In the larger establishments of the middle ages, cooks, with the
authority of feudal chiefs, gave their orders from a high chair
in which they ensconced themselves, and commanded a view of all
that was going on throughout their several domains. Each held a
long wooden spoon, with which he tasted, without leaving his
seat, the various comestibles that were cooking on the stoves,
and which he frequently used as a rod of punishment on the backs
of those whose idleness and gluttony too largely predominated
over their diligence and temperance.
80. IF, AS WE HAVE SAID (3), THE QUALITY OF EARLY RISING be of the first
importance to the mistress, what must it be to the servant! Let it,
therefore, be taken as a long-proved truism, that without it, in every
domestic, the effect of all things else, so far as _work_ is concerned,
may, in a great measure, be neutralized. In a cook, this quality is most
essential; for an hour lost in the morning, will keep her toiling,
absolutely toiling, all day, to overtake that which might otherwise have
been achieved with ease.
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