Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1875 — Carving. [ARTICLE]

Carving.

It is only of late years that the duty of carving has fallen to the lot of the master of the house. The work of dismembering a fowl or reducing a roast to-slices before our time was always performed by the mistress of the establishment. We learn from the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu that a century ago there were in England professed carving-masters, who taught young ladies the art scientifically. This task must have required ho small share of bodily strength, for the lady was not only to invite—that is, urge and tease — her guests to eat more than human throats could conveniently swallow, out to carve every dish when chosen with her own hands. The greater the lady, the more indispensable the duty. Each joint in its turn was carried up to be operated upon by her, and by her alone, since the peers and knights on either hand were so far from being bound to ofler their assistance that the very master of the house, posted opposite to her, might not act as her croupier. His department was to push , the bottle after dinner. As for the crowd of guests, the most inconsiderable among them —the curate, or subaltern, or ’Squire’s younger brother—if suffered through her neglect to help himself to a slice of mutton placed before him, would have chewed it in bitterness, and gone home an affronted man, half-inclined to give a wrong vote at the next election. Lady Montagu said she took lessons-three times a week, that she might be perfect in the art on such occasions as she was required to preside at her father’s table. In order to perform hex duties successfully she was obliged to eat her own dinner alone an hour or two beforehand. The mistress of a house at this point occupied not only a very 'important, but a very laborious, position. It must be mentioned that tire profusion of provisions in the banquets of'the time bordered upon barbarous magnificence, compared to the elegant modes of preparing dishes in the present day, and called for dininghalls and kitchens of sufficient dimensions to avoid the confusion that must otherwise have occurred. Hence the superintendence of a household was a labor of great extent and responsibility. It was held that a woman had no right to enter the estate of matrimony unless pos-

sessed of a good knowledge of cookery. Otherwise she could perform but half heR vow. She might love and obey, but she could not cherish. To be perfect in this art she must know in which quarter of the moon to plant and gather all kinds of herbs and salads throughout' the year, She must also be “ cleanly, have a quick eye, a curious nose, a perfect taste, and a ready ear,” and be neither butter-fingered; sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted. For if she were the first of these she would let everything fall; if the second, she would consume that which she should increase; and if the third, she would lose time with too much nicen&s. For an ordinary feast, with which any goodman might entertain his friends, about sixteen dishes were considered a suitable supply for the firstcourse. This included such substantial articles as a shield of brawn with mustard, a boiled capon, a piece of boded beef, a chine of beef roasted, a neat’s tongue roasted, a pig roasted, minced chickens made into balls, a roasted goose, a swan, a turkey, a haunch of venison, a venison pasty, a kid with a pudding in it, an olive pie, a couple of roast capons and a custard. Besides these principal dishes the housewife added as many salads, fricassees, and pasties as made thirty-two dishes, which were considered as many as it was polite to put upon the table for a- first course. Then followed second and third courses, in which many of tlie dishes were for show only, but were so tastefully made as to contribute much to the beauty of the feast. With the carving and distribution of such a variety of dishes as these to attend to, the “ burden of the honor” of presiding over a banquet must have pressed heavily upon the housewife whose duty it was to see to the ordering of the feast —Harper's Weekly