The Tucumcari news. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1906-06-30
STREET KITCHENS
INGENIOUS OUTDOOR COOKING
ARRANGEMENTS IN FRISCO.
People of the Ruined City Take Read
lily to Open Air Style of
Living Under Sore
Addiction.

San Francisco Chronicle.-Mother
Necessity was never buster than now.
Inventions were never SO numerous;
ingenuity was never so %protitably eX-
ercised. The people nave settled down
to street living as 4 matter OF course
and the pater sits calmly ON Il soap
box against the euro, beside Il pot Of
stew, holding a wooden poker in II
hand, a newspaper IN the other and Il
pipe in his mouth, with as little con-
Germ as he formerly planted his heels
under the dining room table and read
the headlines to the family. The ma
ter comes to the dor twice every five
minutes to ask il the coffee's boiling
what she really wants is Il line on
dads c%apability as a teakettle fireman
and the kids, meanwhile, are either
Out hustling wood or just hangin' on,
wondering If there will be enough to
go round, and there always is.
Under present conditions 1t Is nat
ural that some families should be more
comfortable than others in their ar
rangements, for cu"bstone housekeep-
ing; but this time he poorer classes
win. The laboring man has 100 prac-
teal ideas stored in his brain, where
the man who hasn't seen a kitchen
since he vas a boy is absolutely help
less. Thus 1t is that the street ki,ch-
ems range from two pies of bricks,
open at both ends and uncovered. with
a five-gallon oil can showed in between,
to a modern summer kitchen, contain
ing a mortarei bri TX furnace, with a
long stovepipe to carry of the smoke
and SCOT; its walls lined with cooking
utensils and dishes. and just to show
the nature of the inhabitants, its roof
surmounted by a fiagpole, Haunting Old
Glory.
When the order iiIs 81 ven forth pro-
hibiting indoor fires. many had 1t fig
ured that the inconvenience would last
for a couple of days only, and made no
special efforts to cook outside. a loaf
OF bread and a pot Oh coffee being con-
sidered n sufficient menu for the re-
stricted season. But the wise ones got
busy with fallen chimneys and built
miniature furnaces, sometimes three or
1oui lSCt III HCl6hl' oNCl thSSS tHCy
spread their oven CRATES, which served
equally well for boiling coffee, sleeping
tea, frying eggs and meat or cooking
stews. Then came the stiff winds, which
blew ashes and cinders into the open
utensils. The spirit of the wise man
rebelled against the grimy invasion.
Wind breaks were required. The near
est and easiest way to obtain them was
from the bill boards which enclosed
practically every vacant lot in the city.
Only an example was required. The
attack upon the inanimate exploiters
OF public amusements became general.
BY the time the neighbors had dulled
their axes there was nothing left OF the
bill boards but an offer OF $50 reward
for the arrest or any person caught
mutilating them.
The result was hat when day
dawned on the Saturday following the
disaster a majority OF the street kitch-
ems were well sheltered from the wind
and rain. and man. were completely
boarded, curtains. canvas, tar paper and
other adequate material being used to
cover the wooden frames.