How to Cook Husbands.
by Elizabeth Strong Worthington.
I
A while ago I came across a newspaper clipping-a recipe written by a Baltimore lady-that had long lain dormant in my desk. It ran as follows:
"A great many husbands are spoiled by mismanagement. Some women go about it as if their husbands were bladders, and blow them up; others keep them constantly in hot water; others let them freeze, by their carelessness and indifference. Some keep them in a stew, by irritating ways and words; others roast them; some keep them in pickle all their lives. Now it is not to be supposed that any husband will be good, managed in this way-turnips wouldn"t; onions wouldn"t; cabbage-heads wouldn"t, and husbands won"t; but they are really delicious when properly treated.
"In selecting your husband you should not be guided by the silvery appearance, as in buying mackerel, or by the golden tint, as if you wanted salmon. Be sure to select him yourself, as taste differs. And by the way, don"t go to market for him, as the best are always brought to your door.
"It is far better to have none, unless you patiently learn to cook him.
A preserving kettle of the finest porcelain is the best, but if you have nothing but an earthenware pipkin, it will do, with care.
"See that the linen, in which you wrap him, is nicely washed and mended, with the required amount of b.u.t.tons and strings, nicely sewed on. Tie him in the kettle with a strong cord called Comfort, as the one called Duty is apt to be weak. They sometimes fly out of the kettle, and become burned and crusty on the edges, since, like crabs and oysters, you have to cook them alive.
"Make a clear, strong, steady fire out of Love, Neatness, and Cheerfulness. Set him as near this as seems to agree with him. If he sputters and fizzles, don"t be anxious; some husbands do this till they are quite done. Add a little sugar, in the form of what confectioners call Kisses, but no vinegar or pepper on any account. A little spice improves them, but it must be used with judgment.
"Don"t stick any sharp instrument into him, to see if he is becoming tender. Stir him gently; watching the while lest he should lie too close to the kettle, and so become inert and useless.
"You cannot fail to know when he is done. If thus treated, you will find him very digestible, agreeing nicely with you and the children."
"So they are better cooked," I said to myself, "that is why we hear of such numbers of cases of marital indigestion-the husbands are served raw-fresh-unprepared."
"They are really delicious when properly treated,"-I wonder if that is so.
But I must pause here to tell you a bit about myself. I am not an old maid, but, at the time this occurs, I am unmarried, and I am thirty-four years old-not quite beyond the pale of hope. Men and women never do pa.s.s beyond that-not those of sanguine temperament at any rate. I am neither rich nor poor, but repose in a comfortable stratum betwixt and between.
I keep house, or rather it keeps me, and a respectable woman who, with her husband, manages my domestic affairs, lends the odor of sanct.i.ty and propriety to my single existence. I am of medium height, between blond and brunette, and am said to have a modic.u.m of both brains and good looks.
The recipe I read set me a-thinking. I was in my library, before a big log fire. The room was comfortable; glowing with rich, warm firelight at that moment, but it was lonesome, and I was lonely.
Supposing, I said to myself, I really had a husband; how should I cook him?
The words of an old lady came into my mind. She had listened to this particular recipe, and after a moment"s silence had leaned over, and whispered in my ear:
"First catch your fish."
But supposing he were now caught, and seated in that rocker across from me, before this blazing fire.
I walked to the window-to one side of me lives a little thrush, at least she is trim and comely, and always dresses in brown. Just now she is without her door, stooping over her baby, who is sitting like a tiny queen in her chariot, just returned from an airing.
It isn"t the question of husband alone-he might be managed-roasted, stewed, or parboiled, but it"s the whole family-a household. Take the children, for instance; if they could be set up on shelves in gla.s.s cases, as fast as they came, all might be well, but they _will_ run around, and Heaven only knows what they will run into. Why, had I children, I should plug both ears with cotton, for fear I should hear the door-bell. I know it would ring constantly, and such messages as these would be hurled in:
"Several of them have been arrested for blowing up the neighbors with dynamite firecrackers."
"Half a dozen of them have tumbled from off the roof of the house. They escaped injury, but have thrown a nervous lady, over the way, into spasms."
"One or two of them have just been dragged from beneath the electric cars. They seem to be as well as ever, but three of the pa.s.sengers died of fright."
Just think of that! What should I do?
Keep an extra maid to answer the bell, I suppose, and two or three thousand dollars by me continually, to pay damages.
What a time poor Job had of it answering his door bell, and how very unpleasant it must have been to receive so many pieces of news of that sort, in one morning!
Clearly I am better off in my childless condition, and yet--
Little Mrs. Thrush is just kissing her soft, round-faced cherub. I wish she would do that out of sight.
Now as to husbands again, if I had one, what should I do with him?
I might say, Sit down.
Supposing he wouldn"t. What then?
Cudgels are out of date. Were he an alderman, I might take a Woman"s Club to him, but a husband has been known to laugh this instrument to scorn.
But supposing he sat down. What then? He might be a gentleman of irascible, nasty temper, and in walking about my room, I might step on his feet. These irritable folk have such large feet, at least they are always in the way, and always being stepped on no matter how careful one tries to be.
What then?
I decline to contemplate the scene.
Plainly I am better off single.
I walk to my front window, and stretch my arms above my head. There is a light fall of snow upon the ground. This late snow is trying: in its season, it is beautiful; but out of season, it breeds a cheerlessness that emphasises one"s loneliness. I look out through the leafless trees toward the lake, but it is hidden by the whirling, eddying snowflakes. I see Mr. Thrush hurrying home to his little nest.
"Yes," I say to myself, repeating my last thought with a certain obstinacy, "yes, I am better off without a husband, and yet I wish I had one-one would answer, on a pinch-one at a time, at least. A husband is like a world in that respect; one at a time, is the proper proportion."
"It"s far better to have none, unless you learn to cook him." These words recurred to me, just as I was on the point of taking a life partner, in a figurative sense.
The woman that deliberates is lost; consequently, as it won"t do to think the matter over, I plunge in.
My spouse is now pacing up and down the room in a rampant manner, complaining of his dinner, the world in general, and _me_ in particular.
What am I to do?
Charles Reade has written a recipe that applies very well just here. It is briefly expressed:
"Put yourself in his place."
I could not have done this a few years ago, but now I can. Never, until I undertook the management of my business affairs-never until I had some knowledge of business cares and anxieties, the weight of notes falling due; the charge of business honor to keep; the excited hope of fortunate prospects; and the depression following hard upon failure and disappointment-never until I learned all this, did I realize what home should mean to a man, and how far wide of the mark many women shoot, when they aim to establish a restful retreat for their husbands.
I have returned to my domicile, after a fatiguing day up town, with a feeling of exhaustion that lies far deeper than the mere physical structure-a spent feeling as if I have given my all, and must be replenished before I can make another move. I once had a housekeeper whose very face I dreaded at such times. She always took advantage of my silence and my limp condition, to relate the day"s disasters. She had no knowledge of what a good dinner meant, and no tact in falling in with my tastes or needs. On the contrary; if there was a dish I disliked, it was sure to appear on those most weary evenings. In brief, from the very moment I reached home, she did nothing but brush my fur up, instead of down, and I did nothing but spit at her.
Now, many women are like this housekeeper. I wonder their husbands don"t slay them. If you would look out in my back yard, I fear you would see the bones of several of these tactless, exasperating housekeepers, bleaching in the wind and rain.