Chapter XII: Part I: Motherly Talks with Young Housekeepers (9)

The _Jerusalem Artichoke_ grows in clusters of tubers, something like the potato. It is a native of Brazil. It was brought to England and was much in use there before it was superseded by the common potato. It was called the Canada potato, to distinguish it from the common kind, then known as the Virginia potato. It is wholesome and nutritious, but not dry and mealy. The plants are extremely productive and once started it is difficult to eradicate them from the soil; they are said to be an excellent food for horses and hogs. _Girasole_, not _Jerusalem_, should be the term. That is the Italian name for _sunflower_, which this artichoke resembles in many particulars, and to which it is in some degree akin, but not at all to the _artichoke_ proper, which is a plant brought from the Mediterranean. The flower-head before blossoming is the part eaten, boiled plain and eaten with melted butter and pepper, like spinach and other greens. The bottoms are also sometimes boiled in milk and eaten, and sometimes pickled. The French fry them and use them in various ways, sometimes raw as salads.

The _Yam_ also resembles the common potato. It is extensively grown in the East and West Indies, and in Africa and America. It is sweeter and firmer than the potato, grows flat, about a foot long, and sometimes divided like fingers. One variety, called the hinged yam, often grows three feet long and weighs twenty or thirty pounds. When raw, like the potato, the juice is acrid and not healthful, but boiling destroys all harmful properties. A favorite dish is prepared from it in the tropics, combined with grated cocoa-nut and the pulp of the banana.

LV.

CABBAGE.

IN this chapter we have something to say of an old familiar friend, the _Cabbage_, which for ages has been one of the most useful of all our vegetables, being very productive, and, for many persons, nutritious and healthful. It is found growing wild on the cliffs in many parts of the southern coasts of England; but these do not very closely resemble the large, vigorous vegetable we see on our farms and in our gardens. There it is dwarfed, not weighing more than an ounce, with a few feeble leaves. Even in this state it is sometimes gathered and eaten for greens, but is not very tempting. Although thus found wild on the southern British coast, the numerous kinds now under careful cultivation, in almost all our large farms or market-gardens, are the results of many experiments made by scientific and enterprising agriculturists. It was also largely cultivated and improved in other countries long before its use was understood in England. It was a common product among the Romans, and although they were lawless and ambitious in their inroads upon the surrounding nations, their conquests, with all the attending evils, were conducive of many good results; for wherever their armies went, they left behind new arts and habits, tending toward a larger civilization than is commonly the result of wars. Many fruits, roots, and vegetables, unknown in Spain, Germany, and England, were brought by the conquering Romans into general use among these nations.

The Saxons used cabbage under the name of kale, and it is still so called in Scotland. For a long time it was the only vegetable known in that country, but there is no end to the kinds now in use, and the varieties are multiplied yearly by the experiments and skill of the producers. With some persons it is not easy of digestion when cooked, but when cut up raw and used as a salad there is hardly anything more wholesome or palatable than the cabbage. Some chemists assert that it contains an oil which is injurious, unless, when cooking, the cabbage is boiled in two waters. However that may be, we know that this vegetable is far more delicate and tempting, if, after boiling about half an hour, the water is poured off, and clear boiling water added, in which the cabbage is cooked till done. With that precaution, aside from being nicer, it is not half as liable to produce disagreeable effects.

The _Borecole_, or _kale_ proper, as now understood, differs from the common cabbage in having long, curly, wrinkled leaves, more like the original wild plant, only larger and of thicker growth, never forming into a close, solid head. They are very hardy, and furnish most excellent winter greens; and if the leaves and stalks are blanched, are greatly improved and very delicate. These _kales_ are improved by frost. The Scotch or German _kale_, or _cualis_ (curly greens), is used in immense quantities in Britain. The buda and the Russian kale are much less common. The buda is considered a great delicacy when blanched; the sprouts, and not the heart, being the most desirable. We have never seen it in our markets, but should think it might be brought to great perfection in our country, and be a very desirable addition to our numerous sorts of cabbage. The Coleya oil, so much in use in France for lamps, is made from the seeds of one kind of _kale_, and we think we have been told it is from the buda.

The Portuguese cabbage, from Tranzuda, is extensively cultivated abroad, and we see not why that also cannot be introduced here. It is said to be peculiarly tender and delicate, and destitute of the coarse rank taste of our common kinds. The heart is the preferable part; the mid-rib or stalk being used after the green parts are cut off only as greens. We wonder that some enterprising Yankee has not brought it into our markets.

The _Palm kale_ and the _Cow-cabbage_ are cultivated in Jersey, and other of the Anglo-Norman isles, as food for cattle. The leaves of both grow to a great height, from twelve to fifteen feet. It is the outer leaf that is fed to the cattle; the heart of the bud is quite tender, and when cooked is good and nutritious.

The close-headed cabbage has many varieties,--the _white_ and the _red drum-head_, _sugar-loaf_, _Savoy_, etc. These are raised from the seed, and should be sowed the year before they are wanted, for large heads. While young, or the first year, if cooked at all it is as greens, or cabbage _coleworts_. Such as are not kept for growth the second year are pulled up, root and all, and thus sent to market to keep them from withering. The roots are cut off by the cook just before using. Some, when the head is half formed, are gathered for summer cabbage; but if left till fall the head becomes hard and firm, and late in the season they are pulled up and stored, or buried in the ground. Such as are needed for summer sprouts or coleworts are left in the ground all winter, and are ready early, with the nice new shoots for the spring market.

The red cabbage makes a fine pickle, and is the kind most used by the Germans for _sauerkraut_, though almost any variety will answer. The dwarf red is much used abroad for stewing.

The _Savoys_ have leaves much more curly than the other varieties, and the middle part of their firm heads is excellent for boiling, and particularly fine for _cole_, or cold slaw, or _kohl slaw_, as the Germans term it. The dwarf and the yellow Savoy will stand the frost. The Brussels sprouts are something like the Savoy, but grow often three or four feet high. The sprouts form in little, delicate heads all the way up. The top of the stalk is more solid, and it is that which is like the Savoy.

The _Cauliflower_ and _Broccoli_ are among the most desirable of the cabbage tribe, and bring a higher price than any. The former is probably a native of the island of Cyprus, and the broccoli is said to have been introduced into Holland and England from Italy, in the seventeenth century. They are quite similar in habit and taste, but the broccoli will bear the frost and cold better than the cauliflower. Both are very great favorites and very delicate.

The leaves of all kinds of cabbage decay very early, and are then exceedingly offensive. They should never be allowed to remain in the cellar or lie about the house, as they are very injurious to the health. The water in which cabbage is boiled is also offensive and unhealthy, and should be poured into drains where it will the soonest pass off.

Our farmers often feed the outside leaves of cabbage to their cattle. All very well if they do not give them to their _milch cows_. Many of our dairymen will not believe that cabbage or turnips injure the flavor of milk or butter, but we think their taste must be greatly perverted if they fail to detect the flavor at once.

LVI.

PULSE.

MANY of the most useful and important of farinaceous or mealy kinds of vegetables are known under the name of _pulse_. All the large varieties of the _bean_, _pea_, _lentil_, _tare_, and _vetch_ belong to this family.

The _Vetch_ and _Tare_ are chiefly used for cattle; very seldom in this country or England are they seen on our tables, even among the poorest class of people; but the _lentil_, a kind of bean, is greatly esteemed among the French and Germans, and, when properly and carefully prepared and seasoned, is more highly esteemed by them than the common pea and bean. They consider the flavor better, and the vegetable itself more nourishing. In France it is extensively used for seasoning soups, but in England and America is not much known except as food for cattle.

Next to nuts and fruits, all kinds of pulse were important articles of food in the earlier ages, for it required little labor and skill to produce or raise them. When fresh and tender, many kinds of pulse can be employed in cooking, particularly for soups, and many that we know nothing of except through books, would flourish in our climate, both North and South, and might be profitably cultivated. Year by year we find something new in our agricultural catalogues, as well as in the horticultural and floral.

_Peas_ and _Beans_ when dried are less digestible and healthful than when eaten green, as the skin becomes hard, and unless removed, as it can be by rubbing through a sieve for soups, will, with many people, produce flatulency, constipation, and often severe colic. But green or dried, almost every sort of pulse will furnish excellent food for most of our domestic animals, and is also considered very desirable to alternate with other crops, for, if corn or grain is raised year after year, on the same piece of land, it will in a short time wear out the soil; but pulse does not impoverish the land, and therefore may be grown on fields that require rest from more exhausting crops.

We learn that the time of the discovery of peas and beans has not been satisfactorily ascertained, but they were in early times extensively cultivated, especially the _pea_, in India, China and Japan, although evidently not a native of any of the extreme warm climates. When the English were besieging a castle in Lathian, in 1299, they were well pleased to supply their exhausted stores with this kind of pulse, which grew in that vicinity abundantly, and doubtless, on learning its nutritious properties, gladly introduced it into their own country. During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, her table was supplied with peas from Holland; fit food, says one of the writers of that time, for royal ladies, because “it was brought so far and cost so dear.”

Now, under careful and more enlightened culture, the varieties of peas raised in this country and throughout Europe are numerous. To speak of them all and of the whole family of pulse would require a volume. But much depends on the section in which the different varieties are raised, for, as with most kinds of produce, that which in one locality would prove most excellent, when transferred to another will become quite inferior.

The _Chick-pea_ is small and not very digestible. It will not boil soft, but, like some of the lentils, is parched, and in Egypt and Syria sold in the shops to travellers, by whom it is greatly esteemed, because while passing through the deserts it occupies little room and needs no preparation. Youmans says that it will sustain more life, weight for weight, than any other kind of food, and that peas and beans are ranked first among the concentrated, strength-imparting food; but although strength-giving, we do not think it easily digested, unless eaten while fresh and tender, and cooked with care. Some kinds of peas are prepared by the Chinese as a _vegetable cheese_.

It would be useless to attempt to mention the best varieties of either peas or beans. Some seek for the earliest, some the largest or most prolific. In selecting, it is always wise to go to some intelligent seedsman, keeping a large assortment of all kinds of seeds, and learn his opinion; then, from the information thus obtained, decide which variety will best meet your wishes and locality. Some kinds of peas, like the string bean, have the pod and seed cut up and cooked together.

The _Turnip_ was introduced into England from Hanover. It now grows wild in many parts of England, but the wild kind cannot, by cultivating, be brought up to the excellency of our garden and farm turnip. The turnip tops are brought into market for _greens_. The medium-sized roots are better than the largest, which are liable to become corky or spongy.

The _Carrot_ was brought to England by Flemish refugees, during the reign of Elizabeth, and the leaves were in great demand by her court ladies as ornaments for the hair. The ladies of the present day are not satisfied to use it for that purpose, but by putting a root into a glass of water, and hanging in a window, in a few weeks they have a pretty, graceful window ornament, as young leaves will start out and form a green ball, very delightful to the eye in mid-winter. Both turnips and carrots are largely used on the table, and are very desirable to season soups or stews, or garnish fancy dishes. The carrot makes a very good pie, and with a judicious use of eggs and cream can be made quite palatable. When boiled and prepared for the table, the young and tender roots should be selected, as when large or old they become woody and fibrous. The carrot is excellent food for horses and cows. Unlike the turnip, it imparts no unpleasant taste to the milk, and is, therefore, very desirable for winter feed. The carrot contains a much larger proportion of sugar than most of the esculent roots; a large quantity of spirits can be distilled from it, and it is sometimes used instead of malt for beer.

The _Parsnip_ is also a native of Britain, and largely used, not only for soups and garnishing dishes, but as a vegetable; or, dipped in a batter of butter, flour, and white of eggs, it is fried a delicate brown, and sent to the table as a side-dish. During Lent, it is much eaten with fish. It is even sweeter than the carrot,--much too sweet to please all tastes. Like the carrot, it is excellent in soups, and is sometimes made into bread. A kind of wine, said to resemble the Malmsley wine of Madeira, can be made from the parsnip. In Ireland, they brew it with hops, and make what they consider an agreeable drink. Parsnips and potatoes, in Scotland, are often beaten up with butter, and a nice dish for children prepared from them.

The varieties of the _Onion_ tribe are more widely spread over the whole world than any other article of food. The _onion_, _leek_, _chive_, _garlic_, and _shallot_ are the kinds in most universal use. In Egypt and many parts of Africa, it is noted for its very delicate taste, being less pungent and the odor less offensive than those raised with us. Two thousand years before Christ, it had, in the estimation of the Egyptians, some mysterious signification, and was worshipped by them as possessing wonderful efficacy. The onion is much pleasanter for food or seasoning in warm climates than with us. Those raised in Spain, Portugal, and Strasburg are famous for their great delicacy. They are everywhere used, cooked, raw, or made into salads. When eaten raw the odor imparted to the breath is exceedingly disagreeable, and, even cooked or prepared in salads, is not at all pleasant. It is said that chewing a little raw parsley will remove this annoyance, or a few kernels of roasted coffee, but we have never known anything but time and abstinence that did remedy the evil. It is to be regretted that it should be so, for they would otherwise be great favorites with all, and are, no doubt, very wholesome.

The _Leek_ is more used in Switzerland and Scotland,--indeed, in all cold, mountainous regions, both on account of its being hardy, and because its exceeding pungency is a recommendation in these cold regions. It is a very important ingredient in two Scotch dishes that were the noted favorites of King James I., the “Cock-a-leekie” and “Haggis.” They claim in Wales and Scotland that the leek was brought to them by St. David. The blanched stem is the best for soups and stews, and is more esteemed in France than with us.

The _Chive_ is a native of Britain and France. It is sometimes found wild in the pastures, and, if eaten by cows, imparts a very offensive taste to the milk. It is milder than the onion or leek. The leaves are the part used for broths and soups, and in some kinds of omelets, especially in France, it is thought to be indispensable. With us, it is more frequently found in the dishes at restaurants and hotels than at our private tables.

The _Garlic_ is the most offensive of the onion tribe. It grows naturally in Sicily and the South of France, and from there found its way into Britain and America. It is very little used with us, but is found at almost all tables in Italy, though the root is only boiled to season soups and other dishes, and removed as soon as it has imparted a sufficiently strong flavor.

The _Shallot_ grows wild in Palestine, and was introduced into England by the Crusaders. It is still more pungent in taste than the garlic, but not as offensive. Used in pickles, soups, and made dishes.

The _Rosambole_ is a native of Denmark. It partakes of the character of both the garlic and the shallot, and is used in a similar manner.

LVII.

POT-HERBS AND SALADS.

THE number of plants and vegetables that are of excellent quality, and can be profitably cultivated for purposes of pot-herbs and salads, are so numerous that we can only mention the names, with here and there an item, that we may rouse the young housekeeper’s curiosity sufficiently to tempt her to search for their full history herself and we hope lead others to do the same.

In Burr’s “Field and Garden Vegetables of America,” is a “full description of nearly eleven hundred species and varieties, with directions for propagation, culture, and use.” Among them are many species and varieties which make excellent salads and greens.

The _Leaf-beet_ is much esteemed. The leaf is used for greens. The rib, which is called Swiss _chard_, is cut out, boiled, and dressed like asparagus, which it resembles in taste. There are five varieties, of which the silver-leaf is the best.

Three varieties of the _Nightshade_--the white from East India, the large-leafed China malabar, and the red malabar from China--furnish a desirable addition to our pot-herbs. The juice from the fruit of the red variety supplies a beautiful color, but is not permanent. The black, or deadly nightshade, is poisonous.

The _Nettle_, of which only one kind is mentioned, will grow anywhere spontaneously, but is, in many places, largely cultivated, and is excellent for greens. The young, tender buds or shoots are nipped off as they appear, and will shoot out again very rapidly. By being put into a green or forcing-house, it furnishes a good substitute for cabbage, colewort, or winter spinach. If placed near a flue in the hot-house in winter, it will supply excellent nettle-kale all through the winter. Lawson says: “The merits of this generally accounted troublesome plant have been quite overlooked. Aside from the food it can supply, the stalk is quite fibrous, and may be made into ropes and cordage and good thread; besides a white, beautiful linen-like cloth can be manufactured from it, but it has never been cultivated for that purpose. It is an Asiatic plant.”

_Spinach_ is one of the most important of this class of edibles. It grows wild in England. Flanders supplies us with some of the cultivated kinds. The _orache_, or mountain spinach, is quite hardy and very good. It is a native of Tartary, and was brought into England by Sir John Banks.

The _Quinoa_, a native of Mexico, is easily cultivated here. The leaves are used like spinach. The seeds in some places are made to take the place of corn or wheat for bread, and are excellent food for poultry.

The English and Irish _Sea-beet_ are much liked in some places, and are easily cultivated.

The _Shepherd’s-purse_ tastes somewhat like cabbage, but is much more delicate. That which is raised and marketed in Philadelphia is wonderfully juicy, and the leaf grows quite large.

Of the salad plants, _Celery_ stands among the first. It is a native of England, and has many varieties, too numerous to mention here.

_Lettuce_ is an Asiatic plant, and, like celery, is an important and almost indispensable article in preparing chicken, lobster, or other mixed salads. It is also eaten plain with simply salt or dressed with vinegar, sugar, and oil; or, what is better still, a few drops of vinegar, with sugar and rich cream.

The _Endive_, a native of China and Japan, is largely cultivated in America, and by many considered one of the best autumn, winter, and early spring salads.

_Corn-salad_, brought from the South of France and Europe, is sometimes boiled or cooked like spinach; but usually the young leaves are dressed for salad, and in winter and early spring are excellent.

_Cress_, or pepper-grass, belongs to Persia, but is largely raised here; eaten as a salad, either separately or mixed with lettuce or celery. The varieties are quite numerous.

_Horse-radish_ and _Mustard_ are from Europe. The young tips are sometimes mixed with other greens, and their natural pungency adds quite a pleasant flavor to less highly spiced pot-herbs.

The _Nasturtium_ is from Peru. The seeds make a pickle almost equal to the caper, and the young shoots furnish a fine, pungent salad; and in all its many varieties it is a pretty garden ornament.

The _Purslain_, _Rape_, and _Rocket_ are natives of Europe.

The _Samphire_ is used as a seasoning for salads. _Tarragon_, from Siberia, is also put in salads for seasoning, and much used steeped in vinegar for dressings of various kinds.

_Valeriana_, as a salad, is by some thought more desirable than corn-salad, and is likewise a very beautiful garden ornament.

All these and many more can be grown in our own country, and most of them with very little trouble. Interesting statements respecting them can be found in most of the agricultural books, which are well worth reading.

LVIII.

MISTAKES IN COOKING VEGETABLES.

FRESH vegetables, properly prepared, are among the most important articles of food. They mostly abound in saline substances that are indispensable to the maintenance of a healthy condition of the whole system; but to secure the blessings they were designed to yield, everything depends on their being freshly gathered and carefully cooked.

It is very difficult to obtain freshly gathered vegetables when one is obliged to depend on the city markets for them. In this, as in many other things, our farmers, and those who can afford even a small vegetable garden, have far more to be thankful for than those whose home is in the city, and whose tastes and desires extend no farther; for although to those who heartily relish the summer productions, stale vegetables may be better than none, yet the use of them is always an unsafe experiment, making easy victims for the many diseases incident to the summer; whereas we imagine a reasonable prodigality in eating most of the summer vegetables and fruits, when they can be had every day fresh from the garden, is peculiarly conducive to the enjoyment of sound health.

Then, as regards the cooking of the many kinds of vegetables that are desirable only when fresh, it must be remembered that many sorts have a large proportion of woody tissues, which require a suitable degree of heat by which they can be softened or decomposed before they may be eaten with impunity. That done, and the acid which is found in almost all esculent vegetables becomes an essential assistance to sound digestion, as it tends to strengthen and give tone to the stomach.

_Hard water_ is often recommended for cooking many kinds of vegetables, but we know of none that are improved, and many that are injured by it. Beans and peas, for instance, are injured by boiling in hard water, whereas if soft water is used the skin softens, loses its huskiness, and these delicate vegetables become highly nutritious.

A little soda is used by many cooks in preparing vegetables; but it is only when one is so unfortunate as to be unable to procure soft water to cook with that we think it can be tolerated. To be sure, it secures a fine green with some articles, such as peas and beans, and makes them very tender, but this is gained at the expense of all sweetness and natural flavor.

A few rules for gathering and preparing vegetables in the country may be given, which, if carefully observed, will secure their being brought to the table in an excellent condition, and eaten without one murmur of dissatisfaction.

First, be sure that they were raised from the best of seed. It is useless to expect good vegetables unless they spring from the most perfect and best variety of seed. “Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?” Those who cultivate but a few acres simply for family use, having learned the importance of choosing their seed with care, are every year becoming more and more particular in their search for the finest varieties. More depends on this than farmers have been accustomed to think; but seeing what can be done by amateur gardeners through care, and reading the success of other experiments, they are giving much more attention to this than was customary in former years. The result is, that there is no longer any excuse for having a poor article brought either from your own garden or the market. It is the length of time it has been gathered, and the manner in which it has been prepared, that determines its excellence.

All vegetables are injured by lying exposed to sun and rain; but corn, peas, fresh beans, asparagus, and lettuce become perfectly worthless. They should be gathered while the dew is yet on them, brought to the house, and placed at once in a cool place where the sun will not strike upon them. It is better to leave corn in the husk, peas and beans in the pods, until it is time to prepare them for cooking. Then watch that they are not left long in water, if, indeed, you cannot avoid washing them entirely. Corn when taken from the husk needs no washing; simply remove all the silk. If there is a black or rusty spot on an ear of corn, reject it entirely; it shows the beginning of disease. It improves a mess of peas, adding greatly to their sweetness, to boil the _pods_, after shelling, about fifteen minutes in the water you are about to boil the peas in. For this purpose, you must pour cold water over the pods, to remove any dust or minute bugs that may be upon them; wash quickly, and then leave them to drain before shelling. The peas, of course, after this need no washing, neither do beans. Asparagus should be washed quickly, to remove all dust; but must on no account be left in the water a moment after it is clean. As soon as washed, put in a cullender to drain, and then over the stove to cook as soon as you can. All vegetables should be laid in the saucepan in which they are to be cooked, with sufficient salt to season sprinkled over them; then _boiling_ water poured on, and the whole brought to a boil immediately, else they become of a brownish color and look very uninviting. The salt, either put on them first or the water salted before they are put in, prevents the color changing. Then boil, or, what is better, _steam_ them for the proper time,--twenty minutes for asparagus, peas, and corn is long enough, never over thirty minutes; when so old as to need longer cooking, they are too old to use at all. Beans require longer time, unless very young; from three quarters of an hour to an hour will be necessary.

Very few vegetables, comparatively, are as digestible raw as when cooked; those used for salads, such as celery, lettuce, cabbage, etc., are exceptions. Some which when raw are quite poisonous can, by skillful boiling, be transformed into our most nutritious and easily digested food; yet the attempt to cook them is too often made in such a careless and reckless way that, although whatever poison they contain when raw is dispelled, the mode of cooking makes them about as injurious to the health as the poison could have been,--half raw or overcooked till they are clammy or sodden, or cooked with salt and fat meat until their whole nature seems changed,--requiring a stomach like that of an ostrich to digest them.

The _potato_, when raw, is not only unpalatable and injurious, but is supposed to be really poisonous, while proper cooking changes it to one of the most palatable and healthful of all vegetables.

The _bitter cassava_ is so deadly when raw that the Indians use the juice to poison their arrows; but when grated and pressed, to remove the juice, it is subjected to a heat which destroys all that is unsafe, and then we have the tapioca, so much prized for table use, and which is regarded by many physicians as far more digestible for infants than arrowroot; but the _sweet cassava_, from which bread is made, is, even when raw, free from all harmful qualities. The _wake-robin_, from which sago is made, is so poisonous that the juice will blister the hand; but like the cassava, when roasted or boiled, is entirely free from all injurious qualities, and is, after being thus cooked, made into sago.

In many of our “cook-books” _mint_ is recommended for seasoning various kinds of vegetables, but we do not believe a good vegetable can be improved by anything that destroys the true natural taste. Peas may be much improved, we think, by boiling the pods, after washing them in clear soft water, about fifteen minutes; then strain the water from the pods, bring it to a boil, add some salt to keep the peas green, and use as much as is needed to boil the peas themselves in. It gives them all the sweetness that the pod contains, which is sufficiently near the flavor of the pea not to impart any unnatural taste. A little cream may be added with the butter, pepper, and salt required to dress them, although we think the little water that is needed to cook them (and it should be _very little_) is far better. When we see a little _mint_ advised to “give a fine flavor,” we have no objection to others enjoying it, but confess we think it a perverted taste.

Peas, beans, asparagus, corn, and potatoes should be either steamed or cooked in as little water as can be used without burning them; and to dress the first three, some of the water in which they are boiled should be used; then, in helping them out, if any prefer them dry, it is very easy to take them from the dish free from liquor.

Another great mistake consists in allowing most kinds of vegetables to cook too long. Some require much longer time to cook than others, but all need careful watching. Beets, turnips, carrots, parsnips, etc., need considerable cooking; but if you go beyond a certain point they become watery or sodden, and lose half their excellence or are completely ruined. Peas, corn, and potatoes should require but little time to be cooked sufficiently. When young, peas and corn do not require over fifteen or twenty minutes; as they become larger or attain their full growth, thirty minutes may be needed; if more than that, they are no longer fit to use, except for soups or meal.

Peas, beans, asparagus, and lettuce are often injured by being washed too much, or by being left soaking in water. Wash as little and as quickly as possible; drain, then cover up the dish, and put them in a cool place out of the sun till ready to cook. Lettuce, particularly, will be far more crisp and tender if, after washing and picking it over carefully, it is laid on ice till needed.

LIX.

DIVIDED FAMILY GOVERNMENT.

“I HAVE a family of young children, naturally amiable and obedient, who, while very young, seldom needed even slight punishment; but as they grow older wants and wills are thickening, and, occasionally, natural perversity and willfulness are manifested which sometimes require restraint. The mother’s heart would shield her children from such denials or demands as the father sees is necessary to their proper education and future happiness. Her tenderness warps her judgment, and too frequently her speech and action stand opposed to mine. Hence the question must often arise, if she cannot control her words and feelings in the presence of the children and servants, how far am I bound, in view of the future well-being of our offspring, to push my authority, and, as the father and head of the house, insist upon her yielding to my judgment without such opposition; and if I am compelled peremptorily to insist upon her silence, when I am attempting to control our children, what is her duty?”

These questions, which have been addressed to us, are full of interest; and the answer, if given simply from the first impressions derived from the perusal of the letter, without mature deliberation, would seem comparatively easy. But a few moments’ careful reflection will suffice to show that, looked at in all the various aspects necessary to form a thoroughly correct judgment, it is a very intricate and important subject, for which no one general rule can be made to meet the necessities of all. The happiness of the family, as a whole, and the future welfare of the children, require a united government; but, unfortunately, we do not see it to any wide extent. Children, who should be a bond of union, are too often the cause of dissension and division. If the father is stern, arbitrary, and unreasonable in dealing with the little ones, a judicious mother, who has suffered for them and watched over them by day and by night from their birth, naturally shrinks from the effects which severity or irritability must have on their young and tender minds, knowing, in almost every case, that gentleness and love will soften the heart and secure obedience, while coldness and harshness will harden, and provoke rebellion.

Or, perhaps, on the other hand, the father is loving and tender, yet firm; fully aware that foolish and injudicious indulgence, although for the present gratifying, will in the end work out, not the peaceable fruits of righteousness, but, for the children, years of sin and sorrow; for the parents, wretchedness, tribulation, and anguish. With a father whose constant thought is to seek the best interest of his children, even though it can be obtained only at the expense of some self-denial, if the mother co-operates, the training of their family will be a labor full of love and gladness. When both parents see eye to eye, and seek God’s blessing on every step, they may rest assured that their children, thus led in the way they should go, will, in mature age, rise up and call them blessed.

It is very strange that parents, with so many examples which should on the one hand warn them against over-indulgence, and on the other encourage them in the administration of all needed discipline, should not learn to avoid disputes or discussion in the presence of their families. When they so far forget their children’s best interests as to wrangle and dispute whenever a case of discipline is necessary, and allow children and servants to hear and see the whole, they not only lose the respect of those who should naturally look to them for guidance and help, but, more than all, they do lasting injury to those whom they should protect and love. One or two specimens of divided counsels and the mischief is done. Children are quick to observe; they turn to the parent who they learn will be most ready to hide their faults or overlook their short-comings for help to escape punishment, or to secure the gratification of every childish whim; but they soon learn to care little for either parent, for the selfish love of a child who has lost respect and reverence for father or mother is of little value. If the father commands and the mother, openly or privately, cancels the injunction, or the mother permits an indulgence and the father revokes the permission, the child will soon become angry and stubborn; and even if not daring to utter reproach and insolence openly, the spirit of bitterness and revolt is aroused. If parents were seeking to destroy their children, they could scarcely find any means so well calculated to accomplish the object. But the mischief does not end here; the parents themselves become embittered by such dissensions. Sometimes it leads to disputes and quarrels, and sometimes to partisanship; and thus the child’s selfishness, jealousy, and mercenary nature are cultivated. In such divided households better far are early deaths than life and health for children that must otherwise grow up under such malign influences.

If parents cannot see alike, in matters of family government, then they should agree between themselves on some compromise; but in the presence of their children, these differences ought never to be mentioned. Even if one parent is mistaken, it is better far to pass the mistake by, unnoticed, than that a dispute should arise, or that the other parent should interfere in the presence of servants or children. In almost all such cases there is blame on both sides; but, right or wrong, it is better that one should yield instantly and let the other decide, for the time being, than to attempt to right the wrong in the presence of any one, particularly in that of children. It is not hard to do this; and, O parents! if you truly love each other, it should be very sweet and easy kindly and unselfishly to discuss the matter under consideration; but let the husband dismiss during the discussion all idea of _authority_. It is an ugly word between husband and wife at all times; and in the endeavor to settle a disputed point, if you seek for any good results, keep it as far out of sight as possible. Go to your wife in the same spirit that influenced you while wooing her, and speak with the same tenderness; we think words thus spoken will be like oil on the troubled waters, and bring you into closer and more harmonious union than any _commands_ can do.

But while settling any disputed point with regard to the management of children, it should be constantly remembered by the father that, of necessity, the mother must have more to do with their early years, and can hardly fail to understand their peculiarities better than he can do. It is only a few moments at a time that the father can spend with them, while the mother must watch over them hourly, providing for all their constantly recurring wants. To her belongs, naturally, the care of their health and early habits; to her the watching and weariness in times of sickness, and the harassing toil of nursing them through the fretful period of convalescence, back to soundness and vigor.

In the few hours the father’s business allows him to spend with his family, he may be able to see the weak points more clearly than the mother can do, who must be always with them. He may see plainly how, at times, she weakly yields to their caprices, allowing herself to become a slave to them, often because too weary to be firm. This is the time when his love, tenderness, and sympathy for his wife, the mother of his children, should be most earnestly manifested; when he can prove which is the stronger, which better fitted to be the true head of the house. These weaknesses, from whatever cause they spring, should not be noticed before the little despots; when alone, the husband, with the greatest kindness and gentleness, can show his wife how such indulgence will lay the foundation for much present trouble, and perhaps for a corrupt and disgraceful future. If she has good sense, and he, with unselfish desire for the good of all, does not seek by arrogant dictation to set himself above her, we can hardly imagine a wife and mother who would not earnestly endeavor to make the necessity of such appeals very unfrequent.

But if the mother is frivolous and self-indulgent, too weak and indolent to take up the cross of refusing childish, unreasonable importunities, for the glory that shall crown her when, by her firmness, her children have become noble men and women,--then, God help her who can thus lay the ax to the root of all domestic happiness! For the husband and father to push his authority or command silence with the children at home, constantly exposed to such influences, can do no good; it only increases the difficulty. We know of no better or surer way to save the children than to remove them from home and a weak mother’s cruel indulgence, and place them in some school where health and morals may be carefully watched over, but one sufficiently strict to save them from the evils of too great indulgence. This is a hard task; but it has saved many children whose parents, either one or both, were too foolishly tender or too cruelly indolent to control them, as God has commanded, in their early years.

LX.

HOW CAN WE SECURE GOOD SERVANTS?

MANY inquiries reach us, both from city and country, as to the best and most certain way to secure, if not the best, at least tolerably good servants. It is a question impossible to answer with any degree of certainty. The very best managers, the kindest and most conscientious, are no more sure of being suited than those who work without method, and are not governed by the law of kindness.

“Where shall we apply when searching for help?” is a question that is asked very frequently, and is equally impossible to answer. Some say, “Advertise.” The next will give you such a history of her trials from advertising, as will most effectually frighten you from that mode of help-seeking. But they will tell you to go to one intelligence office, and, if that fails, refer you to the next best. Another will say, as we should, that of all places an intelligence office is the most disheartening and the least reliable of any.

A lady in the country, with a large family, who is so happy as to have two grown-up daughters for her chief assistants, is desirous of “obtaining a raw German or English girl, hoping to be able to train her to do general housework properly,” and inquires where she must apply to obtain such a one, “right from the ship,” before a week or two of idleness has taught her the “ways and the manners” of those who have been in this country longer.

We have very little experience with what are called “greenhorns,” or girls right from the emigrant ships, though we doubt if they can be any more ignorant or half so unmanageable as many of the girls who have been in America for years.

The emigrant ships which come to New York land their passengers at Castle Garden. “The Labor Bureau of the Commissioners of Emigration” is under the supervision of Eugene Casserly, and we are told by reliable authority, that unless friends have secured employment for them before they reach our shores, their names, if they come seeking work, are registered in an intelligence office there. For any one proposing to seek servants from among those just landed, it may be well to go to that office, when these ships first land their passengers, and endeavor to form as correct a judgment as is possible, before actual trial. We are also told that some little conversation with the officers of the ship will sometimes make the selection easier or more satisfactory. During the tedious passage the officers have many opportunities of seeing their passengers under circumstances that can, if they choose to notice, enable them to form a reasonably correct idea of their character and capacities; though we fear that officers on board emigrant ships seldom give much heed to those under their care.

_A reader_ inquires “if it would be safe for a young housekeeper to attempt to train a ‘raw recruit,’ and, if so, from which of all the countries whose people flock to our land we would advise her to seek for a good, reliable servant.”

It requires much patience and no small degree of skill to take a girl from another country, whose whole life and associations have been entirely different from our own, and bring her into a new life by teaching her to forget all her early habits and modes of working. It is a great and uncommon gift to be able to do this with patient kindness, and yet with such authority as insures obedience. Success in such an undertaking is a blessing both to the teacher and the pupil. Now and then we find one who, under such teaching and benevolent guidance, has fully repaid all the thought and care which has been bestowed upon her, and who, by her fidelity and unwearied energy, has won the love and grateful appreciation of all, and is looked upon as the good angel of the family. But we regret to say such characters are rare; and though, in some instances, the impatience and irritability of the mistress may repress much of good which, under better auspices, might have been developed, yet we do not believe as a general rule that the chief blame should rest with the mistress. Not one in a hundred--and that we fear is a high proportion--of all the Irish that come to our country can, by any amount of care, patience, or indefatigable teaching, be transformed into a neat, energetic, faithful, truth-telling servant; and as for gratitude, once in a while you may find one who remembers your faithful teaching, your kindness and care in times of sickness or trouble, who cannot be turned from her fidelity and attachment to you; but for the most part all this vanishes like the morning dew, at the first chance for easier work or higher wages.

The English and Scotch, as far as our observation goes, are more inclined to make their employers’ interest their own. They labor as faithfully, and watch with an eye to economy quite as earnestly, when left in charge alone, as when the master and mistress are near them. Of course there are exceptions to every rule; and we speak more from our own experience than from what others say.

The Swiss and Swedes are usually smart and capable; but their inability to understand our language when they first come to us, makes their instruction difficult and tedious, unless the mistress is well versed in foreign languages.

A good Welsh girl is one of the best,--usually neat, active, and quick to learn; and as the pastors of the Welsh churches hold it a part of their duty to exercise careful supervision over those under their charge, that acts as a great safeguard.

There are no better servants to be found than such as come from Canada and Nova Scotia, _if_ one can secure such as bring from their own country a genuinely good character. Naturally hardy and industrious, they are not the kind of girls who begin by asking, “How many in the family? How large is the washing? Have you stationary wash-tubs? What privileges do you allow your girls?” But whatever they are told to do, if within the compass of their ability, they do it more willingly and cheerfully than most. But there are not a large number of the Swiss, Swedish, Welsh, or Nova Scotia girls to be had, nor are all who come to our country of the better sort; so that whichever way we turn for domestic help, one is almost compelled to feel as if buying tickets in a lottery.

LXI.

THE GUEST-CHAMBER.

IT is the prevalent opinion among housekeepers that the guest-chamber, or “spare room,” must, in every respect, be the best and most desirable chamber in the house. We think this a mistaken idea. Of course the room should be pleasant and inviting, furnished as tastefully and with as many conveniences as can be afforded, without curtailing the comfort and pleasures of the family, and with such regard to comfort that a guest, on entering, may feel at once not only at home, but as if surrounded with kindness and thoughtful care. All this can be accomplished without appropriating the largest and most commodious room for that purpose. The chambers most used, and, after the sitting-room, most necessary to the comfort and happiness of the family, to whom the house is _home_, and not a mere transient stopping-place, should be the best ventilated, the largest, and most convenient. The mother’s chamber and the nursery--if there must be two apartments, they should be separated only by a door, that the mother’s care may be near at hand--ought to be chosen with reference to the health and enjoyment of those who are expected to occupy them for years. The “spare room” should be a secondary consideration, for our guests are but temporary residents of our rooms, to whom, indeed, must be given all the time and attention that family cares will allow; while to the permanent inmates the house is a resting-place from hard labor, a refuge from outside care for some of the family, and to make it such to husband and children, the housekeeper has a daily routine of duties which can be wonderfully lightened by pleasant surroundings. And thus, for reasons having a bearing on every member of the household, it seems to us very desirable that more thought, care, and expense be given to secure a pleasant outlook, a thorough ventilation, and attractive and convenient furniture for the family rooms, than for the one set apart for those who, however honored and beloved, can of necessity remain but a few days.

We would by no means leave the impression that a family should selfishly retain their regular apartments when so many guests are present that several rooms are needed. In times of large gatherings it is very delightful to see each member of the household contribute some part of his or her rights to the free and cordial entertainment of friends. On such occasions, if they are not too frequent, it is quite amusing and conducive to much sport and cheerfulness to meet in family council and discuss the ways and means that may be employed to stretch the house, so that twenty people can be comfortably lodged in a space where usually eight or ten have only sufficient room. This, for a short time, is no hardship,--it is like a picnic,--and every child, from its earliest years, should be taught there is a pleasure in giving up rights, whims, and fancies, connected with its own special apartments, for the accommodation of others. The lesson is very easily taught, when they see that this is only a temporary thing; knowing this, when the pressure abates, they will return to their rooms better prepared to estimate and appreciate the care and affection which has so pleasantly consulted their taste and comfort in arranging the apartment which is set aside for them.