The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-11-04
NORTH ENGLAND IS
WEALTHY AND ALSO
VERY HOSPITABLE
Its Citizens Are Simple in Life
and SCorn All ShOW-ItS
Women Dress in Plain Style
Without Frippery.
az MARGARET MALrER.

mNhSAhEl WAL ~
LEEDS, EngiapG. Nov. 4. tkeciprocal
News Service. 1.-The unknown North Of,
England is as hospitable as our own
Famous West. Hospitality is one Of the
common traits Of the people and has
nothing to do with personal inclination.
There is none Of the shyness or caution
Of the effete South. II is Just as Diff
ferent as their language, which knows
none OF those mincing ways we call
English
As soon as you get friendly with a
person up there II comes as natural
Tor them to ask you TO the house as II
does IN Kansas. A man habitually asks
his business friends and a woman in
Yites a chance woman acquaintance to
spend the night on the merest pretext;
so a stranger travelling through the
country gets real idea OF how the
folk live and how they manage their
domestic affairs.
Judging by the way they dress when
travelling you wouldn't think the women
were well off Those i met on trains
are dressed In tweeds, mostly shabby,
and they have none Of those little lux
uries Of dressing bags and card cases,
gold mounted engraved cards, and so
forth, that usually mark the women of
wealth. There is small demand for
silk lingeries, which is still looked upon
in the North as rather disreputable.
always first class, and think nothing
Of tipping the conductor a pound to
keep their compartment to themselves.
And once inside their homes there is
every evidence Of wealth, In fact 1t is
rather obvious compared with the dis
Greet elegance Of London houses.
Proud of Their Linen.
Northern women still pride them
selves on their household linen. They
have great lockers piled full OF napery
and lavender-scented house linen laid
away in complete sets, each set marked
with dainty cross-stitch done by the
mistress herself or her daughters. There
Is no call for ready-made house linen.
The women are all experts with their
needle and most OF the towels, table :
cloths, napkins and sheets are hemmed
and embroidered by hand.
Rich English carpets, silk damask
curtains, the best Of English porcelain
and plate are to be found in most mid
dle-class houses. The food, too is OF
the best and Is served with what a
Londoner would consider oyerlavish
abundance. Both men and women eat
generously. Most OF the women / met
knew all about cooking, They treat
their servants more as they are treated
in the West. Mistress and maid do the
work together, but there are curious
little customs which have been handed
down from medieval times. The maid,
for instance, Is supposed to be always
busy, and at whatever moment the mis-
tress comes into the kitchen she must
be working hard. They get over this
by an arrangement which makes it bad
form for woman to go down into her
own kitchen except at stated times,
usually In the morning after breakfast
At any other time she must call the
maid to her, In this way the maid
has a chance TO sit down during the
day.
How They Live.
When the mistress herself does some
Of the cooking the maid prepares every
thing ready as II for ceremony and
the mistress comes down with great
dignity, makes her little cakes or bread
or prepares her game, and then retires,
leaving all the cleaning up to the girl.
But most of the middle class women
do their own work today. except for
the help OF woman now and then.
They wash and scrub and clean, they
prepare big four recourse dinners and
serving them beautifully, sitting down
at the table. too, without any furry 'or
mess. .t.,
The dish Of the North is roast beef
and Yorkshire pudding. In old fash
Toned houses the beef is roasted, turning
on a spit in front Of the big kitchen
fire, and the pudding made of egg,
flour and milk, is rolled out in thin
sheets and set In dripping pan under
the spit. The dripping from the beef
falls on the batter and gradually II
cooks and becomes crisp and craclkly.
It's about the best dish I ever tasted
They don't go in for fancy sweet
Dishes but specialize on rich pastry
and puddings. The women put up enor-
mouss quantities of fruit in rich pre-
serves and jellies which they serve at
almost every meal. The social meal
Of the day IA tea. 1t isn't like tea in
| the rest of England but more like
supper YOU get on an oldifashioned New
| England farm. There are hot biscuits
shortcake, all sorts of fancy crullers
| and cookies, cheese, fish, pie and cold
| game In season. Here ali the family
| gathers and it's the time visitors choose
| for calling. The meal Is laid out in the
| dining room in great style and extra
| stacks of plates and cups are always
| ready on the side table for the unex-
| pected guest In Yorkshire it's the ira
dition to cook and serve extra portions
| Of everything so that there may always
| be enough for more than the family
| This Is one OF the pleasant little relics
| Of the days when people rode from
| town to town. stopping at chance where
they happened to be. when Yorkshire
| was first divided into what are known
| as the North, West and East Rulings
distances being measured by the time
| 1t took to ride from one place to an
other.