, 10 wear shoddy
clothes or starve the people who work for
her. These things are. and always were,
sign Of ineffciency, and we cannot escape
responsibility for them because our ser
wants do their work away from our imme-
date oversight. We can't bring the prodi-
gal spinning wheel home again; can We
regulate the woollen mill?
When I was in college" she concludes,
we had a song, in which the hero asked
his beloved:
Can you brew, can you bake
Good bread and cake2
Before my love I utter.
Can you sew a seam?
Can you churn the cream
And bring in the golden butter?
What use is refraction?
Chemical reaction. biologic protoplasn,
Psychologist micrOcOsm'
Would you be my veal
You must cook the meal
You shake your head
You I'll not we'd
And 50. FAREWELL
IF that song were rewritten and brought
up 10 date the lovers questions would be
much harder TO answer. and yet they might
not be so disconcerting. They would run
something like this:
Are you up on the pure food laws affecting
the manufacture Of canned soup?
Can you assure me that you know the con-
ditions governing the sanitary produc-
ton Of pastry?
Can YOU bring enough influence TO bear on
public opinion so that the family cloth
ing will not have 10 be made In
sweatshop?
Do YOU know how 10 get honest govern
rnent inspectors appointed, TO assure
the purity OF the milk and butter you
promise TO serve me?
What use is your knowing
Everything OF sewing,
all Of picklinE and preserving,
al Of washing and OF serving7
would you be my veal,
DO not cook the neal
You shake your head
You I'll not we'd
And so. Farewell!