Roast Beef, Medium

Edna Ferber was an early 20th century American author and playwright. Ferber worked for several newspapers. She covered the 1920 Republican and Democratic national conventions for the United Press Association. Her novels often featured a strong female protagonist and often had a secondary character who faced some form of discrimination. In 1925 her novel So Big won a Pulitzer Prize. Roast Beef, Medium is a series of stories featuring Emma McChesney, a robust, divorced mother and traveling saleswoman for T. A. Buck's Featherloom Skirts and Petticoats. Emma's adventures, many of them fending off men's advances, are optimistic and redolent of the age. The story begins, "Roast Beef, Medium, is not only a food. It is a philosophy. Seated at Life's Dining Table, with the Menu of Morals before you, your eye wanders a bit over the entrees, the hors d'oeuvres, and the things _a la_, though you know that Roast Beef, Medium, is safe, and sane, and sure. It agrees with you. As you hesitate there sounds in your ear a soft and insinuating Voice. "You'll find the tongue in aspic very nice today," purrs the Voice. "May I recommend the chicken pie, country style? Perhaps you'd relish something light and tempting. Eggs Benedictine. Very fine. Or some flaked crab meat, perhaps. With a special Russian sauce."