Evening star., 1896-02-22

if you ever knew of his trading any more
car tickets for pie, and then you felt your
duty as parent and Christian was done.
Praise Providence, I'm not that kind of
Christian or that kind of parent. Being
fully satisfied that there IS a great mis-
sionary work waiting to be done among
the stomachs of Washington, 1 have been
busy the past week trying to learn how
reasonable beginning may be made, and
I trust l have gathered facts enough to at
least offer bare suggestion.
You may recall my relating that wher-
ever furnishing a noon meal to school
children has been success the main
source of supplies has been public kitch-
en-. have therefore visited a public kitch-
en-, the New England kitchen ct Boston,
the first to be established in this country
and the Inspiration and training school from
which all others have gathered strength
What my eyes could see and my stomach
could test, l know. For fur; her particulars
nave applied to the woman whose genius
created the New England Kitchen Mrs
Mary Hinman Abel, wife of John ]. Abel
OF baltimore, whom have also visited
Ihe New England kitchen is located at
4eo fremont street, which is central To-
cation, l am told. This is' il point upon
which l am no authority My intellect
can grapple with and master the transccn-
dental thought of Boston; l can even show
q 'CiJ Sieuitdple gait IN Keeping I'D with
the new woman OF Boston, but when it
comes to asserting anything that implies
knowledge of Boston streets, sufficient of
the blood of the father of my country ill
terS through my veins 20 make this ever
lastingly impossible.
The Public Kitchen.
But let that pass. This much 1 know.
the New England kitchen is so located as
to supply the Latin and High Schools, the
Normal ha
sttute of Technology with a noon meal. 1t
Is also a good depot for a constantly in
creasing clentage of working people and of
weil-to-do people living in apartment
houses, and is a restaurant where / lived
heartily and happily at an average cost of
forty cents day. A sample days living
is as follows:
cents; three fish balls, cents; two rolls, 4
cents.
Dinner-Tomato soup, cents; beef stew,
cents; macaront with cheese, 3 cents; rice
pudding, cents.
Supper-Baked beans, 5 cents: brown
bread, ) cents.
must say in all truthfulness, the first
sight of this kitchen took all my appetite
away. This was because it paralyzed me
In every part to behold it's perfectly shame
less way of doing business. The cookins,
and the cleaning are so utterly free from
ANYTHING to be ashamed of that if you'n
work done in this kitchen is performed in
full view of the public. The place is ar
ranged with the kitchen proper in the rear
separated from the restaurant in front orly
by low counters from which food in bulk
is sold. Thus sitting at the restaurant
table, while l ate my meals, / commanded
a view of the cooking. the serving, and the
dish washing going on in the kitchen. and
so admirably has the application of science
and the brains of truly great women III the
kitchen overcome the horrors commonly
prevailing there that 1 felt like an eating
lady of a well-staged kitchen drama. 1t
didn't seem possible that the shining cook
ing utensils and appliances the immaculate
sink, the orderly dish washing, We're real
features of real kitchen work, and the food
l ate was almost too good to be real, also
My companions at table were mainly, so
far as appearances told, working people
A great many children and women who
looked like seamstresseS, or hard-worked
mothers of the middle class, came with
baskets and buckets to carry food home.
An idea of the variety and cost of the food
thus sold may be gathered from the follow
ing price list:
Foods and Prices.
Beef broth for invalids, IS cents a quart;
beef stew, II cents a quart; soup-vege-
table, tomato, pea, potato-12 cents a quart;
fish or clam chowder, 16 cents a quart;
pressed beef 16 cents pound; cracked
wheat, corn mush or boiled hominy, s
cents pound; creamed Goldfish s cents a
pound; mutton stew, 10 cents a pound; rice
pudding, 6 cents a pint; Indian pudding, 8
cents pint; macaroni with cheese12 cents
pint; health bread, or white bread, 5 cents
a loaf; brown bread, 10 cents a loaf; baked
BEANS IA cents a quart.
This Is but part Of the foods to be lad
on any one day.
The easily expressed characteristic Of
these foods as distinguished from the sup
Plies of any restaurant Or bake shop IS. they
are made according to scientific principles
They are the same day after day, just as
medicine compounded by a druggist is
always the same. The quantity and the
physiological effects of the chemical ele-
ments contained in these foods are so pre-
cisely known that Boston doctors prescribe
New England kitchen beef broth for their
patients as exactly as they do qunine or
calomel. The medical profession has fur
ther recognized the health value of the
work done bysthe kitchen, so that Harvard
Medical College now requires it's graduates
to have completed a certain prescribed
course Of study of cookery, according 10 the
principles of tho New England kitchen,
where the first practice lessons of the stu
dents were given.
The scientific character of the kitchen is
borne out in the furnishings. Charts on the
wall and blocks arranged in pyramids Illus
trate the chemical composition of the hu-
man body, and the nutritive properties of
the food. When miss of eleven or twelve
years of age, sitting next me at the table
about the proteids Of the baked beans
we were both eating, I experienced-with
mild horror. I confess-something of the
far-reaching value of the educational work
accomplished by a scientific public kitchen.
Two days spent in the New England
kitchen disclose many Of it's features, which
are, however, SO unique as to impress the
mind with little else than wonder. To get
the details of It's inner workings so as to
present the possibilities of establishing one
In Washington, had course to Mrs Abel.
Not a New Woman.
To me the mere fact of Mrs Abel having
brought the New England kitchen into ex-
istence Is sufficient guarantee in itself
that this is an institution which will en-
dure. and will be repeated in every com
munity, accordingly as the women of COM
munity are alive to the best interests Of
their families, and are capable of serving
them. This is because Mrs. Abel is not a
public character; she is not a professional
woman; she is altogether a private person
normal woman-identified with a family
conspicuously conservative in an eminently
conservative social circle. Therefore, the
work she has accomplished for the public is
the logical widening of an intelligent and
intense home interest-the natural evolution
Of a mother whose thought and care for her
own family are extended to include the
needs Of less fortunate families, and being
thus q natural growth, reasonable actiy-
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