The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-14

u SuOCCSS Ol ttle CIlLCI RllSCy craze of twenty-hundred a day "A Commentary toN the Book of Life" entitled, Fatal Stings"
 Tt is not says the author, "the ter rible occurrences that no one is spared a husbands death, the moral ruin of a beloved child long, torturing illness, or the shattering of a fondly aourished hope-it is none of these that under mines the woman's health and strength, but the little daily recurring, body and soul devouring cares. How many mill lions of good housewives have cooked and scrubbed their love of life away! And how many have sacrificed their rosy cheeks and their dimples in domes- tice service until they became wrinkled. withered, broken mummies. The ever lasting question: What shall I cook today% the ever-recurring necessity of sweeping and dusting and scrubbing and dish washing, is the steadily falling drop that slowly but surely wears out her body and mind. The cooking stove is the place where accounts are sadly balanced between income and expense and where the most oppressive ohserva, tions are made concerning the increased cost of living and the growing difficulty of making both ends meet. Upon the
  ing, youth and freedom from care beauty and light-heartedness are being sacrificed. In the old cook whose eyes are dim and whose back is bent with toll, no one would recognize the blush- ing bride of yore beautiful. merry, and modestly coquettish in the finery of her bridal garb.'
 Mrs Burk has solved the problem evidently, for she ,goes about her tre- mend0uS hOnSpl aaniner ia Sls icyl1t heart and a pretty face, and makes her work a pleasure instead of a burden.
 l asked Mrs. Burk the other day just after the luncheon hour at Britling's when hundreds of hungry people had gone away delighted and satisfied with the delicious nome -cooked' food which had been served to them, how she, had learned to be such an efficient house. keeper and when and where? T had never kept house day in my life,' Mrs. Burk said ''out in California where I had lived; I had had no experi- ence whatever, but gained my first knowledge of it right here in Birming ham over at Steele-Smith's.
 'I went in there perfectly untrained and unlearned, but I soon began to take an interest in the work; that was in the days when noon-day luncheon only was served: then when the cafeteria was opened three years ago the management sent me to Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago and different places for a month to study the cafeterias and the way they are run Then came the opportunity to have charge of Britlings, and although it was a tremendous task said I would do it. Mrs. Burk continued, "and I have been 1 right on the job ever since" q begin my day at 6 o'clock in the morning." Mrs Burk said, Arranging my marketing, menus and general details for the day. Our meat bill is $300 day; we use from eight to twelve pounds of coffee a day in the summer and from fifteen to twenty in the winter. We use | from 15O to 200 pounds of Irish po.a-oes l a day and from 100 to 150 pounds of sweet lpotatoes. Five dozen chickens and twen- 1 ty-five hens day are consumed, and 1S5 pounds of steak"
 And by the way have you ever eaten lany of our hash?'' Mrs. Burk asked T know that's dangerous dish at most res-
 taurants where they paw 15 cents pound 1 for their hash meat, but ours costs 5o cents a pound being the trimmings from our steaks and roasts, and our hash IS delicious, so everybody says"
 l And we buy everything we use right ] here in Birmingham Mrs. BurH said Our vegetables we get from the market I at the park fresh every morning; our | cantaloupes we get down on Morris ave- l nue by the crate; our peaches. grapes | in fact everything we use--are home pro- dIce."
 | "We average about 200 patrons day." | Mrs Burke said. We serve larger number on Saturday than any other day, and recently we had 2,S50 people on Sat urday"
 We employ ninety-one people in the kitchen" said Mrs. Burk. as casually as though she were talking about that many people walking along the street. "Of these, all are colored except our pastry cook, MT. Thompson, who by the way is an artist-an excellent artist-and l two others sam our chef, is 9 won- der; he is splendid; while Corn Stick Mamma who makes the delicious corn sticks that everybody likes so much, and Ora. our pie cook are all experts in l their lines.'
 1 "And how do I keep them? Why, 1 never think of them leaving they we uldn't go to anybody else for the world; we treat them well and give them plenty to eat, and those are big assets, you must admit
 And Mrs. Ash in the dining room with ] her twenty-two maids is such a splendid l CO., operative force in the business said |