New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-06-07
The COOKS CRITIC.

If Auditor &. V. c. Van Deusen will kindly
arise bright and early some fine morning Of
this week and follow the little summer tour
mapped out in the following excerpt from an
imaginary vest pocket guide book, he will prob
ably hurry home after the taunt and write a
recantation of the report which he sent TO Con
troller Metz the other day. Most of the sights
TO which the guide book calls Mr.. Van DeuSens
attention are not exactly pretty but they are
worth contemplating, particularly if the spec
tator happens to be of the opinion that the
cooking classes il our public schools are a fool
ish. extravagant "friI' Here is the tour:
Z A.. M.-Down East Broadway. and then up
any side street. Follow the strong odor on
the right with your eye. Ut is substantial
enough to be vsible.) On the kitchen stove TO
which it leads you breakfast for a family Of
seven is being concoctcd. Observe the thin steak
being frizzed into state of ndgeStibility by
an honest but ignorant housewife None of the
five children has been to cooking school.
8 A. My this time you will have strolled
somewhere else. To the left open window.
whence issue overpowering fumes of boiled tea.
The thin, cross visaged girl you see pouring
this nky beverage into cups is a successful
dressmaker but she won't be much longer for
tannin ia getting on her nerves, Do not ask
her if she attended cooking school; she
might throw the bot teapot at your head.
9 A. Mn the Far East 40's. Proceed IN
til You come TO streetcleaner an ashmap
then look upward. Somewhere in the cloud Of
dust either of these gentlemen is raising you
will see bottle of milk standing open rnouthed
on window ledge, waiting eagerly for germs
and good plain dirt
10 A. M-The Bronx. Angular Irish lady in
the foreground throwing away the end of a
roast. basket of bread crumbs and some left
over potatoes, meanwhile wondering sorrow
fully why the family isn't getting rich as fast
as some other folks are.
II M-Anywhere around Canal street and
Broadway. The mystery of the New York face
| unveiled Ten office boys lunching off "fce
cream waffles" alongside a pushcart for des-
sert, two cigarettes. Twenty shop girls of all
ages trying to nourish themselves on cheap soda
water and chewing gum Forty men, young
and DID, boiling factory made food at quick
lunch counter because nobody at home knows
how TO put up cheap, dainty, yet wholesome,
luncheon.
Let Mr.. Van Deusen proong the tour until
he sees a new light Unless he Is as blind as
rigid economist of the Tammany school, he
will not have to more than the few sights
mentioned. He will discover the need of edu-
eating a large section Of the public III the ele-
ments OF culinary art: and if he knows any
thing about children and cookery-which We
very much doubt-he will also see the great and
easy possibilities Of the work directed by Mrs
Mary Il. Williams. The hand that rocks the
cradle may rule the world, but the hand that
fips the pancakes is the power behind the
throne. If every woman In New York City
knew how to buy and prepare vands there
would not be anarchists enough in town to hold
conversation. For the mere sum of Mr. Metz's
annual salary the city is now giving about fifty
thousand girls years instruction In this SUI
branch domestic ohahI,
hundred and fifty thousand citizens are di-
rectly benefited in pocket, health and temper.
by this investment Parents and children alike
are delighted with the practical success of the
unobtrusive cooking teachers. Mr. Van Deu-
sens study of the bookkeeping methods in the
cooking department seems TO show that too
many cooks spoil the broth. But they don't
make half as bad mess of it as the Con-
troiler's Office does when Ii descaptx uDou tia