Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-02-11
"Big Business" of Housekeeping.

There Is much talk in the world to-day
If "big business" Men hold in their
hands the reins of financial power, and
The average woman looks with awe upon
the masculine mind which can grasp and
control so much that is vital to the vel
are of the nation.
But woman has a "big business" to
which she may apply herself 80 perfectly
hat men will stand amazed before her
competency. For no one will contend
hat there are not great difficulties TO
urmount in an occupation which in
cludes not only the financial future OF
family, but its physical, mental and
.piritual as well.
Many women who find existence dull,
uninteresting and uneventful would be-
come vivid and enthusiastic, If they
could only be walked up to the knowl,
edge that housekeeping Is "big bust
ness" That, in fact, there Is no other
vocation in the who'd wide world that is
quite 80 important.
Yet, the other day, college girl, who
will be married in the fall, shrugged her
shoulders when it was suggested tina,
he make study of housek eeping. ~
shall keep a maid" she said, "and II
should need to learn to cook, there Is the
cook book. Any intelligent woman car
surely follow instructions"
Can't you see the narrow limits shs
mas set to her domestic vision? To bel
housekeeping means cooking-the pos
session of a maid the solution of al
problems, and she, forsooth, is to be LET,
free" to do the things she considers i'm
portant.
Yet cooking is not to-day the only ties
of good housekeeping. One can, IL one'i
ncome is elastic, hire good cook. Blu
here is the refrigerator-not one mait
IN fifty knows how to keep it hygienicall!
n order. Aud the menus? We can, o
course, find lists in all the magazines
out these lists must be made to conform
to the tastes and pocket book of eaci
household.
How many brides are competent to in
truct the maid in table setting? How
many know all the details of correc
-ervice? Yet often ignorance of these
matters is the price of the serenity of
whole household.
What do you know of the cuts Q
meats? Can you meet the question o.
Ugh prices by practical suggestions Il
your cook with regard 10 the preparation
of the less expensive parts OF beef ant
mutton2 What do you know of foot
values?
Have you your eye on the market, o.
IRE you ordering oranges at 6O cents
dozen for your breakfast fruit, whel
peaches are SO cents basket? Are yol
haviug crown roast of lamb for you
sunday dinners, when chicken pit
with its economy of gravy and crus
would afford delicious and satisfying
substitute?
American wives have yet to learn tina
housekeeping is business in which
they can earn money by saving it.
know many wives who are to-day seek
ing desperately fer some occupation
which will pay them few dollars eact
week, when in their own refrigerator
and pantries food is going to waste, mill
is growing sour, and wasteful cooks ar
using eggs and butter and sugar ii
prodigious quantities, because their mis-
resses would consider themselve
"stingy" to speak word of warning o
give direct supervision of the culinar
department.
The French people are far ahead of q
iu their observance of the "penny saved
penny earned" theory. They use TO
their salads the parts of the vegetable
which we throw away. They toast tn
leftover slices of bread which we lie
mould.
They prepare, from the common an
healthful vegetables which we scorn
dishes fit for epicures. And they d.
these things because they believe tina
thrift is imperative, and as a result the
have bank accounts, and financial sta
bility which is rare among the plain PEG
pie of other nations.
In housekeeping women have five
six professions. She must know some
thing of dressmaking, of cooking, o
serving, of finance, of household hygiene
And these things are interesting onl
when they are given their true value il
the world of endeavor. The woman
who holds completely her place as man
ager of her household, ranks high abov
women in other professions, for she ha
learned to do not one thing but many
and her executive ability must be of tn
most perfect order, If she ia to realiz
The ideal in the working-out of he
domestic "big business. "-Ex.