The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-01-17


IN Hn home any more, could read
SSA48 some of the thousands of
6g letters ! receive every
@M + week from my radio
" friends and cooking school
- pupils. These letters are
written by women living
in cities, towns and VILLAGES, and on
farms and ranches all the way from
the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes.
clever mathematician, am sure,
would be able to discover that since
began broadcasting the first women's
service program over the radio back
in 1924 | have received enough let
tiers from American housewives to
reach around the world several times.
These letters give me very definite
picture Of the women who write them
and their homes. In fact | like to
think of them as pass keys which en-
able ne to enter these homes and,
unseen by the family, watch and hear
what is going on.
1t would be- fun to rent the magic
carpet from a certain band OF radio
singers and take these false prophets,
who are dismally sounding the death
knell of the American home, on a tour
of the country-silently unlocking
doors and bidding them enter with me.
These pessimistic AS would be
shocked to discover that for every
household of jazz hornds there are
thousands of happy homes where
father, mother, boys and girls gather
round the supper or dinner table
every hight for a pleasant, cozy meal
together, and that after dinner at
least half the family remain home
listening to the radio, reading, or dis
cussing their affairs together.
would like to call attention to the
food on the dinner table, too, for in
stead of an ill-chOsen assortment that
mother had grabbed up at the corner
delicateSsen as she rushed home fro
her bridge club, we behold home
cooked foods-a delicious stew, per-
haps, with tasty vegetables or salad,
bread and butter with homemade
jam, and dessert of ii: or cake that
mother baked herself.
Not only will these cynics see these
modern women actually getting break
fast, dinner and luncheon or supper,
but they will discover that they are
deeply interested in making their
meals wholesome and attractive. They
would find out, Furthermore, that
these women do not look upon their
job of getting three meals a day. 365
days in the year, as crab, monotonous
drudgery; for they realize that the
physical-and even TO some extent
the spiritual = well-being of their
families depend on the kind of meals
they eat and the regularity with which
they are served.
A Jolt for the Gloomy.
My gloomy friends would have an
other jolt, TOO, for these happy in
terested women who believe that home
making is one of the MODEST profess
sions in the world are not just the
women living in isolated rural COM
munities where the spirit of the jazz
age has not penetrated. but in the
cOngested apartment house districts of
large cities there really are more of
them than of the other kind who neg
lect their homes and their children
for the movies, bridge or golf.
Here is letter that takes US into
a tiny apartment in big seaport
city. The father is sailor and away
at sea most OF the time-so this wom-
an does not have to plan meals that
will appeal to man. She has three
small children and herself only to
consider. She wants to give item the
food that will help them to grow up
strong and sturdy, and she realizes
that she must keep well and healthy
herself to care for them properly.
Here is her problem, the foods she
gives them are not those she enjoys.
She says she cannot eat "baby food"
! and asks me t. suggest menus that
will be suitable for the children and
herself.
The next letter takes us to a COM
young woman nome from college is
planning the silver wedding celebra-
tion for her father and mother
Friends and relatives are coming from
distant states and she wants to make
the occasion a remembered one. She
is asking me for a recipe for a huge
cake and suggestions for decorating ii
appropriately.
Our magic carpet next takes US to
newly furnished apartment in big,
hustling Mid-Western city. The young
bride is so proud of her immaculate
little kitchen with all it. shining new
equipment. She says she wants to
learn how to make her husbands ia
vori-e dessert-pumpkin pie-and she
is determined that her ,,ie crust shall
be just as tender and fiaky as his
mother used to make for him.
From this tall apartment building
we are whisked away across the
prairies and mountains to a California
fruit ran h where there is another
bride interested in learning to bake.
She wan 6 to make bread, If you
please; and she tells us In glowing
words how she loves her new little
home up in the hills. She would not
De back in the city clicking type
writer for anything in the world-but
there are SO many, many things she
needs to learn about cooking. She
has registered for my radio cooking
school and twice week she ATTENDS