The Chef from Chicago By & T. Pevrox-Gaire Tt was early last summer that] someone wrote to the editor asking how corn should be eaten. The most obvious retort could not be used, because it was difficult to decide whether the inquiry was in the nature of a "Jape," or whether there iwas a deep and earnest desire for that enlightenment which we are] only too happy to afford when possible. Probably a more important] factor in the omission to supply the required information was inability to lay our hands on a suitable authority. But we have found one in the person of one Hugo Ziemann who gave "the Hotel Richeliew in Chicago a cuisine which won the' praise of the gourmets of all lands.' "It was here that he laid the famous spread,'" the preface continues, "to which the chiefs of the warring factions of the Republican Convention sat down in June, 1888, and from which they arose, with -as-parities softened, differences harmonized and victory organized." The work was first copyrighted in 1887 and the volume from which we quote was published in 1923.
It is a most intriguing book, and ranges through the whole gamut of human endeavour from carving to toilet accessories, though whether on the caro of a sick room cookery book, we leave our readers} to judge for themselves.
Even the most up-to-date burglar! could not fail to be instructed by some of the items appearing unch the heading "Facts Worth Knowing. Thus:—"To remove old putty from window frames, pass a red hot} [poker slowly over t, and it will come off How very much quieter than the cruder method of] using a diamond with all its nasty scratchiness! Or "To remove finger marks:—Sweet oil will remove! finger marks from varnished furniture and kerosene from oiled furniture." Consequently if a man is seen prowling at night with a red hot poker in his hand and bottles of sweet oil and kerosene in his! pockets, the deduction will be that} he is a burglar, and the work of the Police will be considerably lightened.
Kindness to insects is not entirely overlooked, for we find a recipe lighten the life of the industrious ant. "A heavy chalk mark Inid finger's distance from your sugar vox and all around (there must be wee not covered) will surely' prevent ants from troubling." have never tried it with ants, but in Jour youth we used to perform a similar experiment with a chicken and a chalk line—but we don't! remember that the bird ceased from' troubling.
It is not, however, until we come to page 585, where we find a chapter} headed "Small points on Table Etiquette" that we fully realize the with which this tome has]
"Delicacy of manner} we learn, "Stamps. both and woman, for one can, at} a glance, discern whether a person ied to cat well—iee. to and fork properly, to ent without the slightest sound of the lips, to drink quietly, to use the napkin rightly, ete.
We are informed that we should "be careful to keep the mouth shut} closely while masticating food.
the opening of the lips which Jeauses the smacking which seems very disgusting..." "Soup is always served for the first course and it Jshould be eaten with dessert spoons and taken from the sides and not} the tips of them, without any sound Jof the lips "and: not sucked into the mouth audibly from the fends of the spoon..." "Peas and beans," it is stated, "As we alli know, require the fork only." There is something very subtle in this hast sentence, an indirect reference to the peas rolling all over the place if any other method is. used.
As we get down the menu, how ever, we come to the item which! answers our correspondent of last} summer "Green corn should be eaten from the cob; but it must be held with a single hand." Now we know] why the married men take the flappers out, during the summer when the wife is away at the seaside. Yet, perhaps our interpretation is wrong, for the writer 'a couple of pages further on, develops this single hand argument. "One may pick a bone at the table, bat, as with corn, only one hand is allowed to touch easily get enough away from it] with Knife' and fork, which is Jcertainly the more elegant way of doing; and to take her teeth to it ives a lady the look of caring a little too much for the pleasures of the table; one is however, on. account to suck one's finger aiter I suppose you arg different than the rest?"
"What do'you mean?"
"Aw—you're all alike, You love us, and Teave us."
"If you'll come away from this place I'l! never leave you."
"Listen! Take a look at my face.
There is, of course, a great deal'
Look at me!" more on this intricate art of cating; We all turned around at the com-we only set out to answer one mand in her voice and looked, question, but having given some use~ fal tips to would-be burglars there! ineffably sady is a suggestion that the author is her mouth chiseled in a Mona List endeavouring to straighten his smile. She might have boon the morals out in the very last line of Madonna of mankind, fines Wing from your chai Teave "E20 at met" Her vole rang it where it stands."
She turned her shadowed face
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.