Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled During Her Visit Among the "Pennsylvania Germans"Thomas, Edith May Bertels
General
Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled During Her Visit Among the "Pennsylvania Germans"
Thomas, Edith May Bertels
Cookbooks; Cooking -- Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania -- Social life and customs; Pennsylvania Dutch
In size, Sarah Landis was a little below medium height, rather stout,
or should I say comfortable, and matronly looking; very erect for a
woman of her age. Her bright, expressive, gray eyes twinkled
humorously when she talked. She had developed a fine character by her
years of unselfish devotion to family and friends. Her splendid sense
of humor helped her to overcome difficulties, and her ability to rise
above her environment, however discouraging their conditions,
prevented her from being unhappy or depressed by the small annoyances
met daily. She never failed to find joy and pleasure in the faithful
performance of daily tasks, however small or insignificant. Aunt Sarah
attributed her remarkably fine, clear complexion, seldom equalled in a
woman of her years, to good digestion and excellent health; her love
of fresh air, fruit and clear spring water. She usually drank from
four to five tumblerfuls of water a day. She never ate to excess, and
frequently remarked: "I think more people suffer from over-eating than
from insufficient food." An advocate of deep breathing, she spent as
much of her time as she could spare from household duties in the open
air.
[Illustration: AUNT SARAH]
Sarah Landis was not what one would call beautiful, but good and
whole-souled looking. To quote her husband: "To me Sarah never looks
so sweet and homelike when all 'fussed up' in her best black dress on
special occasions, as she does when engaged in daily household tasks
around home, in her plain, neat, gray calico dress."
This dress was always covered with a large, spotlessly clean, blue
gingham apron of small broken check, and she was very particular about
having a certain-sized check. The apron had a patch pocket, which
usually contained small twists or little wads of cord, which, like
"The Old Ladies in Cranford," she picked up and saved for a possible
emergency.
One of Aunt Sarah's special economies was the saving of twine and
paper bags. The latter were always neatly folded, when emptied, and
placed in a cretonne bag made for that purpose, hanging in a
convenient corner of the kitchen.
Aunt Sarah's gingham apron was replaced afternoons by one made from
fine, Lonsdale cambric, of ample proportions, and on special occasions
she donned a hemstitched linen apron, inset at upper edge of hem with
crocheted lace insertion, the work of her own deft fingers. Aunt
Sarah's aprons, cut straight, on generous lines, were a part of her
individuality.
Sarah Landis declared: "Happiness consists in giving and in serving
others," and she lived up to the principles she advocated. She
frequently quoted from the "Sons of Martha," by Kipling:
"Lift ye the stone or cleave the wood, to make a path more fair or flat,
Not as a ladder from earth to heaven, not as an altar to any creed,
But simple service, simply given, to his own kind in their human need."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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