Chapter 7—Overburdened Housekeepers
With many, the all-absorbing object of life,—that which justifies
any expenditure or labor,—is to appear in the latest style. Education,
health, and comfort are sacrificed at the shrine of fashion. Even in
the table arrangements, fashion and show exert their baleful influence.
The healthful preparation of food becomes a secondary matter. The
serving of a great variety of dishes absorbs time, money, and taxing
labor, without accomplishing any good. It may be fashionable to have
half a dozen courses at a meal, but the custom is ruinous to health. It
is a fashion that sensible men and women should condemn, by both
precept and example. Do have a little regard for the life of your cook.
“Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” [
Matthew
6:25
.]
In these days, domestic duties claim almost the whole time of
the housekeeper. How much better it would be for the health of the
household, if the table preparations were more simple. Thousands of
lives are sacrificed every year at this altar,—lives which might have
been prolonged had it not been for this endless round of manufactured
duties. Many a mother goes down to the grave, who, had her habits
been simple, might have lived to be a blessing in the home, the church,
and the world.
Satan is the inventor of these customs with which the society of
our day is overburdened, and many of the votaries of fashion know no
better way than to spend their precious probationary time in the almost
fruitless endeavor to keep up with her ever-changing decrees. What
account can they render in the Judgment to God, who has a just claim
upon their time, their strength, and all their powers?
There is a general cry all over our land, “Where shall I find a good
housekeeper, one who knows how to cook?” Indeed, the dearth of
good cooks and housekeepers is becoming alarming. If this state of
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things continues, we shall be left entirely destitute of good domestic
help.
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