The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-27
A MAN IN THE KITCHEN.
His Not TO Boss, but to Look Around
and Suggest.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-sir: In
some Of these letters dealing with do
nestle affairs It seems to me l detect
an absence of that sportsmanship which
becomes man always as a garment.
Do you realize how much men miss
by absenting themselves from their
kitchen? l do not mean by this that
they should always be peering and pry-
Ing to ascertain to the last mill what
articles Of food cost or to inquire stern
ly of their wives In what extravagant
way they squandered the quarter they
entrusted to their profiigate hands the
week before last. Neither do I mean
that they should become squaw men or
lose any Of their manly virtues or sink
any OF their male prerogatives in the
abyss Of feminine concerns.
l am trying TO demonstrate that the
average man misses about half Of life
by keeping away from the kitchen and
contenting himself with a grunt and a
grovl because his coffee in the morning
tastes like coal tar.
Why doesn't he invade the hitherto
unknown realms OF the sacred precincts
and take hand himself? Astonishing
unheard Of, absurd proposal, l know it
seems to most men. But there are
few exceptions. There is the irrepressi-
bio John Smith q may say to save
speculation that the name Is assumed) +.
a cherished friend of mine who Is al
ways clothed in the habilments of an
eminent Responsibility and in his right
mind. lie does not hesitate to go into
the kitchen. He even asks his wife
every day what she is going TO have
for dinner. He appreciates that this
robs the meal of the element of surprise
SO dear to the heart Of your true cpl
cure, but at the same time 1t has its
gratifying compensations in other direc-
tons. He likes TO plan with his wife
He has even been known, in an un-
guarded moment, to violate all the
canons of modern living and actually
kiss her as he did in the dear, dead
years OF their early wooing, as the
gravy SINNERS on the stove to an appe-
tizing completion.
He takes a sort of whimsical. or shall
I say wistful, pride in picking out the
potatoes. peeling them aNd digging out
the eyes and his wife n,mors him. He
likes to tell her--not TO show his SUI
perior knowledge but as a guarantee OF
good faith--that he has read somewhere
the coffee as it heats will produce am
brosia that the gods might envy. He
enjoys reading all Mr.. Hoover and his
hard working associates have to say on
the subject OF making fiapjacks out OF
the children's discarded shoes. In a
manner OF speaking. or what oscar has
had to offer in the latest sauce. and to
try 10 pattern after these worthy
examples.
Instead OF scolding his wife, whose
sole anxiety is that the soup won't be
ready on time. he tells her he has seen
somewhere that okra contributes to 1t a
delectabe quality which. to quote the
late lamented Billy Baxter, makes life
seem like one long. crimson sunset
Think of the conscious satisfaction Of
the man who, in his lordly grandeur
gazing our over the white eXpanse of
the dinner table, says to himself: Il
had a hand in the preparation OF that
A part OF thisI am" All. right there
is where, in the we'll known American
home. the motto "gastronomy is a true
art" supplants feed the brute"
We have several troubles in ths
country besides Claude KitChn. Ono is
that men think it is beneath their dig
nifty to perform any kind OF Nc tul
physical labor and thereby lift the bur
den from the shoulders of the O ten
weary. Another Is that most men don't
tt,t. Not, ..H...