  Just as the book was going to press I received this letter— "I must tell you how thankful I have been for your labour-saving ideas. My cook left to make munitions; my housemaid's fancy led her to become the driver of a tradesman's cart; the parlourmaid remained, and still remains, bless her! I have had to rely on what temporary help I could obtain, for cooks so far turn a deaf ear to my entreaties. Had it not been for our gas fires, circulator, and cooker, our washing-rooms and our lift, Heaven knows what would have become of us. "As it is we really have managed extraordinarily well. Most people's houses are too full of things which no one wants. Most people eat too much and serve the food with unnecessary elaboration, and vast numbers of women spend their lives fussing over trifles and making unnecessary work for vast numbers of other women. "Will it be different after the war? "Let us hope so." The greatest Labour-Saving apparatus we possess is the Brain; it has not been worn out by too much use. This statement appears on the first page of this book, and again on the last. It bears repetition. "I strongly disagree. The system is wasteful and unsatisfactory," were his words. With regard to simmering taps, he also holds a contrary opinion. "I again disagree. You can easily turn down a boiling burner to simmering point, but you can't turn up a simmering burner to boiling point," he objected. True, but to me that is the advantage of the simmering burner, for it seems to me that nothing short of a burner which refuses to give out more than a certain degree of heat will deter the English cook from cooking too quickly and by too fierce a heat. —D. C. P. |
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