nearly a million of single women over twenty years of
age, and most of them expect or hope to bG married,
but scarcely one out of five hundred would know how
to make a basin of mutton-broth. Need you wonder
at thoughtful young men keeping single, or married
men dining at restaurants and clubs. There was a
time in our history when ladies of rank used to wear
white muslin aprons and spend one or two hours
every morning in the kitchen, and with their own
hands prepare the lighter things required for dinner;
but cooks now dispute the right of the mistress to
enter the kitchen. If, on the same principle, land-
owners were not permitted to walk on their land, or
masters to enter their workshops, society would be in
a state of anarchy, and all responsibility, which is the
first element of good government, would be at an end.
Mistresses are at the mercy of their cooks, and for the
sake of peace many ladies never enter their kitchens.
How often has a lady to submit to all sorts of petty
annoyances for the sake of a decently cooked dinner.
In three months a lady of intelligence would know how
to cook a dinner better than half the cooks. Mistresses
ought to be what they once were, the superiors and
teachers of their servants. Our indifference and igno-
rance of these matters is a national misfortune. We
have the best and greatest variety of food the world
can produce. Thousands of ships bring to our shore
corn, wine, fruits, and spices, and in our ingratitude
and ignorance the half is wasted. The young ladies
of our time seem to have lost the idea of enjoying the
simple inexpensive pleasures of their grandmothers :
and unless they breathe the atmosphere of continual
The Education of Gilds.
33
excitement they are miserable. Gorgeous carriages,
costly jewellery, balls and parties in the dead of night,
the wearisomeness of dress, the struggle for appear-
ances, the endless anxiety and labour to no purpose,
are not enjoyments which any one is the better or
happier for cultivating. Men are fortunately not
possessed with this devil to the same extent; it is
chiefly in the heart of a woman that the pomps and
vanities of this world find a ready welcome. No one
who has seen fifty years but must be sensible of the
gradual demoralization of the wealthy middle classes
and of their contempt for everything like household
work. It is difficult to suggest a remedy. The
denunciations of the pulpit, the satire of the press, are
all unavailing ; but I look chiefly to sensible, thought-
ful women, whose rank and position in society entitle
them to consideration and respect, for a remedy to
these evils. I ask these ladies to stamp our efforts
with their approval ; I ask them to take a personal
interest in the practical work of cooking. Our
attention is daily called to the great mission of woman,
to the injustice which excludes her from her rights ;
but the household mission, which ought to be the
highest mission, is rarely mentioned. When the wife
of every man, rich and poor, has been taught to cook,
to make the best of the food which God has provided ;
when the dirty courts and yards of our large towns
have been cleansed and purified ; when the bed of the
sick and the suffering has been smoothed ; when the
orphan and widow have been comforted, and our
streets cleared of temptations to sin, the women
engaged in such a work will deserve our purest love
c
3+
Page 13
Presented as published in 1887. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
nearly a million of single women over twenty years of age, and most of them expect or hope to bG married, but scarcely one out of five hundred would know how to make a basin of mutton-broth. Need you wonder at thoughtful young men keeping single, or married men dining at restaurants and clubs. There was a time in our history when ladies of rank used to wear white muslin aprons and spend one or two hours every morning in the kitchen, and with their own hands prepare the lighter things required for dinner; but cooks now dispute the right of the mistress to enter the kitchen. If, on the same principle, landowners were not permitted to walk on their land, or masters to enter their workshops, society would be in a state of anarchy, and all responsibility, which is the first element of good government, would be at an end. Mistresses are at the mercy of their cooks, and for the sake of peace many ladies never enter their kitchens. How often has a lady to submit to all sorts of petty annoyances for the sake of a decently cooked dinner. In three months a lady of intelligence would know how to cook a dinner better than half the cooks. Mistresses ought to be what they once were, the superiors and teachers of their servants. Our indifference and ignorance of these matters is a national misfortune. We have the best and greatest variety of food the world can produce. Thousands of ships bring to our shore corn, wine, fruits, and spices, and in our ingratitude and ignorance the half is wasted. The young ladies of our time seem to have lost the idea of enjoying the simple inexpensive pleasures of their grandmothers : and unless they breathe the atmosphere of continual
The Education of Girls.
excitement they are miserable. Gorgeous carriages, costly jewellery, balls and parties in the dead of night, the wearisomeness of dress, the struggle for appearances, the endless anxiety and labour to no purpose, are not enjoyments which any one is the better or happier for cultivating. Men are fortunately not possessed with this devil to the same extent; it is chiefly in the heart of a woman that the pomps and vanities of this world find a ready welcome. No one who has seen fifty years but must be sensible of the gradual demoralization of the wealthy middle classes and of their contempt for everything like household work. It is difficult to suggest a remedy. The denunciations of the pulpit, the satire of the press, are all unavailing ; but I look chiefly to sensible, thoughtful women, whose rank and position in society entitle them to consideration and respect, for a remedy to these evils. I ask these ladies to stamp our efforts with their approval ; I ask them to take a personal interest in the practical work of cooking. Our attention is daily called to the great mission of woman, to the injustice which excludes her from her rights ; but the household mission, which ought to be the highest mission, is rarely mentioned. When the wife of every man, rich and poor, has been taught to cook, to make the best of the food which God has provided ; when the dirty courts and yards of our large towns have been cleansed and purified ; when the bed of the sick and the suffering has been smoothed ; when the orphan and widow have been comforted, and our streets cleared of temptations to sin, the women engaged in such a work will deserve our purest love
3+