Year: 1867

| =
others operations, and think themselves
excessively abused if they are not allowed
to do everything III company.


\ glance at the southern kitchens at
once shows that they were made for this
barbarous, unsystematic, noisy dirty way
of getting on. \ neat, tidy kitchen, in a
house with hot and cold water. set tubs,
sinks, and other arrangements for cleani-
ness and order, is a thing quite undreamed
of by these poor souls The kitchen of
our establishment is Il log hut about twen-
ty PAGES from the house, with a great open
fire place The windows are unglazed, and
can be only closed from wind and rain by
wooden shutters which Shut out light as
well, and in windy weather the great CHM
ney smokes to that degree that the Stuart's
cooking stove, which has lately been intro
duced there, seems utterly confused i'll its
mind, and to ask itself the question, Am |
really Stuart's stove, or am | leaky old
vI;--,"er fue? There is no sink or drain of
amy kind the only resource for srattinp rid
OF house slops is to pour them out Of the
window aforesaid. Luckily, this fine, dry
white Floridian soil swallows any amount,
and yet looks clean as If nothing had hap





bringing water into this kitchen except
the well, which is situated quite distance
off, in the ward One cannot but admire
the composure with which our cook, who,
by-the-bv, asks twelve dollars a month for
her services, will sit at about ten O'Clock
finishing her everlasting breakfast, which
is taken by easy stages from eight o'clock
onward, while her fire goes out in the
stove, and there Is not drop Of water in
her water pail, nor Il thought Of heating
any dish-water Then when the idea of
washing dishes actually IS brought to her
mind by a message or eXpostuation from
her mistress. she contemplates it wholly as
new and unexpected emergency, and
probably discovers for the first time that
she Is out OF wood, and must send Lizzie
down in the lot to call up Joe to cut some.
or else that She has rheumatism in her
shoulder, and must Get Aunt Winnah to
draw her water and sends Sophv down to
the COW pen to look for her Pending
these operations She will seat herself qui-
etly, with all her unwashed dishes around
her, fold her arms. and appear lost in con-
temptation. TO do her Justice, she often
IN the most hidden, unprecedented and un-
expected ways gets up something that is
very good to eat, makes excellent coffee
and corn mullins. and stews some of this
tough Florida beef so that it is really a
most presentable dish. and has odd inter-
walls of cleaning up her kitchen and wash
inc her dishes. which take one entirely bv
surprise, because the most philosophic mind
can never predict when they are likely to
occur-they are the secret cOunSels Of her
own inScrutable will.


Speaking OF beef leads Us to treat Of
the dairy matters of Florida farm, which
to 4 Northerner have truly an original air.


Our dairy woman Is an ancient, strong
minded, ,trong-limbed sybil from South
Carolina, who is generally called Aunt
Winnah. The whole care of milking. but
tcr-makine, and the dispensing of milk and
cream, Is lodged in her hands We were
astoniShed TO hear that the plantation num-
bered forty cows, and that Aunt Winnah
with one assistant, did all the milking.


But on inquiry We found that this oper-
alton consisted only in milking 80 many of
the forty COWS A. Joe felt disposed to bring
up from the woods, or that came up Of their
own accord u visit their calves. of whom
there are about fifteen in pen near the
house


In Florida COWS run wild in the woods,
every calf Is allowed TO grow up to matu-
rity, and every body'> calves run together
in the woods, being first branded with the
owners name. Many stock owners never
see their cattle all together from one years
end to another. Enough calves are kept
near the house 10 attract up some of the
COWS, and it is considered the proper, or
thodox way to let the calf suck while the
COW is being MIXED, in order to make her
give down her milk The consequence is.
that the forty cows together do not WELD
in actual milk more than We have seen
given by two good cows treated in the
northern way.


Winnah churns every day-umess Joe
torgets to bring up the COWS, or something
else happens, in which case they 20 with
out being MIXED for a morning or an even
ng-which fact generally dawns on us in
the sudden PERCEPTION of their being no
milk or cream for our breakfast or tea


Winnah makes valiant fight for her
butter. and feels aggrieved at the demand
set up by the ladies of the establishment
for cream morning and night. Somebody


L :
to glib de ladies 80 much milk un cream;
dere won't be no butter, shor." We have
sometimes described to Winnah the man.
ner of proceeding with Northern COWS,
which seems to fill her soul with horror
She informed us that de COW would ies
dry right up if YOU kill her chile


In vain we described to her the charms
Of fresh veal, dish unknown and inadmis-
sibe in Florida We did succeed in bring
ing an unctuous glow on the face of the cook
by describing the charms of veal pie, but
Winnah's brow grew dark as if We had pro-
posed to make it of babies. = | jes so soon
see one of my babies killed as one dem
calves" The calves, i'll fact, the pret-
test little things in the world. and at un-
certain intervals Winnah stops her washing,
or whatever she may chance to he about,
because her bowels yearn after her calves,
and it suddenly comes into her head to car
ry some hav to them. Then she will leis-
urely pet and pat each one, portion off the
weaker, discipline the stronger ones with
maternal cuff now and then, to teach them
not to be greedy, and then leaning on her
elbows over the fence, will smoke her pipe
and laugh with full-hearted satisfaction.
If cows were to have vote they would,
doubtless, all agree to come to Florida, for
they have it all their own way here.
1t is but Justice to Winnah to state that
her butter is the only butter we ever ate III
America that seemed to us as good as the
continental article. 1t is made every day
of fresh cream, and is itself in taste only
solidfied cream, as butter should be. The
buttermlk resulting from the process is
| rich and SLIGHTLY acid a deliohtful drink