Tag: Cooking

The Domestic Problem

Published on by Isabella Alden4 Comments

Isabella Alden believed that young Christian women who must earn a living would—for the most part—be better off doing so by hiring themselves out as domestic helpers in Christian homes, rather than taking jobs in factories or stores.

Illustration of a young woman about 1910 wearing a long-sleeved, floor-length dress over which is an apron. In one hand she holds a canned grocery item. With her other hand she gestures toward a large, ornately-decorated cast-iron stove. Beside her is a kitchen work table holding a jar, a bowl, a bucket, a spoon and glass.

She used that idea as the premise for her short story “Their Providence” (which you can read for free by clicking here).

Isabella believed a Christian home offered a safer living environment for a single young woman; and that she would be protected from the coarse worldly influences she would find if she lived in a boarding house.

Illustration of a young girl from about 1910. She wears her brown hair up in a loose bun with a large black bow. Her floor-length dress is black with a white collar, cuffs, and a white lace-trimmed apron.

She also believed that living with a Christian family would reinforce the beliefs and principles Christian girls grew up with, such as keeping the Sabbath holy, regularly attending church, having daily Bible readings, and engaging in mission work.

Isabella knew the arrangement could be problematic. In her novel Ester Ried’s Namesake she wrote about a head-strong, quick-tempered young heroine who was hired as a live-in domestic helper for a Christian family that often treated her very poorly. But in true “Pansy” fashion, the characters in her novel eventually recognized their shortcomings and, with God’s help, learned to forgive and influence each other for good.

Illustration of a woman about 1900 wearing a high-necked, long-sleeved shirt and a brown skirt, over which is a white apron. In one hand she holds a recipe book; in the other she holds a pan of backed bread. Behind her another woman wearing a servant's cap pours a liquid from a saucepan into bowls placed on a table. Behind them is a large cast-iron stove. On top of the stove is a kettle with steam coming from its spout.

She also shared her idea of young women working as domestic help in some of her speaking engagements and in magazine articles she wrote.

But the concept was not always a welcome one. In 1911 Isabella received a letter from a young woman in Ohio who disagreed with Isabella’s advice.

I have recently read, in a paper or yours, a remark about “lovely Christian homes” where self-respecting girls could earn their living as helpers. I wonder if you really have any idea how these “lovely” people treat their hirelings? I think you had in mind the comfort of your well-to-do friends, rather than the girls whom you advised.

When you talk about girls finding good “homes” I don’t think you stop to consider both sides. What does “home” mean, if not a place where one has entire freedom to come and go, to plan one’s work, and work one’s plans?

I cannot see how any self-respecting person who has always had her own home could live as a hireling in other people’s homes. Could you? My observation has shown me that a condescending manner is the very best that even “lovely Christian people” have for their domestic helpers.

—Ohio.

Isabella had heard such criticisms before, some of which were “kind and sensible” and others “supercilious and snappy.” Here’s how she responded to the letter writer from Ohio:

“Notwithstanding the letter writer’s opinion, I believe I had in mind the comfort of both employer and employed when I urged self-respecting girls who had their living to earn to choose an average Christian home in which to earn it, in preference to factories, shops, and other public places. You, my dear girls, who have written to me, are starting this argument from the wrong platform.

“The foundation question is not, “How shall I secure me a home where I can have entire freedom to come and go, to plan my own work, etc.” but, “Is doing housework in other people’s homes a good and respectable way for a young woman to earn her living, and can she in this way hope to secure the reasonable conveniences and comforts of a home?”

“To this question I reply with an unhesitating Yes.

Illustration of a young woman about 1895. She wears a black dress with a high collar and puffed sleeves, and a white apron. She is pouring liquid from a copper pan into a soup tureen that rests on a kitchen table beside a variety of vegetables.

“The only—or almost the only—work open to women in which careful previous training is not demanded, nor even expected, is domestic service. Here the demand has been so much greater than the supply that absolutely untrained and ignorant help has rushed in and created the conditions that now exist.

“The attitude of the average employer toward her servant is endurance: she is unable to commend her work, she can only tolerate it. She has learned to conduct herself accordingly; and the multitude of decently educated, reasonably well brought up American girls who cannot be artists nor teachers nor stenographers, but must, nevertheless, earn their living, have, because of the above state of things, given this form of work a wide berth and rushed into shops and offices and factories, instead.

Illustration of a young woman from about 1895, wearing a green dress with large puffed sleeves. The skirt is floor length and over the skirt she wears a white apron tied around her waise.

“Now, let us look for a moment at one of the exceptions:

“She is an American girl with a partial high school education. She planned to be a teacher, but something happened. Illness, or sudden reverses, or unexpected demands, have made it necessary for her to become an immediate wage-earner. Times are hard and openings few; as a last resort she resolves upon trying domestic service, with every nerve in her body shrinking from the ordeal, because of what she has heard and seen and fancied.

Illustration of a young woman bending over the railing of a staircase. In one hand she holds a bar of soap. In the other hand she holds a cloth she uses to clean the spindles and post of the staircase.

“The woman who employs her (knowing she lacks previous training or recommendations) does so because she is in straits and must have somebody right away. All she knows about the applicant is that she looks “uppish” and as though she would feel above her work; which is precisely what the girl does feel. She is all ready to have her worst fears confirmed, and they are confirmed. She finds a thousand things to flush her cheeks with indignation.

“She resents the “orders” given out by the hurried and worried mistress who yet is not mistress of herself. She resents the poorly furnished room, the solitary meals at the section table, the eternal use of her given name. These and a dozen other grievances keep her in a constant state of irritation and resentment. She cannot do even her best—and none know better than she that, because of the lack of training, her best is not very good, for she is too much tried to give real heart to her work.

Illustration of woman holding a bottle of furniture polish in one hand. In her other hand she uses a cloth to polish the top of a dining table.

“What wonder that, after a short trial, the exasperated mistress and the equally exasperated maid separate, the one to be more convinced than ever that the word “help” as applied to the kitchen is a misnomer, and the other to write letters to someone to prove the impossibility of self-respecting girls earning their living in domestic service?

“For the sake of my correspondent who thinks I am theorizing and do not understand the situation, I want to explain that I have been a housekeeper for forty-five years; that I have been studying this problem carefully in my own home and the homes of certain of my friends for more than a quarter century; that I have known intimately all sorts of “hired girls,” and have helped a few of them to experiment in all sorts of homes.

“I have had the would-be fine lady who was an intolerable nuisance; I was glad when I saw her depart, and endured with what patience I could the unkind and untrue things she said about me; though I really believe they were true from her standpoint; she had so warped a view of the whole situation that she was incapable of even listening correctly.

Illustration of young woman wearing a white apron over an orange dress, and a white dusting cap with an orange bow over her hair. She holds a large feather duster.

“I have had all grades between, and I have had the real lady who came into my kitchen in appropriate dress and with quiet voice and quiet ways, and submitted to the regulation that obtained—many of which must have been new and trying to her—without the raising of an eyebrow to hint that she had all her life been used to different things.

“She came to me without flourish of trumpets, as an ordinary domestic servant at common wages; and when she left me after a year of invaluable helpfulness, it was as a tried and trusted friend, whom every member of my family not only respected, but enjoyed; and whom, as the years pass, we are glad to count as one held close in the bonds of friendship.

Illustration of smiling young woman wearing an apron and carrying a tray on which are glasses of juice and three plates of desserts.

“Nor was she the only “lady” help I have personally enjoyed. Glancing back over the almost half century, I find that five of them stand out in bold relief; strong friends, faithful friends, my “servants” still, in the same sense that I am theirs; and all of us trying to pattern after Him who said, “I am among you as he that serveth.”

“My correspondent asks if I “could live as a hireling in other people’s houses?” To which I reply, I do not know; I have never had the opportunity of trying myself in this way. It would all depend upon whether I was strong souled and resolute and sweet-spirited enough to brave present conditions and help to make them better.

“Yours for service,
“Pansy.”

What do you think of Isabella’s idea?

Do you think you could ever “live as a hireling in other people’s houses?”

You can read Isabella’s short story “Their Providence” for free by clicking here.

Read Isabella’s novel, Ester Ried’s Namesake by clicking here.

New Free Read: The Wife’s Dilemma

Published on by Isabella AldenLeave a comment

This month’s Free Read may strike a chord with anyone who tried to cook something that didn’t turn out right (like a Thanksgiving turkey)!

“The Wife’s Dilemma” is a sweet short story written by Isabella’s sister (and Grace Livingston Hill’s mother) Marcia Livingston. Marcia was a prolific author in her own right. She published many short stories in a variety of magazines, and co-wrote stories with Isabella.

Here’s the blurb for “The Wife’s Dilemma”:

Newlywed Dora Avery is well educated in math and science, and speaks several languages; but Dora has never learned the fine art of keeping house. No matter what dishes she sets before her new husband, they’re either burnt or sour. It isn’t long before Dora realizes that all her logical plans and recipe books won’t fill her husband’s empty stomach!

Somehow she must hire an experienced cook or learn the proper way to prepare meals herself; but how?

You can read “The Wife’s Dilemma” for free!

Just follow this link to go to BookFunnel.com. Then, choose whether you want to read the story on your computer, phone, iPad, Kindle, or other electronic device.

Or choose the “My Computer” option to print the story as a PDF document to read and share with friends.

Something Sweet and Sticky

Published on by Isabella AldenLeave a comment

With a few exceptions, the women in Isabella’s stories spent a lot of time in the kitchen. One hundred years ago when Isabella wrote her novels, keeping house for her family was a woman’s primary concern; and preparing food filled up the majority of her waking hours.

Magazine illustration of a 1913 kitchen.

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Chrissy Holmes Hollister was a something of an exception to the rule. Although she could easily afford to hire someone to do the daily cooking, Chrissy’s mother had taught her how to properly manage a kitchen. Chrissy had also been taught to bake a decent loaf of bread and prepare a delicious meal when needed.

Cover illustration for a 1908 cook book.

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In Her Associate Members Chrissy’s husband Stuart was struggling to recover from an illness. On doctor’s orders, Chrissy and Stuart removed to a warm southern state to pass the winter; but Chrissy had a hard time finding a boarding house that was well-run and could serve palatable meals to her invalid husband.

Vacancy sign on an Alabama boarding house in 1936.

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In the boarding house they finally settled in, Chrissy found the food so distasteful, she negotiated with her landlady, Mrs. Stetson, for permission to make Stuart’s meals herself.

A model kitchen in 1921; from an issue of Ladies Home Journal magazine.

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Soon Chrissy’s trips to the chaotic and messy kitchen to prepare a cup of beef tea for her husband became opportunities for her to teach Mrs. Stetson to run her kitchen more efficiently. That’s when she discovered how much Mrs. Stetson disliked having to cook for her boarders.

“What in the name of wonder will I get for dessert?” Mrs. Stetson pronounced the word as though she were speaking of the plains of Sahara. “I wish to the land folks didn’t have to have dessert every blessed day of their lives! It hasn’t got any reason nor sense in it, to my way of thinking. Eat a good big dinner of roast beef, and two kinds of potatoes, and beans, or something, and pickles and bread and jelly, and everything they can get, and then begin all over again, with fresh plates and all, and swallow down something sweet and sticky. I’d like to know who first got up such a ridiculous fashion, anyway! But there is no use in talking; folks do it, and so I s’pose folks will keep on doing it to the end of time. But I don’t know more than the babes in the woods what to have, nor how to make it.”

Mrs. Stetson’s lament gave Chrissy an idea. Since her arrival she had been patiently waiting for an opportunity to do something nice for overworked Mrs. Stetson, and she now saw an opportunity:

“Mrs. Stetson, I have been looking at some beautiful lemons while I was at work. Do your boarders all like lemon pie, and do you care to have me make some for dessert?”

Mrs. Stetson didn’t hesitate in answering:

“Like lemon pie? I should say they did. Every last one of them looks as though he had had a fortune left him when he sees a piece coming!”

An illustration of a variety of desserts from a 1911 cookbook.

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So Chrissy set to work preparing her ingredients, while Mrs. Stetson sat back and had a much-needed rest.

Although Chrissy made it sound as if it were easy to whip up a lemon pie, dessert making was a tricky business.

Ovens in those days did not have thermostats, and cooks who followed printed recipes had to know what it meant when a recipe called for a “quick oven” instead of a “moderate oven.”

A 1917 recipe for Strawberry Shortcake with instructions to bake the cake in a “moderate” oven.

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Stove-top cooking had its challenges, too. Burners had no gauges to modulate high, low, or medium heat; cooks controlled the level of heat with the amount and type of wood they fed their stove. One too many pieces of wood on the fire or one too few, and a cook could easily scald the contents of a pot, or undercook a sauce on a burner that wasn’t hot enough.

If you’d like to get a sense of what it was like to cook and bake in Isabella’s time, visit A Hundred Years Ago, a blog that prints old recipes, then updates them for today’s cook.

Recently, A Hundred Years Ago took a 1916 dessert recipe for Baked Rice Pudding and updated it with instructions that make it easy for you to make the creamy, sweet delight today.

In previous posts, One Hundred Years Ago has also printed old recipes for making candies and fudge, then tweaked them, of course, to also print updated versions of the original recipes.

Illustrations of chocolate candies from a 1911 cookbook.

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One thing that becomes clear as you read through those old recipes is the amount of time cooks must have spent stirring, beating and whipping their ingredients together. Since they didn’t have the luxury of our modern-day mixers and blenders, it’s easy to understand why Mrs. Stetson grew to hate making desserts each day for her boarders.

But Mrs. Stetson’s life was about to change, because Chrissy soon became not only Mrs. Stetson’s new boarder, but her friend, too. And as Chrissy helped Mrs. Stetson implement simple changes in her kitchen that made her life easier, Chrissy kept watch for a chance to make over Mrs. Stetson’s heart, as well.