Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 260, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1918 — Page 2

Uncle Sam’s Sailors Well Fed

Sea Cooks of the New Merchant Marine Are Trained for the Difficult Task

at sea is not what it used » to be in the “good old days” that we ■ J® read about. “A hard biscuit and a ' slice of cold salt beef,” w’hlch Dana mentions in “Two Years Before the jSjF * • Mast” as tils usual meal after a fT)Ym long, hard watch off Cape Horn, is no longer the diet of the American merchant sailor. ' ' The modern sailor man is well & fed, with plenty of fresh meat, vegetables and soft bread, no matter what the voyage he may be on. Modern refrigerating plants and modern cooking methods are to be thanked for that. On the hundreds “of new ships which are being built for the merchant marine by the United States shipping board careful attention is paid to the equipment for storing, cooking and serving food. The government is fully aware that sailors, like soldiers, work best on well-filled stomachs. Care is taken also that efficient men are employed as cooks on the nation’s new merchant fleets. Good sea cooks are not numerous, even in normal times. Having that fact in mind, the United States shipping board, with the thoroughness that- marks all its efforts to create an unequaled merchant marine, is engaged in training an adequate number of cooks to man the galleys of its new’ ships. Young men of character and intelligence are chosen for Instruction. The training of cooks is part of the work done by the shipping board’s recruiting service. This service has a fleet of training ships, based at Atlantic and Pacific ports, on all of which young Americans are taught by experienced cooks the serious business of preparing good food at sea. Besides that, the board has special cooking schools on two of the ships—the a former Atlantic liner stationed at Boston, and the steamer Dorothy Bradford, stationed at New York. Cooking at sea is by no means the same thing as cooking on land. The sea cook has several things to bear in mind that the land cook, in hotel, restaurant or home kitchen never has to think about. Take for instance some of the precautions he must observe as illustrated by the following “Don’ts for Sea Cooks:” <

Don’t expect the stove to remain in a perpendicular position, nor the cook. You are on a moving platform, namely, the ship’s deck, which often rolls and sways with the motiop of the ship lit;, the sea. Don’t fill a kettle full of liquid. The rolling of the ship will cause the contents to slop over and with fats may start a fire. Don’t allow pots and-pans to get adrift. As a guard „ against this, the galley range has fin iron rail around it. Don’t permit dishes to be left on dresser or pantry 'Shelf as on land. If you do they will slide off and be smashed. There are little pigeon-holes for each kind, into which the dishes fit, there being a high bar across the front, with a space cut out through which a dish may be reached and lifted out. x. On modern ships the serving is done by men in the steward’s department, called stewards, so the sea cook of today needs none of that dexterity of foot that one-legged John Silver showed as he pegged bis way aft with dinner along the slippery <leck in the brig of “Treasure Island.” It Is a truism aboard ship that only a cook who likes his job is worth his salt A discontented cook will spoil good food. This psychology is recognized by the shipping board in choosing young men for training as cooks. Only those who volunteer for the job are wanted. There are plenty who do. Out of 3,000 apprentices always on the training fillips a certain percentage may be counted on to ask for training as cooks. These young men are serving on the nation’s “bridge of ships” from patriotic motives. Some may go back to their home towns when the war Is over; but others will remain In the merchant marine, And will take a partin the country’s peace expansion at sea as dignified as that taken by captain, mate or engineer on the ship on which they serve. Nor will they suffer In a financial ..♦•J, for a chief cook gets S9O a month wages, be-

sides his board and quarters —a net income of SI,OBO a year. When the young law student, or bank teller, or blacksmith’s helper who has decided to become a sea cook reports for instruction on the Meade or the Bradford he is taken in hand by a wise old chef who proceeds to teach him the A, B, C’s of sea cooking. These embrace some general rules as to cleanliness and general galley practice, neatly typewritten, under the head “Advice to the Cook.” The most particular housewife will find these rules sound. Here are a*few’ of them: Great cleanliness, as well as case and attention, are required trom a cook. Keep your hands very clean. Try to prevent your nails from getting black or discolored. Don’t scatter in your galley; clean up as. you go; put scalding water into each saucepan or stewpan as you finish using it. Dry your saucepans before you put them on the shelf. Never scrub inside of a frying pan; rub It with wet silver-sand, rinse It out well with hot water afterwards. Wash your pudding cloths, scald and hang them to dry directly after using them; air them before you put them away, or they will be musty. Keep in a dry place. Be careful not t,o use a knife that has cut onions until it has been cleaned. Keep sink and sink-brush very clean: be careful never to throw anything but water down Sink. Do not throw cabbage water down it; throw it away, as its smell is very bad. Never have sticky plates or dishes. Use very hot water for washing them; when greasy" change it. Clean coppers with turpentine and fine brickdust, rubbed On with flannel; polish them with chamois and a little dry brickdust. Clean your tins with soap and whiting mixed, made into a thick cream with hot water. Rub it on with flannel; when dry. whisk it off with clean chamois and dry whiting. * ■ Take care that you look at the meat the butcher brings, to see If it is good. Let there be no waste in the kitchen. ft In Uncle Sam’s school for sea cooks instruction begins, logically, with cereals for breakfast. It happens that the instruction chef on the Bradford is a Scot, and when Jamie Nicol gets through teaching a new hand the art of cooking oatmeal there is nothing further to be said. The novice is next shown how to fry eggs and bacon, how to make hash and how to prepare hamburg steak. These are his first steps. He next gets a chance at dinner, with making soups and roasting and boiling meats and cooking various kinds of vegetables. In this work he learns the mysteries of the big galley range a mighty stove, near seven feet long —of the steam kettle that will cook soup for 100 men and of the steam-oven cooker for vegetables. If he is ambitious, the beginner takes a special course in baking and pudding making, for real puddings take the place of the traditional soggy duff of old times on Uncle Sam’s merchant ships. Rice pudding is a favorite. Lucky is the young man \vho learns to cook rice from a veteran who acquired the art on a trader out of Rangoon or a clipper from Calcutta. _ - “Never put your rice into the kettle until the water is boiling, then scatter it in.” That is the standard rule for rice. “Then we tell ’em to be sure never, to put in the sugar until the rice is done,” says the chef. It has been found that six weeks of intensive training will make a very good sea cook of a beginner if he shows proper aptitude. “We can tell the natural cook,” says Jamie Nicol, "by the questions he asks. The good beginners ask all about everything and make notes. We have a number who put everything they want to remember down in a book. They will make good.” ' , ■!, * . " ' . X . . ..

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

it Is the ambition of most sea cooks to get on a big ship. In wartime, cooking on the smallest vessel is an essential calling, but the big vessel with its modern equipment' and efficiency organization appeals strongly to the type of young man now taking up sea cooking for Uncle Sam. The large vessels carry several cooks. A 5,000ton freighter has a chief cook, a second cook, who is also baker, and a third cook, or cook’s mate. The chief cook is usually the meat cutter also, and in these times scientific meat cutting, as well as cooking, is required on the merchant fleet and taught in the shipping board’s floating cooking schools. • I ✓

WOMEN ARE GOOD MECHANICS.

According to a report of the national industrial conference board, women in wartime employment are showing a remarkable adaptability for machine shop work. The report summarizes information obtained from 131 establishments employing 335,015 men and 49,823 women and including 10,657 women engaged in work formerly performed exclusively by men. Their labor, says the Christian Herald, has ranged from the operation of drill presses ana lathes to coremaking, inspecting and assembling mechanical products and performing many preelse machine operations. In the main it has been confined to the lighter processes requiring rapidity and dexterity, and in such work their output has proved equal to and frequently greater than that of male employees. This was notably true - of women's work in automobile manufacture and in a munition plant manufacturlrtg fuses, where women operatives on drill presses and. milling machines were from 25 to 50 per cent more.rapid than men.

SINGLE SHOES NOW SOLD IN LONDON.

One'of the many pathetic side lights on our war is reflected in advertisements published by British shoe merchants, which vividly impress upon one’s mind the sacrifices that many of our sons and their comrades are gallantly making. Owing to the large number of crippled veterans of the western front, London dealers in men’s footwear' now sell single shoes for one-half the ’’’prices of pairs. To quote an advertisement that recently appeared in a fashionable illustrated magazine: “Wartime boots at 26/3 a pair or 13/2 a boot. The single boots, rights or lefts, are for those men who have been so unfortunate as to lose a leg.”—Popular Mechanics Magazine.

AMERICANS BUYING DIAMONDS.

Among facts disclosed in the investigation conducted by the council of national defense to l?arn the buying trend in civilian trade during the war are a decided increase in sales of small diamonds and a falling off in sales of sizes from one-half carat upward. This is attributed to the great Increase in price and the tendency of people to buv diamonds by price alone; that Is, they have, perhaps, $75 or SIOO to put in a stone, and it brings them a much smaller jewel than the same amount would procure a year or two ago. Watches a|e In great demand, especially wrist watches, which have been enormously popularized by the war.

CALLING A HALT.

“Senator Fudge relates an amusing anecdote —K “If it’s new, all right But I don’t care to listen to a stale story jqst because it is tacked onto a United States senator.” —Kansas City Journal.

FOR STREET WEAR

New Clothes Are Necessary for the Busy Workers. - Little Consideration Is Being .Given This Early In the Season to Evening Garments.There is no diminution 'in evening gpwns this year, either in the French or the American output, and they . unite in a dignity and elegance that is worthy of the time, asserts an authority. But the majority of women are not looking for evening clothes this early in the season. The rich and the’ well-to-do believe that they can go" on with the evening gowns they have. The preponderance of buying is in street clothes and this Spreads downward into strata of society that never before went into the question of frocks and coats with such vivid interest. Why? Because of the mobilization Of all women into war work. And this is the reason that there is such a big demand this early in the season. A woman may stay at home and economize in a wrapper, but she is not going to the Red Cross workroom in a wrapper, nor campaign for th,e Liberty loan, nor meet committees. Her choice is the coat suit, the onepiece frock with a fur neckpiece, or the thin frock under a warm coat. Which shall she choose? Thgt question does not lie wholly with the economical and conservative set. It Is discussed by the richest women who gather at-restaurants and meet their special designers in private salons. There is much to be said In favor of the coat suit for the first three months of moderate weather, because of the intervention of the new blouse. This does not go under the skirt belt, but over it. It is a return to all the primitive fashions that this planet has begotten. Cheruit, for instance, has started a strong demand for brilliant metallic blouses which are Byzantine, and which, Instead of extending over the hips, wrap themselves just below the waist In i a slight folded girdle. This is a remarkable and brilliant fashion. It gives a woman the chance to remove her coat and look gayly and smartly dressed at luncheon or at any afternoon affair. There are .other blouses that are frankly built in the cuirass fashion, and those extend as far below the hips as the coat permits. The woman who wants a short jacket, however, will take up the idea of Chelrut. It Is a l bit less informal than the cuirass Idea and such a blouse can be worn with any kind of jacket, especially with those new square jackets of fur which are to be exceedingly fashionable when they are cut off at the hips and have big pockets that serve as a substitute for a muff. . The turnover collar seems to have

ONE OF FASHION’S LATEST

This is a charming and serviceable suit of duvetyn, trimmed with wide bands of brown seal. The lines are simple and very chic. It is a suit adapted for any occasion.

DICTATES OF FASHION

Some girdles are made of narrow black velvet ribbon ending in jet tassels. White organdie blouses are collared in rose and belted with blue faille. Sweaters are being knit in mercerized cotton and trimmed with angora. A sport coat of natural camel’s hair cloth is splendid for many occasions. ScarfS' edged with wool fringe finish some of the prettiest duvetyn coats. / Turquoise silk trimmed with lavender organdie makes an attractive frock. Ostrich feathers are much used on hats but usually flat under a veiling of tulle.

PURPLE VELVET AND BEAVER

A decidedly smart chapeau that la certain to have many admirers. The lirfis of the brim is very attractive and becoming. The feathers add an effective finishing touch.

disappeared from all kinds of garments except dinner gowns, where it is made of exquisite fabrics. Evidently the designers expect women of all classes to own or buy a bit of fur for the neck, for they make no effort to modify the severity of a neckline that we attribute to the fifteenth century Italian fashions. When a frock has a collar it is of fur, for white collars or those of any light material, such as satin or georgette or chiffon, are taboo. If fur is not used to break the severe line, then nothing Is used. The neck line of gowns may be embroidered in woolen or metallic threads, but those on coats are merely braided or finished with a flat strip of soft peltry. Therefore, de not go out on the street today in a suit and a white or cream shirtwaist, the broad collar of which you have pulled outside the jacket. The fashion is dead.

SUBDUED COLORS FOR FALL

Taupes, Neutral, Shades of Brown, Dull Greens, Dark Blues, Pre- . dominating Tones.

To meet the tendencies of the time, colors for fall are distinctly subdued. Taupes, a new shade between sand and smoke called neutral, all soft shades of brown, but particularly the deep brown as tete de negre, dull greens and-4ark blues are the predominating tones. Yet, In the midst.of all this quiet there will suddenly flash, in the form of a waistcoat, a small apron, a piping, or the glimpse of a lining, a bit of bright color that is as cheerful as a letter/rom the front ! There is a strong tendency to accentuate a costume Of dull or neutral color by adding a string of bright-colored beads, a golden Chinese tassel or a handbag of oriental richness. - However, as a designer pointed out, in combining materials, dull and harmonious colors alone are used. Blege, crepe de chine and dark blue satin, tete de negre velvet and satin of the exact shade, blue serge - and black satin, and black georgette and black satin are favorite combinations. A certain soft shade of terracotta is also used effectively with black. The scarcity of fabrics and the necessity for conserving wool are responsible for this foible of fashion; and it is a fortunate one for the woman who is dressing on a war-reduced income, for she has an excellent opportunity to use something from last season’s wardrobe.' Every one is becoming adept in various forms of economy these days, and she who can combine two old gowns into one new one earns the admiration of her friends.

AMMONIA IS GOOD CLEANSER

Liquid Will Assist in Removing Stains and Dirt That Will Not Yield to Other Treatment. Use Ammonia when cleaning windows. It will loosen old paint on the glass. # Finger marks on the mirror may be removed by rubbing with a moist rag* on which are a few drops of ammonia. Use ammonia to reifiove yellow stains caused by drippings from the faucets in the/bathroom. Take pulverized chalk,/ moisten with a few drops of ammonia and apply with a toothbrush. After carpets have been given a thorough sweeping wipe them over with a cloth wrung out of water containing a few drops of ammbnia. This cleans and brightens the carpet without affecting the color. Put your combs and brushes that need cleaning in a basin of warm watei containing a tablespoonful of ammonia, place the brushes bristles down for a few minutes,, then rub bristles with the hand. Let the combs remain for about an hour, then remove and wipe dry. * \ , To clean finger rings, wash in a hot lather of soap, water and ammonia. Use a small soft brush to remove the dirt from beneath the stones.