The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-25
A MAID OF THE MILL
Like the Gods, She Grinds Slowly
and Exceeding Fine.
The Result of Her Process Has Melted
crcases Every Year How She
Started Business and How She
Means to Keep II Up-Her story.

81 cleared twenty-one hundred dollars
| on my meal last year. and now am putting
| in second set OF stones in hopes Of be-
ing able to fill the orders that have TAX
en- for my winter trade The speaker
was Miss Bertha Hopkins, and she has for
the last two years made speciality Of
supplying water ground corn-mea1 to a
large number Of patrons. mostly in Geor-
I gia and Carolina, and the story she told
| to the Louisville Courier-Journai'' was
as follows:
Il began my present business at the
death Of my uncle, more than four years
ago. and for two years scarcely made
enough to pay expenses. At his death he
| left me child's share CT his not too large
property, which CHANGED to be an old
fashioned water mill. 1t is situated in a
planting community and has always done
the grinding for all the plantations for
miles around.
In my uncle's day and for the first
two years that had it the grinding was
done in the old way. OF the corn brought
to be ground We received one peck from
every bushel. 1 had to employ a miller
and was always at some little expense
in keeping the dam and machinery In
order, so, OF course, was forced to dis
pose Of corn taken as toll. For the first
two years l followed my uncle's example,
and sold 1t as corn or meal to my neigh
bors at the market price for boiled meal.
The last OF those two years. however. be-
ing good corn crop for this section of
the State, found great difficulty in get
ting rid of the toll. and at last deter
mined to make trip to the nearest town,
which Is some twenty miles aNay. and
see which could be disposed Of to the
greatest advantage. corn or meal. / had
collected over 1G0 bushels and was sadly
in need of money.
AT breakfast the morning after my ar
rival, the proprietor Of the hotel where
stopped said to me: All, Miss Bertha, il
l could only get some Of the good water
ground meal that was ground at your mill
when l was boy l believe l would never
eat any other bread
You can get it, told him, I am using
the same stones and the same machinery
that was used at that time, and my miller
has been there for more than twenty
years. What will you pay me for five
bushels?'
I'll pay you SIS for ten bushels, IL you
will promise to keep me supplied for two
years. II once my patrons taste that meal
could never satisfy th1n with the COM
mon holtad stuff that we buy now. 1t is
ground SO fast and the corn is heated to
such an extent that the taste is killed out
of it, I will guarantee to pay double the
market price for the bolted stuff. and will
mako reputation for this hotel and for
your meal
Meal, the fine bolted kind-which. as
everyone knows, is as much like that
ground in an old-fashioned water mill as
a banana ripened in cold storage in New
York is like those plucked ripe from the
tree-was selling for rs cents bushel. 50
krI-- al -
prietor's offer. Then, going out among
grocerymen. found that they were enc
and all ready to take my meal to sell on
commission. The hotel man had offered
ME double that for which the bclted was
selling in the market, and / determined
that l would try to get the same price
from the general public. although many
of the merchants assured me that would
not succeed.
fill my orders. I went to the mill .lyse1f
and stood at the miller's side and super
intended the grinding as well s.-~a-
ing and branding. so anxious was | that
everything should be just as it ought.
Then l shipped the number of bushels
ordered and waited the result with what
Impotence any enc who has spent mere
money on venture than they can safely
afford to lose can judge. 1t had been the
agreement with the grocerymen that at
the end OF the first two weeks they would
write me statement of their sale and
tell me what they considered the outlook.
I'm less than week after the meal was
put On sale | had letters from two of the
best merchants asking for another ship
ment and containing checks for all the
meal that they had received. Before the
end of the second month I was buying corn
to fill orders for meal and have been do
ing so ever since.
AT the end of that first year | had sue
ceeded in introducing my meal into the
wholesale as we'll as the retail trade OF
twenty towns and cities in Georgia and
South Carolina but had learned enough
10 follow the advice of very successful
merchant and sell no more on commission.
I sold direct to the trade last year, and
nave met with none of the small worries
hat annoyed me the first year"