Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
signs=.
Illustrations and Advertisements have been moved so that the flow of
the text is uninterrupted.
THE BOSTON
COOKING-SCHOOL
MAGAZINE
OF·CULINARY·SCIENCE·AND·
DOMESTIC·ECONOMICS
AUG.-SEPT., 1910
Vol. XV No. 2
1 DOLLAR
A YEAR
10 CENTS
A COPY
PUBLISHED
BY
THE BOSTON COOKING
SCHOOL MAGAZINE Co.
372 BOYLSTON ST.
BOSTON MASS.
[Illustrated Advertisement]
RUMFORD
THE WHOLESOME
Baking Powder
SURPASSES ALL OTHERS IN HEALTHFUL
AND BAKING QUALITIES.
It is a food itself, made of the genuine Professor Horsford's
Phosphate, thereby supplying the nutritious and strength-giving
phosphates so essential to health, which are removed from flour in the
process of bolting. Hot Biscuit, Rolls, Muffins, etc., made with
Rumford Baking Powder can be eaten hot without detriment.
Its action in the dough is thorough, producing superior Cake, Biscuit,
etc., of the finest texture, and without impairing the most delicate
flavorings that may be used.
The Best at a Reasonable Cost.
* * * * *
[Illustrated Advertisement]
LOWNEY'S
COCOA
=GOOD= Cocoa is the best beverage known to modern authorities on food
and drink, nourishing, strengthening and a valuable aid to digestion.
There is, however, a wide range in the _Quality_ of cocoas.
=Lowney's= cocoa is made of the choicest cocoa beans without
"treatments" or adulteration, and in a manner that insures the purest
and best product possible.
It is the best cocoa made.
_The Lowney Cook Book 421 pages, $1.25 postpaid_
=The Walter M. Lowney Co.=
=Boston=
Cocoa-Chocolate
Chocolate Bonbons
* * * * *
THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE
Vol. XV AUGUST-SEPTEMBER, 1910 No. 2
CONTENTS FOR AUGUST-SEPTEMBER
PAGE
DISHES FOR AUTOMOBILE AND PICNIC LUNCHEONS 57
QUAINT CUSTOMS AND TOOTHSOME DAINTIES
Frances R. Sterrett 59
BEING MARRIED Mrs. Charles Norman 65
THE REGENERATION OF PODUNK Phoebe D. Roulon 67
FATE Grace Agnes Thompson 70
OUT OF CHICKEN PIE Helen Campbell 71
IN AUGUST Cora A. M. Dolson 73
OLD AGE Kate Gannett Wells 73
LOVE AND AFFECTION Helen Coale Crew 75
THREE GIRLS GO BLACKBERRYING Samuel Smyth 76
A ROMANY TENT Lalia Mitchell 77
EDITORIALS 78
SEASONABLE RECIPES (Illustrated by half-tone
engravings of prepared dishes) Janet M. Hill 81
MENUS FOR WEEK IN AUGUST " " " 90
MENUS FOR WEEK IN SEPTEMBER " " " 91
MENUS, ECONOMICAL, FOR WEEK IN SEPTEMBER
Janet M. Hill 92
RHYMED RECEIPTS FOR ANY OCCASION, Kimberly Strickland 93
IN TIME OF VACATION Janet M. Hill 94
THE TASK WE LOVE L. M. Thornton 95
A GROUP OF CHOICE SPANISH AND MEXICAN RECIPES
Mrs. L. Rice 96
THE NURSERY E. R. Parker 97
PRACTICAL HOME DIETETICS Minnie Genevieve Morse 99
HOME IDEAS AND ECONOMIES 104
GOIN' TO SCHOOL Laura R. Talbot 108
QUERIES AND ANSWERS 109
MISCELLANEOUS xiv
$1.00 A YEAR Published Ten Times a Year 10c. A COPY
Four Years' Subscription, $3.00
Entered at Boston post-office as second-class matter.
Copyright, 1910, by
THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE COMPANY
372 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
PLEASE RENEW ON RECEIPT OF THE COLORED BLANK ENCLOSED FOR THAT
PURPOSE
[Advertisement]
Is your Canning done?
If not, now is the time to commence. With the larger fruits, such as
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Mrs. Rorer's Vegetable Cookery and Meat Substitutes
Most people use but few vegetables. They are not aware of the great
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tells their uses and purposes. The book contains chapters on
Appetizers, Soups, Eggs, Sauces, Salads, Salad Dressings, Vegetable
Cookery, Flavorings, Garnishes, Breads, Canning, Desserts, Pudding
Sauces, Fruits, Nut Milks and =Substitutes for Meats=. A great book, and
one that will pay, in comfort and health, many times its cost.
=Cloth bound, $1.50; by mail $1.62=
Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book
The best in existence. 736 pages of the choicest recipes in all
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=In washable cloth, $2.00; by mail $2.20=
My Best 250 Recipes
Mrs. Rorer's selected choicest recipes, the ones that have most
strongly appealed to her.
=Cloth bound, 50 cents; by mail 55 cents=
Many Ways for Eggs
An excellent little book, full of many new recipes for cooking eggs.
And when once you try them, you'll be glad of the book.
=Cloth, 35 cents; by mail 38 cents=
New Salads
Mrs. Rorer says that, for health purposes, a salad should be part of
every day's dinner. Well, here in this book are many fine, choice
recipes to tickle the palate and give that nice finish to a good meal.
=Cloth bound, only 50 cents=
=At all bookstores or department stores, or write the publishers=
=Arnold and Company, 420 Sansom Street, Philadelphia=
* * * * *
[Illustrated Advertisement]
SLADE'S CINNAMON
ABSOLUTELY PURE
¼ LB. NET
=DELICIOUS FOOD=
Costs but little, if any more than disgusting food. It is the flavor
that marks the difference between
=Slade's Spices and Extracts=
and the ordinary kind. That is why you should insist on having
SLADE'S.
_Grocers generally sell Slade's to particular people._
D. & L. SLADE CO.
BOSTON
* * * * *
[Advertisement]
EUTHENICS
_The Science of Controllable Environment_
_By ELLEN H. RICHARDS, A.M._
This book is a plea for better living conditions as a first step
toward higher human efficiency.
It discusses most readably the opportunity for betterment, the need of
individual and community effort, the training of the child in the home
and in the school, stimulative education for adults, the protection of
the ignorant, and the responsibility for improving the national health
and increasing the national wealth.
Ready in June. Price to be announced.
WHITCOMB & BARROWS
_Publishers_
Huntington Chambers, Boston, Mass.
* * * * *
INDEX FOR AUGUST-SEPTEMBER
PAGE
A Group of Choice Spanish and Mexican
Recipes 96
A Romany Tent 77
Being Married 65
Dishes for Automobile and Picnic Luncheons 57
Editorials 78
Fate 70
Goin' to School 108
Home Ideas and Economies 104
In August 73
In Time of Vacation 94
Love and Affection 75
Menus 90-92
Old Age 73
Out of Chicken Pie 71
Practical Home Dietetics 99
Quaint Customs and Toothsome Dainties 59
Rhymed Receipts for any Occasion 93
The Father xiv
The Nursery 97
The Regeneration of Podunk 67
The Task we Love 95
Three Girls Go Blackberrying 76
SEASONABLE RECIPES:
Bouillon, Jellied 82
Chicken and Ham, Terrine of (Ill.) 84
Chowder, Green Corn 83
Corn, Green, au Gratin (Ill.) 88
Kuchen, Kugelhopf (Ill.) 89
Meat, Cold, with Vegetable Salad (Ill.) 85
Oysters, Escalloped 83
Parfait, Grape-Juice (Ill.) 89
Pastry, Plain and Flaky 86, 87
Pears Béatrice (Ill.) 87
Rissoles, Chicken-and-Ham (Ill.) 85
Salad, Cheese (Ill.) 86
Salad, Peach (Ill.) 89
Sauce, Vinaigrette 85
Sausage with Pineapple Fritters (Ill.) 85
Sherbet, Grape-Juice 89
Soup, Bisque of Clams and Green Peas 81
Soup, Clam Broth, Chantilly 81
Soup, Purée of Tomato, Julienne 82
Soup, Tomato Bisque 82
Watermelon Cones (Ill.) 89
QUERIES AND ANSWERS:
Angel Food with Cornstarch xii
Blitz Kuchen 109
Cake, Lady Baltimore xii
Cake, Sponge, for Jelly Roll 111
Cookies, Peanut xii
Currants, Bar-le-Duc 112
Custard, Cheese x
Eggs Benedict 111
Ginger Root, Preserving x
Ice Cream, Dark Chocolate 109
Jelly, Tomato, Aspic 110
Omelet, Rum x
Peach Cordial xii
Rice with Bacon and Tomatoes xii
Soup, Cream of Corn 111
Sundae, Maple-Walnut xii
Tamales, Mexican x
Time Table for Cooking 110
[Advertisement]
LEADING WORKS ON COOKERY
PUBLISHED BY LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., BOSTON
=The Boston Cooking School Cook Book=
By FANNIE MERRITT FARMER. New revised edition, with 130 illustrations
in half-tone. 664 pages. Cloth. $2.00.
This new and enlarged edition contains 2117 thoroughly tested recipes,
from the simple and economical to the more elaborate.
=Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent=
By FANNIE MERRITT FARMER. With sixty illustrations in half-tone. 300
pages. Cloth. $1.50 _net_.
An invaluable book for those whose duty it is to care for the sick.
=Chafing Dish Possibilities=
By FANNIE MERRITT FARMER. 161 pages. Cloth. $1.00.
It is a book that no one who entertains with the chafing dish will be
without.--_St. Paul Globe._
=The Golden Rule Cook Book=
By M. R. L. SHARPE. 12mo. 300 pages. Cloth. $2.50 _net_.
A collection of 600 recipes for meatless dishes with specimen menus
that will delight the vegetarian.
=Cooking for Two=
By JANET MACKENZIE HILL. A handbook for young housekeepers. With
numerous illustrations. 12mo. Cloth. $1.50 _net_.
Over 400 pages of recipes, menus, and other invaluable information for
families of two.
=The Up-To-Date Waitress=
By JANET MACKENZIE HILL. With 53 illustrations. 165 pages. Cloth.
$1.50 _net_.
A book for every household in which a waitress is employed.
=Salads, Sandwiches, and Chafing-Dish Dainties=
By JANET MACKENZIE HILL. With 50 illustrations. 143 pages. Cloth.
$1.50.
To the housewife who likes new and dainty ways of serving food, this
book will simply be a godsend.
=The Boston Cook Book=
By MARY J. LINCOLN. Revised edition, with 51 illustrations. About 600
pages. Cloth, $2.00.
It ought to be in every household.--_Philadelphia Press._
* * * * *
[Illustrated Advertisement]
MRS. HILL'S NEW BOOK
COOKING TOR TWO
=Over 400 pages; over 100 illustrations.=
=Price $1.50 net, postage 16c.=
COOKING FOR TWO is designed to give in simple and concise style, those
things that are essential to the proper selection and preparation of a
reasonable variety of food for a family of two individuals. At the
same time by simply doubling the quantity of each ingredient given in
a recipe, the dish prepared will serve four or more people.
The food products considered in the recipes are such as the
housekeeper of average means would use on every day occasions, with a
generous sprinkling of choice articles for Sunday, or when a friend or
two have been invited to dinner, luncheon or high tea. Menus for a
week or two in each month are given.
There is much in the book that is interesting, even indispensable, to
young housekeepers, or those with little experience in cooking, while
every housekeeper will find it contains much that is new and helpful.
=An ideal gift to a young housekeeper. The recipes are
practical and are designed, and really are, "For Two."=
We will send "=Cooking for Two=" _postpaid_ on receipt of price; or to a
present subscriber as a premium for sending us three (3) _new_ yearly
subscriptions at $1.00 each.
=The Boston Cooking-School Magazine Co., Boston, Massachusetts=
* * * * *
[Advertisement]
Books on Household Economics
THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE presents the following as a list of
representative works on household economics. Any of the books will be
sent postpaid on receipt of price.
With an order amounting to $5 or more we include a year's subscription
to THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE (price $1). The MAGAZINE must be
sent, however, to a new subscriber.
The books will be sent as premiums for securing new subscriptions to
THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE as follows: any book listed at not
more than fifty cents will be sent postpaid to a present subscriber on
receipt of one new yearly subscription at $1; for two subscriptions we
will send postpaid any $1 book; for three subscriptions any $1.50
book; and so on in like ratio.
Special rates will be made to schools, clubs and persons wishing a
number of books. Write for quotation on the list of books you wish.
=American Salad Book.= M. DeLoup $1.00
=Art of Home Candy-making= (=with thermometer, dipping
wire, and moulds=) 3.00
=Art of Right Living.= Richards .50
=Baby, The. A book for mothers and nurses.= D. R.
Brown, M.D. 1.00
=Blue Grass Cook Book.= Minnie C. Fox 2.00
=Book of Good Manners.= Kingsland 1.50
=Boston Cook Book.= Mary J. Lincoln 2.00
=Boston Cooking School Cook Book.= Fannie M. Farmer 2.00
=Bread and Bread-making.= Mrs. Rorer .50
=Bright Ideas for Entertaining.= Linscott .50
=Cakes, Icings and Fillings.= Mrs. Rorer .50
=Canning and Preserving.= Mrs. Rorer .50
=Care and Feeding of Children.= L. E. Holt, M.D. .75
=Care of a Child in Health.= N. Oppenheim 1.25
=Carving and Serving.= Mary J. Lincoln .60
=Century Cook Book.= Mary Roland 2.00
=Chemistry in Daily Life.= Lessar-Cohn 1.50
=Chemistry of Cookery.= W. Mattieu Williams 1.50
=Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning.= Richards and Elliot 1.00
=Cleaning and Renovating at Home.= Osman .75
=Cook Book for Nurses.= Sarah C. Hill .75
=Cooking for Two.= Mrs. Janet M. Hill 1.50
=Cost of Cleanness.= Richards 1.00
=Cost of Food.= Richards 1.00
=Cost of Living.= Richards 1.00
=Cost of Shelter.= Richards 1.00
=Dainties.= Mrs. Rorer .35
=Desserts--One Hundred Recipes.= By Fillipini .30
=Diet in Relation to Age and Activity.= Sir Henry
Thompson 1.00
=Dictionary of Cookery.= Cassell 3.00
=Dictionary of Foods and Culinary Encyclopædia.= Senn 1.00
=Domestic Service.= Lucy M. Salmon 2.00
=Economics of Modern Cookery.= M. M. Mollock 1.00
=Eggs--One Hundred Recipes.= Fillipini .30
=Every Day Menu Book.= Mrs. Rorer 1.50
=Expert Waitress.= A. F. Springsteed 1.00
=First Lessons in Food and Diet=. .30
=Fish--One Hundred Recipes for Cooking Fish.= Fillipini .30
=First Principles of Nursing.= Anne R. Manning 1.00
=Food.= A. H. Church 1.20
=Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent.= Fannie
M. Farmer 1.50
=Food and Dietaries.= R. W. Burnett, M.D. 1.50
=Food and its Functions.= James Knight 1.00
=Food in Health and Disease.= I. B. Yéo, M.D. 2.50
=Food Materials and their Adulterations.= Richards 1.00
=Golden Rule Cook Book= (=600 Recipes for Meatless
Dishes=). Sharpe 2.50
=Handbook of Invalid Cooking.= Mary A. Boland 2.00
=Healthful Farm House, The.= Helen Dodd .60
=Home Economics.= Maria Parloa 1.50
=Home Economics Movement= .75
=Home Nursing.= Harrison 1.00
=Home Problems from a New Standpoint= 1.00
=Home Sanitation.= Richards and Talbot .25
=Home Science Cook Book.= Anna Barrows and Mary J.
Lincoln 1.00
=Hostess of Today.= Linda Hull Larned 1.50
=Hot Weather Dishes.= Mrs. Rorer .50
=Household Economics.= Helen Campbell 1.50
=Household Science.= Juniata L. Shepperd 1.75
=How to Cook Fish.= Olive Green 1.00
=How to Cook for the Sick and Convalescent.= H. V.
Sachse 1.00
=How to Feed Children.= Louise E. Hogan 1.00
=International Cook Book.= Fillipini 4.80
=Kitchen Companion.= Parloa 2.50
=Laundry Manual.= Balderston and Limerick .50
=Laundry Work.= Juniata L. Shepperd .60
=Louis' Salads and Chafing Dishes.= Muckensturm .50
=Luncheons.= Mary Roland 1.40
=Made-over Dishes.= Mrs. Rorer .50
=Many Ways for Cooking Eggs.= Mrs. Rorer .35
=Marion Harland's Complete Cook Book= 2.00
=Menu Book and Register of Dishes.= Senn 2.50
=My Best 250 Recipes.= Mrs. Rorer .50
=One Woman's Work for Farm Women= .50
=Practical Cooking and Serving.= Mrs. Janet M. Hill 2.00
=Practical, Sanitary, and Economic Cooking.= Mary Hinman
Abel .40
=Principles of Home Decoration.= Candace Wheeler 1.80
=Register of Foods= 1.00
=Rorer's (Mrs.) New Cook Book= 2.00
=Salads, Sandwiches, and Chafing Dish Dainties.= Mrs.
Janet M. Hill 1.50
=Sanitation in Daily Life.= Richards .60
=Spirit of Cookery.= J. L. W. Thudichum 2.50
=The Up-to-date Waitress.= Mrs. Janet M. Hill 1.50
=The Woman who Spends.= Bertha J. Richardson 1.00
=Till the Doctor Comes, and How to Help Him.= George H.
Hope, M.D., and Mary Kydd 1.00
=Vegetable Cookery and Meat Substitutes.= Mrs. Rorer 1.50
=Vegetarian Cookery.= A. G. Payne .50
ADDRESS ALL ORDERS
THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE CO., BOSTON, MASS.
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* * * * *
Dishes for Automobile and Picnic Luncheons
I.
Terrine-of-Chicken and Ham
Cold Jellied Chicken Pie
Cold Jellied Tongue
Cold Boiled Ham, Sliced Thin
Cold Chicken-and-Ham Rissoles
Boned Loin of Lamb, Roasted, Cooled, Sliced Thin
Slices of Cold Roast Lamb in Mint Jelly
Cold Broiled Lamb Chops, Paper Frills on Bones
Cold Creamed Chicken in Puff Cases
Salmon-and-Green Pea Salad
Potato-and-Egg Salad
Stringless Bean-and-Egg Salad
Deviled Ham Sandwiches
Cheese-and-Pecan Nut Sandwiches
Bacon Sandwiches
Noisette Sandwiches
Pimento-and-Cream Cheese Sandwiches
Corned Beef-and-Mustard Sandwiches
Peanut Butter-and-Olive Sandwiches
Lady Finger Rolls
Parker House Rolls
Rye Biscuit
Apple Turnovers. Banbury Tarts. Jelly Tarts
Grape-fruit Marmalade. Currant Jelly
Gherkins. Melon Mangoes
Cold Coffee. Hot Coffee
Grape Juice. Pineappleade
Lemonade
[Illustration: CORNER OF LIVING ROOM IN BUNGALOW]
The Boston Cooking-School Magazine
VOL. XV AUGUST-SEPTEMBER, 1910 NO. 2
Quaint Customs and Toothsome Dainties
By Frances R. Sterrett
Popular hotels and big cafés are much the same the world over, whether
you find them in New York, Paris, Cairo or Calcutta. There is the same
staff of uniformed, expectant servants, the same glittering
decorations and appointments, the orchestra plays the same selections,
and the throng of well-dressed guests looks as though it might have
been transported bodily from one to the other. Love of variety sends
the traveler, away from all this glare and glitter, to some quaint
resort that had its group of patrons when the United States was young,
and which still retains many of the customs that were features of the
common life a century or more ago, and that now are so unusual that
they prove strong magnets for the tourist.
Nearly everybody who goes to London finds his way, sooner or later, to
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Wine Office Court. Tucked away, as it is,
just off of Fleet Street, it presents anything but a pretentious
appearance and more than one party of timid American women has hurried
away, disappointed at sight of its dingy court. But the dinginess is
all on the outside; within, there is light and warmth, and cheery
greeting. The Cheese was a coffee house beloved by Samuel Johnson, and
the chair in which the great man sat, night after night, while busy
Boswell listened and took copious notes of the interchange of wits, is
still there, standing now beneath the big portrait of Dr. Johnson that
hangs on one side of the fireplace. Oliver Goldsmith was also a
regular patron of the Cheese, which is one of the few meeting places
of the literati of the eighteenth century that still remain. Indeed,
these old relics of the past are fast disappearing. Five years ago,
when I first visited the Cheese, the waiter, impressed with my
interest in the old associations, asked if I would care to see the
house in which Johnson lived. It was near at hand, but he said
emphatically, "You'll have to hurry for they are tearing it down at
this minute." Hurry we did and arrived in time to see the dismantling
of the last row of windows.
Ye Olde Cheese is too good a source of revenue for it to be destroyed,
and the prospects are that for years to come Americans will flock
there to exclaim over the high paneled walls and the sanded floors.
The tables still stand between high-backed benches, over which the
newspapers are hung, as they were in Johnson's day. The old grill is
on the second floor, and over its gleaming coals innumerable kidneys
and chops have been brought to culinary perfection. Beefsteak pudding,
which is served on Wednesdays, with all the pomp and ceremony of
ancient days, is an attraction that fills the tables and sends away
dozens of envious men and women, who can get no more than a sniff of
the Old English dish, as it is borne in triumph through the rooms.
Other days have their specialities, but it is the beefsteak pudding
that is the favorite, and if you delay your arrival, the prospects
are, you will have to be satisfied with a kidney or a chop, for not a
scrap of pie is ever left.
But with toasted cheese to follow, the kidney is not a bad substitute,
and it brings with it, also, a flavor of Dickens and Thackeray, whose
heroes dined frequently on such fare. With the luncheon comes
Devonshire cider, another speciality of the house, if you do not care
for beer or ale, but beer or cider is served in reproductions of the
pewter mugs that Dr. Johnson drank from, and, for a consideration, you
can carry one away, wrapped in an odd bag of woven reeds.
The visitors' book at the Cheese makes interesting reading while you
wait for your chop, for it is embellished with pen drawings by the
famous artists of the world, and enriched with sentiments from poets,
novelists, musicians, politicians, capitalists, and others whose names
are known on more than one continent.
[Illustration: "YE OLDE CHESHIRE CHEESE, A COFFEE HOUSE BELOVED BY
SAMUEL JOHNSON"]
Buszard's on Oxford Street is not as familiar to Americans, but it has
an interest of its own, for it has made wedding cakes for royalty for
many years, and the models displayed in the show-room form an
amusing exhibition to the American who has little idea of what a royal
wedding cake should be. There they stand six or seven feet tall and in
as many tiers, each ornamented with almond icing, inches thick, and
sugar piping, with coats of arms and heraldic devices, and bearing on
top a sugar temple surmounted by doves and other hymeneal emblems.
The account of a fashionable wedding in the English society papers
usually closes with the line, "Cake by Buszard" or Bolland, for
Buszard in London and Bolland in Chester make most of the wedding
cakes that are served in England, and they send hundreds of them to
the colonies, so that the English bride, even if she be far from home,
can have "Cake by Buszard."
And most delectable cake it is, too, and if you wander into the
heavily furnished, rather gloomy tea-room at the tea hour, you will
find it well filled with city and country people and a sprinkling of
foreigners who are partaking of the conventional afternoon refreshment
where their grandparents or great grandparents, perhaps, were
refreshed. Tea for two shillings allows you to eat all the cake you
wish, but unfortunately physical limitations prevent you from trying
half of the delicious confections in the tray beside you, the almond
pound, Dundee, Maderia simnel, rich currant, muscatel, green ginger,
cheese cakes and Scotch short bread, all made from ancient recipes. It
is difficult to choose a favorite, although the Scotch short bread
never tastes quite the same as it does in one of the popular tea rooms
on Princes Street in Edinburgh.
Newhaven, just outside of Edinburgh, used to be more famous for its
fish dinners than it is now and, perhaps, you will find no other party
in the hotel coffee room where at least four kinds of fried fish, no
one of which you can find on this side of the water, are served for a
shilling, sixpence. Newhaven is visited for its picturesque
fishwives; and the women look more as though they had just been
brought from Holland than as descendants of Scandinavians who crossed
in the time of James IV. They have been singularly conservative in
their habits, and, owing to a strict custom of intermarriages, there
are only a few names to be found in this colony of fisher folk, who
have to resort to nicknames for identification.
[Illustration: FROM THE COFFEE-ROOM WINDOW YOU CAN SEE THE QUAINT
NEWHAVEN FISHWIVES]
If you are a tourist of the feminine gender, you will probably stop at
the Globe Inn, in Dumfries, for a lemon squash, or a ginger ale,
although you may be brave enough to ask the rosy-cheeked landlady for
a small glass of what Robert Burns used to order; for the Globe Inn is
the Burns' Howff, and down its narrow court the poet slipped nightly
to the brightly-lighted room where his companions waited. The chair in
which the poet lolled is still there, and a right stout affair it is,
and with stout arms. It is kept securely locked behind wooden doors,
and the landlady made a great ceremony of opening them and insisted on
each of us trying the capacious seat.
"Perhaps you write poetry yourself?" she asked; but we had to confess
that we felt no more gifted with rhymes in Burns' chair than in our
own inglenook in America, and followed her up the stairs to the
old-time room filled with relics.
"Americans come a long way to see these old pieces," she said, as she
motioned majestically to a punch bowl, and then moved to the window on
whose pane the poet had written the verses to "The Lovely Polly
Stewart." "You seem to think a sight of Burns? There was one American
gentleman who offered me a pot of money, if I would let him take the
Howff to a fair in America, but I make a tidy living out of it here
and God knows if we would ever live to cross the ocean. Burns lived
and died here, and what would do for him will do for me," humbly.
There are many colleges in Oxford, but at no one of them is the
tourist supposed to find refreshment in the dining halls, so that it
was something of a triumph to be given a tart in one of the quaint old
kitchens. The tart was really a tribute to an interest in the pantry
shelves which were filled with pastry, and in the explanatory list
that hung beside them. Tarts have been made in the same fashion at
this Oxford college for several hundred years, in order, the cook
explained, with a twinkle in his eye, that the students might get what
they wanted, when they slipped down on a night tart raid. It is the
nick in the edge that has told generations of students the contents of
the tart; an apple has only one nick, a mince has two at each end, a
gooseberry three, and so on until a student who has learned the rule
can choose his favorite in the dark.
Winchester, the old royal city of England, has so many places of
interest, the cathedral, the famous Winchester school, the castle, in
which hangs King Arthur's round table as it has hung for several
hundred years, that the traveler who is there but for a day may not
have time to share the wayfarer's dole at St. Cross hospital which is
distributed today just as Bishop Henry de Blois, a grandson of William
the Conqueror, arranged almost eight hundred years ago. This
wayfarer's dole consists of a horn of ale and piece of white bread,
and anyone who knocks at the hatchway of the porter's gate is entitled
to receive it. About thirty wayfarers are given it daily as well as
many notable people and curious travelers who knock at the door for
the novelty of sharing in a picturesque survival of a mediæval
charity. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of his experience, "Just before
entering Winchester we stopped at the Church of St. Cross, and after
looking through the quaint antiquity we demanded a piece of bread and
a draught of ale, which the founder, Henry de Blois, in 1136,
commanded should be given to everyone who should ask it at the gate.
We had both from the old couple who take care of the church."
When you are in Paris you must not forget Rumpelmeyer, the "king of
pastry makers." His shop is unpretentious, considering his vogue, and
the room is all too small on a pleasant afternoon for the throng which
would invade it. There are representatives from the far corners of the
world. Americans are all about you; at the next table is a Russian
grand duchess, perhaps, with her cavaliers; nearer the wall sits a
woman from the Orient, whose soft silk draperies are in strange
contrast to the modish Parisiennes; a group of children chatter of
South Africa to their attendants and two natives from India have not
doffed their spotless white turbans.
[Illustration: SHARING IN A PICTURESQUE SURVIVAL OF A MEDIÆVAL
CHARITY]
Rumpelmeyer's might be considered a glorified cafeteria, and the great
moment of your visit to the café is when you have taken the fork and
plate from the smiling maid, and stand hesitating beside the table
laden with cakes. And such cakes! Fluffy balls rolled in chocolate and
cocoanut, maple crescents, diamonds of paste enriched with French
fruits, tiny tarts filled with glacéd cherries, half an apricot or a
plum; cornets heaped with cream of pistachio or strawberries, pastry
and sweetmeats in every appetizing form, until it is difficult to make
a choice. At last with plate laden you find your way to the table
where something new in ices, cool or hot drinks, is served. And as you
go away, you cast a lingering glance at the patisserie table and plan
to come, again and again, until you have tried every kind, not knowing
that new confections are offered every few days to make such a plan
almost an impossibility.
[Illustration: THE HOSPITABLE PEOPLE OF VOLENDAM]
In strange contrast to the smart Parisian café is the Hotel Spaander
in quaint Volendam, and if it is not the season you may be alone on
the piazza which is swept by the bracing winds from the Zuyder Zee,
and where the picturesque hospitable people give you a cordial
greeting. And palatable as were the marvelous cakes of Paris, they
were no better than the Dutch raisin bread, Edam cheese and mild beer
that forms your luncheon. Volendam is but next door to Edam, the home
of the popular cheeses, and the thin shavings seem to have been made
to accompany the delicious raisin bread of Holland. The Spaander is a
popular rendezvous for artists, and the big rooms have been adorned
with paintings and sketches by the men and women who have enjoyed its
hospitality. The bright-faced girl, who serves you, was taught to
speak English, perhaps, by some artist who may be a member of the
British Royal Academy now, and she loves to tell you of the notable
people who have come and gone, and she fairly carries you away to see
the homes of the fisher folk. She explains their marvelous clothes,
and declares that the huge silver buttons worn by the men and boys
were used as a mark of identification in case of drowning, for each
district in Holland has its own design. She calls your attention to
the old china, pewter and brass, and giggles approval when you pass
the school and slip a copper into each of the wooden shoes at the
door.
Everybody takes at least one ice at Florian's on St. Mark's Square in
Venice for at Florian's you are sure to see the world and his wife,
especially, if you are there on an evening when the band plays in the
square. Florian's ices are world renowned, and its patrons are as
cosmopolitan as Rumpelmeyer's, and, as you eat your way through the
pink or chocolate cone of sweetness, you will find the price of it in
the bottom of the dish. There is no room for argument over the charge,
for in the bottom of every dish, in plain figures, is its cost, two
francs or two francs, fifty. And after you have paid the reckoning,
the waiter turns over the dish as a sign that your debt is canceled,
and you are at liberty to sit and listen to the music and watch the
people for as long as you wish.
Nearly every European city has a café or a restaurant that is of
special interest, not because of its smart patronage or high prices,
but for its quaint customs, old dishes or drinks, and it varies the
routine of galleries and historic buildings to hunt them out. They add
a spice, a zest, to what might become rather a dreary round of sight
seeing, for no one appreciates the old customs more than the American.
There are some travelers who make a point of stopping at the Three
Tuns in Durham, no more to see Durham's beautiful cathedral, if the
truth were told, than to have the trim maid bring them a tiny glass of
cherry brandy to "drink to the health of the house," a custom that was
young two hundred years or more ago, although it must be confessed
that, while the custom has been retained, the glasses that hold the
delicious cordial are considerably smaller than they were in the days
when the request was first made.
Being Married
By Mrs. Chas. Norman
The morning paper tells of a man and woman who got married after only
a few hours' acquaintance. Unfortunately, this couple cannot claim to
have done anything unique. Numerous persons have done likewise--at
least the newspapers say so--though the statement is one which makes
upon a sane mind an impression of confusion. I say confusion, not to
mention other effects.
After reading the announcement, I looked into the dictionary to see if
it could be true, and I judge it is possible. Marriage, according to
Webster, is the act which unites the man and woman, and, while it
seems impossible for a real union to take place in so brief a time,
still there is probably no other way of telling in the English
language what has occurred. It might well happen that the persons so
hastily "joined" should become married in the course of time. Certain
metals really mix and stick together even after the heat of welding
has died out, but no mere ceremony can unite, though it be performed
by the holiest of ministers or the most profound legal interpreter.
And, as it is impossible for any third person to "unite" man and
woman, so it is out of the question for any third person to give any
legitimate advice as to whether or not the man and woman should unite,
unless by chance the third person discovers that the real union or
disunion already exists.
An ambitious young lady stopped to see me on her way to New York. She
was about to sail for Europe, and she told me, confidentially, that
she was engaged to marry a clergyman of this country, and that she
"might marry him," if she failed to get a certain position she hoped
for in Paris.
I could not refrain from saying, "Do not marry," and she took it that
I was either averse to matrimony or to the young man. Such supposition
was incorrect. I simply disliked to see any man irrevokably tied to a
woman who took him only because she could not get something else.
I explained this to the girl, but it did no good. She said I was
"sentimental and not at all practical." I confessed to a little
sentiment on the subject of wedlock, and refrained from adding that I
should rather be truthful than practical, but I told her that, if she
had accepted her lover, conditionally, her course was entirely
honorable, and then, to relieve the _heaviness_ of the conversation, I
repeated these lines, which she laughed at very moderately indeed:
"I, Pegg Pudding, promise thee, William Crickett,
That I will hold thee for mine own dear lily,
Whilst I have a head in mine eye and a face on my nose,
A mouth in my tongue and all that a woman should have,
From the crown of my foot to the sole of my head."
The attention of my guest flagged a little and, when I completed the
stanza, she confessed she was thinking of a Philadelphia girl whose
resolution she much admired. During a sojourn in Europe, this girl had
refused sixty-five offers of marriage--I hope I have the number
exactly right--having determined to marry no one of lower rank than a
prince.
I sped my guest to New York and Europe, and after her departure no
ghost needed to come from the grave to tell me why marriage is so
often a failure. We hear this thing and that thing given as a reason.
Responsibility enough is to be laid at the door of men, but let women
confess a share in the desecration of the sacred ordinance. Is it
possible to think of a marriage resulting well that does not begin in
truth, and continue in truth?
Let truth, at least, be counted an essential. After truth, let the
candidate consider the necessity of sacrifice. Present-day girls
cannot claim much more of that element than boys. If modern women have
a hobby more general than another, it must be the development of their
individuality. This is a fine thing, but let those who are
over-zealous on this point remain single or remain rational, for it is
scarcely fair to develop one's individuality to the extinction of
another person's rights. To speak the truth, a proper individuality is
never oblivious to others. Women would be learned and wise, but they
fail to see that the very richest return of wisdom comes from putting
forth their full strength _where it is due_. God has provided that
recompense for all dutiful activity, and it often happens that the
circumstances that would seem to retard mental development are its
greatest stimuli, and the saving of the much-cherished individuality
is accomplished by self-forgetfulness.
Marriage is one of the apparent interruptions to intellectual
progress--especially a woman's. We often hear of the fine career a
certain person might have had, unmarried. Such talk signifies nothing.
In the first place, age does not always fulfill the promises of youth.
Many a young man has started well in life and failed through no fault
of his companion. A discerning man will not be apt to choose a
frivolous woman, though we often hear the contrary. A bright girl,
though she may remain single and devote herself to herself, is not
sure of a successful career. Some womanly virtues are certainly
fostered best in a home. Love is, to many women, what the tropics are
to vegetation. On the other hand, there are women who seem to be
created for public benefactions and isolated labors.
Concentration in any line of business is bound to bring definite
results, but definite, tangible results may not be the best results. A
man who assumes some domestic responsibility must abridge his public
services, and, as it is only public services that make a show, his
life seems less valuable.
"I like you better since you married," said a frank old lady to a
young man, and he laughed and answered:
"I used to know a great many things, but they were all wrong, every
one of them! It takes a sensible wife to straighten out a man's mental
distortions." Doubtless his wife could have reversed the compliment.
The pictures of unhappy marriages are hung in every household which
the American press can possibly reach: the good marriages attract no
attention. Natural reverence prevents those who know anything about
them from telling what they know. We do not talk glibly of God's love.
The theme is sacred. Just as sacred, and very personal, is the other
subject. No man of sense, who loves his wife, says much about it, even
to his intimate friends. What adult, with reason, goes about seeking
advice upon matrimony?
Marriage is for persons of mature minds, and it is absolutely an
individual matter, each case deciding itself. Let those who doubt
concerning matrimony stay out of it. Let those who are already in it,
remember that it is a solemn compact between two persons and that any
action is unbecoming and inconsistent which does not result to the
advantage of both.
The Regeneration of Podunk
By Phoebe D. Roulon
Jack and I arrived at Podunk just in "strawberry time." Did you ever
stop to consider what a mandatory phrase "strawberry time" is? Jack
and I did to the fullest, for from one end of Podunk highway to the
other, in every farmstead that was the happy possessor of a strawberry
patch, the proclamation had gone forth that berries were ripe and must
be "done up" at once. There is no such thing as procrastinating with
Nature, especially in her fruit department. Infinite in patience,
unsparing in pains from the first inception of the berry to its
maturity, when once her creative work is accomplished, she lays the
finished product at your feet and henceforth waives all
responsibility. Put off until tomorrow what should have been "done up"
today and Nature will seek vengeance upon you and show you your folly.
Mrs. Simpkins might better save her breath than to enter the protest
that she cannot possibly "can" today, for the minister and family are
coming to dinner. Nature makes no exception for even the clergy. When
Mrs. Hopewell declares she must take her butter and eggs to market
today and so cannot do another stroke of work after one o'clock,
Nature simply smiles complacently from the four corners of every ruddy
berry basket and says, "Take me now in my perfection, for tomorrow it
will have passed away."
In obedience to this inexorable law Podunk was making ready. Brass
kettles were being scoured and granite ones were coming forth from
their winter hiding places. With one accord Podunk was becoming a huge
canning and preserving factory, with as many annexes as there were
houses with berry patches.
Day after day the process went on, for day after day a fresh supply
demanded attention.
Overworked and tired housewives groaned in spirit and slept in meeting
as a result. Everybody's nerves were a little on the bias until the
strawberries were settled for the winter. To a casual observer it
seemed as if Nature's lavishness had outrun Podunk's gratitude, and as
if strawberries were becoming a nuisance.
As I said, Jack and I arrived just at this crisis in the farm life of
Podunk. Indeed, within an hour after we landed, and amid the chaos of
unpacking, a gentle maiden tapped at our kitchen door and importuned
us to buy some preserving berries.
Jack has a sweet tooth and I saw at a glance that he had not missed
the vision of rows of red jars on the swinging shelf in the cellar,
and Sunday night teas of jam, long after the last strawberry had
ripened and decayed. But he desisted and let her depart without buying
a berry. This I call heroic and manly, and told him so on the spot.
Of course the well had not been pumped out, the water-pail had not
been unpacked, the grocery supplies had not arrived. There had not
been a fire in the stove for eight months, and there was no split wood
in the wood shed, but men have been known to expect household routine
to go on under conditions quite as hindering, therefore I repeat, that
Jack, in the face of vanishing sweets, showed fortitude and
consideration.
But it was plain that "strawberry time" had made an impression on his
mind that took somewhat the form of a problem.
Now Jack is never happier than when he has nuts to crack or problems
to solve. He is that all-round type of man that can and does bring the
same philosophic trend of mind to bear upon matters domestic as upon
civic and national affairs.
We had come to Podunk to rest, but Jack always rests in motion, and in
less than a week after our arrival I saw him go forth to canvass the
community. For days and days he was as glum as an oyster, leaving me
to guess what he was up to, but I have so long known the limitations
to his capacity for holding in and carrying a secret, that I could
wait in patience for the unbosoming. It came on one of those chilly,
rainy nights in June,--the sort of night that Jack always expects and
gets warm gingerbread for supper. Gingerbread always puts him in a
talkative mood.
We had each taken a second cup of tea, when Jack looked up and said,
"Do you realize, my dear, that this canning and jellying process is
only just started for the season in Podunk? I find that our Fourth of
July not only proclaims American independence but also the proper time
for making currant jelly, and so, unless Nature plays us false, the
same ordeal must be repeated, with only the difference that 'currant'
will be written on the label instead of 'strawberry.' And still
another repetition, when raspberries are ripe and blackberries grow
sweet and luscious. Again when the huckleberry bushes give up their
treasures, shadowing forth a winter supply for pies. Then come the
peaches, pears and plums, followed by apples, grapes and quinces.
Between times, lest the hand forgets its cunning, there are peas,
corn, beets and tomatoes to be rescued for future use. And the season
ends with a pickling tournament.
"It hardly seems creditable, but from here to Podunk Hollow, a
distance of less than two miles, and only sparsely settled, I find by
actual count that there are thousands of cans of fruit and hundreds
of glasses of jelly prepared every season. From 'strawberry
time'--indeed some ambitious housekeepers start in with rhubarb in
April--until the last luckless green tomato is snatched from Jack
Frost, there is a mad rush on the part of the farmer's wife to keep
apace with Nature and to take care of her bounties with a thrifty
hand."
By this time Jack was ready for a second helping of gingerbread and
proceeded. "Don't you see, my dear, that this is an awful waste of
muscular energy and stove fuel. Don't you see that consolidation and
coöperation at just this point would emancipate these women quite as
much as the telephone and the rural delivery?
"Furthermore, I believe there is fruit enough that goes to waste every
year, which, if rescued, would not only pay for the running of a
community kitchen, but also give a handsome bonus for civic
beautifying. It is my firm faith that Podunk can earn the foundations
of a fine library, within the next three years, by simply saving the
waste of fruit and vegetables within her own borders. She has a market
already established at the summer colony of Bide-a-wee."
The third piece of gingerbread gave Jack the courage to make a clean
breast of everything, and to confess that he had called a meeting and
made all the necessary arrangements to start a community kitchen for
canning and preserving, to be ready this season for the currant crop.
Jack always persists that my impulsive opposition is his most helpful
ally, so I never feel hindered in giving it. But I said "You have
surely never looked at this problem from the psychological standpoint.
You have never calculated the personal pride of every housewife in her
own handiwork, done in her own way, the way tradition has made sacred
to her. Eliminate the personal touch from half the preserve closets
of Podunk and you rob them of their glory and half of their flavor.
There are some things that cannot be consolidated and coöperated and
this is one of them. Why! Mrs. Patterson would be inconsolably
wretched, if she thought a jar of peaches would ever stand in her
cellar that did not adhere to the formula of one and three-quarters
pints of sugar to three pints of water. Now Mrs. Smith is equally
loyal to one and one-half parts sugar to three parts water."
"And as for jelly making, it has a hedge about it as conservative and
invulnerable as a Chinese wall. Instance, our beloved Mrs. Thornton.
That splendid spirit of housewifely excellence that we have always
admired in her would be wholly inundated and wrecked, if she ever had
to set before us, on her own tea-table, a glass of jelly that had been
made by heating the currants before they were crushed, and straining
the juice through cheesecloth instead of flannel. To Mrs. Thornton
there is but one right way, the cold and flannel process.
"Even I, Jack, dear, must own up to feeling an unpleasant sensation
down my spinal column, and a vexatious agitation in my mind, whenever
I see jelly boil more than five minutes after the sugar is added. Nay,
my Worthy Wisdom, let me entreat you to carefully consider ere you
intrude upon the sacred precincts of jelly-making with any ruthless
tread.
"As for pickling, it is an established fact that every housewife
pickles to suit the taste of her family and her rule lies in the
palate of said family. You know that the Joneses are always strong on
the onion flavor, while the Millers emphasize cinnamon and allspice!
Fancy consolidating these flavors into a blend and expect either
family to be contented and happy.
"Worthy as your Community Kitchen idea is in its inception, I fear it
is doomed to failure. It uproots too many of the 'eternals' of
housekeeping."