HOUSEKEEPING IN SOUTH AFRICA: WORK EASIER THAN AT HOME.

Temuka Leader, Issue 7569, 23 May 1914, Page 6

HOUSEKEEPING IN SOUTH AFRICA: WORK EASIER THAN AT HOME.

When first I baw a kettle put on an oil stove to boil J despaired of ever getting my tea, and 1 had a strong fellowfeeling for the tired old lady, whoso heart sank when her hostess told her that her kettle began to sing half-an-hour before it boiled. That was in Soutn Africa, and 1 very soon learnt that i.. put tlio kettle on the stove an hour or more before it was required (instead of on a gas-ring while I laid the cloth) was only one of the many differences between home and Colonial house-keeping. I would have to learn, says a lady writer in the “Shiofiiold Telegraph”, if I would aspiro to be a South African housewife. It is wonderful, however, if you ar t an adaptable person (and I am sorry for in a foreign land if you are not) how soon you become used to those differences, and how (interesting you may find them. The oil stove, for instance, may bo slow, but it has its points. Cleaned and filled in the morning, it needs no more attention for the rest of the day: tnere are no flues to clean, no coal to handle, no dust, no worries at spring-cleaning time. True! you may at first in your ignorance turn tno Jiamo too high. what time you go out and leave the dinner to cook 'itself and on returning find your kitchen, if not your whole house, filled with smoko ami smuts but that is an experience which you take care does not repeat itself. THE NATIVE HELP. i'nM f ‘ V i OU kGO ? :l Kaffir ,n:| id, as most ChrL-io T l ?’ you \ vill find Bena or Umssie, or whatever the young lady s •.aneiliil name may he, quite an acquishT V;f: 0 '!. dy ( not ex ,l’- wt too much of nu. Like tne stove, she is inclined to be • °w, and you will be wise to be more than a little blind to her faults, because uis no use to bo anything else. If you reprimand her she will either smile her >’ tde, bland, child-liko smile and pursue the even tenor of her .way. or. whenever your hack is turned, walk out of the Giv/Oip lld ea ? ycm t 0 your °" n devices! Gue her a certain routine to g„ through / , da y> how-over, and her own time to ul fi ,euc 'y of sweet stuff to eat and aa 01 colleo to ornik, and she will serve you faithfully and well, hut she is easily vwW by , , tife .prospect of “100 much vvik (work), missus,” and if that threat f" 0 ' 1 you know of it and sc. k .i lighter post without delay too routine of the Sonib if,.; t tdZ- gO "K tZ sometimes 1 ' the kettle on first thing for he Jarh moining tea. which is brought to you in >i!° Ut wllicl , l ou " ould not considei the day properly begun. EortiG > n b f. t,l , ,S) yo« Bet up and dress, and Breakfast consists almost invarnhlv SflPte '»■ «. a«J taS! , “ v °£ tbo ' s occasionally varied tf.al) •%&<*“»>*■« “...pan,most im-t J aio luxuries for ti>_ homo d!sl ’nfl you ,B et th < ! good old ~ 7 of lla,n «nd eggs on Sunday Eky g y ° U mSy CHUsicJel ' yourscu Breakfast over, the housework, whin, s on a more simple scale than at ’ « .rolled .id. 0.-e part ES «til ill® f ,Ile Wa, dastiog getting the dinner under way while your dark-skinned ally sweeps’on! •SW£s»Wit*jU the dav—if I+ i i b , all iIOUIS of 1 oK 1 & “ r * *' ,irll iock jii the forenoon: it seiier-ilK-bro light up the rear at dinnerS- w. would have died for certain fi we hadn V got it at four o'clock to waken us n, after our siesta, and it took its place as supper! 01 ° f CQUrse at tllG late tea or tinned EVEKYTHJNG.

Nothing so amazes the newcomer u, fbou that' iTe 38 tJ | C qui . ,ntities of tinned Sj JJ tL‘ u usod !, aad 011 Cof the first « ttisz&rsisst deciis’omcd tu tile occasional appearaiK-l on t, lO table of dish of U salmon or tongue, kept in the larder for Z buttm 8 ' bUt "’J 0 ? you see eheese, cakes, butiu, jam, fish, and, indeed, almost v , ?„ tlle food line, coming to and find'VlS 35 til f *“*«» £ aim hud that some ot those thino-* Stlnf 9 ,lad , iU a ? y tool that some branch of your education fas been neglected. At first tIS idea of i led food is a littlo repugnant to the kettor fol- JouicU?- “" J ll ‘° 6 " aor tllc Jhe South African houses are built in the pleasant bungalow style, and in sun S.r ei Fv° St ii VeSOll thestoe P or ver--1 , L n tll , e poorest little abode stoep ’ ' vlth «s sun-baked canvas 1 aianm tins (tor y OU scarcely over spp •, ofc'weathV 11 S ° Uth Aflioa) * and iu th‘. hot Heather a canvas wafer-ba" or but ter cooler hanging at a draughty corner side oMbfr 1118 aLv , ayfi at tJly or side of the house, and you mav have tu Ski l r sl, n‘ t t“ sot to kitek™ Hbich is seldom, as at home, a cosv in- ' 'ting sort of place, and is never room. )y tl6 P ° O,VSt - “ the family livill « :

Almost as necessary to the general SJ Ulpi ! lc,llt of the household as the .kitovp th 0l; the JlUge lan ‘P "'fool' hangs ;:' CI „ th ? dining-room table (for little or "ho if‘tl, U p SeC ,S t,e rt'Witov* boarder " ] io, if the comparison wore not so odious- might a most he called, like t o h shmau’s p.g -the gintiemau who pays the mt, the “ rint” being such n. sgi ions item in the household expenditure that nobody thinks it infra dig. to .all m such outside aid in the paying 0 f ’J ; >king jt all over, housekeeping j u South Africa, is simpler and easier than at home, owing to rhe absenso of fires Sev'or! 31 a ' Ul *'l ch I«l>our-giving is > m. v s ' but ’ ne . v ; ertheloss . ungrateful iiei-bmrt + - 1 ’ fj lo ."’oman exile finds ‘"I - tl J[ nm r. at tjln( * "'itii a wistful 0.-gmg to the things she has left behind mi, some of them prosaic enough some sentimental but most of all. I think, she inissoss the long, cosy winter evenings, "•hen the fire burns cheerily forth on the fI,K f° r fb p lack of which, exiles all over ho world will inform you, no amount of tropical - sunshine seems to he able to compensate.