Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1910 — WHY THE COOK STAYED. [ARTICLE]

WHY THE COOK STAYED.

The Social Matrons were having a meeting to discuss the never-ending question j>f cooks. It was the almost unanimous opinion of the assembly, after an hour’s talk, that it was impCesible to keep a cook more than a month without changing: “However,” announced the president, "if any person knows of an exceptional case, let ‘ her speak.” A writer in the Philadelphia Ledger tells the story: At this the new member timidly rose. “The exception is in my house.” y she said. <’ * “How long have you had your cook?” asked the president. “Over five years.” For a moment the others stared in amazement; then heads began to bob in admitation, and more heads began to swing sidewise in vigorous distrust of the statement. ' “Is this cook entirely satisfactory as a cook?” ...... • “My, husband thinks not, but she stays, nevertheless.” "How do you manage to keep her, then?” “Because she won’t go.” “Aha!” This ejaculation, which escaped frotn the president's -mouth, was flashed like magic through the meeting until it became a huge wave. The president regarded the new member with half-pity, half-scorn. “Mrs. Smith,” said she, the next moment, ‘instead of advancing a case in which a long-sought solution might have been found, you expose yourself as being worse off than any of your sisters. You show that by allowing this cook to stay over the month you have enabled the mental io attain and an ascendency oyer you and your husband—just the thing this society has so long fought against! No doubt you regret your position, Mrs. Smith ” “I do not!” she replied, bridling through the sniffs and tart insinuations that scintillated about her. “I am the cook!”