L70 a year for him--no
very large salary even in England for a _chef_; or he is contented to
live anyhow. In the latter case he dines at his club (where, by the way,
he gets a very fair meal) in the middle of the day, and has meat-tea in
the evening. In both cases the family dinner is much the same. No. 1
cannot see the use of having what he would call a 'spread' for his own
selfish benefit, and leaves his grand cook unemployed the greater part of
the week. The dinner consists of beef or mutton, roast or boiled,
potatoes and greens, bread-and-butter pudding, and cheese. The details
change, but the type is always the same--what his wife calls 'a good
plain English dinner, none of your unwholesome French kickshaws,' which
are reserved for company. Fortunately his cook, if not very expert in the
'foreign' dishes required to be concocted for company, has generally
pretty correct notions within the limits of the family dinner.

But it is not so with No. 2, and with the large middle class who all live
in the same way. The usual female cook at 12s. a week is not even capable
of sending up a plain meal properly. Her meat is tough, and her potatoes
are watery. Her pudding-range extends from rice to sago, and from sago to
rice, and in many middle-class households pudding is reserved for Sundays
and visitors. A favourite summer dish is stewed fruit, and, as it is not
easy to make it badly, there is a great deal to commend in it. At the
worst, it is infinitely preferable to fruit tart with an indigestible
crust.

Ye gentlemen of England, who sit at home at ease, how astonished you
would be to see your daughter Maud, whose husband is a well-to-do lawyer
in considerable practice, setting the table herself because she cannot
rely upon her servant doing it properly! And then she goes into the
kitchen, and teaches cook how to make pie-crust. If children are
numerous, or her husband is not getting on quite so well as could be
wished, she will not be able to have a servant to wait at table. What
wonder, then, if she gives up late dinner and has a meat-tea, at which
everything can be put on the table at once. A colonial-bred lady has
generally learnt something of good plain cooking, but the English
mistress often breaks down before the serious and multifarious nature of
her duties. It is by no means uncommon for her to be suddenly left
servantless for two or three days; and if she does not possess great
adaptability of disposition, the wh