"what shall I EAT?" 191 



roasts of the Northern raarkets. The so-called steaks were 

 nondescripts, and the roasting pieces ' ' strangely and won- 

 derfully made." They were a regular curiosity to the cook, 

 and an absorbing study in anatomy to the carver, but what 

 did we care ? We had learned that beef was beef, no mat- 

 ter how it was cut, and were thankful to get any at all ; 

 we no longer turned up our noses at ''fresh" meat unless, 

 indeed, it was stale ; rather paradoxical, that statement, is 

 it not ? but easily understood by those who dwell where 

 ice is unknown, either in the rivers or refrigerators. We 

 had occasion to turn up our noses a number of times during 

 our first summer. We bought meat, and at the same time 

 "bought experience," and the latter cost the most; the 

 beef was six cents per pound, venison eight, but the expe- 

 rience was accumulative until we had purchased a goodly 

 stock, and then it began to pay as a saving investment. 



Used to ice and a refrigerator, where provisions might 

 be stored all through the hot summer weather, it was a 

 puzzle to us to know how to preserve any thing, especially 

 meats, without their aid. We had a " slat closet," that is, 

 a closet built much like a chicken- coop, except that the 

 slats ran horizontally instead of i3erpendicularly. It was 

 placed against the back wall of the house on the piazza 

 that connected the main house with the kitchen buildings. 

 Where woven wire can be jDrocured, it makes an excellent 

 substitute for the slats, and is in fact better in every re- 

 spect ; for, unless one is willing to permit flies, bees, and 

 other insects to feed at will on the daily provisions, the 

 slats must have an insect-proof lining ; mosquito netting 

 or cheese-cloth, tacked on the inside of the closet, is the 

 best in the absence of the wire net. This keeps insects at 

 a respectful distance, and admits the air freely ; for this 

 latter is the whole aim and intent of the "open closet;" 

 fresh air is the Florida refrigerator, and it is really won- 



