No. 81
Marketing 101
Stewart King c/o
John C. Davant, Attorney
501 Cleveland St.
Clearwater Florida
January 10, 1938
Dear Stewart,
Your mother asked me a few questions about my mother and how she became lost.
Whenever we did talk about it, she had this canned way of pouring it out, “Oh, you poor thing, to be tossed aside like that. You must have had a guardian angel all this time, Dear, to make it this far all alone in the world, and into our home, you at last can be saved and rest.”
“No, Ma’am," I stuttered, "I am not alone. I had a father, and when he could not take care of me, I had the Lord.”
But by the time I got the pithy testimony out, she was out of the room, yelling from down the hallway for the list of something for the butcher.
Suddenly, I sensed a call from the Holy Spirit to confess to your mother that only by her taking me was I able to rightly serve the Lord, through her. And I surprised her with my damp, happy face in that hallway, not with my words, for she rarely listened to me, but for certain with my enthusiasm.
I was mopping at the time when the Holy Spirit sent me running to her.
Remarkably, your mother settled down for a half beat and, then, touched my wet hand with that tapping thing she did sometimes, with her tisk-tisking. I looked upon my hand, almost expecting to see her full hand, as one might embrace, but instead I saw her place her finger, her gloved finger, as if she might be pressing down upon a device that might release a trinket or some amusement.
She was about now ready to leave on another spa treatment for her arthritis and that was where her mind was.
Her touch was a marking, quite like how they cut up the beef.
I never mentioned it again, this feeling I felt for the Lord, even though your mother was always an active Episcopalian and a true Christian woman until they day she died.
After her carriage left that day, I took a break from the mopping and let the floor in the kitchen dry.
I pulled off my wet stockings, picked up my copy book, then the manual of Maria Parloa, and turned to her chapter on marketing:
Every woman whose place it is at the head of the house should know, at least, where the different cuts come from, both tender and tough, what proportion of bone there is to meat, why the quality varies in different sections of the animal, what treatment the different cuts should receive, etc. Once having learned this, the housekeeper will order intelligently and get most satisfactory results.... One should not attempt to learn too much at once; confusion of ideas and discouragement will be the result of such a course...follow the program.... Comprehensive knowledge in six months....Become familiar with the interior of a side of beef, noting the position of the spine, rubs, sternum, kidney, suet, and tenderloin....There are certain things that can be learned only by personal observation....
I dumped out the dirty floor water. Next, I collapsed in tears, for I knew a change was taking place.
But the floors were clean now and it did not take me six months to get with the program.
—Miss Minnie
2025 Copyright Christine Friesel
