The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-12-20
MEALS FOR THREE CENTS
HOW IT IS DONE AT THE FIVE
POINTS HOUSE OF INDUSTRY.
Over Five Hundred Regular Boarders-A
Pain but substantial BID of Fare-Lit-
tie Girls Who Cook weli-Theory and
Practice.

Pain but Substantial BID OF Fare-Lit-
tie Girls Who Cook well-Theory and
Practice.
The House Of Industry during & year, it
was declared. gave 1923 meals TO children
at q cost Of 1915 cents per meal A Sun
reporter became interested 20 know what
kind and how much Of q dinner could be
furnished for three cents He went down 20
tn Five Points House of Industry and had a
talk with Superintendent William F. Bar
nard. who has presided over the House Of In
dvstry lor so many years.
TO begin with, said Superintendent Bar
nard, eve have about 27O children living
here IN the house and 2t5 who come here TO
the lchool The children in the house get
three meals day, Of course, and those who
come to the school get variously one or two
meals. These children are all between the
aces Of 3 and Is, and few Of them are over Is.
w don't aim 20 take In anybody over 10, but
SOM Of our boys aud girls have stayed with
US til they are Is years old. IL addition to
these we have a good many grown women
staving with Us all the while. who have no
homes and who want situations as domestics.
W keep them until they can lind work.
"NOw. we have breakfast here at o'clock,
dinner M II o'clock and supper at O'Clock
The breakfast and supper consist Of bread
anI iutter and coffee The coffee has milk
and sugar IN il. At odd times during the
week there is added to this stewed prunes or
apple sauce, and sometimes crackers and
cheese Always on Sunday nights the chill
dr,m get cake OF some kind, and fruits In the
sesslp There IS something extra every Sun
lay night
THE BILL FOR EACH DAY
''Now I win give You the regular bill Of
fare for dinner for each day in the week:
Monday, mutton stew; Tuesday, mutton
soup: Wednesday, stewed beef, or occasion.
ally baked beef pie, Thursday, corned beef.
Friday. fish Of some kind, or fried liver, Sat.
urday. roast beef. Sunday, corned beef.
With these we always serve potatoes or tlr.
nips, aud sometimes both, and always green
vegetables Of some kind
"There is no certain portion Of food given
10 eacn child az q meal Tho children have
all they can eat, and they arc not stinted.
Thanksgiving, aud Christmas, and New
Years OF course, are feast days Then we
give the children turkey and chicken. with
cranberry and apple sauce and all sorts 81
vegetables, with celery and apples and all
that sort Of thing For dessert we have pies
OF every kind, with cheese aud coffee. The
feast days generally last for two or three
days each. IN fact, for we always have more
on honA than can be consumed in a single
day Most of the food on these days Of
course, is contributed, but we are still put to
a good deal OF extra expense then, and all
this is counted In our general estimate Of
meal for three cents.
"Thc quality Of the food is always good.
Our bread is the best we can buy. We have
bought it for years OF one baker, who sells il
70 as at the rate OF six-cent loaf for four
and one-half cents Our girls cook some, but,
of course, they can't cook enough TO feed all
the mouths here Throughout the year we
have various Kinds and amounts Of fruit and
vegetables and food contributed, but we can't
rely on this, and we don't.
eve try to mako this as little Of an 'insti-
tuition as possible I abhor an institution
where the children all wear a Uniform or q
certaiu kind Of dress, and are known by num-
bers and wards in and out 10 their meals aud
10 bed, and al that sort Of thing. That seems
80 me about as he'ttless and cruel az the
poverty the children lived in before they
camo Lerc So far as possible we try 70 learn
the chldren's names and call them by these.
We have no marching or military business,
ard have never heard it said that we didn't
have good order When the bell rings for
the meals the children are generally in their
play rooms They dock into tho dining room
as fast as they can, and a merry scene 10 Is,
too. Th do not sit at the tables, but stand
We have tAls arrangement because We can
get more at the tables this way. They don't
wear any sort of uniform. In buying cloth
f0r clothes for She children We always get as
varied co.or5 as wo can. 10 is our aim 70
make this as much Of a real home as we can.
We can't come anywhere near our ideal, be-
cause we have to deal with children in a
mass Wccan't indiyidualize ia our govern
ment aud treatment as a parent can. Still,
we peg along on this plan % far as We are
able
A CLASS ~ COOKING.
During tire summer we had a teacher
here fgam one OF the cooking schools up town
to instruct our girls in cooking. It wasn't
with the idea Of helping Us exactly, but with
tAc idea 81 helping the girls, maybe, 20 Oh
tain situations. ! confess | was little skep-
teal about the experiment, for mind you,
these are al very young girls, hardly any Of
them over T. years old, and they have come
out Of poverty stricken places, where they
didn't set much Of notion about refined
cooking or about any cooking al all
well, there was a class Of sixteen OF them
formed, and after the teacher went away
was anxious % see what they could really do.
(dtvlded them up into squads Of four each,
and put each squad, day after day, into our
private kitchen, where tho meals FOR those Of
Us IN charge here are prepared. No one was
allowed ia the kitchen but the girls-no one
was allowed % come near the kitchen. Well,
sir, those girls went straight through the
week and prepared our meals day after day
Just exactly as well a the cooks We hire
Mind you, they didn't have any help at all.
They cooked nicely all the things such as peo-
pie generally have on their tables-beefsteak
and ome'ets, and 50 FORTH and the nice kinds
Of pastry such as cream pie and apple
dumping and suet pudding and SO forth.
confess l was surprised, for theoretical cook
ing teaching is apt 70 be one thing and prac.
ticai cooking is another with these young
girls"
Mr. Barnard showed the reporter some
bread that the girls had made. It was really
fine bread-as clean aud sweet and nice as it
could be- Then Mr. Barnard called INTO the
Yo01 a couple 81 the little girls Who had done
somo. OF the cooking. One OF them, Lizzie
Reilly, was "a plump, black eyed, black
halred Att.e gigl, WHOSE face beamed luteul-
gcnce and delight ds she told Mr. Barnard
Just how size had made the bread and de
scribed the separate steps IN tue making ot
cream pie The other girl was a little ltdl-
ian girl named AutOniA She was only u
years old. Her father and mother are dead,
and with her little sister, stil younger than
herself she came 10 the House Of Industry
one wint-l morning and asked to be taken III.
l,ae looked happy IN her warm clothing when
the reporter saw Der, with her face flushing
from the kitchen fire. She was very bashful
anu hung down her bead and twiried her
apron in her fingers as Size told the reporter
how she had made the brown bread al alone
aud kept IL IA the oven just twenty i've min
ures by the kitchen clock.
Il doubt II many girls Of their age in fam
lies in good circumstances IL the city could
% what they can, said Mr. Barnard, when
the girls left tie room.
And the reporter said he thought 50 to-
New YORK Sun