Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-02
A COOKING SCHOOL
Where Both Kitchen Ethics and
Homework Are Taught.
WITH CLEANLINESS and ORDER
Business-Like Methods Employed
in This Mission Work
CGESS AND HOPE S

Written for The Evening Star.
"A kitchen should have plenty Of win
dows." recited a kindly faced. keen-eyed
little woman, in clear even tones: Kitchen
should have plenty of windows" echoed
six brfght-eyed, wooley-headed little col
ored girls, in a sort of rag-time chorus,
land good light, and there should be a
dresser for the dishes and cooking uten-
sis" concluded the young woman; dresser
for the dishes and cooking utensils" fin
ished the dusky sextet in enthusiastic rec
itative.
1t was the Monday afternoon Homework
class at the Mission School of Cookery, and
Miss Clara Lewis. teacher Of the manual
classes of the school. was expounding the
principles, Of which, after having attained
oral perfection, the embryonic housekeep
ers gave practical demonstration. AS the
immortal Squeers remarked of his pupils
at the celebrated Do-the-Boys Hall, when
they knows thing they goes and does it,
That is the keynote Of the success. and the
motto by which it has been attained, OF
this the pioneer of cooking schools in the
United States.
Manual training for boys, as a part of
the practical education of young America,
istence when Anna Lowell Woodbury.,
niece Of James Russell Lowell, was moved
to make an attempt to prove that what Is
piquant relish for the gander Is a sauce
for the goose. and established a cooking
school for girls. Nearly twenty years ago.
in a modest little room at the corner of
18th and l streets, and in a modest little
way, the school was started, with the pri-
mary object Of teaching children Of the
poor that cleanliness and order which is
next to goodness, and to give them thor
ouSh knowledge of practical cookery.
There is no race distinction but the classes
of white and cplOred girls Taught
rately. There is no tuition, the school be-
ing maintained by private donations. An
effort has been made, so far with very
small success, to make 1t self-support1ng by
means of pay classes in the culinary art,
where the young housekeeper may dis
cover the reason her cream puffs failed to
rise, when she followed the directions ex-
actly or where the cook which the western
senator's wife brought with her from home
may receive instruction in the preparation
of the southern dish which tickled the sem
ator's palate last term. and which nobody
out west knows how to make.
Lessons Every Day.
The school is held in an old-fashioned
homey-looking house at the corner of N
and 18th streets, and there are classes every
morning and afternoon in the week except
one. Each class comes once week for
the cooking lesson, and once week for
lessons in Homework, and the entire num-
Der Of girls taught is between one and
two hundred. Each lesson lasts not less
than two hours and not more than three
No play work. is allowed. The children
who are learning to be self-respecting, and
by-and-by self-supportng, if need be. sweep
a "sure-'nuff' carpet with real brooms, set
a real table with ''grown-up'' dishes. make
bed and keep genuine kitchen shining
clean.
While the cooking classes and the house
work classes are distinctly separate, the
method of teaching the work Is the same.
The second floor of the house is the school
room. There is one recitation room with
long benches for the pupils and a desk and
chair for the teacher. Then there are three
rooms, dining room (Which by means of a
screen or two and an extra table is made
to answer for teaching the practical care
of parlor), bed room and a kitchen.
The dining room has a sideboard and din
ing table. The fittings of the rooms
throughout. to the new gas stove in the
kitchen, are nodded after those OF me-
dunn sized modern house or fiat. The fur
niture is plain and neat.
Fundamental Training.
More is taught than the mere mechanical
work of house. The first part of each les
son is devoted to a study of what should
go into house. how the furnishings should
be cared for, and discussion of the dishes
to be prepared. The girls learn how a ia
BILE should be set in the latest approved
manner, when and why linen sheets are
better than cotton, why hair mattresses
are better than wool and forty other things
many a middle-aged housekeeper today
would be puzzled to explain.
Then comes the real work The class
sweeps, dusts and cares for each of the
rooms in Its turn and is taught why Ger
others wrong. And how they do enjoy it!
Mary Washington. you may clean the
kitchen closet today" says the teacher.
''Oh. Mis- Lewis. Mis- Lewis excitedly
lie ~ he
seat, its my turn; it's my turn this week
You know l had to stay home last week
cause l was SICK.
There is rarely an absence that is not
caused by Illness, and even the usually de-
spised iron pots and kettles are attacked
with an eagerness beautiful to see, and the
listlessness common to school girls in class
flies before the whisking of their own dust
cloths.
The ages of the neutrality-suspicious. range
from ten to sixteen. The maximum number
taught in each housekeeping class is six
The cooking classes will accommodate four
teen.
Cleaning Up the Kitchen.
On last Monday afternoon the housekeep-
ing class cleaned the kitchen. All the tea
spoons tablespoons. flour and sugar sifters.
measuring cups, biscuit cutters, potato
Washers, egg beaters. knives and forks, roll
ing pins. ETC., were taken down from the
siiclSeS' 1iiu every speCh VI uuSt WlpeQ
The girls We're paired off, and the smaller
one stood on chair and handed the
things down to her mate. Miss Lewis di-
rected and advised, and kept a watchful
eye on the proceedings all the while.
Tuesday morning bright and early. the
cooking class arrived. After committing
to memory the directions for the making Of
Goldfish balls, from the clearing of the
grease in which doughnuts had been fried
by preceding class to the drying them
when just out of the smoking fat, on a
piece of clean, light-brown paper, Miss
Lewis donned an immense blue Bingham
apron with capacious pockets, the class
washed its hands with dignity and preci-
sion, and then the members nearly fell over
themselves in their haste to get into the
kitchen.
Here they ranged themselves in two rows
on either side Of long table, on which
stood ingredients and utensils needed to
prepare the dish which constituted Tues
days lesson and bill of fare, for after each
lesson the class proceeds to demolish all
theories advanced by tailor-made men re-
garding food prepared in cooking schools