The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-09-23
COLLEGE GIRL AND
THE QUICK LUNCH
Meeting Needs of the Girl
With 7 Cents
A UNIQUE ENTERPRISE
How Science and the Study of Human
Nature Go Hand In Hand
Chemical Analysis a
Feature.
A UNIQUE ENTERPRISE

entihc" restaurants which feed about four
thousand people in four hours and half
every noon. She is Miss Bertha Steven
son, a South Carolina girl by birth, and
within Ave years a student at Radcliffe
college,
This particular reform Boston owes to
New York IN some part, for it was the In
fluence Of a New York physician who
makes a speciality of dietetcs that first
turned Miss Steyenson's energies in their
present direction. She began by baking
bread for invalids-bread prepared from
the Doctors prescriptions, with less of
this or more of that, or none of the other
usual ingredients This was done In a
scientific bakery" in Cambridge soon af-
ter she left Radcliffe.
But there was a peculiar difficulty to be
met in the persistence with which people
misunderstood the purpose of the estab
lishment, and instead of recognizing its
loaves of exceptional excellence for inva-
lids who must eat carefully, seemed to
think they were intended to be ordinary
bread, but hadn't turned out quite right
AACNSNNAb NAiS Sbdh5 SObtEG bhl cihipl1
worked out a more elaborate scheme, this
time for helping the quick luncher in spite
of himself or herself, and went at putting
1t into practice so givorously that there
aare now three restaurants conducted in
accordance with her ideas.
1t is no small undertaking to prepare
and serve food which will pass creditably
laboratory examination. Think of hav-
ing set before you bread that has been
tested by qualitative and cumulative
analysis for its wholesomeness and the
nutrition 1t affords; butter that has been
examined scientifically to see that it con-
tains no trace of substitution for the gen.
uine article; milk that has not been robbed
of its cream; coffee that is made from the
real tropical bean and nothing else; tea
that has been out of the canister only
long enough for its infusion with boiling
water. And then think of actually paying
less for such refreshment than the output
of the ordinary "beanery'' would cost you.
No Sentiment About It.
Yet this is exactly what is being done
under the management of the college girl
who devised the scheme. She has no SEN
timent about 1t: she Is a level-headed,
clear-seeing ambitious young woman. who
thinks she has found way of being last
proved that she is right. to the entire sat
isfaction of those who have watched her
work and have made possible Its surpris-
ing development by their support.
The food served in these restaurants Is
not intended to advance any particular
theory of diet which means that these ara
not vegetarian Institutions or anything OF
that kind, There are always meat and
fish, soups, salads and vegetables, fruit,
pastry and ices-all the things which the
American palate demands. But it is the
intention to have everything served a gen.
uine article of pure food
Take, for instance, tomatoes in their
various forms. 1t is not enough that the
tomatoes are fresh In the summer or that
II they are canned their freedom from
deleterious matter Is guaranteed. How
ever pure the tomato is to start with, its
fruit acid will affect other ingredients with
which 1t is mixed, say milk. Something
must be done to counteract this effect,
and it must be done with scientific accu-
racy.
The new recipe is tried in an expert
mental kitchen until 1t is just right and
then translated into formula for use in
preparing large quantities. Being a nat
ural cook does not count for much with
Miss Stevenson; she and her chief assist
ants look after that part of the business,
and all the individual cook has to do is to
follow directions, which is more than ordi-
nary cooks can do
Studies Human Nature.
Together with her studies in the scien-
tifc preparation of food. this college wo-
man in business finds abundant opportu-
nifty to study human nature and some of
the aspects of life in a great city. There,
for instance, was the case of the girl who
complained that she had very little money
to spend for her lunches, and that five
cents was too much to pay for a glass of
milk. To Miss Stevenson this suggestion
was worth considering. She sat down and
figured that she could afford to pay for
the service the waste, the washing and
breakagc of glasses and the various other
items properly chargeable against each
glass of milk. and at the same time make
a proportonate share of the modest prof
its to which she considers the capital in
vested in the business entitled, and sell
pure, unskimmed milk at four cents a
glass Accordingly she reduced the price,
and since then, day after day, the same
girl has bought flor seven cents simple
but sufficient luncheon.
THAT shows the need there is for work
of this kind" says Miss Stevenson in men,
tionlng the case. who the girl is where
she WORKS or what pay SHe gets, uOeSn
matter If one cent day makes all that
difference to her, it must be an important
thing to have what she does get of the
best quality. So, you see, there is some
satisfaction In knowing that the bread and
butter she gets with the glass of milk
contains much more nutriment than ordi-
nary bread and butter, and that she Is
getting a good luncheon for seven cents.
AS has been said, Miss Stevensons idea
goes beyond merely furnishing pure food
She thinks her relation to the workers in
the business of whom there are upwards
of 800, is as important a consideration in
her general scheme as her duty to her
patrons.
1--WE don't expect to reform the world"
SAYS the young manager, but there's a
right and wrong way of carrying on any
industry, and we aiming at the right
way I believe that the worker should
get something more out of her work than
her weekly wage; something less tangible
but none the less valuable. She should
get some enjoyment out of 1t, and this is
quite possible II the work is suited to her
and she is doing 1t well-as we'll as she
can
Enjoyment In Rough Work.
Perhaps it seems out Of the question
for some Of our workers to get enjoyment
out of the kind of work they do. For in
stance" Miss Stevenson continued, looking
across the labyrinthine kitchen to a sturdy
woman who was on her knees scrubbing
the hardwood floor. there's a scrubwo-
man over there. That doesn't seem work
that anyone could get enjoyment out of,