Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-09-11
THE KITCHEN THE WORKSHOP
OF THE HOME

y
sand and ninety-five times every year
someone goes into the kitchen to pre-
pare a meal. Is there any work IN
life that is so incessant? When the
sun shines. and when it rains. wheth-
er we work, or whether we play. we
expect to hear the dinner bell There
is one continual repetition of getting
meals. The task is as perpetual as
the days. Do we need tc wonder that
at times it becomes almost irksome?
And yet why should it, for here there
is decidedly more room for the dis
play of skill and taste than in any
other science or art Here there is
more room for the display of human
kindness, and more opportunity for
influencing health, joy and happiness
than in any other vocation. Cook
ing ought to be considered one of the
highest arts, and knowledge of
foods and cooking should be part Of
every girls education. The funda-
mental elements of health, happiness,
and frugality center around the kitchen,
and here a woman has the opportunity
Of exerting a deep and lasting influence
over the physical and moral welfare
of her family, and every woman de-
serves the best and most comfortably
arranged kitchen to cheer her in per-
forming this gladstone duty.
1t is little wonder that many good
Industrious women have a keen dis
like for the kitchen work. Take an
inventory of the equipment in their
kitchens, and the mystery is solved.
They are most inadequately equip
ped The kitchen Is a woman's work
shop. Here she spends a generous por-
ton of each day. Morning, noon and
night, Sunday and week days she is
found there in white apron and smiles,
performing loving duty: and knowing
as do the limited equipment of
most kitchens. | am not surprised that
for some women cooking is a worry
and a burden. The cook is a work.
man without tools. No manufacturer.
no farmer, no merchant would for one
short day be handicapped for tools as
women are in their kitchens. A farm
er needs good implements, carpen-
ter needs good tools, a factory needs
good equipment, and more than any a
woman needs good and sufficient uten-
sils in her kitchen. She fills the most
important place, and she is the most
4
farmer grows grain and stock the car
penter builds houses, the manufactures
makes machinery, and 2 woman in the
kitchen prepares the material to build
human bodies. Her work is viewed
with insignficance, but she is the
greatest of them all Her work Is i'm
perative, and she needs a master work :
mans tools.
To be handicapped in the kitchen
for utensils is. false economy, and
would say equip your kitchens well.
Get everything that will facilitate
work, make work easy, and make the
kitchen comfortable and pleasant
Sacrifice anywhere else If need be, but
do not economize in the kitchen. 1t
may mean the outlay of few extra
dollars, but they soon come back in
| satisfaction and contentment, and In
! time and labor saved. A good stove
saves fuel, time, labor, burned foods
burned pans, and prevents eXasperat-
| ed impatience All these things nave
a money value that pays a handsome
| interest on the cost Of a new stove
What can be more trying to a woman
than an oven that won't heat evenly
and in which 1t is impossible to dc
good baking?
A kitchen cabinet in which can be
kept the provisions wanted for immed-
late use, except those which must be
preserved In the refrigerator. is a me-
cessity in every well furnished kitchen
The steps and time saved in but one
year will balance the total cost. Many
women in their poorly arranged kitch-
ems expand more energy taking extra
steps between tables and cupboard ant
from stove to sink, than the entire
kitchen work would require il they
were to adjust the furniture so thai
things when needed would be almos
within arms reach. This is one fea-
ture of the kitchen cabinet 1t con.
denses things, and brings many of thu
kitchen utensils and provisions within
reach of the table with which the cab
met is equipped.