KITCHENS: AND'CHARACTER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 178, 23 April 1908, Page 3

KITCHENS: AND'CHARACTER.

In a recent number of the ' Melbourne "Age" there is a'clever imaginary conver-/ sation between Half; a Jdozen woinen, on the , subject of domesticity and.kitchens, the latter part of ■ which -woV quote :—r *-!■' •' /'! •/' "Woman is born to :the kitchen as 'tho v sparks 'fly. upward," commented a. womandoctor,:: "with, "apparent flippancy. • She settled to'her work, however,, m. all serious- ■ ness.;'v'j'V-"'.',;.; :/•-: ■-"There .isn't,a : woman, made who doesn't fain in force ; and usefulness by knowing ow . food should .'be cooked • and houses : managed.;: If. : she'can cook "decently she has : a Valuable asset' from -the timo slio' is twelve. If she can'- cook' really' well she' is' a :person' of 'real Importance. ' ' :If ; you ; women went, about 'among tho poorer classes, and saw . children :': being fortified- with; white, bread and I jam j. ' and men. fed on . corned ' beef, :>.;you'd believe me.' ; Sho may hold all the : degrees : that; were ever made,- but no woman; is '.educated ; who . ■ failsin the simple process of cooking a proper dinner." ■ v' :■ the''matter,is we're all of us. ; ,more l ;interested ; m domesticity than wo pretend;y'to\:bo,":• said/;,a ■ woman whohad ...'ieent-lisfemtig'.-quietly. • - "Wo aren't fools, and we .want to mend a Jot", of 'niatters. - A "leading I "architect Was/.tolling';me; that th'jj'. . tide-lias "turned. " Women are beginning to ' insist 5 , on, kitchens, not' mere-, cnbby- holes. A builder said to him the other day that " if :-things-went;',on as 'thoy are' doing' be;hind\ would" soon be '.were: going.; out in : small -.cottages, and' kit-, cheris ."were .coming in;" " . . "It's ; 'an ' odd : thing,"- remarked : a ..quite old lady, "that "we ever let the old kitchens' . ■ go; ■ : Till forty, or fifty .year's v ago. the kit-' ;, chen ;was"one of. the. most"delightful rooms ... in-the house'.' "It .was: big, .and' well:lighted, and: well .furnished.: Oh, you, need not laugh! I'in'not■regardirigV ) them'!''througli a: rosy glow'"at "all; .' ; My : ''mother' ; iind ,grand- , niother had kitchens^-'that ! tho cook had not' to": chase '11 s out/.' 'I 'don't'-'believe. girls' ' are any : different to-day to' what ..they -were' then—not' fop .'all the talk ; P'hearbut ; I•' ; : don't;,blame any 'girl'. for ;wantingto ' keep' Slit/Of.' most, of vtlie' kitchens live .'.seen since 1 ;came to 'this country:" r.'.'•-! ■ ">y [ '' . may : be'wbrth'while,', bui it's ithprac-,, ticable' wiere many;: of us are concerned.". The : speaker , hailed from / a -remote corner of Gippsland—a region where servants are -i practically non-existent; : "Till I got Jack' to put up a big kitchen, life was a burden.: 1 tried- working in the kitchen< and: serving meals in • the dining-room, arid keeping the sitting-room and bedrooms up: to the' mark. I began to -'get 'edgy.' That upset the children, and; that' upset Jack. Ho wanted the doctor to send me to Sydney. ' 'Non- 1 sense;,; man,' said the doctor—he's a dear . -old, soulTT-'build . the "woman :a proper kit-.' ■ .ch'eh, • and 'live in it.'.' ;The kitchen is" 20ft. by ; .U ;• go.t a 'business end 1 and ,a: polite end.;" 'Th'ei-inside is - kalsomined - in l white.' There; are four windows, with short' cotton . ■ crepo curtains. < 'A - shelf runs ■ alone .; the. , -wall at one end-^the-.business end—and does to show ; off. : my blue crockery. • There are. lockers :that, do'.for seats;,to' hold'the saucepans and ' things, ; and .-a ! well-made squat' cupboard for a dresser. The stove, standing well out from : thc wall,' is .quite, oniamental. The open fire is-,at'"the' polite 1 end of the' kitchen, - and the- only thing I cooked near it' is.'the:.family ./The; men .have".their, meals in the old kitchen—-and now iand then the woman,''servant, who occasionally tarries a montli. or two-among us.'. Tlie moral of story ,is that I was.a .well'woman-a fort-: •-night after 'we., took -to putting ■ this simple life into. practice,, and,; from all -I see,' cer- . tain town dwellers might-profitably go. and • do likewise." • /. The :energy, 1 and: money that havebeen sacrificed-to, mismanagement have come to be seriously .resented by intelligent women. ; The gross unfairness of associating ; the - words,- drudgery, 'and domesticity, is .coming to, :be. recognised. ' Within the last foiy ~years public opinion : has been roused, and .woipen aro . coming to realise what they , stand to lose by , ignoring one of their" most' .valuable provinces. This-is something little , - short of' deplorable in : the . arrangement of rooms ;in the ..tliou.sands of small homes in , our - citieb; and suburbs. In at least fortynine! cases out of fifty, the: only' sizeable' -room in tho,house is sacrificed on the altar of; gentility.The "drawing-room"- or A the parlour, with its poor' little attempts at grandeur, has, place of honour at the front of the house. Its real heart, the kitchen, is a room at the back,; cramped and badly lighted. . Its nearest neighbour is a scullery and laundry combined, 'and in those twfi rooms,, the worst in, the whole house,, the ; average .woman of;,the working class has . grown "accustomed to spending'the. greater part of her time., .Small wonder, especially after, such a summer as this that she frequently finds herself "all ; behind," and that- husband' and': children 'put their.' own construction on the . assurance that "there's no place like home." A large, properlyarranged kitchen minimises work to such an extent that even the woman, with only a rudimentary idea , of system, learns the wisdom/ of "bettering herself" in rational fashion. There is; a. fine buoyancy about the average Australian, and once pride in her kitchen is roused, a big step has been made forward in the right direction.