By Beverly Clinkingbeard

“We may live without friends, We may live without books, But civilized man cannot live without cooks.” 1905  Printed by Enterprise Print, Westboro, MO.

The Enterprise was Westboro’s newspaper. The front cover of the “Westboro Souvenir Cook Book” is pictured here. Inside the front cover of the cookbook is an ad or sponsor, “Dr. E. P. Whitford, Physician and Surgeon.”

Page 2 repeats the title and “Published by the Ladies Aid Society of the First Methodist Church, Westboro, MO, Nov. 17, 1905.” On the back side is another ad, “J.M. Hamblin, M.D., Chronic Diseases and Diseases of Women and Children a Specialty.” “H. Kalling, M.D., Surgery and Dentistry, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat a Specialty.” “General Practitioners.” “Calls answered at all hours day or night.” “Mutual and Northwestern Phones.”

Page 3 is an introductory page. “An Invitation. To those who love us: You are cordially invited to partake of the delicious viands herein described and as you eat them, think of the ones who put them in the menu. We give us of our best. Ladies of Westboro and Vicinity.” “It is a comely fashion to be glad; Joy is the grace we say to God.”

Page 4 is an ad of “McColl & Sawyer – Dealers in – Lumber and Coal. Also all kinds of Building Material, Westboro – Missouri.”

The recipes begin on Page 5, with the introductory note “Mix all the following dishes with brains.” Next is a small table of weights and measures. The first recipe section is, Bread. The first recipe is, “Light Bread – On the morning before baking, boil 3 (or 4 or 5 small) potatoes in enough water to cover. When done, mix the water drained from the potatoes with the mashed, 1 cake yeast and 1 T sugar. Set away until supper time and then add sifted flour enough to make a thick sponge. In the morning, add as much water as there is sponge, 2-3 c sugar (today that would be printed with a slash, 2/3rds), salt to taste and sifted flour to make stiff. Knead for twenty minutes.  Let rise three times and mold into five loaves. Let rise and bake. Mrs. D.E. Williams.”

There are sponsors or ads on the back side of the recipes that are on the even numbered pages. Some of the advertisers are: “Gregg Bros.’ Grain Co., Grain Dealers, C.P. Harris, Agent, Phone No. 15…;” “The Peoples’ Bank;” “Shellenberger (a general store); “H.W. Lauman, Livery Feed and Sale. Stable. Good rigs with or without driver;” “Long & Lefforge (restaurant);” “Node Sipes, Drayman, Will Do Your Hauling.” Henry Bullerdiek sold farm machinery including cream separators and sewing machines.

Other food sections are: meats, salads, eggs, pickles and desserts.  The last recipe is with a, “Note – The following recipe should have appeared on page 25, but through a mistake the first line was omitted:  Salad Dressing – Cook in a double boiler: Yolks of 2 eggs, well beaten, 1 t salt, 1 t pepper, 2 t white sugar, 1 t mustard, 1 T butter and 4 T vinegar. Thin with cream when ready to use. Katharyn Johnston.”

The little cookbook is 38 pages, six inches by four and a half inches in size and would have been laboriously made with the typeset method, each letter hand placed. What was the demand and how many little cookbooks were printed? How much did they sell for?

Westboro came into being in 1880. At the time the Ladies Aid put together their cookbook, the town was approximately 25 years old. Other contributors of   recipes were: Hazel Shellenberger, Elizabeth Peck, Mrs. Carrie Gordon, Mrs. Wm. Sawyer, Mrs. A. Norton, Mrs. Mabel Logan, Mrs. Annie Peck, Mrs. Sade Dunham, Mrs. Nellie Green, Mrs. G.A. Rankin, Mrs. Edwin Flack, Mrs. Emma Uttvits, Miss Pearl Hurst, Mrs. G.A. Laur, and many more. All are names that shaped and made Westboro a town.

Cookbooks of today are colorful and extensive, as there seems to be a cookbook for every reason, occasion and thing. The “Westboro Souvenir Cook Book” is drab in color (perhaps faded through the years), the print very tiny and, of course, no pictures. However, the basic recipes in use today are unchanged from what these grandmothers stirred and mixed together for their families. And the Westboro ladies are still cooking. Proof will be their Lord’s Acre Dinner, October 8th.

When reading the fragile little booklet one can only wonder, “What kind of kitchen did these ladies have? Did they have household help? Did they cook and bake with a wood-fired cooking range? Was their water in the home or did they carry it in by bucket from a well? And finally, what would they think of our present-day cookbook choices, labor saving appliances, and kitchen conveniences?

’Til next time…