Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-01-20
BOTH COOKING AND
SEWING ARE TAUGHT
Next Year Domestic Art Will
Be introduced.
What to Cook as Essential as How
to Cook lt--Foods Must
Be Classified.

COOkeryJ means the knowledge Oh
Medea, and of Circe, and of Helen,
and of the Queen of Sheba. 1t means
knowledge of herbs and fruits and
balms and spices and all that is heal
ing and sweet in the fields and
groves, and savory in meats. 1t
means carefulness and inventiveness
and willingness and readiness of
appliances. 1t means the economy of
your grand mothers and the science of
the modern chemist; it means much
testing and no wasting; it means
English thoroughness and French art
and Arabian hospitality; and, in fine
it means that you are to be perfectly
and always ladies-loaf givers. .
Ruskin.
If we would live, we must eat to
live. Because this is vital ques-
ton, an every day demand, the
home economics course has been in
stalled in our schools. 1t is so ar
ranged now that the girls in the sixth
and seventh grades have sewing only !;
not until next year will they begin
their work in domestic science.
The eighth grade girls have
domestic science, but no domestic art
this year. The freshman and sopho-
more girls who choose the ONE
economics course have, at pres ent,
both cooking and sewing. This
course will be somewhat changed
after the work is fully installed. The
work in cooking is much more than
cooking alone. 1t is necessary to
know what to cook and why, as
we'll as how to cook and when.
Sydney Smith, the noted English
author, once wrote to friend !:
"Having, ascertained the weight of
what could live upon so as to
preserve health and strength, and
what / did live upon, found that
between ten and seventy years of
age had eaten and drunk forty-four
wagon loads of meat and drink more
than would have preserved me in i life
and health; The value of this mass
of nourishment l considered to be
worth seven thousand pounds ster-
ling"
This careful estimate of the differ
ence between what he could live upon
and what he did consume shows
Sidney Smith to have had good
knowledge of dietetics.
Food is to the body what fuel is
to the engine.
An over-supply of food is as hurt
full as an under supply. Some foods
supply heat and energy, but do not
build new tissues. Some foods
supply more heat than others, fats,
for instance, so we find the Eskimos,
who live in cold country, living
upon fats, while the natives of the
Philippines are satisfied with an en-
tirely different diet.
Our work begins with the different
classes of foods. their different uses
and differing values to the body.
We take cereals and starchy vege-
tables as our starting point and learn
the best ways of cooking them, the
time required, the cost and the place
of these foods in the diet of the
ordinary individual. We learn of
the value and Importance of milk,
and the close connection between
the milk supply and the public health.
The composition of milk, and it's
food value are thoroughly considered.
The purchase and the care of milk
are of Importance in every house
hold. We study about milk pro-
ducts, butter, cream and cheese; and
in this connection are indebted to
Messrs. Beck & Schwartz for their
courtesy in thoroughly explainin the
Babcock test and butter making to
one of our classes. The other classes
are to have this privilege OF studying
butter making at first hand, a little
later.
Everything that pertains to the
proper conduct of the household,
everything. that is conducive to the
comfort of the home comes within
our province. We are beginning with
fundamentals and covering the ground
as rapidly as time and thoroughness
will allow.
We know there is no limit to
what may be done in this line, for
the mass of knowledge is endless.
We hope to learn enough of the
underlying principles to understand
what to use and what to discard Of
this great mass of material. Maya
zines and papers overflow with recipes
and rules for the house keeper.
Many of these recipes and rules
look we'll in print but woe to the un-