Our Kitchens.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1809, 9 February 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

Our Kitchens.

Thuly has it been said that the proper care and good management of a home is of as much importance as the business affairs of men. While we acknowledge that man earns the home; we must concede that woman makes it a haven of rest, or, by her idleness and incapacity turns it into a place of torment. How very important then, is it, that the daughters of a household should be trained to that which may be the business of their lives. It must not be supposed that the" education obtained in the kitchen wiil dotract from the dignity or refinement of a true lady. Let her mind be stored with all the wealth of wisdom which the ages have handed down in volumes and the greatest minds have written. If duty calls her to the occupations of home life, if others depend upon her skilful hand or active brain in the administration of household affairs, let hers be the noble part of cheering others by her industry. Have we not read of lofty intellects who yet took in the details of housoliold employments ? Of Mrs. Stowe, who, while thinking out her characters and incidents for the next chapter of her grand book "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was working with her busy hand 3 to maintain the order and comfort of her home? You all know well, I prosume, the routine of life in the kitchen; how the bread must be baked, the savory dinner cooked, the dishes washed, the floor swept, the stove polished, and the hundred other little things which make up the comfort of a home, —this in both city and country kitchens—how, in the city, the ironing day comes With its clothes-basket of dainty ruffles, tucks and puffs, which may not be slighted. In the country, the farmer's wives and daughters are content with plainer clothing, theieby making that work easier for themselve? ; nevertheless, having other duties, which perhaps outweigh that of ironing ruffles. Oh! if with our work we., could always preserve a tranquil, cheerful^ spirit, how much that now we call drudgery would be termed service —the fulfilling of a holy mission. Blessed in our eyes are the lives of some women we know, who strive to make their homes bright for those whom God has placed in their keeping; who think it not a degradation to work for those they love! Blessings on their dear toil-stained'< bauds, which will one day lay down the well-worn implements of labor, to touch the golden harps of heaven and feel, on brows which here have ached with anxious thought, the soothing influence of eternal joy and rest! Shall we not then, think with a degree of interest andreal satisfaction of the work of the kitchen, and its importance in our homes ? Beally, is not a well kept kitchen a nice, yea,' ,a very pretty room ? See-how' the clear fire* throws a brightness on the surrounding ob-

jects, tho very floor catches the ruddy gleams and smiles in return, over whose surface the busy feet must move. The dresser, on whose shelves the shining dUhes wait until they serve the " daily bread ; " and the homely pots and pans which live in retirement, only coming out to ba used in preparing the appetizing food and to fill tho cozy room with odors which delight the tired onea who come from the toils and' cafes of the outside world. Let the kitchen then, be made large and light and pleasant ; for out of it, beliavo me, must come the elements which, to ft large degree, are essential to the happiness of the family. — Rural New Yorker