The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-24
Doughnuts For Breakfast And Custard Pie Are
 Chief Articles
By ELLA M'CT,ARY

v
 one thing about Calvin Coolidge.
 You can bank upon what he wants. And if the person doing the banking happens to be plain, old New EnRlafd woman who for more than IT years has done the cooking in the John Coolidge homestead in this quaint old village, why then the surety is unAssailabls.
 Aurora Pierce, housekeeper for the elder Coolidge, kAows what the Presi- dent wants, and makes no fuss about getting 1t for him. When you know what he wants, that's what he wants and that's what he gets," she said succinctly dn reply to question whether ths executive is fussy about what he eats.
 { Of course, 1t wasn't expected that a Yankee born and bred in the Vermont hills would forget his training and "put on airs" as Aurora would put 1t, but 1t might have been expected that the jump from this primitive village to the White House would have slightly affected the culinary tastes of even the most Puritan of persons. Not so, Call win Coolidgei
 Aurora Is probably one of the most important links in the plans to make the vacation of the Washington Cool idges A success. She was taken into the confidence of the planners, and dis played an appropriate dignity--a dig nifty that was expected of a Vermont Yankee.
 The elder Coolidge called Aurora into conference when 1t was decided that the President would spend his vacation in the simple and almost primitive home, and the colonel sug- gested, very tactfully, that probably Aurora would like to have help to keep the house up and to do the cook ing. This was the first time that help had ever been offered Aurora and she didn't take 1t kindly. Everybody works in this neighborhood, and the worst criticism that can be made of q decent, law-abiding citizen is that he or she is lazy,
 Something of this sort may have crossed Aurora's mind. Certainly if anybody else but the colonel had made any such suggestion she would have resented the implication that she was But she merely looked into the colonels face for a fleeting moment and said decisively:
 Well, reckon if the family is to consist only of wou and the President and his wige and young John and Aunt Flora I can get along all right. (Aunt Flora is Mrs. William Smith, who was visiting the elder Coolidge.) )
 So Aurora reigns supreme over her immaculate kitchen. And her domain includes the remainder of the house, too. Tn fact, if any other maid were brought in for the Coolidge vacation she'd probably sulk the whole time, as she confided to a neighbor. Being woman, it is not the scheme of things that Aurora should confide her age. Suffice 1t to say that she is lover forty" She is rather tall and spare and weighs about 108, which in these days of silhouettes is rather de- sirabIe. She has soft hair, streaked with gray, and blue eyes.
 She isn't beautiful; but she has personality and a certain wholesome ness-the wholesomeness of God fearing New England spinster. In her simple manner, she is striving valiant Iy not to feel ''uppity" just because she l, is@ cooking foF 4the first .gantiamat- and lady of the land. That would be put ting on airs" nd would be unseemly. But, at that, she cannot help being af- fected by all these reporter folk from Boston and New York and Washing ton and all the other big cities.
 Aurora relies a great deal upon her memory in preparing dishes for the visitors from Washington. Of course, she wasn't in the Coolidge home when Calvin lived there as q young man, but he has visited the old homestead a sui ficfent number of times for her to know what he wants. Aurora is of the old school, and knows that q mans heart is reached via his stomach,
 The first thing that she did, for ex- ample, was to cook up a large batch of | doughnuts. She knows that the Presi- dent likes these for breakfast. She also prepared a big jar of cookies, the kind that John loves. These were sui. ficiently numerous to last through the vacation.
 Then, as soon as the President and his family arrived, she made up a layer cake with maple frosting that she knows from experience is the Presi. dents favorite dessert. And the man. ner in which he ate 1t did her heart good.
 The meals are simple, but they are wholesome and good. The writer can vollch for this. That first meal of the President included a fine catch Oi brook trout which Aurora cooked up They were caught and cleaned by q