The Washington times., 1904-06-05

That is one way TO get an order served
quickly. The everlasting system of
graft is not absent even from the hotel
kitchen.
Trials Of Mattresses.
The steak cannot be hurried; all the
deftness Of hand and quickness OF brain
which make a good cook will not hasten
the fire, or prevent the steak from
scorching If cooked in a hurry. Nelly
stands. platter in hand, and dances from
one tired foot to the other. until the
steak IS done, and then flies off with
her tray, to find. perchance, that the
silver which she has so carefully wash
cd. has been "swiped' by some unscrup-
ulous cOmrade. In the busy hours Of
the day the dishwashers cannot turn out
clean dishes as fast as they are needed.
and the girls must wash their own sill
ver-sometimes wash every dish which
is 10 be used-and there are those mean
enough to take the clean silver of some
body's tray and save time on their own
orders at the expense of the poor girl
who must stop and wash silver when her
order is ready and cooling on the tray.
Moreover. a great many of the hotels,
even the most fashionable and richly
appointed. have not half silver enough
for the use of their guests when BUSH
ness is brisk, and the girls must walt
until the knives and forks and spoons
come out from the dining-room-
II will be well 10 remember this when
slow service seems unaccoUntable. 1t Is
We'll also to remember that neither
toast nor the cooking of meat can be
hurried. The facilities for making toast
rIay, moreover, be Limited to a crate
about two feet square. while fifteen OF
twepty mattresses may be clamoring for
crGers. 1t Is not always the fault Of the
waitress when orders are slow in com
ing, and some of the best achieve their
apparent skill at the expense of more
scrupulous comrades. A hotel kitchen IS
a little world in itself
The round-faced. round-bodied little
man in white cap and apron, who cooks
eggs IN the morning, is worth watching.
His movements are as fascinating as
those OF a prestidigitateur. He has an
order for an Cmelet. Whisk! The two
eggs are whipped to golden froth-
Flip. The froth is deposited in a little
frying pan about the size Of soup
plate. Flop. The pan is waved in th2
air, and TIE omelet is doubled over \
second later a dexterous twist deposits
4; OF its hot platter. folded once more
into precisely the right form. The next
order is fried eggs, cooked on both sides.
Wnen they are done On one side a way z
of the pan sends them hopping into the
air. TO come down on the, other SIDE.
Delicacies Not for Help.
Beyond this kitchen are the kitchen
and llning-roOm in which the hotel seTV-
ant eat in relays which las all day
lOng-scrubwOmen, mattresses, cooks,
dishWasners. scrlbwOmen, and walt
resses again. They are fed, not on
the remnants of hotel fare, as the
guests doubtless suppose, if they sup
pose anything at all about the matter
but on rations prepared for them alone.
Now and then, If there is a great deal
more pudding, or breakfast rolls, or
/ some other commodity than the guests
need. the servants get some Of it, but
I as a rule the fare intended for the
/ guests is much too costly TO be wasted
] on the servants. Sometimes the food
/ furnished them is good, and sometimes
IL is not More often, perhaps, it Ia
ret
There are many houses in which the
I girls carry heavy trays laden with all
kinds of dainties, while they themselves
4 may have hreakfasted and dined on a
4 slice OF spoiled meat and piece OF stale
bread. The managers take il for grant
ed that they will help themselves slyly
TO food now and then, but. for the sake
/ of discipline. they do not openly say
! so. In one White Mountain hotel the
/ girls were fined 80 cents per banana. if
! caught helping themselves; their Pay
was two or three dollars week; they
paid their railway fare to the hotel, and