■\4 
 
TX 945 
 .T4 
 Copy 1 
 
 
 k 
 
 •6 
 
 Foreword 
 
 By Alice Bradley, Principal of Miss Farnur's School of Cookery 
 
 YOU may have a home which you 
 want to turn into a tea room — or 
 you may be looking for a home that 
 you can turn into a tea room. In 
 either case there is one aspect of your 
 plans which you cannot neglect, Watch 
 your location. For instance, a tea room 
 on the motor highway on the outskirts of 
 a town will not attract office 
 folk from the business sec- 
 tion, hut it will catch the 
 motorist's eye. 
 
 Before you equip your 
 establishment, make a kitch- 
 en plan and a dining-room 
 plan on paper, then locate 
 the places for mixing cake. 
 making frostings, salads, and 
 dressings, slicing ami spread- 
 ing bread for sandwiches, 
 making waffles, tea. and cof- 
 fee. Locate drain boards for 
 receiving, sorting, and drain- 
 ing dishes ; locate shelves 
 near the sink for clean 
 dishes, and shelves near the 
 work tables for all supplies. 
 
 I Maw in the lines of travel from re- 
 frigerator to work table, to range, to din- 
 ing-room, to sink. etc. Shorten these 
 lines in every possible way, on paper, be- 
 fore building your shelves or setting up 
 refrigerator, sink, and stove, that all the 
 work of your tea room may be accom- 
 plished in the most efficienl manner, with 
 a place for everything that will be needed, 
 and room for all tin- help you have. 
 
 The probable overhead expense of run- 
 ning a lea room for a day should be care- 
 fully calculated before any money is in- 
 vested. To do this, add together rent for 
 a year for the rooms you propose to 
 occupy; the interest on the proposed in- 
 vestment for repairs, furnishings and. 
 equipment : depreciation, that is. ten to 
 twenty pel- cent of the value of equip- 
 ment (both new and that already owned t > 
 probable cost of find. lights, water, ice. 
 krtmdry, telephone, and advertising. I>i- 
 vide this total by the number of days yon 
 expect to be open in a year. Next, esti- 
 mate the wages you must pay to the help 
 you propose to have, including cooks. 
 waitresses, cashier, and <i reasonable wage 
 for yourself. Gel this cost for one day 
 and add to the other cost. This, plus the 
 average daily cost of all food material 
 
 T3 ECIPES and 
 ^- menus whose 
 popularity has been 
 proved by use in 
 actual tea rooms 
 will be found on 
 pages 50-56. Some 
 of these may be 
 just the bait to 
 catch that particu- 
 lar part of the 
 fickle public for 
 which you are an- 
 gling. Try them. 
 
 used, and any other costs that are not 
 
 listed above, will be the average amount 
 
 you must take in daily before you will 
 make any profit over and above your own 
 salary. 
 
 Decide tentatively on your j^jecialt ies. 
 ami learn how to apportion the foods you 
 plan to serve; know the cosfSfend si- 
 prices of a definife^amow 
 cadi things and the number 
 of portions you nrtist sell in 
 a day in order^to pay for the 
 food material and the over- 
 head expenses listed above. 
 A eoinmou method of deter- 
 mining iffit selling price of 
 cooked food is to double \\\ 
 ( osi ol the raw material. 
 Can you get this price? 
 this rate, can you probably 
 sell enough to pay expenses 3 
 You may need to serve small- 
 er portions of some dishes. 
 On some dishes you should 
 charge more than double the 
 cost, because of the time 
 necessary for their prepara- 
 tion. Some may have to be sold at cosi 
 or less thai! cost. 
 
 There is great danger of losing money, 
 because of wasted food or poor service, 
 where very many dishes are attempted at 
 one time unless you have a great deal of 
 help and a very large patronage. 
 
 As soon as possible after you are 
 started, learn approximately how much 
 food will be used in a day. that there may 
 be no waste of perishable material. Keep 
 nonperishable supplies on hand in a 
 linked store-room of which you hold the 
 key, so that you may no! lose time send- 
 ing out unnecessarily. 
 
 Learn how many sandwiches you should 
 get from a loaf of bread ami from a def- 
 inite amount of butter and of different 
 fillings, file the data, and strive to main- 
 tain this standard. 
 
 Know how many servings you should 
 get from one quart of ice cream, one 
 pound nut meats, and use the same meas- 
 ures every day. 
 
 Serve a definite number of salads from 
 one fowl, one can of pineapple, one quart 
 mayonnaise dressing, etc. 
 
 From a standard cake mixture, cut al- 
 ways the same number of pieces, and 
 make a definite number <d' little rakes. 
 
 of 
 
 lie i 
 
 Copyright 192s, Woman's Home Companion 
 
 1 
 
This restful interior is brightened up rvith gaily colored French posters and pottery 
 
 Polly's Place 
 
 ten miles 
 is initial 
 
 ad many 
 
 IT started witb a loaf of bread and a 
 pound of tea, away off in the northern- 
 mosl corner of the White Mountains, in a 
 little hundred-year-old bouse at Cole- 
 brook, New Hampshire, ten miles from 
 the Canadian border, witli Mount Monad 
 nock, in Vermont, just back of it. and 
 the Rangeley Lakes country in Maine inn 
 twenty miles away. Sixty miles from the 
 heart of. the White Mountains it stood, a 
 tidy motor run from many of the famous 
 resorts, hut .still on the state road and 
 depending upon a large hotel 
 distant at Dixville Notch for 
 patronage. 
 
 After the little cottage had 
 unhappy experiences with undesirable 
 tenants, its owner derided to subjeel it to 
 no more indignities, but to give it the 
 dignified place deserved by the oldest 
 house for many miles around. According- 
 ly, six years ago, it opened wide its yel- 
 low painted door with a brass knocker on 
 it. and made its how as ;i tea room, the 
 first one iii the great North Country, and 
 a decided novelty in its own home town. 
 
 A pound of the best Orange Pekoe, a 
 loaf of bread, a jar of honey, and some 
 golden Jersej butter and cream were the 
 first investments. For at the beginning, 
 cinnamon or plain toast and ten were the 
 only things to he served. The tea house 
 
 was Iii work out its own destiny, create 
 
 a demand, then supply it. and. above all. 
 cater to the wants of its patrons as they 
 
 became known. And witb a particular 
 patronage, culled from the greal White 
 Mountain hotels, of people accustomed to 
 having what they wiiii] when they want 
 it. and to paying well for it. it was nor 
 difficult to find the trend of their desires. 
 They wanted a homelike atmosphere, serv- 
 ice of willing, pleasant maids, and some- 
 thing to eat. with the homey touch — a 
 radical change from hotel food, which, he 
 ii never so good, soon becomes tiresome if 
 one sits day after day a* the same table. 
 The first year, Tolly's Place, as it was 
 christened, in compliment to a nickname 
 of its owner, only paved its way. Open- 
 ing in mid-August, it took many weeks 
 for it in become known, and only at the 
 end of the season was it found that re- 
 sults had Keen sufficiently encouraging to 
 warrant its going on another year. While 
 i lie quantity was lacking, in so far as 
 ureal variety went, it was immediately un- 
 derstood that quality was what counted 
 must, and an effort was made to have the 
 few things served as perfect as possible. 
 
 Tea. freshly made for each person, hot 
 water steaming in a silver kettle, rich 
 cream, freshly made hoi toasl. buttered 
 with golden butter or redolent with 
 strained honey ami cinnamon, hot ginger- 
 bread, puffy brown doughnuts, ami cot- 
 tage cheese, sageleaf sausage and scram- 
 bled eggs (the eir^s laid by Tolly's OWE 
 hens I- these and a delicious cup of of 
 fee were about all she had to offer. 
 
Thanks to many ramhlings in Europe, 
 where the lure of peasant pottery was 
 .strong, Polly h;i<l many charming liits of 
 china and a special tea service in bright, 
 colorful ware for each of the folding tiffin 
 tables or mahogany tuckaway tables at 
 which her patrons were served. The gay 
 colored posters from the Latin Quarter 
 and French theatres which were hung on 
 the walls, together with plates from many 
 countries, and the shelves full of brighl pot- 
 tery gave the tea room, with i ______ 
 
 its low ceiling, a quaint, for- 
 i ign air, which proved to he an 
 excellent advertising feature. 
 
 Later on. a peasant dining- 
 room was added, with more 
 French posters and pottery. 
 chintz curtains of blue and 
 rose, and Colonial furniture 
 painted a soft yellow to har- 
 monize with the yellow walls 
 of this room and the tea 
 room upon which it gave. 
 The rugs were Holland rush 
 in the tea room, and old-fash- 
 ioned braided rugs in the 
 dining-room. Polly simply 
 used what she had, the only 
 extra purchases being the tiffin tables and 
 the dining-room furniture. But an effort 
 was made to have the place as filled with 
 suggestions of foreign lands as possible 
 and at the same time as homelike and 
 comfortable and cozy as it could be made 
 with a minimum of expenditure. 
 
 This done, the real business of Polly's 
 Place was begun. To describe, step by 
 step. how. in six years, it grew from a 
 tea-and-toast shop to a little European 
 Peasant Inn. catering to motorists and to 
 people who seek a quiet, homelike refuge 
 after a steady diet of hotels, would take 
 more space than could possibly lie granted, 
 hut what Polly's has done, any tea house 
 may do. if attention is paid to certain 
 essential details. 
 
 Equipment of Tea Room : The equip- 
 ment of a tea-room is the first problem 
 which confronts the potential hostess. It 
 is all-important, whether it represents a 
 large investment or whether it means us- 
 ing what one has at her command. Too 
 much stress cannot be laid upon the im- 
 portance of adaptability, as a prime asset 
 in starting a tea room. The tea room 
 itself may be nil entire house built for 
 this purpose, or some old house, or even 
 one or two rooms transformed into tea 
 
 r and kitchen. It may lie the corner 
 
 of a convenient porch, or a little rustic 
 shack at the CTOSSWayS, or even the shel- 
 ter of a picturesque old barn. The advice 
 of those who have profited bv bitter ex- 
 perience is. "start on a small scale, use 
 what you have and i/roio!" Do not invest 
 
 HpEA, in six dif- 
 -*■ ferent varie- 
 ties, sewn into little 
 individual muslin 
 bags all ready for 
 serving, may be ob- 
 tained at a moder- 
 ate rate per thou- 
 sand from W. S. 
 Quinby Company, 
 291 Atlantic Ave- 
 nue, corner of In- 
 dia Street, Boston, 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 too much money at the very beginning. 
 If ymi have nothing to utilize in the 
 way of equipment, buy inexpensive hut 
 attractive china and glass and plain fur- 
 niture, which may be artistically painted, 
 bringing down your initial investment to 
 a minimum. Japanese or willow ware 
 china may now be purchased most rea- 
 sonably, and SO may Colonial glassware, 
 which is graceful in shape, but strong 
 and well adapted to this usage. A differ- 
 
 en! service of gay china for 
 
 each tea table is a pretty 
 idea, adding to the decorative 
 effeel and affording much 
 
 pleasure to those being 
 
 served. 
 
 Among other essenl ials are 
 
 plenty of pots for tea and 
 hot water, covered dishes for 
 hot toast and plated table 
 silver of good design. A 
 samovar or a brass or silver 
 hot water kettle, with spirit 
 lamp to insure boiling water, 
 is also important. Paper 
 napkins may lie bought in 
 large quantities at low prices, 
 and for table covers or run- 
 ners nothing is more suitable or better- 
 looking than Russian crash or linen it! 
 natural color. 
 
 In the Kitchen: Happy the owner of a 
 tea room who can have a gas range, but 
 in case she cannot, a four-burner oil or 
 gasoline stove is a good substitute. Too 
 much cannot be said. also, in favor of 
 electricity for tea room use. as it com- 
 bines cleanliness with celerity in serving, 
 and is economical where a special rate 
 for cooking by electricity is given. Polly's 
 Place now has a four-burner gasoline 
 stove, a small portable electric range 
 where four units may be kept hot. a 
 "fleet" of electric toasters, electric grills 
 and chafing dishes, a large tireless cooker. 
 electric coffee percolator, electric heater 
 for hot milk. and. in another kitchen (an 
 annex I a good old-fashioned cook-stove 
 burning wood, with tin admirable oven for 
 baking. In fact. Polly has found that her 
 kitchen equipment, which has grown stead- 
 ily, is her best investment. 
 
 Aluminum and white enamel are best 
 for utensils for tea room use. with large 
 iron frying pans for frying chicken and 
 pan-broiling steaks and chops; also muffin 
 rings in which muffins and crumpets max 
 be baked, and waffle irons and large grid- 
 dles. Glass baking dishes and ramekins 
 are satisfactory, and the brown, white- 
 lined porcelain baking dishes and shirred 
 egg dishes and custard cups are also at- 
 tractive and useful. Labor-saving devices 
 include meat chopper and grinder, egg 
 slicers which slice a hard-boiled egg bj 
 
tiny wires into symmetrical slices, shakers 
 for cold drinks, a variety of sharp knives 
 for various purposes, egg beaters of vari- 
 ous kinds, a churn for mayonnaise or 
 whipped cream, coffee mill for grinding 
 the coffee freshly, and an ire bag and 
 wooden mallei for breaking ice — unless 
 
 <nie has one of those ideal 
 
 electric refrigerators which 
 
 freeze the ice into cubes of 
 jusl the proper size -and few 
 
 tea rooms have those. An 
 
 ice-cream server which scoops 
 
 mil the cream in single por- 
 tions is indispensable, and 
 
 also desirable is a collection 
 
 of tin curlers in fancy shapes 
 
 for sandwiches and cookies. 
 
 < me must also have plenty of 
 
 paper lunch boxes and drink- 
 ing cups always on hand, as 
 
 well as paraHin paper, as 
 
 i here is more money in a box 
 
 luncheon daintily prepared 
 
 and sold for a good profit 
 
 than in serving the usual afternoon tea. 
 
 Tht Food: Have a specialty. It may he 
 waffles <»r fried chicken or cinnamon toast. 
 Or one of many things. 1 >u1 if you have 
 it. have it always on hand. Puffy brown 
 doughnuts with creamy sage or full cream 
 cl se form one combination, hot ginger- 
 bread and whipped cream, or gingerbread 
 and cheese another. Freshly made cottage 
 cheese and fresh buttermilk are always 
 in demand, as are all sorts of homemade 
 pickles, jellies, and jams. 
 
 English crumpets, split and toasted, 
 served with lea and jam. or hot buttered 
 English muffins, old-fashioned griddle 
 cakes, or hoi wattles with honey or sirup 
 never go begging. 
 
 Manx' b'.a houses specialize in cake of a 
 special sort. Of these. Pudge Cake. Lady 
 Baltimore Cake, Angel Cake, Chocolate 
 Cake. Orange Cake, ami White Swiss 
 < Jake have proved mosl popular. 
 
 It is desirable t<> have a well-filled 
 cookie jar with caraway or oatmeal cook- 
 ies, and a No scene animal crackers for 
 children. These, with a cup of C0C08 Or 
 a glass of milk, will often solve the 
 problem for the kiddies while their elders 
 are sipping their forbidden tea. A little 
 table and some wicker siools provide chil- 
 dren with a [dace : ill their very own. 
 
 In addition to the ii Id carte dishes, the 
 
 average tea room will do well to decide 
 
 upon some simple luncl n to be served 
 
 at midday ai a fixed price per plate. 
 Among specialties of ibis kind thai have 
 proved popular are Country Sausage and 
 Scrambled Eggs on Toast: Mixed Grills; 
 Pried or Smothered Chicken wiih Corn 
 Fritters, Waffles or Hoi Biscuits: Chick 
 en Tie: Chicken a la Kim; or a la Vic- 
 
 O RE AD for 
 *-* sandwiches 
 may be purchased 
 in long loaves that 
 will cut into fifty- 
 six slices. Bread- 
 cutting machines 
 which can be regu- 
 lated for thick or 
 thin slices may be 
 obtained from 
 stores such as 
 Lewis and Conger, 
 New York City. 
 
 toria : Lobster or Crab New burg : Italian 
 Spaghetti cooked in real Italian fashion 
 - any one of these makes a satisfactory 
 luncheon topped off with ice cream and 
 cake, or apple pie. 
 
 Overhead Charges: The person who 
 
 successfully manages a tea 
 
 house or inn is confronted 
 with many overhead charges. 
 She must take her rent, or 
 taxes and insurance, first, add 
 to it the amount of wages 
 paid employs weekly. I he 
 initial cost of equipment and 
 supplies, cost of laundry, ice, 
 electric light, telephone : and 
 other incidentals, not forget- 
 ling deterioration and break 
 age. the latter usually being 
 a large item. Out of these 
 may be figured the approxi- 
 mate i'ost of doing business, 
 and she will see thai she has 
 a large bill of expenses i i 
 meet before any profit may lie counted 
 upon. But this is a condition obtaining 
 in every business, am! should not deter 
 her from taking the plunge. 
 
 /•.'/i passant, unless served in very large 
 numbers, then' is not very much money in 
 teas. The tea house which will also serve 
 other meals, either luiih d'hdte or d In 
 carte, will ultimately make more money; 
 
 but the one which can grow into a small 
 inn and realize also from the rental of 
 
 rooms is ll ne which has mosl success 
 
 fully solved the problem, particularly on 
 the route of motorists and tourists. 
 Every hotel man knows that his money 
 comes from rooms, and nol from food, a- 
 high overhead charges and main other 
 vexatious things combine to take from the 
 profil on meals. A room, barring laun- 
 dry ami the heating of water for tin' 
 bath, represents clear profit, and a satis- 
 factory one. upon one's investment. Dain- 
 ty, chintz hum; bedrooms with sofl mat 
 tresses and lavender scented linen ire 
 worth much to a tea house or inn. and it 
 will be found that such accommodations 
 
 soon pa.V for themselves and provide the 
 
 best sort of advertising. 
 
 Apropos "l Idvertisino : The best-pay- 
 ing investment is a small space ill the 
 automobile Blue Book, which is the Bible 
 of the motor tourist. For a small sum. 
 the tea house may also be represented 
 upon the touring maps of the Stale Hotel 
 Associations giving the routes which lead 
 to ii from all points. Newspaper adver- 
 tising is expensive and the results and 
 
 returns from it problematical. Attractive 
 
 signs along the motor roads are essentia! 
 ami photographs or posl cards of the tea 
 house are usually hung upon the bulletin 
 
boards of the nearest hotels without charge. 
 
 Post cards may be sold at five cents each : 
 and a desk with writing materials, good 
 pens, clean blotters and penny stamps. 
 should nut be forgotten. Every post card 
 mailed helps to advertise the place in the 
 best way. for every satisfied patron is 
 likely, on this selfsame post card, to rec- 
 ommend it to his friends, and there soon 
 develops a highly specialized system of ad- 
 vertising carried on by patrons of the 
 place without cost to the proprietor. One 
 could even afford to give away cards for 
 this purpose. 
 
 A small discount upon current prices 
 given the people of the town in which the 
 tea house is located is still another form 
 of advertising not to he overlooked. 
 
 Finally, do not forget the chauffeurs! 
 Polly's Place makes a practice of giving 
 them their luncheons or some refreshment 
 without charge, and the glad tidings soon 
 
 spread to the garages where chauffeurs 
 congregate, with immediate results. 
 
 And now just a word as to the gift shop 
 end of the business. If a combination 
 of tea house and gift shop seems desirable, 
 do not let one interfere with the other. 
 Do not sacrifice the tea to the gifts. It is 
 better, when possible, to set aside a sepa- 
 rate room for 'souvenirs. Polly's Place 
 has Colonial handmade bedspreads and 
 table covers, sold for the benefit of the 
 Southern Industrial Association, and col- 
 orful little bronze tea bells, knockers, book 
 ends, door stops, and ash trays, in parrot 
 designs, hand-colored, easily portable, and 
 of a character to remind one always of the 
 other Polly and her Place. Also, delici- 
 ous maple-sugar confections. Many tea 
 rooms have a woman's exchange where 
 the townspeople may bring their wares to 
 sell on commission. Others have antiques, 
 hooked rugs, and china. 
 
 I — I ERE is a glimpse 
 1 l of Polly's restful- 
 looking chintz - hung 
 bedrooms ivhich man- 
 age to give the tran- 
 sient motor-tourist the 
 feeling that he is an 
 honored visitor in an 
 extremely jolly priva'e 
 home. 
 
 AND as for this 
 *■ private dining 
 room, could you resist 
 the invitation of these 
 debonair Windsor 
 chairs to sit in them 
 and enjoy the delect- 
 able fare Tvhich Polly 
 serves upon that gen- 
 erously proportioned 
 table? 
 
Some of Polly's Pointers 
 
 Till-: firsl essential is Absolute Clean- 
 liness. <;!ass mid china shining, 
 everything spotless and dustless. 
 
 The next is Pleasant People to serve. 
 Politeness and anxiety to please those who 
 are spending their money, and to give 
 them what thej mosl want. Taking 
 trouble pays better dividends in a tea 
 linns., than anywhere else in business. 
 
 The third essential is Quality. Buy the 
 very best of everything, li is mure eco- 
 nomical to have the thickest cream, the 
 freshes! eggs and the most perfecl butter, 
 the besl tea and coffee and. in short, the 
 tinrst materials thai can be procured. 
 Poor quality makes for waste, [imperfec- 
 tion is soon noted and the patron has a 
 fight to expect the besl for bis money. 
 
 Another is Tact : [fa complaint is 
 made, try to adjust it. It is better to 
 give a person a (vt'r luncheon or tea and 
 send him away satisfied than to have him 
 carrying tales of unpleasant experiences 
 out into the highways and byways. 
 
 Strive for atmosphere and. with ir. 
 
 simplicity. Re mber the dish of herbs 
 
 and contentment. Better a clip of steam- 
 ing tea and a piece of perfect toast than 
 heavy cake and a lukewarm beverage. 
 
 Make the tea room a homey place, with 
 an air of restfulness. A couch to lie 
 upon, a good book to read, a place to 
 write a letter and a well-equipped dress- 
 ing-room are essentials often overlooked-. 
 
 juesi hook is an agreeable 
 
 A register 
 
 feat lire. 
 
 Keep ah eye on the service. See that the 
 waitress has mastered the principles of 
 good service and waiting at table, that 
 things are passed upon the left, that the 
 service is quick and noiseless. Clattering 
 dishes and noisy talk in the kitchen often 
 spoil an otherwise delightful meal. 
 
 Provide, if you can. a porch or room 
 for the chauffeurs with wash basin and 
 towels and soap, magazines or hooks with 
 which to while away their long waiting 
 hours, a table where they may he served, 
 and games, and ash trays. 
 
 Make everyone feel welcome. Let your 
 
 guests forget, if possible, that they are in 
 a place of public entertainment, paying a 
 prici' fin- everything they have. It is a 
 decidedly good practice to give something 
 away now and then a basket of apples 
 standing on a table with a little card in- 
 scribed "Help yourself* -a cake of maple 
 sugar, a little bag of cookies for the kid- 
 dies to take on their journey — any gra- 
 cious little gift which is not included in 
 the cheek. The value of this in advertis- 
 ing is inestimable. The more a tea house 
 can absent itself from a commercial and 
 grasping atmosphere — the "we-want- 
 nothing-from-you-but-your-money" spirit 
 the more successful a foundation will it 
 build for itself. 
 
 1 in ii Lyon Phillips. 
 
 The Crumperie 
 
 Miss Crump Serves Crumpets in The Crumperie 
 
 FOR several years this 
 announcement has been 
 sent out each fall, and t ach 
 fall it iias found a public 
 in lie served with the 
 Crumpets, light luncheon, and 
 afternoon tea. 
 
 The story of The Crump- 
 erie goes hack five years t" 
 the time when ill-health had 
 made my chosen profession 
 impossible. Acting upon the 
 advice of friends, my mother 
 and I decided to open a tea 
 room. It was ne essary to 
 begin very simply, doing 
 everything ourselves. Be 
 
 cause Of I bis, and lie: auso we 
 
 w a nted to lie among interest- 
 ing people, Greenwich Village was chosen 
 us our location. In this region of studios, 
 a quiet place where the workers along 
 literary and artistic lines could meet their 
 friends for tea or luncheon met with a 
 icad.v welcome and real enthusiasm. 
 
 J*Lns Crump — ' 
 
 of the Crumperie • 
 
 Experience has shown us 
 that location is the most im- 
 portant item to consider for 
 any tea room. For one 
 thing, the location to a greal 
 i\ lent determines the kind of 
 lea room you will have. 
 
 Wherever you are, select, 
 if possible, tlie first Hour of 
 some unusual little building. 
 
 Your place should lie easily 
 reached, for the out-of-the- 
 way tea room must lie "dis- 
 covered." ami it takes a long 
 time for it to become even 
 fairly busy. 
 
 • The first Crumperie had 
 
 • half of a little building on 
 Sheridan Square. A tiny 
 
 p called •■Tiie Treasure Box" 0C- 
 the remaining half, an arrange- 
 
 gift sli 
 cupied 
 men! thai proved mutually helpful. 
 
 People who know nothing of tea rooms 
 are likely to think a large amount of capi- 
 tal necessary and a mistake frequently 
 
H 
 
 % 
 
 « *> 
 
 Here the atmosphere 
 is intimate and informal 
 
 made by the beginner is to spend all her 
 capital on equipment. No matter how 
 much capital you may possess, begin 
 simply. An old New England cook book 
 is responsible for the statement that "A 
 little Ingenuity added to almost any ma- 
 terial that comes to hand will make a 
 tasty pie." We found this equally true of 
 tea rooms. 
 
 Kitchen tables and chairs were bought 
 very cheaply at a department store, and 
 painted. A distinctive old sideboard was 
 acquired and an old settle was found in 
 a neighboring back yard. Some home- 
 spun and bedspreads which had been in 
 our family for years were used as hang- 
 ings, which, with prints from "Godey's 
 Lady's Book,*' make the set ting homelike 
 and distinctive. 
 
 The problem of table linen was easily 
 solved. For table runners, kitchen towel- 
 ing with a blue line running on the edge 
 was bought at one of the live-and-t en-cent 
 stores. This, by the way. is still doing 
 duty. A good quality paper napkin simply 
 folded is not disliked, and saves laundry 
 bills. We chose a good plated ware in a 
 plain pattern, thus simplifying the clean- 
 ing question : and we use a gold and white 
 china with little brown teapots. I found 
 straw mats, which I stained the same 
 color. By using what we had. and buy- 
 ing only the simplest of equipment, we 
 made one hundred dollar's do to rover our 
 firs! month's: rent and the furnishings 
 which, while they have been supplemented 
 from time to time, are still in active serv- 
 ice. 
 
 We had no definite ideas at first as to 
 the kind of food we were going to serve: 
 but we made up our menu as people asked 
 for their favorite dishes, being careful 
 not to get too large a variety. I believe 
 in becoming well known for. say, one 01 
 two special things. My mother's nicely 
 
 How about a cozy lea 
 voisin" on the old settle? 
 
 browned "crumpets" and the toasted 
 sponge cake soon became very popular. 
 By the way. always have only the best 
 
 tea and coffee. My mother deserves the 
 entire credit for the excellence of our 
 food, always serving hot things hot. and 
 cold things cold. Bight here let me say 
 that a mother or an older person is a 
 great asset to a young girl who is contem- 
 plating the opening of a tea room or any 
 similar venture. 
 
 The name of our tea room, '"The 
 Crumperie," just happened, our Dame 
 being Crump; but I would suggest that 
 ordinarily the name should come as an in- 
 spiration. Perhaps your color scheme or 
 the place as a whole, when it settles down 
 and acquires a "fixed" look, will suggest 
 its own name. It's not a bad idea to 
 open nameless, and ask for ideas among 
 your customers. For your announcement 
 cards I would suggest a sketch of the 
 exterior. The one which a friend did for 
 us was from the first a real help, and 
 when taken home served as a quaint re- 
 minder of the place. Send the announce- 
 ment cards to your friends and the kind 
 of people from whom you wish to form 
 your clientele. 
 
 Now, the fact that it is a tea room Iocs 
 not mean that its methods of business 
 should he slipshod. We have always made 
 it a rule to he very punctual about tin'' 
 opening and closing of our little place. 
 The winter bouts are 11 ::!0 .\. M. to »? 
 i'. M.: thus taking in the light <) la carte 
 lunch and the tea service. We have al- 
 ways felt that if you serve a heavy lunch 
 and dinner, your place is no longer a tea 
 room, but a dining-room or restaurant. 
 Tn the summer time, the hours are from 
 8 A. M". to 2 V. M. : because we find the 
 
 morning hours and breakfast more agree- 
 able to our guests. 
 
 [fins Crump and "Bee." 
 
The Chimney Corner 
 
 Would you like to know a place where you could drop around for tea, 
 Far luncheon or for dinner? it's a place where you can be 
 Quite at home. It's Quiet, cozy, has a charming atmosphere, 
 Food that sort of makes you hungry, and it really isn't dear. 
 Come and sit beside our fire, when it's cold or when you're blue. 
 When your working time is over, when you've nothing else to do. 
 You are welcome. Drop in any time, and smoke or have some tea; 
 It is homelike and attractive, and you'll like it. Come and see! 
 
 Tom Powers. 
 
 THE two questions I am asked oftenesl 
 by hundreds of interested patrons 
 are: "How in the world did you see i'" 1 
 possibilities in this funny little house.'" 
 And. "How do yon know what to provide 
 for anything so fickle 
 as the public's appe- 
 tite?" 
 
 How did 1 see the 
 possibilil ies in the 
 tumbledown little house 
 which is now serving 
 i In re to four i housand 
 persons every month"? 
 I hardly know. I sup- 
 pose it was a woman's 
 intuition. Certainly 
 every male who hoard 
 of my projeel was 
 either openly scornfu 
 or inwardly full 
 pity for my inevital 
 failure. 
 
 HOW 1 derided 
 
 leave off school-tea* 
 ing and open a le, 
 room is a story in it 
 self. In fact, the win 
 history of the < Ihimney 
 Corner is a chain of 
 fascinating stories thai 
 would lake a lifetime 
 to write. 
 
 it was early in the 
 spring of 1'.>1<» thai I 
 first started hunting 
 for a suitable place 
 for a tea room. I wanted a quaint place 
 with what is known as "atmosphere," and 
 I scoured all the side streets near the 
 shopping section for a house thai met my 
 imagined needs. Nothing was quite right. 
 Then, suddenly, one day I saw my Chim- 
 in) Corner. I had passed it a thousand 
 limes with unseeing eyes. A runny tum- 
 bledown little house, well over a hundred 
 
 years old. that had somehow miraculously 
 weathered the advance of the Big Oity 
 
 and fairly exuded "a I Unisphere" from 
 
 every dilapidated corner. It nestled 
 .iLiain^t its tall neighbors in the coziest 
 fashion, apparently quite unconscious that 
 the new St. Paul Street Boulevard, then 
 
 The display card suggests most happily 
 the unobtrusive friendliness of the place 
 
 uearing completion, had made it s loca- 
 tion one of the most commanding in the 
 ciiy. Everyone pise seemed unconscious 
 of the value of thai particular corner. 
 "Why. in heaven's name, do yon waul 
 
 to go down in thai 
 
 hole? No one will ever 
 come down Ce a I re 
 Street. It's a rotten 
 seel ion.'' So spoke my 
 masculine business 
 friends — fraternal and 
 otherwise. In vain I 
 argued that the loca- 
 tion had infinite prom- 
 ise: one block easl of 
 Charles. the main 
 shopping street of Bal- 
 i imore : one h 1 o c k 
 south of the Washing- 
 ton Monument, a city 
 landmark, and eventu- 
 ally on a prominent 
 automobile thorough- 
 fare. Even my land- 
 lord sat in the seat of 
 I lie scornful. 
 
 "What. that old 
 dump !" he exclaimed 
 when I called on him 
 in regard to a lease. 
 "Why, I'm going to 
 tear it down. It's not 
 lit lo live it — no hear, 
 no plumbing, nothing 
 hut a shell of a build- 
 ing. That's no place 
 for a first-class tea room !" 
 
 It's a long story, too long to tell here. 
 Bu1 within a week I had signed a two- 
 year lease (it was the longesl I could 
 gel l at a rent of forty dollars a mouth 
 and the promise of a coal of paint for the 
 exterior nothing else. The landlord 
 would wasie no other money on the "old 
 dump." 
 
 "Yes, you can do any improving you 
 want." he remarked ; '•hut don't ever say 
 I didn't warn you. I think you're sink- 
 iiiLT good money into an old hole. Hut 
 
 have your woman's way; Lord knows. 
 you seem confident enough. And I hope 
 you're right," he added by way of pn- 
 
couragement. "If anyone can do it, you 
 can." said my best friend; hut I knew the 
 compliment had its reservations. 
 
 Vision Plus Pluck 
 
 IT was .March. I was still teaching, and 
 ■1 booked for a summer camp as coun- 
 sellor, su there was no possibility of open- 
 ing till fall. My luck began immediately. 
 The building was rented by the month 
 to two wholesale florisis. who were de- 
 lighted to sub-rent from me, as with the 
 Easter season coming on they did not 
 wish to move. They stayed on till Sep- 
 tember, when I returned from camp full 
 of health and teeming with ideas gathered 
 through the spring and summer. 
 
 There was an endless amount of work 
 — installing heat, plumbing, ranges, and 
 all the many necessities of a tea room: 
 and there were nights when I did little 
 sleeping: when the estimates for im- 
 provements bobbed up a"d down before 
 my eyes in figures rather 
 staggering in propor- 
 tions. But always 
 underneath t h ( 
 panicky feelings 
 I knew m.\ 
 C h i m n e y 
 Cornei- was 
 a "go.'' My 
 inquiries I 
 showed that 
 all tea rooms 
 within a ra- 
 dius of six- 
 blocks were 
 pa vine- f r o m 
 $1,200 to $4,500 
 a year rent. My 
 rent was $480. I 
 reckoned that even 
 $2,000 in improvements 
 would be covered in two years in th 
 ference in rent. In six months I had paid 
 for my improvements, in addition to a 
 personal salary. The next season of eight 
 months il close from June to October"! 
 more than paid for mv equipment of 
 $3,000. 
 
 T served 72 persons the first day: 1.492 
 the first month, a patriotic number and 
 easy to remember: 15,072 in the first sea- 
 son of six months. Tn May. 1921, the 
 last month before my summer vacation. 
 my patronage almost reached the 4.t>00 
 mark, an average of well over '.n>0 a week. 
 The vision is justified and my dream is a 
 solid, paying proposition. 
 
 The house really named itself. Situated 
 on a corner that protrudes itself conspicu- 
 ously, a corner so much a corner that it 
 forms an angle of some seventy degrees 
 instead of ninety degrees, the house boasts 
 a great chimney that outlines itself 
 
 lif- 
 
 against the expanse of the next building, 
 and affords cozy fireplaces in almost every 
 
 ro so that "The Chimney Corner" was 
 
 I he only name it could have. 
 
 The florists had painted the house black, 
 and. evidently believing in advertising, had 
 covered it with a myriad signs. Gray 
 paint with apple-green trimmings, and 
 window boxes of geraniums and ivy for 
 color, made an unbelievable transforma- 
 tion and attracted immediate attention. 
 For the interior 1 chose a warm gray 
 water-paint as a background for my walls, 
 and a deeper gray for the floors. I 
 painted my furniture and shelves black, 
 anil relieved the dullness with bright 
 chintzes, colorful Japanese prints, and 
 gayly painted trays and china. The neu- 
 tral gray made any color combination 
 possible. For my china I chose a stock 
 pattern with a bright border and marched 
 the colors as much as possible and in my 
 chintzes and ornaments. I bought some 
 odd china in solid colors, but always with 
 in eve to my own stock pat- 
 • tern, as I had been loo 
 
 often jarred by an 
 
 array of motley 
 
 china on a tray 
 
 to care to fall 
 
 into the same 
 
 error. When 
 
 rush orders 
 
 come into a 
 
 busy kitchen 
 
 jj one cannot 
 
 stop to se- 
 lect suitable 
 colors in the 
 chinaware. 
 m| . 1 knocked down 
 
 partitions, t h u s 
 making one room of 
 my ground floor, except 
 for a small dressing-room, 
 and leaving the quainl stairwav with its 
 worn treads open to view. The largest 
 
 room on the second floor 1 chose for a 
 kitchen, with a dumb waiter to the first 
 floor and another to tin' attic to avoid 
 confusion. The other two room? opening 
 on a hallway I made into serving-rooms 
 which could be used I'm' overflow or for 
 nrivate parties. The attic i lined up very 
 informally with wide divans and big 
 wooden settles, upholstered in black denim 
 which made an excellent background for 
 cushions in variegated colors. 
 
 "Duck Your Head'' 
 
 A SIGN on the stair, a black duck on 
 ■**• a yellow background, warns patrons 
 lo ••I>uck Your Head." for the low- 
 bridged stairway, and continues to cause 
 untold merriment, as the older is not al- 
 ways carefully obeyed 
 
The whole tea house, in fact, carries oul 
 ilic informality of the "Duck" sign, for I 
 have long since discovered thai tnosl pen 
 pie prefer home comfort to austere style. 
 Negro waitresses of a high grade give 
 deferential service, and an old farcily serv- 
 ant, with several assistants <>f course, 
 gives the cooking the home flavor thai is 
 so rarely found in a public restaurant. A 
 young sister and cousin lake over much 
 of the responsibility with keen enthusiasm 
 and the whole happy household of inter- 
 ested "servers* - leaves me free lo Me! as 
 hostess. In this way. I can enhance the 
 home atmosphere that already pervades 
 the cozy little house. 
 
 Pleasing the Public's Fickle Appetite 
 
 I SERVE a la carte lunch and tea. and a 
 four-course table d'hote dinner at one 
 dollar a nd twenty-five cents, though the lat- 
 ter is different from the usual table d'hote 
 in that it allows several choices in the 
 meat course and dessert, a popular fea 
 tute. I have found. By giving a choice 
 at dinner, I not only please my patrons 
 Inn 1 am able to use luncheon desserts 
 and entrees, and so avoid waste or carry- 
 in- over to the next day. In the same 
 way. what is left from dinner can often 
 lx' utilized in an appetizing way for 
 lunch : beef can he made into individual 
 meat pies, lamb into croquettes, chicken 
 into patties. In my d la carte luncheon 
 and tea menus I change the hot dishes 
 from day to day. both for variety and 
 economy; but have the salads, about ten 
 
 in Dumber, always on order, as it is just 
 a- easj when has lettuce and mayon- 
 naise on hand to make one salad as an- 
 other. The same is true of sandwiches, 
 the ingredients for which I have readj in 
 covered glass bowls, making every order 
 quite fresh. This plan simplifies the plan- 
 ning of the menu and gives a far larger 
 range of choice with no extra effort. 
 
 Food for All Tastes 
 
 il'I.AX my hot dishes, some six in num- 
 ber, to satisfy varied tastes; dainty 
 croquettes and patties for women, whole- 
 some meat pies and steaks for men. chick: 
 en or lamb chops for delicate appetites, 
 
 eggs for vegetarians, and some inexpensive 
 
 dish for those who watch their pennies. 
 
 By treating the servants generously I 
 find them very reasonable, and they gladly 
 eat what will not carry over, leaving the 
 things I can utilize. 
 
 I always try to keep in the refrigerator 
 ham. chickens, chops, and steaks so that it 
 my dinner meats run short I can make a 
 substitution. Vegetables can be readily 
 supplied by my pantry of canned goods, 
 though I like to have fresh vegetables. 
 
 It is surprising how comfortably the 
 r, Ui carte orders are distributed anions 
 the five or six hot dishes I provide. It 
 is seldom that anything actually gives nut. 
 When it floes. I try to see the patrons 
 myself. The personal touch seems to take 
 away the irritation, and I almost always 
 find my "guests" delightfully considerate. 
 Elizabeth Eager. 
 
 On page 9 you see the discouraging materials from which this gay interior was created 
 
 to 
 
Le Petit Gourmet 
 
 ITS entrance hidden in the shadowed 
 beauty of an old Italian courtyard, its 
 very name obscuring it to many. Le Petit 
 Gourmet attracts and holds those who, 
 again and again, descend the little flight of 
 steps which takes them to a place of old- 
 world charm. Then, too, there is a cour- 
 tesy and simplicity of service, and a qual- 
 ity of food which is rarely found in the 
 busy rush and tumble 
 of a metropolitan res- 
 taurant. And yet this 
 transplanted bit of 
 France lies almost in 
 the heart of Chicago. 
 A few blocks' walk 
 over the Michigan 
 Boulevard Bridge with 
 i t s fast - encroaching 
 business and its hurry 
 of rushing automobiles, 
 brings the tired shop- 
 per info this little 
 haven of brightness 
 and quiet, of excellent 
 cuisine, and of silent, 
 'efficient, and smiling 
 service. 
 
 As the tea room par- 
 takes, in large meas- 
 ure, of the character 
 of the building in 
 which it has its exis- 
 tence, the origin of the 
 '"Courtyard." as it is 
 
 called, seems to have a very definite 
 relation to it. Some two years ago a 
 group of artists presented to the owners 
 of two old and unsightly buildings on the 
 southeast corner of Michigan Avenue and 
 Ontario Street ideas for remodeling them. 
 The artists wanted studios, and the two 
 old buildings, totally unrelated, had many 
 possibilities. The changes in design, the 
 delays, and the seeming hopelessness of 
 the task all fade into an insignificant past 
 when compared with the achievement 
 which was brought about by the work of 
 many people, and the unfailing sympathy 
 and commercial generosity of the owners 
 of the property. 
 
 It is sufficient to know that from : wo 
 Old and neglected buildings two which ate 
 beautiful and architecturally related have 
 grown, their similarity emphasized and 
 their relation made more obvious by a con- 
 necting arch with a wrought-iron gate, 
 which opens into a stone-flagged court- 
 yard, lined with arches. Vines ami 
 shrubs grow fy m boxes and out of breaks 
 in the flagging. A bronze-green fountain 
 splashes during all the hot months of 
 summer, and the shadows of the tall 
 
 A bit of the Continent in Chicago 
 
 buildings rest with a 'ares-' on the stone.-, 
 of the gray courtyard. 
 
 1 1 is in this cool retreat to the right as 
 you pass through the iron gates that the 
 little flight of steps beckons you to Le 
 Petit Gourmet. At the foot of the flight 
 a wooden door, glazed in small squares, 
 opens into a slant and dark passage. A 
 few steps more, and you pass through 
 another door into the 
 quaintest of low-ceil- 
 inged rooms, divined 
 down the middle by 
 arched partitions. The 
 room of your first en- 
 trance was originally 
 Le Petit Bazaar — the 
 beginning of the pres- 
 ent tea room. Its walls 
 are covered with a red 
 and white paper print- 
 ed w i t h continuous 
 scenes which remind 
 you of the "Beggar's 
 Opera." There are 
 red chairs with rush 
 seats, and small red 
 tables. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is to 
 the next room that 
 most people turn. For 
 it has a wide stone 
 fireplace ; its mantel- 
 top is always decor- 
 ated with a spray of 
 gracefully arranged bittersweet or a sun- 
 flower blossom and flanking the posies 
 are quaint pieces of French china. It is 
 here, too, that small, high, latticed win- 
 dows let in all the light that is possible 
 in the space that stands above ground. 
 For it is only because of an old-fashioned 
 Victorian basement that the place exists 
 as it is. Built-in settles line the walls, 
 comfortably upholstered in the brightest 
 of yellow ami blue striped denim. The 
 walls are painted a deep French blue 
 that has a cast of green in it and. on the 
 spaces between the dividing arches, great 
 ornamental and formal vases of flowers 
 are stenciled. 
 
 The round and the square blue table- 
 are tppped with wood covered with glass 
 and stand on bases of wrought -iron. On 
 every table is placed a slender blue glass 
 vase, usually filled with sunflowers or 
 dahlias or some other bright, old-fashioned 
 flower. A few of the tables stand in the 
 
 middle of the floor, and rush-bottom chairs 
 with backs of blue wood are placed beside 
 them : others are thrust into cozy corners 
 where the settle forms the seats, still 
 
 others run along the wall, with half their 
 
seating space provided by the benches, the 
 other half requiring chairs. In fact, 
 there's a turn for every taste, and it's a 
 rare peeson or group of persons who can't. 
 find just the place t bat's wanted. 
 
 A swinging door at the back of this 
 
 inner loom leads into the kitchen. In 
 front of it, and at righl angles, a long 
 wooilen counter, painted blue, holds a 
 most commercial cash register and a beau- 
 tiful supply of cakes and small pastries. 
 
 Bui somehow it: remains true that, no 
 matter how charming the place, people 
 won't return to it again and again at meal 
 time or at tea time it' the food isn't good. 
 And almost: any sort of place will bring 
 patrons in great numbers if the food is 
 good. When the two are combined, as is 
 the case here, there is an irresistible at- 
 traction. 
 
 Le Petit Gourmet serves luncheon and 
 dinner and afternoon tea. And it's hard 
 to determine just which one is mosl 
 popular. 
 
 Of eourse, tea brings the women-folks, 
 shoppers and gossipers and entertainers, 
 with their guests. Luncheon and supper, 
 however, bring men in almost the same 
 proportion as women, and that says a lot 
 for the food and the comfortable atmos- 
 phere of the place, for you won't find men 
 where either is poor. 
 
 The menus .are limited in the choice of- 
 fered, hut the quality never varies. The 
 
 price of supplies is high in a big city and 
 the price of meals must he, accordingly, 
 high too. But prices in Le Petit ( Jour- 
 met are lower for the quality and quantity 
 Of food served than in any similar place 
 
 in Chicago. 
 
 For luncheon there is frequently only one 
 entree, although some other is usually 
 kept in reserve in case of need. A typical 
 luncheon menu is the following : 
 
 l.olislt r i'linf 
 
 Creamed Potatoes 
 
 Stuffed Celery Salad 
 
 Dessert 
 
 Coffee Tea Iced Tea Milk 
 
 This luncheon costs one dollar and a 
 half, and for one dollar the patron may 
 have the same luncheon with a choice of 
 either salad or dessert instead of both. 
 Lobster Farce is a dish in which creamed 
 fresh lobster is replaced in emptied half 
 lobster shells, covered with hread crumbs 
 and cheese, and baked until it is brown. 
 And what a delightful dish it is! The 
 creamed potatoes as they are served here 
 are a delectable vegetable, rich in butter 
 and milk, cut in half-inch dies and 
 cooked tender hut not too soft. The let- 
 tuce of which the salad is made is crisp 
 and cold; tin' celery is tender, and stuffed 
 with an excellent imported Roquefort, 
 the French dressing all that can possiMy 
 
 Inside Le Petit Courmei a stone mantel, casement windows and comfortahle built-in settees help 
 to carry out the foreign atmosphere of the entrance court 
 
be desired as to ingredients and mixing. 
 The tea and coffee are not only well made, 
 bul are of brands selected for their special 
 excellence and adhered to faithfully. Any 
 tea does not do for Le Petit Gourmet. 
 
 And the fortunate one who chooses des- 
 sert obtains a regular birthday party sur- 
 prise. For the ice cream is always home 
 made, flavored with fresh fruits and rich 
 in cream. The cake may well be called a 
 "dream" — Lady Baltimore, caramel or co- 
 coanul — of fine texture, uniform and rich. 
 
 Customers may buy it to 
 
 lake home from the counter 
 at one dollar a pound. 
 
 I >inner usually offers two 
 entrees, and almost invaria- 
 bly the choice consists of 
 broiled chicken and filet 
 mignon. But people never 
 tire of them. A tender, juicy 
 steak, broiled until its out- 
 side is browned and its in- 
 terior still red, or a young 
 chicken, firm and piping hot 
 from the broiler, never fails 
 to attract. Variety comes in 
 the vegetables and the salad 
 as well as in the dessert. 
 
 There is always a simple 
 vegetable besides potatoes — 
 beets sliced and served in 
 butter or diced in cream, 
 creamed carrots, butt "red or 
 creamed onions, string beans, or fresh 
 peas. The vegetable is always simple, in- 
 variably well prepared. It's the sort of 
 thing you enjoy eating, without thinking 
 much about it. at home, and that you miss 
 so greatly in restaurants where a well- 
 cooked vegetable is almost unknown. The 
 salad consists of head lettuce with French 
 dressing, or stuffed celery and lettuce or 
 lettuce and tomatoes — again the simple 
 salad, cold, crisp, and excellently dressed. 
 The choice of dessert is usually wide, 
 comprising several kinds of cake, an ice 
 cream or two, and frequently fruit pies 
 or tarts. 
 
 The dinner is one dollar and a half with 
 dessert or salad, while with both it is two 
 dollars. With the two-dollar dinner there 
 is also soup or a fruit appetizer of some 
 sort. At night both cake and ice cream 
 are served as a dessert: luncheon limits 
 the customer to a choice of one. 
 
 For afternoon tea there are simple bev- 
 erages, correctly prepared. Various kinds 
 of tea are made with fresh boiling water 
 and served with a pitcher of hot water. 
 There arc coffee and milk and hot choco- 
 late. Toast. English muffins, rolls, little 
 cakes, plain sandwiches, and a limited num- 
 ber of salads as well as ice cream and 
 cake are on the a In carte menu. The 
 toast is crisp, and there is plentv of but- 
 ter with it: the muffins are freshlv made 
 
 VY/ HETHER 
 * ^ you are 
 
 planning a tea 
 room, an inn, or a 
 full-fledged restau- 
 rant, you should 
 have at your elbow 
 Miss Alice Brad- 
 ley's new book, 
 "Cooking for Prof- 
 it." The price is 
 $3.00, and it should 
 be ordered from 
 The American 
 Home Economics 
 Association, 5 6 
 West 69th Street, 
 Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 and the sandwiches prepared for each 
 order. In short, the patron of Le Petit 
 (Jourmet receives the kind of services and 
 food which he would receive as guest in 
 a pleasant home, and the service is of 
 I he same sat isfying kind. 
 
 The waitresses are all middle-aged, 
 kindly women with soft voices and good 
 manners, who are dressed in black with 
 neat white aprons. .More than one woman 
 has been overheard trying to "steal" one 
 of them for her own home. There i- a 
 spirit of cooperation. They 
 have not appointed places, 
 but wait on table wherever 
 they are required. If one 
 maid is too busy a second 
 will help. 
 
 This spirit, especially, is 
 due to the good judgment and 
 tact of the manager, one of 
 the prettiest, most energetic 
 little blond women who ever 
 turned a personality to ac- 
 count. 
 
 The china, too. is an unus- 
 ual source of joy to newcom- 
 ers and to old customers. 
 Most of it is made by R. 
 Quimper in France — a rough- 
 ly glazed earthenware, un- 
 even in texture and in shape, 
 decorated with stiff figures or 
 quaint flowers and birds in 
 bright colors. There are dragon-mouthed 
 teapots and octagonal cups. And it is 
 such a lot of fun to serve ail the chicken 
 at once in order to see what silly little 
 man is painted on the platter ! 
 
 The foundation of the places lies in the 
 foundation of a much older place, whose 
 -ole object is the production of good food. 
 And the production of good food, accord- 
 ing to its instigator, Mrs. William Vaughn 
 Moody, lies in the simple preparation of 
 wholesome materials — food prepared as it 
 is at home over an old-fashioned stove in 
 pots and pans such as are used in any 
 kitchen. So the Home Delicacies Associa- 
 tion came into being, and he Petit Gour- 
 met is, in a sense, the child of this asso- 
 ciation, obtaining some of its supplies 
 from the mother place, but following, in 
 the preparation of all its foods, the same 
 "home" idea, the same simplicity of choice 
 and preparation. 
 
 The decorations — the painted walls, the 
 gay furniture, the upholstered seats re- 
 quire imagination and a color sense, a 
 decorative notion of tin 1 fitness of certain 
 types of furniture for certain places, but 
 they entail only a slight expense. It is 
 good food, a quiet atmosphere, pleasant 
 service, and reasonable prices that bring 
 their reward in the way of patronage, 
 a 1 1 . 1 again and again, good food. 
 
 I'h anor ft. 1 tkinson. 
 
 13 
 
Just a little, well- 
 kept farm-place in the 
 suburb of a Mid-Western city 
 
 All alone, up near 
 
 the house there stood a 
 
 lovely, picturesque pine-tree 
 
 Lone Pine Inn 
 
 WE were discussing what we could 
 do if my husband gave up being a 
 traveling salesman. My health had brok- 
 en down. He was tired of the eternal 
 chasing about. We were country-born, 
 and longed for a patch of ground and a 
 Jersey cow. 
 
 In a in nt of idle dreaming, I said. 
 
 "Let's start a tea room." 
 
 We found an ideal location, seven and 
 a half acres, three miles from town, on a 
 macadamized primary highway, just 
 
 across the road from one of the largest 
 flowing springs in the slate, a well-known 
 local landmark. 
 
 An electric pump forced spring water 
 into the pipes of the hathrooin and kite]; 
 en. And. my, what a big kitchen! A 
 furnace dominated the basement. There 
 was plenty of parking space for cars at 
 the end of the driveway. The lawn was 
 
 nic an oblong surrounded by shade 
 
 trees. All alone, up near the house, si I 
 
 a picturesque pine tree. "Lone Pine 
 Inn.'* I said, when we firs! drove up the 
 driveway, and the name has remained. 
 
 Of course, it wasn't a lovely old Colon 
 ial house, such as main tea rooms m the 
 
 East have as a setting. It wasn't even 
 
 a log cabin. It was jiisi such a little. 
 
 well-kept, farm place as yon find about 
 tho suburbs of all Mid-Western cities. 
 We realized that looks count a nival deal 
 
 in the success of such a place, so we ob- 
 tained the services of an artist in the 
 planning and decorating of it. Upon his 
 advice, we threw four of the lower rooms 
 together. We had to tear out plaster 
 partitions to do it, and we had to leave 
 an irregularly shaped plaster pillar effect 
 in the center to support the floor above 
 and carry the chimney through; hut. with 
 the addition of little corner shelves, the 
 effect is rather charming. 
 
 This room and the large kitchen, where 
 I have a big electric range, take up the 
 lower floor. A summer kitchen in a little 
 detached building contains the coal ran,'" 
 in summer. A roomy porch across the 
 front, screened, forms a wait inn place Cor 
 our guests and can lie used for a dining- 
 room overflow in an emergency. We our- 
 seh es live on i he second floor. 
 
 Our decorator rather shocked us by in- 
 sisting that the oak woodwork be painted. 
 I pon his assurance that it wouldn't look 
 
 like il "dinary painted w Iwork of i 
 
 Farmhouse kitchen, we gave in and have 
 never regretted it. The walls were fres- 
 
 1 a light gray right over the wall 
 
 paper, and the woodwork was painted a 
 Light blue-green mottled with a gray tan 
 
 of the same depth. 
 
 As a foundation for the color scheme 
 our decorator found a bob of cretonne that 
 
 bad not sold because of its daring colors. 
 
 1 I 
 
Brilliant orange-red tree trunks support 
 ing masses of blue-green leaves run riot 
 over a black background, and red-violet 
 birds do nothing to subdue the effect. It 
 wouldn't go at all in a sick-room, but ii 
 was just the thing for our tea room. 
 It was so brilliant that il had to lie used 
 sparingly, and the material, split, was 
 sufficient for curtain width, hanging from 
 especially made wooden lambrequins at 
 the top. I went to the store the other day 
 lo get some more cretonne, and found that 
 there had been a sudden rush on it since 
 the opening of the Inn and every bit was 
 gone. 
 
 Lmkily my husband and eldest son, who 
 did all the electrical wiring, are very 
 clever with tools. Together they built 
 the porch, put in the French doors leading 
 from it to the dining-room and made all 
 the tables. These ta- 
 bles have circular tops 
 thirty-six inches wide, 
 and seat four people. 
 They are made in a 
 very simple gate-leg 
 style that allows them 
 to be folded against 
 the wall when dancing 
 is to lie indulged in. 
 When a banquet tabic 
 is desired, there are a 
 number of filling sec- 
 tions that can be putt 
 in between ta bles. 
 These fillers rest upon 
 the upper edges of the 
 lowered tops and are 
 held in place with iron ' 
 pins. 
 
 The chairs are of 
 the ordinary solid- 
 wooden - scat kitchen 
 variety, glorified with 
 a painted oval panel 
 nailed to the back. The 
 table tops and chair 
 
 medallions, arc painted in the same gay 
 colors as the cretonne. The pine in each 
 one has a brighl orange-red trunk. 
 
 The red pine tree trunk was made .1 
 reality with the aid of my younger son. 
 We used water-colors and he did a very 
 thorough job. even going well out on the 
 smaller branches. Oil paint was used onlv 
 on the rough loose bark of the main trunk, 
 as we were afraid of injuring the tree. 
 The effect of this exotic looking growth 
 is accentuated by its being surrounded 
 with the not unusual-looking farm front 
 yard A hanging sign by the roadway 
 explains and invites. 
 
 The lighting of the dining-room was a 
 great problem. We wanted individual, 
 low-hanging, cozy lights over each table, 
 but we also wished to vary the pkicing of 
 the tables at short notice, and we wanted 
 to use the room occa- 
 sionally for dancing. 
 Our decorator solved 
 it by using the brass 
 canopies to the central 
 fixtures already in the 
 rooms. He painted 
 them to match his col- 
 or scheme — discarding 
 the brass chains and 
 glass shades, and sub- 
 stituting lanterns of 
 own construction, 
 hung by white lamp 
 cord that passes over 
 inconspicuous wire 
 hooks in the ceiling. 
 An iron ring at the top 
 of each lantern per- 
 mits of its being raised 
 * and hung from the 
 ceiling hook, out of the 
 way for dancing. A 
 pole with a hook on 
 the end makes the 
 raising of the lights an 
 easv task and extra 
 
 seats are painted the By our lighting scheme tee can move lables wire hooks on the ceil- 
 same bright blue-green frequently and still have individual low- ing make possible the 
 as the foliage in the hanging lamps over each table shifting of the lights 
 
 cretonne and are mot- 
 tled with a deep blue— the mottle being 
 done with a sponge. This makes an at- 
 tractive and very practical finish, as it 
 does not show scratches and wear as a 
 plain surface would. The chair seats are 
 shellacked to keep them from getting 
 sticky in hot weather: the remaining 
 parts of the chairs and tables are flat- 
 enameled black. 
 
 Small panels of wall board bearing 
 paintings of the lone pine (highly con- 
 ventionalized) shading a structure re- 
 motely resembling our new porch, decor- 
 ate the wall panels between the doors 
 and windows. These panels, as well as 
 the chair backs and wooden lambrequin 
 
 with the tables. 
 
 Tin' lanterns themselves were made of 
 heavy water-color paper dyed a bright 
 orange-red by dipping in boiling dye, and 
 paraffined: the sheets of paper were rolled 
 into cylinders, and their tops; and bottoms 
 clamped between black enameled embroid- 
 ery hoops : a heavv cardboard top with 
 three ventilation holes completed each one. 
 The men like 'em by day because they are 
 \-i'i\. and the ladies like 'em at night be- 
 cause thej give beautiful complexions. 
 
 The •'tone" of the place was very soon 
 established : A point was made of firmly 
 discouraging the name "road-house" as 
 applying to the Inn. Cards mailed to the 
 members of the Country Club aud various 
 
 15 
 
other organizations announced the open- 
 ing. Promiscuous advertising which 
 mighl bring undesirable trade was avoided. 
 A discreel "ad" now and thru. ti> call 
 attention i<> ;i special holiday meal proved 
 
 effective. The society editors have I n 
 
 very kind a 1 >< m t publishing nil items re- 
 ferring to dinners and other functions held 
 here under the title "Al Lone Tine Inn." 
 While 1 serve tea in the afternoons, it 
 has become only a small pari of our busi- 
 ness. 1 have ice cream and cake for chance 
 coiners, nut on drives. The dinners. 
 though, and luncheons, breakfasts, card 
 parties, showers, and what not. are by 
 special reservation. An extra fee is 
 charged for the floor for a dinner dance. 
 We specialize on chicken dinners, and 
 they have proved so very popular thai ii 
 is only very seldom thai anything differ- 
 ent is desired. Water cress from the 
 spring, and cottage cheese are much 
 called for. We have our Jersey cow now; 
 in fact, three of her. and churn part of 
 our butter when we do not have too ureal 
 
 a tain on whipped cream. We have a pen 
 
 of pigs, and many rabbits for winter 
 stews. We raised our own strawberries, 
 grapes, tomatoes, peas, sweet corn. etc. 
 
 All this means plenty of work, hut sys- 
 tem saves a great deal. .Mr. .Neville ami 
 the hoys do the outside work and kill ami 
 dress the chickens. My kitchen girl and 
 myself do the cake-baking and salad-mak- 
 ing, ami even the cliicken-fr\in.u. several 
 hours before the meal for which they are 
 intended. When the chicken is partly 
 cooked, into the air-tighl oven of my elec- 
 tric stove it goes, with just a hit of water 
 in the pan, and emerges later a most de- 
 licious brown. 
 
 June, the month of opening, brought 
 five hundred and ninety-two guests; July, 
 six hundred and twenty; and August, with 
 most everyone out of town, only five hun- 
 dred and thirty-eight. There was. how- 
 ever, a better profit in August with its 
 fewer guests than in June or July, he- 
 cause I had systematized things. 
 
 ][>■*. 8. W. Neville. 
 
 St. Andrew's Tea Room 
 
 CONDUCTING a tea room atop a 
 twenty-story skyscraper located right 
 
 in the heart of the city to pay oil' their 
 church debl — that is what was done in 
 Birmingham, Alabama, by the ladies of 
 St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. 
 
 The story of it goes hack to 1913, when, 
 on Good Friday morning, a cyclone swept 
 the town, numbering among its disasters 
 the little frame building of the Church of 
 
 St. Andrew's. Amid the wreckage and dis- 
 aster, the altar, cross, and candelabra 
 stood intact, an insistent inspiration, as it 
 were, to rebuild. Nothing daunted, the 
 members then had a get-together meeting, 
 and a lot was purchased in another loca- 
 tion. Such material as could he used 
 from the wrecked debris of the frame 
 building was removed to the new site to 
 help in the erection of a new parish house 
 
 4 heavy debt was lifted from the shoulders of this church by the tea room described above 
 
 16 
 
on the rear of the lot. Services were then 
 held in this little parish house until the 
 present brownstone church was built, the 
 completion of which left a large debt to 
 be paid off by its congregation. 
 
 To help pay off this debt, the ladies of 
 St. Andrew's Guild decided to give a 
 series of luncheons. The Guild divided 
 itself into as many as four bands, about 
 ten women to each band, and a chairman 
 was elected for each band. A committee 
 was then appointed to obtain some place 
 in the business center of the city where 
 these midday lunches 
 could be served. Other 
 members were directed 
 to solicit the wholesale 
 grocers and packers for 
 donations with which to 
 make a start. A hard- 
 ware firm in the center 
 of the business district 
 graciously rented them 
 space on the mezzanine 
 floor of their store for a 
 nominal sum, and as 
 only two servants were 
 to be employed, the 
 following plan and out- 
 line of work was inaug- 
 urated : 
 
 Each band alternated 
 in having charge of and 
 running the tea room for 
 a period of one week. 
 At the beginning of the 
 weeks, it was the duty 
 of each chairman of her 
 band to telephone the 
 different ladies of the 
 Guild, as well as mem- 
 bers) of the church, and 
 ask them to come down 
 on a certain day of the 
 week to assist the band 
 in their work. To de- 
 cide which members 
 should help her. the 
 chairman \v rote the 
 names of all the ladies 
 of the Guild on tiny 
 slips of paper. These 
 were placed in a hat, 
 from which ten names 
 were drawn at random. 
 
 To one member of this group would 
 be assigned the preparation of the salads, 
 
 and she would be expected to collie early 
 enough on her regular scheduled day to 
 make and arrange the salads in their 
 plates, ready for serving. Another mem- 
 ber would be asked to come and take 
 charge of the dessert table, from which 
 she served the different desserts. As ice 
 water and butter were other important 
 items to be served, another member had 
 charge of this task, it being her duty to 
 
 I Hi" 1 I 
 
 mi i in ll% \ 
 mi iff i #* 
 
 i Hi sin esc ■ 
 
 llll llll E£5 E 
 
 mi mi ill '- 
 mi mi mi 
 mi ipii in i 
 
 I III llll III I 
 
 At the very top of this stty-scraper 
 
 St. Andrew's Tea Room found its 
 
 first home 
 
 cut the butter and place on individual 
 plates, and also till the glasses with water. 
 Someone had to carve the roasts and 
 meats, so a member was asked to perform 
 this duty. As many as twelve ladies of 
 the (riiild and members of the church, and 
 their friends, came down each day and 
 gave their services, some of whom waited 
 on the tables, while others helped with 
 the cooking and preparation of salads, 
 desserts, etc. Others took turns acting as 
 cashier. 
 
 This, of course, meant hard work and 
 much sacrifice on the 
 part of these church 
 women, for nearly all of 
 them were housewives, 
 and it necessitated leav- 
 ing their homes for one 
 day of each week to help 
 in establishing the tea 
 room. But this group 
 of faithful workers real- 
 ized that in any success- 
 ful undertaking the will 
 liowcr or state of mind 
 of the individual forms 
 the beginning of success, 
 and that little could be 
 accomplished in a big 
 way or of a permanent 
 nature without the 
 whole-souled spirit of 
 cooperation. 
 
 This was the embryo 
 St. Andrew's Tea Room ! 
 Under this wonderful 
 system of cooperation 
 and business acumen, 
 the tea room "made 
 good." and soon devel- 
 oped such a large and 
 growing patronage that 
 the first floor of a large 
 down-town building was 
 rented, and a real tea 
 room started on a com- 
 mercial business basis. 
 A license was obtained, 
 mot." kitchen help em- 
 ployed, and young ladies 
 wen' paid to serve in the 
 dining-room. Yet, with- 
 al, a corps of these 
 church women and en- 
 thusiastic members of the Guild were 
 faithfully on hand every single day. and 
 because of this touch of personal direc- 
 tion ;'n<\ management, which maintained 
 the tea room's reputation for appetizing 
 food of first quality, quick service, and 
 popular prices, the patronage grew so 
 large that a second move was necessary. 
 It was' then they moved into the top of 
 the twenty-seven-story skyscraper, on ac- 
 count of which location the tea room was 
 sometimes called the "Tip-Top Inn" of the 
 
 IT 
 
South. The pleasanl quarters of the St. 
 Andrew's Tea Room in this office building 
 are illustrated in the photograph at the 
 Pool Hi' page. 
 
 While only one meal is served a day. 
 
 thai being luncheon, everything thai the 
 market affords in season is presented on 
 the menu. Onlj the freshest vegetables 
 and fruits, the best quality of butter, and 
 "whole milk" are used. And for the lifty- 
 en! lunch, which consists of broiled 
 steak, French-fried potatoes and hoi bis- 
 cuits, the hesi T-bone steaks are pur- 
 chased, for this is one of the standard 
 lunches of proved popularity on which 
 
 ihe\ specialize. 
 
 In addition to serving iis regular pa- 
 t rons. who averaged anywhere from two 
 hundred and fifty to three hundred a 
 day, on Thursdays of each week tables 
 are always reserved at "St. Andrew's" 
 for a party of aboul thirty, a local organi- 
 zation. 
 
 The tea room's reputation is. moreover, 
 rapidly spreading beyond tin' confines of 
 its native town, a "gentleman from Mis- 
 sissippi" having come for Iuncl n re- 
 
 cently, lured by the wide-spread fame of 
 its butter-scotch pie! 
 
 These women who have made St. An- 
 drew's Tea Room possible have not only 
 
 paid off i hi' i tgage on the Church of 
 
 Si. Andrew's, bul have had a pipe organ 
 installed, which has also been paid for. 
 and now they are looking forward to liqui- 
 dating the delit for their new church 
 re. -lory. 
 
 May Teressa Holder. 
 
 Editor's Note. Sine,, accepting this 
 
 story for publication, the author Iris writ- 
 ten us that owing to the owners of the 
 skyscraper building objecting to the 
 
 crowded conditi f tl levators during 
 
 the luncheon hours, St. Andrew's has 1 n 
 
 obliged to move again. Thus the verj 
 popularity of the place mighl have proved 
 its undoing. 
 
 Fortunately, one of the oldest and best- 
 known hotels in Birmingham immediately 
 offered them space in in building, where 
 they are now located, and conducting their 
 tea room, to quote their own words, "with 
 as much success as ever." 
 
 YOU never would guess that this attractive garden spot, gay with greenery and lattice-work, 
 is really some twenty-five stories high in the air atop the building pictured on page 17. 
 Here the ladies of St. Andrew's dispensed cheer and tea until the overcrowded elevators in 
 the building caused them to seek neW quarters more accessible to their persistent and not- 
 to-be-discouraged patrons, who were all so obligingly helping to fill the church treasury. 
 
VY/E appropri- 
 *™ ated the erst- 
 while barroom of a 
 Revolutionary inn, 
 teeming with histor- 
 ical memories of 
 Lafayette's visit 
 
 I T was dusty and 
 dingy from lacl? 
 of use and care, 
 hut a month's pa- 
 tient and energetic 
 work transformed it 
 into what you see 
 
 The Bottle Hill Tea Shop 
 
 Which Helped Raise a Fund for Wellesley 
 
 WELLESLEY n led money! Madi- 
 son needed a Ten Ro ! A group 
 
 of Wellesley women put the two needs 
 together and spelled success. The Bottle 
 Hill Tea Shop, so named because Madison 
 i New Jersey) was originally called Bottle 
 Hill, nourished from the beginning, for 
 various and sundry reasons, and not a 
 little to do with its sin cess were the 
 sundries, themselves. 
 
 Fortunately, the first 
 problem, that of the sit- 
 uation, was easily solved. 
 Directly in the center of 
 the town there was va- 
 cant the erstwhile bar- 
 room of a Revolutionary 
 inn, a landmark for 
 miles about and teeming 
 with historical memories 
 of Lafayette's visit in 
 1825. These women 
 
 seized upon this room, 
 dusty and dingy from 
 lack of nse and care, 
 with its walls and ceil- 
 ings of corrugated tin 
 and its bare board floors, 
 and in a month's time 
 transformed it. 
 
 The removal of (he big 
 barroom ice box disclosed a treasure, an 
 old fireplace. Our visions of a glowing 
 fire on old andirons drawing customers on 
 a rainy day faded, however, when we 
 found out that it would cost nearly three 
 hundred dollars to put the chimney in a 
 safe condition. But a college woman 
 never gives up. A really old open Frank- 
 lin stove, thirty dollars worth of stove- 
 pipe and labor, and the vision of -lowing 
 fire became a reality. 
 
 The walls were covered with :\ compo- 
 sition hoard, paneled very simply and 
 painted a soft cream color, and the floor 
 
 ATTENTION! 
 
 I F you are planning to at- 
 *■ tract motor tourists to 
 your tea room, be sure to 
 provide parking space for 
 their cars, and, if you 
 serve not only afternoon 
 tea but also regular meals, 
 you should arrange for 
 quarters for their chauf- 
 feurs. The Bottle Hill 
 Tea Shop is fortunate in 
 being situated on a wide 
 road where cars can be 
 parked at the curb. Some 
 locations, however, would 
 demand special planning. 
 
 was painted -ray and spattered with 
 black, as in old times the housewife dec- 
 orated the kitchen floors. One old door, 
 which opened on the street, was taken 
 out and replaced with a long -lass win- 
 dow. Fitted with -lass shelves and filled 
 with all sorts of quaint old bottles and 
 i;lass of many colors, this window served 
 two purposes — it lent decorative color and 
 originality and it at- 
 tracted the -lance of the 
 passer-by, an inexpen- 
 sive hit of advertising. 
 It also became our 
 trademark. 
 
 The room was then 
 ready for its furnish- 
 ings, furnishings of the 
 early American period* 
 so it was decided. 
 Quaint old hooked rugs 
 adorned the floor. On 
 one side of the fireplace 
 at the end of the room 
 s f o o d a comfortable 
 win- chair, and on the 
 other side an antique 
 sofa — delighl fid places 
 to rest while waiting for 
 I a vacant table. A cor- 
 J ner cupboard filled with 
 of china and old pewter 
 the room, while along the 
 chests of drawers, a desk. 
 
 interesting bit; 
 lenl charm to 
 sides stood old 
 and lowboys. 
 
 On the walls were hung quaint old 
 prints, mirrors, and a lew beautiful 
 water-colors. The ceiling lights and the 
 side lamps were concealed by close-fitting 
 shades covered with orange sateen, veiled 
 with thin white silk and hound with blue 
 braid- the keynote of colors for the 
 room. 
 
 Now I am about to let you into a tre- 
 mendous secret : The rugs, the pictures. 
 
 19 
 
antique? 
 
 tea 
 
 The 
 
 Bottle Hill 
 lea Shop. 
 
 iiffs 
 
 A conventionalized 
 ' ri sketch of the 
 display window, 
 with some of the 
 tempting Wares of 
 the Dottle Hill Tea 
 Shop on its shelves, 
 mal(es a distinctive 
 little mailino card 
 
 and all the old furniture were procured 
 from dealers to be sold ou commission. 
 Hence, our furnishings, instead of costing 
 us money, actually made money for us. 
 As last as one article was sold, it was 
 replaced with another from the same 
 source. The only furniture which we pur- 
 chased were common kitchen chairs and 
 tables. Painted Wcllesley blue and var- 
 nished, these tit ted in surprisingly well 
 with the old furnishings. 
 
 They Started With the Children 
 
 TDUT the attractive room was only a be- 
 
 ■U ginning. People go to a tea room to eat. 
 One ''tid of the room had been partitioned 
 off for a kitchen and furnished with the 
 usual accessories plus an ice-cream cabi- 
 net. A colored cook was engaged and 
 established in the kitchen, and she could 
 cook, inspired as she was by the women, 
 who left no thought unthought on the sub- 
 ject of attractive service and novel dishes. 
 Tie' first three days before the actual 
 opening were given over to tbe making 
 of ice cream and the serving of ice-cream 
 cones. 
 
 The children were enticed to buy 
 by the addition of a few candies to the 
 top of each cone, and the kitchen door 
 was soon surrounded by eager customers. 
 Surprising what a source of revenue ice- 
 i rea m cones are! Soon lolly pops were 
 pm on sale big butterscotch ones — and 
 for several months thr rent was paid by 
 the profit "a these delicious candies. Not 
 only did the children buy them, but the 
 grown-ups took them home. Scorn not 
 the pennies ! 
 
 No effort was spared to have un- 
 usual food. Was the toast served in or- 
 
 dinary slices'.' No! The bread was cut 
 in strips three inches long, one inch wide 
 and one inch thick. Each strip was 
 toasted on all four sides, rolled in melted 
 butter for plain toast, and then in cinna- 
 mon and sugar for cinnamon toast. Three 
 strips to an order. 
 
 People came for miles about for ''Toast, 
 Pot Cheese, and Jam, GO cts." Monday 
 was Chicken Shortcake Day. Tuesday — 
 Gingerbread. Wednesday — Waffle Day. 
 Thursday — Hot Scotch Scones. Friday — 
 Hot Biscuit with Honey. Saturday — 
 Mushroom Sandwiches. Did you ever 
 taste them? Every day was Wellesley 
 Fudge Cake Day. We made a special 
 point of never saying no to a request. 
 What people wanted they got. 
 
 And, by the way. finding out what peo- 
 ple want is not always as easy as it 
 sounds. They will not always tell you. 
 and here your powers of observation must 
 be taxed to the Utmost. 
 
 Only the Choicest Gifts 
 
 AS lor gifts, 00 ordinary gift was al- 
 lowed in the drawers of our lowboys, 
 on the tops of our chest of drawers, or in 
 our cupboards. Java brass, elephant 
 bells; quaint Italian linens: and old pot- 
 tery were among the choicest. We orig- 
 inated many gifts such as wrought iron 
 Candlesticks, made from our own design. 
 In the service an old Spanish pot- 
 tery w;us used. Frequently the customer 
 ate her muffins and bought the plate; 
 drank her tea. and ordered a tea set. 
 The napkins— dainty squares of Japanese 
 en'pc with hand-rolled edges done iu 
 Wellesley blue, and a tiny tassel at each 
 corner became a fad, and to date over 
 
 CO 
 
one hundred dozen have been ordered and 
 sold, and never an order solicited. Every- 
 thing which the tea room had to offer 
 was for sale, except the cook, and to her 
 we clung like leeches. 
 
 It Grew and Grew 
 
 AT'OLUNTEER waitresses in blue 
 * smocks furnished efficient and intelli- 
 gent service. All the schoolgirls vied with 
 each other in their desire to serve. 
 
 At first, we served afternoon tea only, 
 later a simple luncheon to the school 
 children and teachers. How they enjoyed 
 the croutons made from the sandwich 
 crusts ! An order of soup brought with 
 it all the croutons' the young customer 
 could consume ; hence our afternoon tea 
 guests' dainty appetites for crustless 
 sandwiches furnished calories for the 
 school children. 
 
 A little later we were forced to add a 
 hearty luncheon for the business men of 
 the town ; and the motorist also sought 
 us out. In fact, nowadays there is always 
 a goodly line of cars parked out in front 
 of the Bottle Hill Tea Shop. 
 
 This winter we are planning to add an- 
 other cook to the establishment and serve 
 dinners and Sunday-night suppers. 
 
 Our experience illustrates the wisdom 
 of beginning in a small way. We started 
 with a building (of which the most that 
 could be said was that its situation was 
 advantageous), a half-recognized want on 
 the part of the community itself, and the 
 most unbounded enthusiasm on the part 
 of the workers. 
 
 We believed in anticipating the public's 
 wants and filling them — both the wants 
 and the public. 
 
 I should advise anyone who contem- 
 plates a similar venture to start just as 
 modestly. So long as there is ronin for 
 expansion, there is plenty of time. 
 
 How did we finance it? We borrowed 
 money from men who were enough 
 interested in Wellesley to loan their 
 money without interest. Between you and 
 me they never expected to see their money 
 again ; but they did. 
 
 And It Paid 
 
 IN two months we were out of debt and 
 owned our equipment, worth approxi- 
 mately $2,000. In June we save to 
 Wellesley $1,000 and pledged $6,000 more. 
 Wellesley's need deserved success; Madi- 
 son's need earned success. 
 
 Ethel 8. Decker. 
 
 The furnishings rvere all for sale, and instead of costing money, they actually made money 
 
 for the tea shop 
 
This simple and impressive building used to be occu- 
 
 // is one /iun- 
 
 pied by Shakers, rvben that sect was flourishing 
 
 ^^^B ./re,/ pears old 
 
 
 CBT "^" ^0s t^t 
 
 ^Qfm\ 
 
 
 
 
 jftM 
 
 
 
 mSmmT ' ' JlBB -■ 
 
 - ^MR 
 
 
 
 H$H|| | "' RB - 1 E^^JH 
 
 
 
 
 H> r i 
 
 
 
 
 Hli r 1« I 
 
 
 
 
 tJsWtm/'-': "TjJgfe!^^%ia 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Shake rt own Inn 
 
 P HE tea house which I have been con- 
 ■*- ducting for four years is located in 
 one of three family dwellings erected by 
 ih«' Shakers aboul one hundred years ago. 
 Each "family" consisted of one hundred 
 brethren and sisters, and the simple, spa- 
 cious rooms they occupied afford attract- 
 ive lodging for auto bile parties, 
 
 The Shakertown Inn is breathing new- 
 life into the decadent settlement. At rush 
 periods it furnishes occupation both for 
 idle hands and for idle rooms throughout 
 the village. 
 
 It was a natural gravitation which 
 broughl me to Shakertown as a tea-house 
 site, from my native community, ten miles 
 away. For that matter, it was an equally 
 stern force that gol me into this as an 
 occupation. A few years after my hus- 
 band's d"ath. I found myself with a small 
 farm and three children of high-school 
 age. For farming I had no inclination or 
 genius. I'.ut the point had been reached 
 
 when some business had to be undertaken, 
 for I valued education for my children. 
 The family homestead was a short dis- 
 tance from a well-traveled turnpike. One 
 spring day. T decided to start a tea house. 
 The "shingle" I hung out was a huge, 
 rough-sawed outline of a teapot. T painted 
 it and swung it over the pike, pointing 
 up the lane to the house. 
 
 After four days of prayerful anticipa- 
 tion, my first guests arrived. They were 
 a partj of five from Chicago. I gave 
 
 tin m beaten biscuit, country ham. apple 
 pie. and iced tea, and charged them fifty 
 cents each. Information about the place 
 spread, and many guests came from near- 
 by towns. Occasionally parties would ar- 
 rive from Cincinnati or Louisville, nearly 
 one hundred miles distant. I began to 
 think my future assured. In October, 
 however, the building burned. Of the fur- 
 niture and other equipment, meager as it 
 
 had been, only seven silver s] as and a 
 
 few knives were saved. 
 
 I was not disposed at firsl to try an- 
 other such venture. The following win- 
 ter, however, on my annual visit to Flor- 
 ida, the temptation returned, and I tried 
 operating a small tourist hotel. A feeling 
 
 for the business grew upon me, and I 
 came back to Kentucky resolved to start 
 another lea house near the site of the 
 firsl one. that had ended in flames. Then 
 I thought of the possibilities of Shaker- 
 town. The old sign with which 1 began. 
 "Hotel and Tea Kootn," has been weath- 
 ered-nut in the three years that have in- 
 tervened. "Shakertown Inn" now tells 
 the public they may secure not only 
 meals bin also lodging the latter being 
 a desirable feature for a tea house in the 
 open country. The name suggests, at the 
 same time, the antique distinction to 
 which the place aspires. 
 
 Better highways have brought great 
 numbers to our doors. Too. we have been 
 "advertised by our loving friends." Last 
 
year more than seventeen thousand per- 
 sons registered. The stare federation of 
 women's clubs recently held its closing 
 meeting at Shakertown Inn ; and commer- 
 cial clubs of nearby towns visit us every 
 season, with designs on ham and waffles. 
 When touring is less in vogue, in early 
 spring and late fall, or on the quieter 
 middle-of-tb.e-we.ek days during summer, 
 many dinner parties are arranged at the 
 inn by Lexington groups, but there is no 
 dancing. A piano is the only musical in- 
 strument we have, and on it is kept a 
 volume of Kentucky folk-songs, 
 as a suggestion of what is ap- 
 preciated. Two weddings have 
 taken place at the inn, and 
 another is in prospect. 
 
 The main question on the 
 minds of all visitors — and we 
 recognize it — is food. We 
 serve it liberally, at any time 
 of day for which request is 
 made in advance. Broiled or 
 fried chicken, hickory-smoked 
 country ham. honey, waffles. 
 beaten biscuit, cornbread sticks. 
 hot rolls, vegetables, fruit sal- 
 ads, and home-made ires, 
 creams and cakes, are our 
 "headliners," as the newspaper 
 men would say. Nor is the 
 atmosphere for this ■•sym- 
 phony" overlooked. One room, 
 suitable for large parties, is 
 known as the "Cupboard Tea 
 Koom." because of the well- 
 preserved Shaker corner cup- 
 board it contains. Another, 
 the original Shaker dining- 
 room, has been reconstructed 
 on the model of the early days. Three 
 other rooms have been developed in simi- 
 lar wa.\s. There are always old-fashioned 
 flowers on the tables, and the waitresses 
 dress in white. 
 
 The "I" with which this account began 
 has become "we"; for as Shakertown Inn 
 has developed, it has become more and 
 more the common enterprise of many 
 workers. Some of us wash dishes, while 
 others are "on tin 1 door" : hut all are <uii- 
 jeel to draft for any kind of work, and 
 sometimes we discover guests assisting, in 
 a rush. My part, aside from management 
 of the inn, is to see that every plate is 
 properly and sufficiently laden, and when 
 the last guest has been served to aid with 
 the weary hour of clearing away, prepara- 
 tory to the next meal. Once upon a 
 time, a negro maid joined the Shakers. 
 They had a sense for the dignity of one's 
 calling. They elected her Kitchen I>ea- 
 coness. and in that capacity she spent her 
 days happily. We are all, on occasion, 
 kitchen deaconesses, al Shakertown Inn, 
 and we find the public likes it. 
 
 Lasl \ear was notable in the history 
 of i he inn for the launching of the Shaker 
 Shop. 1 1 is \(U a souvenir counter. One 
 of the strongest traditions of central Ken- 
 tucky is the memory of painstaking hand- 
 industry among the Shakers. In the 
 Shaker Shop we aim to keep alive this 
 stimulating heritage and to make it the 
 guide of handworkers throughout this re- 
 gion. In the neighborhood, also, and back 
 in the mountains, one may find the most 
 attractive basketry, quilting, loom work 
 and pottery. Se we cleared the rubbish 
 from a dilapidated broom shop 
 of the Shakers and painted 
 over the door, "Shaker Shop." 
 We retained a sign which a 
 poor - spelling Shaker had 
 painted on a pillar inside j 
 
 No Loafing Allowed in Heare 
 
 If Y</>< Please. 
 
 If So No Fussing. 
 
 1879 
 
 Shaker work, was 
 always the best 
 ofits kindV^-w 
 
 4 
 
 SHAICER.TOWN INN 
 
 This paster is used in 
 the shop, connected 
 with the Inn, where 
 are sold all sorts of 
 handicraft articles 
 made by the people 
 of this community. 
 
 To an original consignment 
 of "Fireside Industries" work 
 from Berea, Kentucky, have 
 I n added bedspreads of in- 
 tricate patterns known in the 
 mountain country, applique 
 work, rag rugs, baskets, vases, 
 and other articles made in the 
 neighborhood. Wall candle- 
 stick holders fashioned after 
 the peculiar Shaker design 
 have been put on sale, and it is 
 our plan thus to revive various 
 other patterns of Shaker fur- 
 niture. A few antiques have 
 been brought in for selling 
 through the shop. Articles are sold at a 
 small commission. In two months the 
 idea had proved its popularity, some peo- 
 ple coming to the inn with the sole pur- 
 pose of visiting the Shaker Shop. 
 
 An indispensable element in our suc- 
 cess. I am sure, has been the devotion 
 that was bom of necessity. To sue eed 
 means, in the first place, to build a de- 
 sirable patronage and to make sure of its 
 cont inning. Secondly, it means to make 
 a profit. The first of these objectives is 
 the more difficult to attain. To reach it 
 may require — has required at Shakertown 
 Inn — sacrificing profits somewhat. 
 
 Scant equipment is sufficient, in start- 
 ing a tea house. One's investment is 
 mainly in food and service, and the turn- 
 over is rapid. (My initial investment 
 was less than live hundred dollars, i The 
 stream of traffic is easy to tap. People 
 with automobiles will travel, and travelers 
 must eat. The opportunity would be simi- 
 lar. I think, for the tea house which 
 caters to the public that moves afoot. 
 
 \ annie J, Embry. 
 
 23 
 
Ifefe 
 
 
 1 » - 
 
 IL 
 
 ■ JR. 
 
 A. ^ 
 
 U0flJB 
 
 ^U 
 
 
 ■UH 
 
 flfc. 
 
 
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 H 
 
 77ie charm of old New England hovers about this friendly-lool(ing house, set in the welcome 
 
 shade of the elms 
 
 Prudence Seymour Tea Room 
 
 THIS is tin' story i>t" how the Prudence 
 Seymour Tea Room was started. It 
 is a plain, unvarnished talc of hard work 
 and perseverance; !>ut if I lie telling will 
 help or encourage other women who may 
 desire to start along similar lines, we arc 
 happy to give our experience which has 
 been to us both work and play. 
 
 One year, just before Christmas, my 
 mother and I opened a small shop in the 
 parlor of our home, in which we sold 
 handwork wc had made during the sum- 
 mer. Though our shop was unpretentious 
 we had made a start, and this, perhaps, 
 is the most ditlienlt par! for women un- 
 trained in business. 
 
 As spring approached, we grew ambi- 
 tious to lake our shop io a summer re- 
 sort. We finally heard of a tea room lo- 
 cated on a beautiful lake in the Litchfield 
 Hills, in Conned icut. 
 
 The proprietor wished to he relieved of 
 it for a time: and would rent at a mod- 
 erate figure. The gifl shop alone was 
 our pet idea: Imt this tea room was. as 
 it were, thrust upon us. so we accepted it. 
 and ever since we have found the two an 
 excellenl combination. 
 
 We Went House Hunting 
 
 AFTER two summers the proprietor 
 of this tea room was ready to return 
 to ii. and e more we went house-hunt- 
 ing. We hail learned to love the Litchfield 
 I lills and wished to make our home 'among 
 them. "What wc wanted was an old-fash- 
 ioneil. homey place on (he slate road, and 
 it must be inexpensive. After examining 
 every available old house along the high- 
 way, we found jusi what we were looking 
 
 for. though some skeptical souls might not 
 have recognized it at first glance. 
 
 A Remarkable Old Building 
 
 PERHAPS we viewed it with far-see- 
 ing eyes of faith — we certainly had 
 more courage than some of our advisers, 
 for io one who could not see its possibili- 
 ties, it was a ramshackle old building, 
 without a vestige of paint, the window 
 ulass broken, and the shutters hanging 
 by one hinge or missing altogether. The 
 condition of the interior was even more 
 discouraging. But we knew that it could 
 lie cleaned and repaired, and. happily, it 
 had not been ruined by modernizing im- 
 provements. 
 
 We dared not show our enthusiasm be- 
 fore the old man who was taking us 
 through the house, so we whispered to 
 each other as we found opportunity. "Just 
 look ai thai stone fireplace with crane 
 and trammels, and a hake-oven, too!" 
 "See those broad timbers across the ceil- 
 ing, and the little cupboards over the 
 mantel!" Later we discovered a little 
 river with swaying footbridge and great 
 elms arching over, not twenty feet from 
 the bark door. So we paid down the hulk 
 of our summer's earnings, gave a mort- 
 gage for the balance, and returned to 
 low n for the winter, poor in pocket, hut 
 
 rich in possession, and tilled with en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 The next step was giving the tea room 
 a suitable name. So many animals and 
 birds are employed as signboard symbols 
 thai we sought in vain for a suitable one 
 noi already in use. We even went to the 
 zoo lo consider the subject, and still could 
 
s 
 
 not decide. So hack we turned to our 
 controlling idea. We wanted to make the 
 tea room old-fashioned, placing there the 
 remaining relics of our own Colonial an 
 ( estors. So Mother suggested, "Why nol 
 use the name of our great -great -grand- 
 mother. Prudence Seymour, as our pat- 
 ron? She was the daughter of one of the 
 founders of Connecticut." 
 
 Prudence Has a Finger in the Pie 
 
 TRADITION tells us she was a woman 
 of refinement and education beyond 
 her time, and so perhaps she would ap- 
 prove of our tea room ; besides, we have 
 her Lowestoft." So Pru- 
 dence Seymour's name is 
 on our signboard, and we 
 doubt not that her influ- 
 ence inspires us. 
 
 Restoring this old house 
 and furnishing it in early 
 American style has been 
 a continual delight to us, 
 counterbalancing m u c h 
 hard work, for we have 
 scrubbed and papered and 
 painted with our own 
 hands. 
 
 South of the tea room, 
 obstructing our v i e w, 
 stood another old build- 
 ing. Originally it had 
 been a church, later a 
 schoolhouse, then a dance 
 hall, and finally a barn in 
 which to dry tobacco. To 
 us it was an eyesore. In our second year 
 at the Prudence Seymour we bought it. 
 and then the question was how to re- 
 move it from our sight. Our architect 
 husband said that the oak frame and the 
 roof were in good shape, adding, "Why 
 not move it to the north end of the tea 
 room? We need an addition." And that 
 is the way we spent the money we earned 
 the next year. It has become a saying 
 with us when we crave some new extrav- 
 agance, "If Prudence can earn it. she 
 can have it." 
 
 Where tin 1 barn stood we have now an 
 old-fashioned garden, which produces veg- 
 etables and flowers. In the spring we 
 buy day-old chicks, white Wvandott.es, 
 and raise them for broilers, which are in 
 constant demand. 
 
 Thus, in every way we can. we live like 
 our forefathers, producing what we use, 
 earning before we spend. 
 
 The alteration and repairs we had made 
 were paid month by month as they were 
 finished, and last year we paid oil' the 
 mortgage, so that now the place is every 
 bit our own. 
 
 Soon after we were established on the 
 state road we discovered that our menu 
 
 ^TUDY your locality, 
 to see whether it pre- 
 sents any possibilities in 
 the way of history and 
 atmosphere which can 
 be turned to account. As 
 in this instance, with 
 Prudence Seymour, the 
 Colonial maid, perhaps 
 there is some quaint old 
 character of the past 
 associated with your own 
 village or the house it- 
 self. If so, use him, 
 make your guests ac- 
 quainted with his story, 
 let him do some free ad- 
 vertising for you. 
 
 of sandwiches, salads, and cinnamon toast 
 was not sufficiently filling for hungry 
 tourists, so we added a chicken dinner with 
 ball' a broiler as a piice <l< : resistance. We 
 still serve sandwiches on order, but the 
 regular meals, with good substantial help- 
 ings are most called for. Afternoon tea, 
 with its dainty sandwiches, cookies, and 
 toast, and jam and pot cheese, affords a 
 pleasant snack to break a long .journey ; 
 or sometimes it is the objective of an 
 afternoon drive when one is entertaining 
 friends. 
 
 To such visitors our antique furniture, 
 the old fireplace with its cooking utensils. 
 the spinning wheels and the loom, as well 
 
 us the old bead bags a ml 
 
 ancient bonnets in the 
 corner cupboards, are ob- 
 jects of interest. 
 
 Our waitresses wear a 
 blue and white cotton 
 dress, with white kerchief 
 and apron, and white 
 shoes and stockings. This 
 costume harmonizes with 
 the style and coloring of 
 our rooms. In passing, 
 let me say that, although 
 one might be tempted to 
 think otherwise, when so 
 much money is needed for 
 equipment, healthy, good- 
 natured help is important. 
 We do not think it ad- 
 visable to employ friends 
 who glow with enthusiasm 
 about running a tea room, 
 unless they are partners sharing the 
 losses as well as the profits. For busi- 
 ness must be steady and continuous to 
 make it pay, and this means long hours 
 and hard work. 
 
 Efficient, attractive help, who are ade- 
 quately paid, and to whom you may make 
 suggesl ions without embarrassment, are best. 
 In our business venture we have had 
 no financial backer. We have earned our 
 tea room little by little. As our capital 
 was small, we have had to turn it over 
 and over again. 
 
 After Five Years 
 
 NOW. after live years of experience, 
 we can say that running a tea room 
 requires ability, capital, courage and per- 
 severance yes. more- it requires imagin 
 ation — the power to visualize what you 
 desire to create. 
 
 If you really possess all these qualifica- 
 tions, or can develop them, we say to 
 you; "Go ahead and try; there is a lot 
 of fun as well as hard work in it and if 
 you are no! afraid of the latter, you can 
 
 succeed." 
 
 Mary V. Parfitt. 
 
 25 
 
"The North Wind doth blorv" — but Robin Redbreast still perches aloft, inviting you to tea 
 
 Ye Ragged Robin Tea Shop 
 
 TIIK tourist of to-day, who rushes 
 through the country at top speed, is 
 not looking for a hig hotel where he ma\ 
 leisurely eal a course dinner, but for some 
 quiel spot along the highway where he 
 may be quickly served with delicious vege- 
 tables fresh from the garden, cool salads, 
 iced drinks tinkling in tall, thin glasses, 
 or the varieties of dainty sandwiches 
 which the wayside tea house affords. 
 
 Seven years ago, with almost no capi- 
 tal, absolutely no experience, and very 
 lit I 1 '' encouragement from my friends, I 
 opened a little tea room on the road t<> 
 the White Mountains in New Hampshire, 
 and called it "Ye Ragged Robin Tea 
 
 Shop-" 
 
 The one story house had only four 
 rooms, but it. was over a hundred years 
 old. quaint, and in good condition. Paint 
 and paper did wonders to the interior. 
 
 In the north room, which I planned to 
 use for my tea room. I put white curtains 
 with blue and white checked gingham 
 ovcrhangiiurs at the windows, ami the 
 high, straight-backed chairs, as old as tie' 
 house, were cushioned in the same ma- 
 terial. (Sec page 27.) Blue and white 
 rag rugs were used on the painted floor. 
 
 On mi.- -id.' of the room was a cup 
 board, in which I placed my dishes. 
 .Modern they were, but of a pattern re- 
 minding one of the posy-decked china of 
 <>ur grandmothers. Gradually I have 
 added to mj -tore, anil often my guests 
 
 exclaim at the ••old-fashioned" ware they 
 sec through the door. 
 
 Next the cupboard is a tiny fireplace, 
 on whose long mantel are candlesticks 
 reminiscent of Colonial days. An old- 
 fashioned mirror by the entrance door is 
 favored by ladies who may wish to adjust 
 hat or veil on leaving. 
 
 As the room was tiny and the seating 
 Capacity limited, I decided to put tables 
 outside under the maples in front of the 
 bouse, where, on hot days, the dusty 
 traveler can enjoy the view of hill and 
 lake and the glimpse of gardens through 
 the trees. 
 
 I have learned by experience, through 
 traveling about the country during the 
 winter months, that the most pretentious 
 meal may be spoiled by unpleasant sur- 
 roundings, and the simplest lunch seem a 
 feast, when served daintily on pretty 
 china, with spotless linen, sparkling glass, 
 and the added brightness of fresh (lower-. 
 
 The kitchen is. of course, the most im- 
 portant pari of the menage. Mine is 
 small, but doors and windows keep it cool 
 and well lighted. As coal and gas are not 
 available, the cooking is done on a big 
 wood-burning range and a kerosene stove. 
 My dishes are all cooked to order, and the 
 wood makes a quick and very hot fire ai 
 l lie time when it is most needed. 
 
 We depend wholly on tourists, and tie 
 
 number can never even be guessed at. 
 
 They arrive at all hours, and expect one 
 
 26 
 
to be prepared to serve them at a mo- 
 ment's notice. I am glad to say we have 
 never disappointed them. 
 
 Business men, hurrying hack from week- 
 end visits on Monday mornings, are glad 
 to stop for crisp bacon and eggs, and a 
 pot of steaming coffee, or one of those 
 deliriously browned omelets which have 
 helped to make our place popular with 
 them. Tea rooms will always appeal to 
 women, but a wafer-like sandwich and a 
 pot of tea will never satisfy our mascu- 
 line friends. To win over the men you 
 must provide something more substantia]. 
 One of our specialties is good coffee. We 
 make it fresh for every guest, buying the 
 whole bean and grinding it as it is used. 
 Served with thick cream, it is an ever- 
 satisfying accompaniment to breakfast, 
 and a fitting climax to any lunch. 
 
 The question of help has always been a 
 serious one with me. I believe it is essen- 
 tial that the girls who serve should not 
 only know how to place the dishes cor- 
 rectly on the table, but that they should 
 also possess a pleasing personality, making 
 the quests feel at home. 
 
 I always supervise the work in the 
 kitchen, so that everything which is served 
 will be up to the standard. 
 
 We have tried to make our little place 
 attractive on the outside as well, by plant- 
 ing masses of flowers; and among these, 
 of course, are ragged robins. Every year 
 the garden blooms in profusion from early 
 spring until after the frost9. 
 
 As the demand is also growing for 
 quarters where tourists may spend the 
 night, we have decided to build screened 
 sleeping porches for use this year. 
 
 < Mil- advertising consists of our road 
 signs, with the little red robin on them, 
 post cards of the house, and our space in 
 the A. L. A. Green Book. But the beat 
 advertisement of all is good food, quick 
 service, and home atmosphere. 
 
 As you leave our little tea room, you 
 will see in the guest book the names of 
 friends from all over this country and the 
 old world ; and if you ever come to see 
 us. we hope you will agree with the Eng- 
 giish gentleman who wrote after his name : 
 
 "A delightful place to stop for lunch." 
 Eluye Wallace Osterman. 
 
 Outside, in summer, ijou find the delicious shade of sturdy sugar maples 
 
 And inside is the clean, cool simplicity of a blue and tvhite dining room 
 
 27 
 
Blue jars filled 
 with yellow flowers 
 are placed on the tables 
 
 The old mangers 
 
 are massed with the 
 
 hloom of tawny marigolds 
 
 The Yellow Hen 
 
 THE family, always said that the well- 
 built barn in the rear of the yard 
 oughl to be madr over into something 
 profitable. And when the women of the 
 family decided to inter into a business of 
 some kind, a tea house and the barn nat- 
 urally dovetailed. Once the idea was 
 under way. it was no time before a car- 
 penter gave estimates on remodeling, from 
 plans drawn up by an architect ; and in 
 a remarkably short time the tea house 
 known by the picturesque and com- 
 fortable name of The Yellow Urn opened 
 fur business in Plainfield, New Jersey. 
 
 Remodeling included laying a hardwood 
 floor fur tin- main barn space, twenty-nine 
 feet by thirty feet, the walls id' which 
 were sealed with yellow pine when the 
 building was constructed. A group of 
 easement windows look up the space 
 formerly occupied by wide barn doors. 
 Box stalls became kitchen, pantry and 
 storeroom. An excellent second-hand 
 gas range, with tireless cooker attachment, 
 proved to be a find from a utilitarian as 
 well as from a financial viewpoint. The 
 sum of fifteen hundred dollars was es 
 pended en remodeling and lighting, which 
 covered the installation of drop (dec-trie 
 
 lights at intervals from the ceiling, and 
 side fixtures set into regular barn Ian 
 terns. 
 
 All light* wen- subdued by yellow 
 figured crepe paper shades, in dressy and 
 
 effective style. 
 
 Fifteen round plain tables with two 
 long ones, and forty-eight inexpensive, 
 solid wooden chairs took on unique airs 
 under a coat of yellow paint trimmed with 
 cobalt blue. (See photograph in oval. I 
 Painting was done by members of the fam- 
 ily and helped to make a rainy day or two 
 pass quickly. Yellow and blue became the 
 color scheme adhered to in pottery, flow- 
 ers, menu cards, announcements, and sim- 
 ilar details. Yellow and blue gingham 
 overdrapes dressed up all the windows. 
 Black oilcloth cut into squares and 
 stitched with yellow settled the doily ques- 
 tion. As the tea room was to include a 
 gift side to the venture, yellow paper and 
 blue string lent distinction to purchases. 
 
 It was decided to use good china and to 
 place it on sale. < 'ant igalli. a picturesque 
 and somewhat crude pottery made by peas- 
 ants of Italy, on which the potter's mark 
 is a "hen," was chosen, besides some 
 Brittany ware, some Spanish, and Italian 
 pottery called Deruta, all of which 
 worked in well together. If one liked the 
 Brittany bowl in which most delectable 
 Yellow Hen ice cream was served, or the 
 Cant igalli bowl, containing sugar, these 
 pieces could be had at a price under that 
 usually asked for these wares at retail 
 
 shops. 
 
 The initial stock required an outlay of 
 three hundred dollars at the start. It was 
 figured that inexpensive articles costing, 
 at wholesale, twenty-five cents to fifty 
 
 28 
 
cents could be sold at one hundred per 
 cent profit, but an article al three dollars 
 wholesale could be disposed of more profit- 
 ably, because in greater quantity, when re- 
 tailed at five dollars 
 instead of six dollars. 
 This peasant ware 
 sold so fast that it 
 soon became neces- 
 sary to sell on order 
 instead of from the 
 tea-house stock. 
 
 Again, on the food 
 question, it was 
 found that if forty 
 or fifty persons were 
 served in a day, the 
 cost of service 
 dropped down to five 
 cents for each person, 
 and the profit was 
 perceptible. But on 
 guests partook of a chicken dinner at one 
 dollar and fifty cents, the percentage of 
 service rose to about thirty cents a plate, 
 and there was a decided drop in profits. 
 
 The Yellow Hen opened on May 25th, 
 
 when 
 
 1921, with serving hours from eleven 
 o'clock in the morning to eight o'clock in 
 the evening, and up to the first of the fol- 
 lowing September, twenty-five hundred 
 persons had been 
 served, (in,, thousand 
 being credited to the 
 first month, which 
 was an exceptionally 
 good record, as tea 
 houses in this section 
 go, as patronage falls 
 off disastrously in 
 New Jersey during 
 July and August. 
 
 1 1 was made a rule 
 that special cooked 
 luncheons or dinners 
 could be served if 
 two hours' notice was 
 given, otherwise sim- 
 ple luncheons with salads, and the usual 
 chicken dinner would be on order. For 
 afternoon tea, hot or iced chocolate, tea 
 and coffee, sandwiches, cinnamon toast, 
 cake and ice cream were ready for all. 
 //' len Harrison. 
 
 Tumble -Down Tea House 
 
 A MOST attractive and successful tea 
 ■**• house, situated on the highway lead- 
 ing north from Washington, I). C, was 
 opened last season by an energetic Mary- 
 land woman, Miss Mary M. Stabler. 
 
 Seeing possibilities in 
 the stream of motorists 
 which daily traversed this 
 popular highway, Miss 
 Stabler set about finding 
 a place which she could 
 utilize for her purpose. 
 
 Almost in despair of 
 finding anything suitable, 
 she was looking over the 
 ground one day. for at 
 least the hundredth time, 
 when her eyes fell upon 
 an old deserted house by 
 the roadside, little more 
 than a stone's throw from 
 town. 
 
 Without a moment's 
 hesitation she walked over 
 to it and began "taking 
 stock." She felt sure that 
 she could rent it for a 
 moderate sum, as it had 
 been vacant for a long 
 time, the owner having 
 pulled down a part of it with the intention 
 of repairing, which he had never done. It 
 presented a most dilapidated appearance, 
 hut her quick eye took in an old fireplace, 
 weatherbeaten but still intact, where the 
 
 Very properly, 
 has a tumble 
 
 room had been torn down, and on either 
 side of it remnants of the old wall. 
 
 "That's something to start on." she ex- 
 claimed excitedly. "I'll g0 right away and 
 rent this old tumble-down house before my 
 courage fails." 
 
 "You wouldn't believe," 
 she said, telling about it 
 later, "the quantity of rub- 
 bish I had carted away. 
 Sixty-one baskets of lime 
 and three cartloads of 
 laths from that old foun- 
 dation alone, to say noth- 
 ing of vyitv other kind of 
 trash. Then I filled it all 
 in with good rich earth 
 and sowed grass seed 
 and look at it now !" 
 
 As she spoke. Miss 
 Stabler waved her hand 
 over the rich green grass 
 beneath her feet, now 
 beautiful in the evening 
 sunlight. Beside us was 
 the old fireplace, half hid- 
 den by luxurious vines, 
 and with bright hits of 
 pottery on the ledge ahove 
 that had once been a man- 
 tel piece, while on the remnant of the foun- 
 dation wall still standing were quaint old 
 Stone jars and pitchers. 
 
 "It must have cost you a tot," we re- 
 marked, at once curious and interested. 
 
 this lea house 
 -down sign 
 
 29 
 
"Of course it did," she said, "bui you eye; and here with the help of a capable 
 can't reap if you don'1 sow. I pul three servant, breakfasts and light lunches are 
 hundred dollars in it ; bui alreadj I am served wh ver railed for, and iced drinks 
 
 getting that back, and 
 soon the profit will come. 
 ( !ome inside," and opening 
 the screen door she ush- 
 ered us into a charming 
 little room, filled alums; 
 to overflowing with beau 
 tiful pieces of antique fur- 
 niture that she had col- 
 lected here and there 
 tables, chairs, a beautiful 
 old desk, old mirrors, and 
 a variety of brass and sil- 
 ver curios decorating the 
 mantel piece. Over the 
 windows artistic drapery 
 in dull pinks and blues 
 gave a touch of color, re- 
 peated in the big jars of 
 wild flowers placed about 
 the room. 
 
 The screened porch, 
 which extends across the 
 front of the house and is 
 shaded by luxuriant vines. 
 was fitted out with little tables, each with 
 a vase of fresh wild Howers to delight the 
 
 The old fireplace had become a 
 really decorative feature 
 
 and ice cream, accom 
 panied with delicious little 
 cookies, thin as a wafer, 
 
 can he had at all limes. 
 
 The specialty of the 
 Tea House, however, is 
 chicken dinners, consist- 
 ing of one chicken served 
 to two persons, with lima 
 beans and sweet corn (or 
 any two vegetables de- 
 sired), pickle, jelly, a 
 salad, either hot or iced 
 drinks, and ice cream. 
 
 To this little Tea House 
 
 people began to flock even 
 
 ing after evening, espe- 
 cially at week-ends, until, 
 under this daily increasing 
 popularity. Miss Stabler 
 found it necessary to en- 
 large her quarters. 
 
 She finally succeeded in 
 purchasing a house a few 
 miles to the east. Here in 
 April, she opened her new "Tea House," 
 and has ample room to serve all who come. 
 
 Twin Oaks Coffee Mill 
 
 THE charm of an old abandoned mill 
 and its picturesque setting presented 
 manifold possibilities when the venture "i 
 opening our tea room was 
 finally made a possibility. 
 The location, too ( Trait's 
 Junction, Massachusetts i . 
 was in its favor, for the 
 state road between Wor- 
 cester, Leominster ami 
 Fitchburg — which during 
 the summer months is the 
 highway for White Moun- 
 tain and Berkshire tour- 
 ists — is a few hundred 
 feet away. 
 
 Plenty of parking space 
 for automobiles — a feature 
 
 that appeals strongly to 
 
 motorists — was arranged 
 
 in a part of a held in 
 
 front of the mill. 
 
 It was a matter of but 
 
 a few weeks when broad 
 
 low porches on three sides 
 
 of the building, a huge 
 
 fieldstone fireplace built in 
 
 the center of the main 
 
 room, a hard-wood floor- 
 ing, and the part apportioned off for 
 
 kitchen, were completed. 
 
 The furnishings were inspired by the old 
 
 With tt>o such noble tree 
 the grounds, a fitting name 
 not far to seel? 
 
 the 
 
 weathered appearance of the walls and 
 
 low beamed ceiling. Curtains of natural 
 colored theatrical scrim at the small-paned 
 windows soften without 
 shutting out any of the 
 light. Tones of yellow 
 and orange predominate. 
 In contrast with the yel- 
 low chairs are the black 
 tables in various sizes ac 
 coimnodating tw r o to eight 
 or ten guests. 
 
 The screened-in porches 
 where the guests are 
 served (except on cold or 
 rainy days) leave the 
 large main room free for 
 social purposes — inviting 
 those who are not in a 
 hurry, to linger a while in 
 comfortable chairs by the 
 open fire. 
 
 Homemade breads and 
 cakes are always appre 
 
 ■hi ted ; fowl used for salad 
 is cooked fresh every day 
 in the pressure cooker, 
 which is, by the way. a re- 
 markable time-saver. V.\ 
 tra steaks and chickens are kept in the 
 cooler for emergencies, and special service 
 for private parties is provided for. 
 
 3 
 
HERE., in the pleasant half- 
 light which is filtered 
 through the foliage of the sur- 
 rounding trees, you can enjoy 
 an outdoor meal while you 
 rvalch the dim, cool stream 
 slipping along at your very feel 
 
 AND just to prove that the 
 *■ ^ name was not picked at 
 random for no reason at all, 
 here is the mill-wheel itself, 
 turning to the tune of the water 
 and making music for you while 
 you eat or chat with friends 
 
 The Gingham Shop 
 
 "T^HE Gingham Shop Will Open 
 *■ November Fifteenth." This r 
 
 Here 
 
 notice 
 
 drew speculative comment from the fem- 
 inine portion of the eight thousand or 
 more college students who must pass the 
 place daily. 
 
 Idle speculation changed to active in- 
 vestigation when it appeared that this 
 was a new place where "eats" might be 
 obtained. 
 
 "How did you ever do it?" I exclaimed 
 as I seated myself in the inner room of 
 ilie little establishment for a Saturday 
 breakfast of crisp waffles with just the 
 suspicion of corn meal that I like, and 
 real maple sirup. For I remembered 
 this same place as an unsightly wedge be- 
 tween two respectable buildings, a Chinese 
 laundry made hideous by bill posters. 
 
 I was the latest of the breakfasters, so 
 the woman in charge felt at liberty to 
 satisfy my curiosity and interest, while 
 
 her daughter, a young college girl who 
 attended my classes, did the last of the 
 "clearing away." 
 
 "It was no easy task," she smiled. 
 
 "Hut it was cheap. Any other place 
 three blocks from a state university would 
 Ik- out of the question for us, and the 
 location is everything. 
 
 "So we nailed up the front entrance, 
 secured a carpenter to repair roof an 1 
 Moor, and hired a man to carry out the 
 coal and remove the trash from the back 
 yard. Marian and I and our faithful 
 Dinah did most of the rest. Having 
 scrubbed so vigorously as to dispose of 
 every germ, we indulged in an orgy of 
 paint. We had paneled all but the 
 kitchen with light pine. This together 
 with the casings, wainscotings, doors, and 
 cubby hole, we painted black. 
 
 "In a little out-of-the-way shop we 
 found an old-fashioned table, with leaves 
 
 31 
 
folded demurely at its sides. We prompt- 
 ly secured it for the 'fronl room.' The 
 kindly old dealer became interested in our 
 project, and dragged to lighl a quainl 
 round table with substantial legs. 'I 
 have five more of llir.se in the store room,' 
 he said. These with some chairs thai had 
 the same substantial, stocky appearance, 
 were all we could use in our little second 
 room. We gave this furniture a couple 
 of coats of the black paint. 
 
 "Now we fell we must begin to brighten 
 things up a bit. We covered the Boors 
 with a thick, wonderfully clean looking 
 blue and white checked linoleum, and a 
 decorator put on this cheerful paper. 
 Then with this finely checked blue and 
 white gingham we curtained the windows," 
 indicating the novel hangings held down 
 stillly and primly with rods. 
 
 "I exercised my own talent at carpen- 
 try in the construction of the shelves and 
 the blue Delft is an heirloom. 
 
 "With blue checked gingham side cur- 
 tains and valance we bordered the open- 
 mi: to the old cellarway, and in it we 
 have the victrola, with a couple of dozen 
 of the very best records. 
 
 "With our simple kitchen in readiness 
 in the back, and an Old English sign 
 in blue to match the gingham — on the 
 front door, we were 'all set.' 
 
 "it was to be a specialty shop. And 
 our specialty was to be Dinah's specialty 
 
 waffles and toasted English muffins. We 
 
 open for breakfast on Saturday and Sun- 
 day mornings to accommodate the stu- 
 dents who have missed the call of Bic 
 Ben. We serve tea every afternoon from 
 three until five. Tn the evening, it is 
 waffles and maple sirup again, with tiny 
 country sausages. One other item ap 
 pears on each evening's menu — a surprise. 
 To-nighl it is 1o be hot mince pie. In 
 the summer we shall divert all our ener 
 irie.s to crisp salads and dainty sandwiches. 
 
 "We make a specialty, too. of little pri- 
 vate suppers and parties. Last week one 
 of the sororities gave a formal afternoon 
 tea, engaging the rooms and service for 
 the entire afternoon. Last night a dozen 
 jolly girls indulged in a rarebit supper." 
 
 Marian, who made an adorable maid, 
 now hovered near to remove my plate. 
 She wore a wisp of a blue gingham apron 
 with a pert bow at the back. Another 
 blue gingham bow rested on her curls. 
 
 As I went out through the 'front room.' 
 I exclaimed with delight over the table of 
 sweets that had just been replenished by 
 a home candy maker, whose services, I 
 was told, had been secured by the Ging- 
 ham Shop. There was a platter of fresh 
 fudge, piled high and cut in big squares. 
 A basket was filled with tempting divinity 
 balls. Most irresistible of all were the 
 maple sweethearts, "made from pure ma- 
 ple sugar from the famous Mohawk trail." 
 Each piece of candy sold for twelve cents. 
 Lois Borland. 
 
 Can you resiit this templing display of siveels from the Cingham Shop? Neither could they! 
 
 32 
 
This story and a half dwelling was built in 1654, and is set on a slope at the top of a lane 
 which formerly was an Indian trail 
 
 Sunset Tea Room 
 
 "DULL the string and the latch will 
 
 A come up," said a voice from within 
 the ancient, little grey house. Obey and 
 one finds not a wolf in grandmother's 
 night cap, but a young woman beaming 
 welcome from under the quaint angle of 
 a soft, old-blue Dutch cap. Behind her 
 a massive stone chimney slants backward 
 towards the ceiling, as if to hide the an- 
 cient, narrow staircase of many angles, 
 worn shiny and hollow by footsteps that 
 have mounted it for two centuries and a 
 half. 
 
 Through a doorway at the right one 
 catches sight of quaint. Dutch tables, 
 set with blue and white tea service, and 
 ornamented with field flowers in pewter 
 jugs. It is characteristic of the simple 
 atmosphere of Sunset Tea Room. 
 
 This story and a half dwelling was 
 built in lf>54, according to records of the 
 Congregational Church, and is set on a 
 slope at the top of a lane which formerly 
 was an Indian trail. This path led op 
 from the river, and was used by Indians, 
 who arrived yearly in the clamming sea- 
 son, bringing wide-splint baskets, which 
 they traded for fruit and vegetables. 
 
 Tradition has it that the bouse was 
 built for slaves in 1654. (Many descend- 
 ants of early settlers in Connecticut re- 
 tained slaves up to the sixties.) They 
 were the property of a family of early 
 settlers, the foundation of whose home- 
 stead lies in ruins on the Booth family's 
 estate near by. A little stream Hows lie- 
 low the slave's house and the delicious 
 water cress, which grows in it even to this 
 
 day. immediately became an important in- 
 gredient to the salads and sandwiches on 
 Sunset Tea Room's menu. 
 
 The building had been vacant for a 
 year or more when two Connecticut young 
 women conceived the idea of a tea room 
 under this historic roof. The house has 
 an attic and two rooms separated by a 
 huge stone chimney with enormous fire- 
 places, while another large one is in the 
 cellar, which formerly was used as a 
 kitchen when slaves no longer occupied it, 
 and when, history relates, the house be- 
 came a tavern. 
 
 Queer looking tally marks, a series of 
 four, short, upright white lines, crossed 
 diagonally by another, still show across 
 the entire length of the heavy plank over 
 the opening of the fireplace. Some coun- 
 try folks say that these kept tally of the 
 number of hot toddies sent upstairs to 
 wayfarers, others differ as to the use to 
 which they were put. 
 
 Whatever its past may have been, the 
 two Connecticut young women have been 
 aide to create a cheerful and restful at- 
 mosphere in this ancient setting. Rag 
 rugs, pewter plates, pewter jugs filled with 
 wild flowers, and antique china give color 
 lo the room, and being in a neighborhood 
 where heirlooms are plentiful, were ob- 
 tained at little expense. Out under the 
 eaves at a corner of the house, instead 
 of a dingy rain-water barrel, these re- 
 sourceful young women have set an enor- 
 mous brass kettle which reflects rays 
 from the setting sun. and Hashes back 
 beckoning cheer to passing wayfarers. 
 
 33 
 
Bluebird Tea Room 
 
 FIVE years ago a friend came to visit 
 my wife, my two boys, and myself. I 
 was a broken-down individual unable to 
 hold a position for long ami equally un- 
 able to afford the medical treatment which 
 would put me on my feet again. My wife 
 being strong and an excellent cook, about 
 the first suggestion our friend made was. 
 "Why don't you start a tea room, some- 
 thing you both can work at together?" 
 
 Neither of us had any experience in 
 that line, and we laughed at the idea. 
 However, after considering the matter 
 from all points of view, we actually de- 
 cided to try it out. Our first move was 
 to draw out our bank balance, which to- 
 taled three hundred and eighty-four dollars 
 and twenty-nine cents. Our next move 
 was to spend it. 
 
 In a college town we rented a house 
 easily accessible to the students. We pur- 
 chased four tables with loose plate glass 
 tops. These we found rather expensive, 
 but they are sanitary and have paid for 
 themselves over and over again in laundry 
 saving. The glass tops can be easily 
 cleaned by wiping off with a small amounl 
 of cleansing powder on a wet cloth, and 
 then polishing them with a dry cloth. 
 They can lie made attractive by pasting a 
 gaily patterned cloth under the glass. In 
 our own case blue repp was used, as the 
 tables were placed in a large front room 
 which we had papered in plain blue and 
 curtained in rose. 
 
 Between this room and the kitchen was 
 the serving room, where we kept extra 
 dishes, silver, trays, etc., on a 
 large table. Off from this 
 room was a closet where we 
 placed an ice box and shelves 
 for canned goods. A large 
 gas stove with nine top burn- 
 ers and a double oven, two 
 heavy cabinets and a dish 
 washing sink completed our 
 kitchen equipment. 
 
 Purchasing our food sup 
 plies on credit from obliging 
 dealers, we hung out our 
 shingle and were ready for 
 business the day the college 
 fall term opened. 
 
 We had printed a regular 
 menu consisting of cold 
 meats, sandwiches, relishes, 
 beverages, etc., each item 
 priced separately ; and then 
 each noon and evening we at- 
 tached to this a special type- 
 written slip from which our patrons could 
 select a regular meal if they so desired. 
 
 Our first day's receipts amounted to 
 
 It's right on 
 street of a c 
 
 eighty-five cents, leaving almost twenty 
 dollars worth of perishable food in the 
 ice box. Friend Wife is of Scotch descent 
 and plucky. Had she been otherwise I 
 should not be writing this. We kept the 
 place open although at a loss, she run- 
 ning the Tea Room and I working where 
 an honest dollar might be obtained. 
 
 Someone suggested that we specialize in 
 catering to party luncheons. We adver- 
 tised to that effect and it proved success- 
 fid — not financially so much as in the 
 free advertising we got from the people 
 who attended those parties. 
 
 We kept the Tea Koom going as usual, 
 following the same principle as before, but 
 with the special parties we found our- 
 selves obliged td depend for extra help on 
 students who worked for their board — a 
 plan which proved exceedingly pleasant as 
 well as financially sound. 
 
 Toward the end of the year prospects 
 looked brighter and before the end of the 
 next we were employing regular kitchen 
 help beside five students who did the serv 
 ing. Thus we have continued, my wife 
 managing the help and supervising the 
 cooking, while I attend to the details and 
 lend a hand where most needed. 
 
 Many who run such a business con- 
 sider it their duty to see that patrons are 
 properly served in the dining room. We 
 have .someone else do that. As we see it, 
 our place is "behind the scenes" attend- 
 ing to what goes into the dining room. 
 
 We have found that the art of working 
 leftovers into tasty, wholesome dishes 
 yields us much of our profit. 
 Another practise which has 
 saved us a good deal is our 
 habit of taking into considera- 
 tion weather conditions and 
 planning ahead accordingly. 
 
 ( Jriticism we have had — lots 
 of it ! And we welcome it, 
 since it enables us to adjust 
 many unsatisfactory condi- 
 tions. Apparently our abil- 
 ity to take a hint kindly has 
 paid us. for during this last 
 year our patronage was more 
 than we could conveniently 
 handle with double the equip- 
 ment and three times as much 
 help. The business is still 
 small, but we feel that it is 
 quite a success, since we now 
 own our home and place of 
 business, are well insured, 
 owe no man a dollar, and are 
 in a position to expand to the extent of 
 three or four thousand dollars, should we 
 find it neoessarv. E. E. Porter. 
 
 the shaded 
 ollege toivn. 
 
The 
 Coffee House 
 
 HP III] emblem at the left, which is 
 a symbol of one of the many good 
 things served within, hangs over Hi> 
 doorway on one of the main streets 
 of the town, in the heart of the 
 business section. 
 
 ONE of the first requisites for success 
 iu the tea room business is a good 
 location. We were fortunate in securing 
 this in our city. Our Coffee House is 
 within one block of all our city's leading 
 banks and close to the best ready-to-wear 
 shops. We calculated that to get the 
 patronage of the wives of the leading 
 business men of the city would be the 
 surest and quickest road to success; and 
 having secured their patronage we thought 
 the men would learn of our place from 
 their wives and friends. Then, finding 
 that we were located in the heart of the 
 city, near their offices, we hoped that they 
 would take their meals with us. 
 
 For the interior of our coffee house the 
 color scheme was green and ivory. Our 
 tables and chairs were all painted ivory 
 with green trimming and the woodwork 
 of the room was painted to match. We 
 secured china with green striping, and 
 our teapots, water pitchers and ice bowls 
 were all green. On each piece of linen is 
 appliqued a green coffee pot; and the 
 aprons and caps with which we furnish 
 our waitresses bear the same design. 
 
 We took care to get the attention of 
 the people we wished to attract, and with 
 excellent results. We did this by means 
 of a folder which we had printed, with 
 our coffee pot conspicuous on the front. 
 Five hundred of these were mailed to the 
 prominent families of the city a day or 
 two before our opening. This was all the 
 publicity we had, and yet we could not 
 handle the crowd that came to us on our 
 opening day. For several days we turned 
 many away who had received our an- 
 nouncement folders, but gradually wo 
 added tables and chairs and increased our 
 force until at this time we can seat 
 seventy-two people and have six waitresses 
 and a head waitress. 
 
 Perhaps the most popular feature of our 
 place is our coffee service, which we em- 
 phasize above everything else. Every or- 
 der for coffee is served in individual ser- 
 
 vice — a two cup stand with glass bowl, 
 which is brought to the table by the wait- 
 ress, and an alcohol lamp which keeps the 
 coffee hot until the patron is ready for ir. 
 This feature has given our place a wider 
 publicity than an expensive series of news- 
 paper advertisements. If iced coffee is 
 ordered our service is equally effective, 
 for a glass of crushed ice is furnished 
 with the coffee which is poured over the 
 ice in the presence of the patron, so that 
 the ice is not half melted when the coffee 
 is poured in. 
 
 We know that the public generally is 
 fond of pastry and we therefor spare no 
 effort or expense to make ours the best 
 in this city. We conceived the idea of 
 having no great variety of pies each day. 
 but rather having a set day for certain 
 pies, with the result that our friends now 
 know the day of the week on which their 
 favorite pastry will be on the menu. This 
 feature serves another purpose which 
 might not have occurred to some people 
 operating a business of this sort. It con- 
 vinces the public, who might otherwise be 
 skeptical, that our pastry is always fresh, 
 as they do not find the same pastry served 
 on succeeding days. 
 
 Another feature of our coffee house is 
 the arrangement of the front of our shop. 
 The windows are draped with green, and 
 in this space is a settee for those who are 
 meeting friends, or who want to rest or 
 read while they wait for a table. Near 
 this settee we have a dressing stand and 
 mirror for the use of ladies. On the table 
 ate pen and ink, and a rack behind this 
 table carries the leading magazines. 
 
 On every table we have had fresh cut 
 flowers every day since we started. 
 
 It is our aim to give to all our guests 
 the best of care and attention, as we real- 
 ize that the most effective bits of adver- 
 tising are the words of praise passed on 
 to those who do not know us. 
 
 Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Pierce, 
 
 Proprietors. 
 
 33 
 
The Sign of the 
 Golden **»«•«. Orange 
 
 ■-..... 
 
 >c 
 
 Miami. 
 
 WHEN ;ui opportunity of- JP ureen lacquered tray just large 
 
 fered it. soil" to start a enough to hold them. The crust- 
 
 less sandwiches are wrapped in 
 oiled paper sealed with an orange 
 disc bearing the words "The 
 Sign of the Golden Orange, 
 Florida." 
 When the sugar bowls are freshly filled, 
 the iced tea and limeade ready to pour, 
 the sandwich fillings ready, and some 
 sandwiches made, the butter creamed and 
 the cinnamon mixture ready to spread on 
 the hot toast, the water "galloping boil- 
 ing" on the stove and the teapots and 
 jugs warm in the oven — when these things 
 are done, we can relax a little and feel 
 that we are ready for the afternoon. We 
 serve six days a week, leaving t ho seventh 
 day for a much need- 
 ed rest, although we 
 takeorders for picnic 
 lunches for Sundays. 
 We have supplied 
 an ever-growing de- 
 mand for homemade 
 cakes and sandwiches 
 to be taken away 
 from the Tea Koora : 
 and for this branch 
 f i of the business we 
 In peeping wi'h the semi-tropical atmosphere have a supply of 
 pared to take orders of the place is the signboard attached to the folding boxes, oiled 
 for picnic lunches trunk of a cocoanu'-tree paper, and picnic 
 
 and cakes. Our sea- lunch accessories, 
 
 son was from December firsl to May first. Auction bridge is a most popular form 
 
 On a visit to "The Sign of the Golden of entertainment at Miami, so thai we 
 Oral ge," one will find round green tables, provided ourselves with (aides and .hairs. 
 
 HEN an opportunity of- 
 fered itself to start a 
 new venture, my mother, twin 
 sister, and I turned our thoughts 
 toward having a tea room and 
 gift shop, as something in which 
 we could all have a part. It was in Octo- 
 ber, L916, that we started from Boston to 
 Miami, Florida. It was a new city to us, 
 where we had no friends or associations; 
 but we had learned that the climate was 
 an ideal winter one, and that Miami was 
 i lie "growingest" city in the South. 
 
 The little stone house that we rented 
 had quite a tropical look, owing to the 
 I'andanns hushes and large cocoanut palm 
 trees in the front yard. After banging 
 out our sign -a yellow orange with green 
 leaves - and placing 
 
 our four tallies and 
 sixteen chairs on the 
 porch, we wailed for 
 our guests. Our only 
 form of advertising 
 w as to send out green 
 cards engraved with 
 the orange motif and 
 leaves, announcing 
 our Tea Room and 
 Gift Shop and say- 
 that \\ e were pr< 
 
 green chairs -the backs covered with 
 green and white awning material, with a 
 orange and green felt leaves ap- 
 pliqu6d on each chair back. 
 
 ( >n every table you will find an orange 
 l.owl tilled with tiny Panama oranges 
 and their glossy green leaves. The 
 ii ei 11 card is under glass, to insure per- 
 fect cleanliness, and a special menu, cut in 
 the shape of the orange with leaves, has 
 blank discs of paper on which are an- 
 nounced the kinds of ice cream offered 
 for the day. The green enamel call bell 
 is decorated with an "range design, and 
 an order pad with pencil at l ached allows 
 
 guests i" w rite their own orders. 
 
 The tea service consists of a small green 
 earthenware teapol and hoi water jug, a 
 small strainer, and a cube of tea. This 
 insures the freshness of the tea, and al- 
 the guest to brew it the desired 
 strength. These articles are placed on a 
 
 and arrange bridge parties. The refresh- 
 irents for these parties are as simple or as 
 elaborate as a hostess wishes them to be. 
 The Gift Shop, which is a small affair, 
 has a display of hand-painted dinner 
 c.n-ds, tallies, favors, handkerchiefs and 
 small gifts, and orders are filled for fav- 
 ors and cards in special color schemes. 
 In the shop we have a guest hook, where 
 a mammy doll announces by card, "My 
 Missus asks youse-all to please register in 
 
 our Sliest book." 
 
 How much help is needed to con- 
 duct this business? One colored maid for 
 the kitchen work, and during the busiest 
 season a friend, who is engaged for after- 
 noons to assist in various ways. These 
 
 two helpers and the three members of the 
 family (who do not observe union hours 
 from December to May) make up our 
 stall'. Needless to say. tips are taboo. 
 \Iaru Unit. 
 
The Tintern Tea Garden 
 
 WASHINGTON'S old Naval Dis- 
 pensary has been turned into one 
 of its most attractive tea houses. The 
 small red brick building which \v;is once 
 a medical compound is now known as The 
 Tintern Tea Garden. It is within easy 
 walking distance from the Treasury, the 
 White House and the War Department. 
 But while its location has proven a draw- 
 ing card for a cosmopolitan gathering, it 
 is not so much the location as the garden 
 in the rear which has attracted the as- 
 semblage of interesting guests and friends. 
 
 Throughout the sul- 
 try summer, in this 
 fragrant garden, three 
 meals a day are served, 
 at nominal prices. 
 There is breakfast iii 
 the cool of the morn- 
 ing, with cantaloupe, 
 crisp bacon and but- 
 tered toast ; luncheon 
 when the guests eat 
 cooling salads or hot 
 waffles in the shade of 
 the old elm trees ; and 
 at dinner, in the de- 
 scending dusk. the 
 garden assumes an en- 
 chanted appearance 
 and is illuminated with 
 golden Chinese lan- 
 terns. Here and there 
 is the glow of a cigar- 
 ette and it is nothing 
 unusual to distinguish 
 through the low buzz 
 of conversation talk 
 which betrays that the 
 occupants of certain 
 tables are diplomats or 
 statesmen of national 
 reputation. There are 
 pretty girls, and offi- 
 cers, too. for there is 
 an abundance of Army 
 and Navy men who are fond of good food. 
 
 In all downtown Washington, through 
 its first summer, the Tintern Tea Garden 
 stood as an exception. It had no rivals 
 because there was nothing like it 
 
 dining room of a boys' school, and fr< n> 
 i wo years association with a friend who 
 owns a large hotel in Atlantic City. 
 
 As my capital was very limited. I 
 started in a modest way, always keeping: 
 lo my standard of good food, well but 
 simply prepared, and nicely served. 
 
 A Dinner for a Dollar 
 
 ] SERVED a four-course dinner for a 
 dollar, and another one, minus soup 
 and salad, for seventy-five cents. Our 
 menus, our prices, and our service had 
 already attracted a 
 large number when I 
 realized that summer 
 was approaching. On 
 page 38 you will find 
 a representative selec- 
 tion from these menus, 
 showing what was 
 served. 
 
 There were i inflic- 
 tions on every hand 
 that the summer of 
 1921 would be dull. 
 Washington is a hot 
 city during June, July, 
 and August, and every- 
 one who could leave 
 was likely to go, since 
 the war no longer kept 
 them there. The gov- 
 ernment departments 
 were laying off hun- 
 dreds of employees 
 and, what is more, we 
 were facing hard times. 
 There were in the 
 same neighborhood a 
 number of tea rooms 
 which were run on the 
 same lines as mine had 
 
 The Beginning Was a Modest One 
 
 MY family had lived in Memphis, 
 Tennessee, so that I was well versed 
 in Southern cooking. My first visit to 
 Washington was made during the war 
 when I came to see my son before he went 
 overseas. My visit had shown me the 
 possibilities of managing a successful tea 
 room. I had had some qualifying experi- 
 ence from nine years in charge of the 
 
 Through the alley and out into a lovely hit 
 
 of unsuspected greenery is the summer 
 
 entrance of the Tintern Tea Garden. In 
 
 winter the tables are moved indoors, but been during the win 
 
 mith the first breath of spring air they are ter. With the first 
 placed in the garden again. ,] a y of June some of 
 
 t hese hoarded their 
 doors and hung up announcements that 
 they would be closed until October. Evi- 
 dently their proprietors had dreaded the 
 same dull period with which I was con- 
 fronted. But while competitors would be 
 fewer, there would still be enough tea 
 rooms and restaurants in the neighbor- 
 hood, I realized, to demand that some- 
 thing must he done to hold business. 
 
 That is why I thought of the garden, 
 or. as it would be wiser to express it, of 
 the hack yard! The house, an old-fash- 
 ioned one, is separated from the next one 
 by a three-foot alley, which opens directly 
 onto the main street and leads to the 
 yard in the rear, so that entrance may be 
 
 37 
 
had to the garden withoul passage through 
 the house. This alley is in constant use. 
 
 "Come Into the Garden" 
 
 THE yard had a brick wall on one side 
 and a very respectable privel heage 
 < 1 1 1 the u! her. There was a large <>1iii tree, 
 while ' l "' maple in the adjoining yard af- 
 forded addil ional shade, 
 
 Across the lower end of the yard, lo 
 shul "in the sight of the alley, was built 
 > fence of poultry wire, eighl feet high, 
 with an arched passage- 
 w a\ . capped w iih flower 
 boxes. Another cross 
 fence was erected at the 
 house end of the yard. 
 in screen the entrance 
 to the kitchen and sen 
 ing porch, while the 
 narrow passage between 
 the two buildings was 
 roofed wit h poult rj 
 wire. 
 
 The poultry wire of- 
 fered the groundwork 
 for decoration. Againsl 
 this were massed spruce 
 and pine boughs, so that 
 the ends of ill" yard 
 were completely hidden 
 and a lovely green bow- 
 ery look was given to 
 that part of the garden. 
 The flower boxes were 
 Idled with pines and 
 plants, in the hope i hat, 
 together w i t b those 
 planted below, the fence 
 would soon be covered : 
 l « 1 1 i as the growth was 
 not sufficient, we have 
 kept the spicy spruce 
 boughs, now turned soft 
 and brown, and have 
 added from i ime to I ime 
 fresh laurel to brighten it. Over the nar- 
 row passage we put other boughs of 
 spruce and pine. They serve as a back- 
 ground and give oul the spicy odor sug- 
 gestive of the woods, and always bring a 
 comment from the newcomer. 
 
 For furnishings, ordinary deal tables 
 and kitchen chairs were used. We painted 
 the tables glossy black and the chairs van 
 colored orange, brilliant blue, soft laven- 
 der, pale, or deep green, rich crimson. <>n 
 the table- we used small painted doilies. 
 
 Orange and yellow flowers were massed 
 in baskets which hung againsl the wall in 
 dull green vases and in one old copper 
 Chinese incense burner, and orange and 
 yellow Chine-,, lanterns were strung from 
 the elm tree. 
 
 Over the entrance we hung a bamboo 
 tea tray with the inscription "Tintern 
 
 MENUS 
 
 CLUB BREAKFAST 
 
 No. 1, 50c 
 Cantaloupe or Cereal 
 
 1 Egg with Bacon 
 
 Potatoes, Hot Bread 
 
 Tea or Coffee 
 
 No. 4, 35c 
 
 Fruit or Cereal 
 
 Marmalade, Toast 
 
 Tea or Coffee 
 
 LUNCHEON, No. 1, 45c 
 Braised Veal, one Vegetable 
 Hot Biscuit Tea or Coffee 
 
 LUNCHEON, No. 3, 80c 
 
 Smothered Spring Chicken 
 
 One Vegetable, Hot Biscuit 
 
 Tomato Salad or 
 
 15c Dessert 
 
 Tea or Coffee 
 
 CHICKEN DINNER, $1.00 
 
 Tomato Soup 
 
 Fried Spring Chicken 
 
 Two Vegetables 
 
 Hot Biscuit Dessert 
 
 Tea or Coffee 
 
 (Salad 25c extra) 
 
 Tea Garden" and a lantern each side. 
 
 Our friends warned us. that we would 
 have to contend with Hies and mosquitoes, 
 but by using slaked lime around garbage 
 
 pails and ash cans, we were not bothered 
 
 I know that usually it would have paid 
 to advertise, and I realize now thai by 
 neglecting to do so we migbl have made a 
 mistake. Bu1 luck was with us from the 
 start, and our patronage grew to be as 
 
 large a one as w aid manage. 
 
 We initiated our garden by serving at 
 
 first light refreshments in tl vening. 
 
 Soon we had our opi n- 
 air dinner, and litis 
 meal became so popu- 
 lar that within a lew- 
 days there were re- 
 quests for an outdoor 
 breakfast and luncheon, 
 and the number of men 
 who came to our noon- 
 day meal increased by 
 siieh leaps and bounds 
 thai we could scarcely 
 handle their waffle or- 
 ders. 
 
 It is not unusual, in 
 our garden, to see a 
 well-known artist sketch- 
 ing upon his paper nap- 
 kin the picture of a 
 pretty girl, and insert- 
 ing in the hole which 
 marks her round mouth 
 the silver quarter with 
 which he lips the wait- 
 er. Admiral McCulley, 
 who adopted the seven 
 Russian children, once 
 brought his unusual 
 family, with his niece 
 and the Russian maid. 
 to a meal. 
 
 T h e atmosphere is 
 o n e o f congeniality. 
 
 The um,. sis like tO dine 
 
 in the open while the weather permits, 
 and the feeling that nobody is waiting Tor 
 their places has resulted in the Tintern 
 Tea Garden becoming a rendezvous for 
 many friends wdio feel that they may 
 take their time ami peacefully converse 
 over the coffee cups. 
 
 She Makes Money and Friends 
 
 AT the time of this writing, we are 
 still eating in the garden, but with 
 the approach of autumn ami cold weather, 
 we transplant our garden into the house. 
 Our first summer has been a profitable 
 
 one. for we have not only mid'' money, 
 
 bul we have also made many worthwhile 
 friends, so that next spring, with the 
 coming of the first robin, we shall plan 
 our second season in the garden. 
 
 Marguerite Rambaut If ill. 
 
The linen is plain fringed, or Madeira, kept beautifully while and dried in the sun; and there 
 are always flowers on the tables 
 
 Garden Tea Room 
 
 JUST how the present tea garden came 
 into being we are unable to explain. 
 The situation may have bad as much to 
 do with it as anything, for the bark yard 
 is a plot of several acres south of the 
 house, surrounded on three sides by trees 
 and wild shrubbery. 
 
 We began with a regulation afternoon 
 tea that "would not spoil one's dinner at 
 night," but it did not take many weeks 
 for the fact to dawn upon us that what 
 people wanted was something to eat. 
 Many of our guests are automobile par- 
 ties coming from long distances, and it is 
 a well-known fact that no form of exer- 
 cise can create a better appetite. There- 
 for we have evolved the following menu: 
 
 Fruit or watermelon cocktail 
 Soups (puree of peas and tomato) 
 Scotch scones (made by a dear old 
 
 Scotch lady's recipe) 
 Cream biscuit (buttered, then put in a 
 hot oven for a few minutes before 
 serving) 
 Salads — pear, peach, pineapple, and 
 mixed fruit: crab, salmon, and chick- 
 en ; cucumber, tomato, and Arabian 
 salad 
 
 For salad dressing, the cream boiled 
 dressing is the most popular, but many 
 like our mayonnaise. For the green 
 vegetables, usually French dressing is 
 used. We keep tlm lettuce and fruits 
 
 crisp on ice. and make our salads up in a 
 cool basement cellar, so they may be sent 
 to the tabic cool and appetizing. We 
 serve two sizes, and all our prices are 
 based on :i g |. generous helping. 
 
 Cold meats are roast lamb or veal and 
 chicken, with which we serve hot potato 
 cakes made of mashed potatoes. 
 
 Our sweets consist of maple mousse aud 
 angel cake. The mousse is made of pure 
 Vermont maple sirup and the best of 
 thick cream from a nearby farm, packed 
 ami frozen in an agate freezer. 
 
 Other sweets we serve occasionally are 
 brownies, molasses doughnuts, and can- 
 dies; for drinks on hot days, iced tea. 
 coffee, lemon mint, and ginger ale: hot 
 drinks an' tea. coffee, and chocolate. 
 
 The serving is as important as the 
 cooking. We have the best help obtain- 
 able and pay good wages. Our wait- 
 resses are girls of high-school age. dainty 
 and ladylike, with an older girl for gen- 
 eral helper. 
 
 The dishwashing came near being our 
 Waterloo the tirst season. It seemed we 
 must give up our Sed.ji. for it was nicked, 
 the silver was far from clean, and the 
 glasses were cloudy and unfit to send to 
 the tables. Now we have our best paid 
 help for this branch, and the results are 
 most satisfying. The glasses and all 
 drinking dishes are dipped in a bichlor- 
 ide solution before going through a hot 
 suds. The glasses shine and the china, 
 
 39 
 
too, for .ill are wiped from good, hot suds 
 with towels washed, rinsed thoroughly, 
 and dried in the sun. They are never 
 used bul the once without going through 
 the laundry. When soiled dishes are 
 brought in from the tables, they are 
 scraped, sorted, and rinsed under the coid- 
 water faucet and idled ready for washing. 
 These are ready to put through a hot suds 
 
 and then wipe without rinsing again. 
 
 'The sign is a wooden teapot. t\\<» feet 
 in diameter, painted green, with tie' lei 
 tering in script : 
 
 (; \mn:\ TEA ROOM, 
 OPEN WEEK DAYS, 
 
 1. .>:.{<> h, 6:80 
 
 The tea-room furnishings are Nature's, 
 except chairs and tallies. The chairs are 
 old hickory, a dining-room size and a 
 small tea-room size. These are left out 
 of doors in all sorts of weather from the 
 time we open in June until we close the 
 middle of September. The smaller tables, 
 just large enough for two or throe people, 
 are old hickory also. For parties of from 
 four to six. we found it more practical 
 to have tables made by a local cabinet 
 maker. They are of a rustic style, with 
 plain tops. All are varnished and need 
 doing over only a few times each season. 
 We find it more practical to have pol- 
 ished tops on which we can use doilies 
 
 than to allow the tallies to become tar- 
 nished and use tablecloths. The only care 
 the tea room needs is clipping the grass 
 weekly and raking away the sticks and 
 
 leaves. 
 
 It may be helpful to know just how 
 our work is planned : 
 
 I hiring the forenoon the scones, salad 
 dressing, biscuits, foundation for maple 
 mousse and angel cake are made. About 
 noon the cream is whipped and the 
 mous.se packed for afternoon, all canned 
 goods to be used placed on the ice. the 
 lettuce cleaned and placed in a cloth on 
 ice. iream mixed with salad dressing, ice 
 chipped for drinks and placed in basin in 
 ice box. and everything possible made 
 ready for serving. 
 
 When guests arrive someone meets them 
 and shows them to a table. While the 
 waitress takes their orders, the Other 
 helper sees that water is boiling for tea 
 or coffee and the oven hot for scones and 
 biscuit. When the waitress comes in with 
 the orders, both make up salads, or pre- 
 pare cold meats. By this method the 
 guests are served quickly. When the wait- 
 ress goes to clear the table for the second 
 course, the helper in the kitchen prepares 
 the cake, dishes the ice cream and sees that 
 the finger bowls are ready. By working 
 in this manner, with everything in readi- 
 ness beforehand, the serving is simple. 
 Mrs. D. I. Stevens. 
 
 The Copper Kettle 
 
 N<) one seems quite to know how the 
 Copper Kettle Guild started, and 
 since it started no one has had time to 
 find out : 
 
 At first a dozen or so of the younger 
 townswomen who did fancy work of all 
 sorts, gut together in a very informally 
 organized way and hired a little vacant 
 shop ill the village for two Weeks, early 
 in the summer. The display of work 
 which thej got together — embroidery- — 
 mostly small, moderately priced pieces; cut 
 leather work, which was very popular 
 just then: and a few gracefully shaped 
 baskets was attractive, even spread out 
 on the Ugly little counter of the still 
 uglier little "store." What was mor< I i 
 the point, the things sold or most of them 
 did and the "summer people" and "na- 
 tives" joined in asking, Oliver like, for 
 
 "mole." 
 
 Before the season was over, we moved 
 our fancy work, our baskets and our 
 very modest tea equipment into a little 
 five-room brick cottage, quaint, but 
 inconvenient, which had stood untenanted 
 near tie- center of town for many years; 
 and then the Copper Kettle was swung 
 
 into place over the front door. That year 
 the three lower rooms gave us plenty of 
 space for displaying our wares to which 
 were added cakes, cookies and numerous 
 other home-made "goodies," — and for serv- 
 ing tea in the .afternoons 
 
 Last year we branched out a bit more 
 and were doing catering on a small scale 
 as well as giving class or private lesson- 
 in various handicrafts. 
 
 Now almost the whole town is enjoying 
 i lie benefits of the Copper Kettle, and this 
 is how it is managed : 
 
 The Guild has two classes of members 
 
 active, whose yearly dues are but fifty 
 cents; and contributing members, whose 
 annual dues are two dollars. The officers 
 and executive committee of four are 
 chosen from among the active members 
 who are divided into numbered committees 
 with eight members each. Each commit- 
 tee in turn litis charge of the rooms for 
 a week and they arrange among them- 
 selves who shall be in attendance each 
 
 day. 
 
 Since the tea room and cooked food 
 department prospered so well we have put 
 that in charge of a member wdio needed 
 
 40 
 
the money and who also had "the know- 
 how." Sln> serves tea and sandwiches or 
 homemade cookies every afternoon from 
 three to six in summer and three after- 
 noons a week in winter, asking fifteen 
 cents. She will also serve more elaborate 
 refreshments when ordered in advance, 
 and several times we have let the rooms 
 for evening parties for which she has 
 catered. She gives the Guild a small per 
 cent of her receipts. She also has charge 
 of the cooked food counter where the ar- 
 ticles made by the active or contributing 
 members find a ready sale. 
 
 The fancy articles are plainly marked 
 with their selling price when brought in 
 and the Guild receives ten per cent of 
 their selling price after they are sold. 
 The food is sold on the same basis and 
 the expert cake, doughnut, cookie and 
 candy makers of the town reap annually a 
 small harvest. Mincemeat, plum pud- 
 dings, pickles, jellies and preserves have 
 also proved popular in their season at the 
 special Thanksgiving and Christmas sales. 
 etc. 
 
 The summer people are. of course, our 
 greatest source of revenue, but we have 
 found it profitable to open The Copper 
 Kettle for three afternoons a week dur- 
 ing the winter also. 
 
 Several societies now use the rooms for 
 meetings and pay a small sum monthly ror 
 
 the privilege, which means more money in 
 our pockets. 
 
 At first we used such odds and ends 
 of old furniture as were contributed 
 from the well-stocked attics of the vil- 
 lage, but we have since covered two floors 
 with a plain matting and purchased small 
 tables and chairs, two second-hand show- 
 cases, a modest stock of china and a few 
 good cooking utensils. The landlord con- 
 sented to paint and paper the lower 
 rooms, repair the old kitchen stove and 
 open a long-unused fireplace. 
 
 The upper rooms are used in summer 
 by those teaching needle am! leather work, 
 either in classes or separately, many of 
 the pupils coming from the hotel near by. 
 YYe hire the cleaning done and. in winter, 
 have the walk shoveled and the fires made. 
 
 The secret of the success of the "Copper 
 Kettle" has been, we think, that every- 
 thing was genuine and really "home 
 made." from the wafers served with the 
 tea to the braided and woven rugs made 
 by two members, which bav proven espe- 
 cially popular. Nothing has been "im- 
 ported" from Japan, Germany or even 
 New York, and therein has lain the charm 
 that has attracted the visitor from afar. 
 We have given of our own and in so doing 
 have been made richer, not only in pocket 
 but in heart and life as well. 
 
 Mrs. William /•'. Schoppe. 
 
 The Torii Tea and Gift Shop 
 
 SEEMING accidents of circumstance 
 and environment frequently tip the 
 scale of human events toward that success 
 which every individual craves. It was 
 thus in the genesis of The Torii Shop and 
 Tea Room, at Castine, Maine. 
 
 In 1907 we found ourselves for the 
 summer in a small boarding-house where 
 
 we could not entertain our friends after 
 the manner we wished. Being familiar 
 with Japanese tea houses, with studio 
 teas, and having read of English tea 
 rooms, we proposed : "Let us open a stu- 
 dio tea room, and have a place wherein 
 to invite these friends." 
 
 Casting about for a suitable location 
 
 home of the Torii. on the coast of Maine, is so pla 
 may eat on an open-air porch overlooking the xvater 
 
Under the name sign on the window is the Japanese emblem which inspired it 
 
 for our hospitable intent, we hired for 
 five dollars the cellar of an old brick 
 building at the head of the steamboat pier. 
 This had served its day as fish market 
 and grocery store, and was a I the time 
 ttic storage room of coal, coal buckets, 
 and hoisting tackle. The owner of these 
 a nicies, superfluous to a tea room, cleared 
 l hem away, turned a hose on the place, 
 and. when it had dried, turned it over 
 to us with the firm and amused belief 
 that we were ■•• pair of harmless lunatics. 
 At the expense of a day's worth of half- 
 crown hoy. with horse and beach wagon 
 and hatchet, we lined the four walls of 
 our hopeless-looking studio-in-embryo with 
 cedar trees. Then, from my own trunks. 
 which had just completed a trip around 
 the world, we gleaned draperies to covej 
 the exposed laths of ceiling and upper 
 walls, where the aged plaster had lei go 
 its tottering hold. We then curtained off 
 a cornei- for a kitchenette, borrowed two 
 tables and a few chairs and there we 
 
 Were. 
 
 Our nevt move was the purchase of one 
 
 dozen medallion cups, saucers and plates. 
 
 a twenty-five-cenl oil stove, one small tea- 
 kettle, and some minor indispensables. 
 
 A sign was the last requirement. Hence, 
 upon a yard of unbleached muslin I 
 painted in Mack with letters of Japanese 
 style, thus keeping our Oriental, "tone," 
 
 "Tea R ." flanking the words with a 
 
 gre< n rabbit, a red teapot, and a green 
 and red cup and saucer. This we tacked 
 ins- outside our open door, and were ready 
 for business. That is t<> say, ready to 
 
 entertain our friends, most informally. 
 
 To share the initial afternoon brew, we 
 invited ten guests. Thus, as there were 
 two hostesses, our table furnishings were 
 taxed to their limit. Into the midst of 
 the enjoyment of sharing the first pot of 
 tea in our very own surroundings. Dame 
 Chance poked a disconcerting nose: A 
 yachting party landed at the steamboat 
 pier. Our sign fulfilled its destiny; the 
 members of this party crowded inquisitive- 
 ly into our studio, and. as hostesses of 
 sporting though thrifty New England an- 
 cestry, we rose to the occasion. One prac- 
 tical friend scurried into the kitchenette 
 to get busy with hot water and dish towel. 
 A seeoml gathered our hut half-emptied 
 cups and passed them behind the scenes 
 for washing. A third ran to a nearby 
 grocery for more liiseuit.s and a half pound 
 of cheese. The other seven retired to (he 
 smaller table, ami radiated the atmosphere 
 of satisfied patrons lingering for a chat. 
 
 A gentleman from this yachting party, 
 hetween drinks of tea, asked the price of 
 a Moro art-square which hid the largest 
 
 am! most ghastly hole in the ceiling. (In 
 the spur of the moment my partner named 
 a price which she considered prohibitive. 
 Saiil the gentleman. "Good; T'll take it!"' 
 "Bui you can't have it until we close at 
 six." desperatelv spoke partner, in an 
 
 effort to fend off the sale. Said the gen- 
 tleman: "That's all right. We'll take a 
 run about town and return her., at six." 
 
 We awoki the next morning face to 
 face with our opportunity, and were alert 
 enough to recognize it. The nround-thc- 
 
 42 
 
world trunks were ransacked for trinkets 
 and knicknacks that could be spared. 
 After that we borrowed a show case and 
 established a gift corner. 
 
 When we closed that season, after less 
 
 than three hectic weeks, we had teaed a 
 large part of the summer residents about 
 the shores of Penobscot Hay. and had sold 
 everything we could spare, including the 
 medallion china. Also, we had made many 
 new friends, all of whom plead: "You 
 will come hack next year, won't you?" 
 
 We did. But to a larger stage with 
 more attractive natural scenery. 
 
 Before leaving Castine that autumn, we 
 learned of a man on the waterfront, who 
 purposed to put up a portable bungalow 
 for rent the following spring. We at once 
 contracted for it as the home of The Torii 
 Shop and Tea Room. At present the 
 business owns this bungalow — also the 
 waterfront lot on which it stands — which 
 has been twice enlarged to accommodate 
 our guests. Before another season we 
 purpose to remodel it for the third time, 
 and to open an annex. 
 
 Following the fourth year of our sum- 
 mer work we opened a winter gift shop 
 in an apartment in Syracuse, New York. 
 Syracuse would draw our Auburn friends 
 to trade, had size, straight rail connection 
 east and west, and also with Ogdenshuru 
 — the transfer shipping point for the Can- 
 adian Pacific service, by which we later 
 got our swiftest deliverv of Oriental 
 freight. 
 
 By this time, partly because of our 
 knowledge of and interest in Oriental 
 
 goods, and partly because we were finding 
 such wares to be our best sellers, we con- 
 centrated on Oriental goods. Having a 
 personal knowledge of the Far East mar- 
 kets we were doing our own importing, 
 and making a specialty of old embroider- 
 ies ami brocades, and carved wood from 
 Japan. We called these, in advertising, 
 "House and home accessories," and kept 
 strictly to artistic things useful in the 
 home. In buying, we rejected all articles 
 that had no utilitarian purpose, and still 
 continue to do so. In selling, we made an 
 effort to know our goods thoroughly, then 
 to instruct our helpers, so that we might 
 be relied upon in shop representations. 
 
 Once established in Syracuse we soon 
 found that gift shops were springing up 
 all over the country. And these shops 
 were increasingly turning to us. So 
 we secured our own rating and opened a 
 wholesale department to supply our sister 
 gift shops. Thus we continued for sev- 
 eral years, with headquarters in Syracuse 
 from October to June and in Castine dur- 
 ing the summer months. 
 
 Finally, we were solicited to open what 
 we believe to be the first strictly gift-shop 
 department in a department store, in Bing- 
 hamton. New York, and thereafter or- 
 ganized a number of such departments. 
 
 Were we asked : "To what do you owe 
 your success?" we might boil it down to 
 force of circumstances, cheerful service, 
 and hard-labor — though we have ever been 
 on the alert and were not afraid to grasp 
 opportunity when it has faced us. 
 
 C rure I'. T. Knudson. 
 
 Here, in this airy, uncluttered room, the Torii Shop goes into winter quarters 
 
 43 
 
On my sign was a 
 large, fat, jolly look- 
 ing Palmer Cox brorvnie 
 pointing to the words " T House 
 
 This was jusi a 
 
 two-room, one-stoiy 
 
 building which a doctor 
 
 had once used as an office. 
 
 The Brownie Tea House 
 
 OIK house was formerly owned by a 
 doctor who had a 1 wo room, one- 
 storj building in the yard for an office. 
 
 Two years ago, when 1 wanted to earn a 
 little extra money, ii occurred to me that 
 1 might run a Tea House there 1 talked 
 ii over with my husband, and finally de- 
 cided to try my luck. 
 
 I planned only a few necessary repairs 
 and decorations. Some wall paper I had 
 in the house was used for the walls of the 
 front room. It: was a grayish paper with 
 pink wild roses rambling over it. A fresh 
 coat of paint to match the gray in the 
 paper. Tor the woodwork, and a darker 
 gray for the floor made the little room 
 into a quite different place. For curtains, 
 I took some unbleached cheesecloth from 
 my husband's store and dyed it old-rose 
 to match the roses in the paper. When 
 the curtains were up, they added much 
 to the attractiveness of the room. 
 
 Four little square tables, made by my 
 good father, and painted with white enam- 
 el paii t. and chairs for which I ransacked 
 the house, were the chief furniture. In 
 one corner of the room I put up a cup 
 board with sliding glass doors, for my 
 cakes. Little tallies for flowers, and three 
 rugs completed the furnishings of the 
 front room. Into the back room we 
 
 moved an oil stove, ice box, table and ice- 
 cream container. 
 
 On the first day of July, having hung 
 up my "brownie" sign. I was ready for 
 
 business. The case wRS filled with a va- 
 riety of cakes, and three kinds of home- 
 made ice cream were prepared. Vases of 
 
 digitalis and roses tilled the windows and 
 
 decorated the tables. Tt was a fragrant. 
 
 clean, attractive room, and I eagerly 
 awaited my first customer. 
 
 At the end of the firs! week. I was dis- 
 couraged at having no more trade; hut 
 before the season was over I had more 
 than I could handle. 1 had served some 
 large chicken dinners, many afternoon 
 salad parties, and several birthday spreads, 
 besides serving luncheon at any hour to 
 tourists, and putting up picnic lunches 
 too numerous to mention. 
 
 I kept the place open from eighl in the 
 morning until twelve at night. I did not 
 always stay in the Tea Room, as I had 
 my baking to do, hut I had an electric 
 bell put in, which would ring in the 
 kitchen when anyone opened the door. 
 
 The second year I had a small line of 
 
 gifts and installed electricity. Old-rose 
 shades over the lights added much to tin- 
 
 charm of the place in the evening. 
 
 I should not advise anyone to open a tea 
 room who is not prepared to put real 
 effort into it. But it has meant extra 
 money for me. as it will for others if the\ 
 are willing to work with their hands. 
 
 I feel so confident of continued success, 
 that another year T want to take down the 
 partition, add an open fireplace and redec- 
 orate the place, painting the walls a soft 
 gray and stenciling a border of brownies 
 
 around the top. This would necessitate 
 adding a kitchen. Outside. 1 want a wide 
 porch where, on hot evenings, my guests 
 may sit and watch the moon over the lake. 
 forgel the .ares and worries of the city, 
 and so go back to their homes all the 
 stronger for their visits to the Brownie 
 Tea House. 
 
 l//v. Charlotte \l . Fillebroion. 
 
 44 
 
I^ROM that June day in 186? when 
 -*■ the "Allan Gumey" slid down the 
 ways, until December, 1920, when she 
 had carried her last cargo of coal from 
 the mainland to Nantucket and lay in 
 the harbor awaiting the desolate fate 
 of worn-out vessels, she had hud many 
 adventures. But the strangest of all 
 was yet to come, when she was char- 
 tered for a voyage l<> untried seas by 
 
 The Skipper 
 
 HE SERVES 
 
 THE THINGS 
 
 YOU LIKE 
 
 15 Liberty St. 
 Nantucket 
 
 IT was on one of the narrow streets of 
 the quaint old town, almost hidden away. 
 The house was so small that the front 
 room held but four tables ; the porch was 
 crowded by three more, and the pocket 
 handkerchief of a garden had four others, 
 shaded by bright orange-colored umbrellas. 
 The signboard, which hung from the tele- 
 scope held by a wooden "Skipper" in oil- 
 skins, announced : "The Skipper serves 
 the things you like." The signboard must 
 have told the truth, for the Skipper's pop- 
 ularity advanced by leaps and bounds; 
 and long before the season was over the 
 Skipper's "mates" realized that neither 
 they nor their patient patrons would 
 stand such close quarters another summer. 
 
 The search for a house began in a 
 leisurely way in October, but by Christ- 
 mas it became frantic; owners were be- 
 sieged by letter, telephone, and telegram, 
 to no avail. No house large enough for 
 the Skipper's needs seemed to be in the 
 market. 
 
 It was February when someone. looking 
 across the harbor, jeeringly suggested that 
 the only things for sale in Nantucket 
 were the "Allan Gurney" and the old 
 laundry building on the steamboat wharf. 
 Here was an idea. A schooner, ninety 
 feet long, and an empty building, almost 
 sixty feet square, flashed before the two 
 girls as an opportunity for a most effec- 
 tive combination. 
 
 Once again telegrams began to fly, ami 
 finally the "Skipper girls." as Nantucket 
 dubbed them, were owners of boat and 
 building. Tt was nearly the end of .Tune 
 before electricians, carpenters, and plumb- 
 ers moved out and the Skipper was ready 
 for his second voyage. 
 
 And the second voyage was to 1«> oven 
 more successful than the first. As one 
 old captain expressed it: "It'll go: first 
 
 place, them girls feed 'em, and that's what 
 folks want — good feeding and plentj ol 
 it : then they're smart, smartest on this 
 island. Anybody'd have to be smart to 
 take an old rat hole like that and turn it 
 into something worth looking at." 
 
 The Skipper was indeed "worth looking 
 at." The original Skipper signboard, 
 freshened with a new coat of paint, 
 swings before the gateway, from a lamp 
 post which the town fathers allowed to 
 be painted orange also. The building it- 
 self has been left a weather-beaten gray, 
 the doors and window frames are bottle- 
 green, and the wooden shutters, which 
 swing out from the top like awnings, are 
 stained bright orange. The space in front 
 of the building is divided into two sec 
 tions : one a service yard, masked with a 
 high latticed fence, through which the 
 kitchens are entered; the other a diminu- 
 tive garden just large enough for a bench 
 shaded by one of the umbrellas from the 
 previous year, a flagged pathway to the 
 hospitable, double doors, and a tangle of 
 blue cornflowers, celandines, and mari- 
 golds, enclosed with a low paling fence 
 and arched gateway. 
 
 Inside, the great barnlike room is di- 
 vided by a partition: the big entrance 
 doors open upon a wide reception-room 
 with high-backed bench and registration 
 desk, with quaint sea pictures hanging 
 above them, and a small dressing-room 
 and tin' steward's office on the right. Ex- 
 cept for this entrance hall, the whole 
 front of tin' building is given over to 
 the service-rooms, which have been care- 
 fully planned. The kitchen is large with 
 plenty of room for both gas and coal 
 ranges, sink, drain-hoard and serving 
 table. At one end of it is a good-sized 
 storeroom and 'it the other an out-kitchen 
 with built-in refrigerators and space for 
 
the "Allan Gurney's" hoisting engine, 
 which is pressed into service again and 
 now i urns the Skipper's ice-cream freez- 
 ers. Next in the kitchen comes the large 
 pantry for dish-washing, with a huge 
 sink :inil a specially fine draining board, 
 and ample shelving for the china and 
 glass. Then the serving-room, with its 
 double shelves for the waitresses' trays, 
 sugar howls, salts and peppers, doilies. 
 napk\ns, etc.: and its own gas range, 
 sink, refrigerator, and serving table for 
 it is here that all the salads, sandwiches, 
 hot and cold drinks, are composed. Above 
 these rooms is a second floor, used as the 
 sleeping quarters of the cook, her assist- 
 ants, and the waitresses. 
 
 The rest of the big square room lias 
 been left open to the roof, which, with 
 the numerous win- 
 dows on the three 
 sides, gives an otTert 
 of light and space. 
 The rafters and ceil- 
 ing are unpainted : 
 the walls are a creamy 
 white, a good neutral 
 background for the 
 strips <>f cretonne cov- 
 ered with large par- 
 rots in vivid greens. 
 blues, reds and yel- 
 lows, which serve as 
 curtains, the high- 
 backed bright orange- 
 colored benches, and 
 the dark green tallies 
 and chairs picked out 
 w ith orange lines. 
 
 The ship's compass 
 on its orange painted 
 base is in the center 
 of the room. Two 
 lines of ships' signal 
 flags hang from the 
 rafters : in the center 
 is the ship's lantern, 
 while the port and 
 starboard lights are 
 in the far corners. 
 Flattened pie plates 
 with orange painted 
 edges are used as re- 
 flectors for the elec- 
 tric lights, whose candle-shaped holders 
 stand in orange-colored patty pans. 
 
 Czech vases hold the llowers dusty mil- 
 ler with celandine and cornflowers, or 
 clover and chicory reproduce the orange, 
 blue, red. and white of the vases' decora 
 tions. Oramre and green awnings shade 
 
 the deck, while two of the It ml H'el l;ls from 
 the old garden shade two extra tahles in 
 the bow. The fourteen (aides on the hoat 
 ■ popular that there is seldom a sin 
 gle table vacant at luncheon, tea. or sup 
 
 // was February when some one, /oozing 
 across the harbor, jeerinely suggested that 
 the only thing for sale in Nantucket was the 
 "Allan Curney," a schooner ninety feet long 
 
 per. and. attractive as the inside room 
 
 iias been made, there are often parties 
 who prefer to wait rather than eat any- 
 where except on the hoat. 
 
 And the Skipper's popularity is not 
 only with the "oil-islanders." To be sure, 
 the summer people are there in force, cot- 
 tagers, cliff-dwellers, flappers, and athletes 
 from the yacht club, yacht owners who 
 have put in for the night, actors and other 
 celebrities from 'Sconset; bul also New 
 England ladies from the beautiful high- 
 columned Colonial houses of Main Street, 
 and ruddy old captains from the famous 
 Pacific Club. Even sight-seers have added 
 the Skipper to their list and visit the 
 vessel in the same spirit in which they 
 take in the Maria Mitchell House, the 
 windmill, and the historical societj 
 
 The ship's galley, a 
 deck house hiding the 
 stern, has been trans- 
 formed into a cozy 
 suite of rooms, with 
 two cabin bedrooms, 
 a sitting-room, and a 
 hath for its owners. 
 The Skipper's menu 
 is ent irely a la carte, 
 certain dishes appear- 
 ing more often than 
 others, according to 
 their popularity : a 
 very rich clam chow- 
 der began, for in- 
 stance, as a Friday 
 dish, hut was in such 
 demand that it soon 
 had to he served on 
 other days. The Sat- 
 urday - night baked 
 1 leans and hrown 
 bread were so delici- 
 ous that the New 
 England housewives 
 often came to carry 
 them off for Sunday 
 breakfast. Lobster 
 salad held high favor. 
 The chicken a la 
 King, 1 Iollanden blue- 
 fish, In-oiled plaice 
 fish, macaroni. Skip- 
 per style ( and "Skip- 
 per style" always betokened some espe- 
 cially rich and original dish), among the 
 "ready-to-serve dishes" vied with the 
 broiled live lobster, chicken, minute indi- 
 vidual steaks and double lamb chops of the 
 "dishes to order." in popularity. 
 
 So great has become the Skipper's 
 
 fame that at the "Sankaty" docks each 
 
 day there is always someone who is ready 
 
 to give new comers a full account of I he 
 Skipper's successful cruise. 
 
 Julia W, Williamson, 
 
 46 
 
New Ways of Turning Food 
 into Money 
 
 She Runs a Successful Soda Fountain 
 
 IN order to support my two younger 
 brothers and put them through school 
 I decided to launch forth into the business 
 world, with the small amount of capital 
 which I had at my disposal. This was 
 the immediate cause of my business ca- 
 reer, but I often think that I got more 
 out of it than they did. 
 
 In my home town of fifteen thousand 
 people I found an excellent location, just 
 where everybody had to pass by on the 
 way to and from the station. People 
 would buy lunches to take with them. 
 
 My equipment made rather strenuous 
 demands upon my purse, but I managed 
 to keep well within my limits. I could 
 not afford a fountain when starting in 
 business, and so I had a twelve foot 
 wooden counter made, with stools. A con- 
 tainer was built to keep two kinds of ice 
 cream, and the milk, butter, grapejuice, 
 pops, etc., were kept on the same ice 
 that packed the ice cream. In this way 
 I got along without a refrigerator and 
 saved ice bills. 
 
 At the back was a counter, fitted below 
 with cupboards, where I kept the dishes, 
 linen and other serving supplies. Above 
 this counter three mirrors were put in, with 
 glass shelves in front, where I could make 
 a display of fruit and appetizing dishes. 
 I bought the mirror in three pieces be- 
 cause it was so much cheaper and it 
 proved to be just as attractive. 
 
 I couldn't afford a candy case, but had 
 an eight-foot table made to display my 
 fruit, gum and candy. Over the candy I 
 placed a box made of common window 
 glass twelve inches high by thirty-six 
 inches square with two sliding doors, thus 
 complying with the pure food law. 
 
 Toward the back of the shop I had six 
 booths made with long tables and seats to 
 hold six people, or eight during a rush. 
 
 One large booth was called the "Party 
 Room" and in it I put our large dining 
 room table, twelve chairs, and a buffet. 
 Here I used our personal silver, cut glass. 
 china and linen, to serve more elaborate 
 luncheons and parties. People often made 
 their arrangements well beforehand, fo 
 that I could carry out their color scheme 
 with candies, flowers, brick ice cream and 
 cakes. This room became a paying part 
 of the store, in a very short time. 
 
 In the back of the store I put a gas 
 
 range on which I could cook my cakes, 
 pies, meats and gravies, salad dressings, 
 etc. 
 
 What cooking I did was planned for 
 the slack hours of the day, for during 
 our rush hours I was in the front of the 
 store, making the sandwiches, salads, and 
 fancy ice cream dishes, and dispensing the 
 soda. 
 
 Since I bought in quantity supplies that 
 I used constantly, such as peanut butter. 
 canned soups — especially tomato — ba ked 
 beans, pickles, coffee, tea. spices, catsup, 
 and sugar. I was often able to accom- 
 modate people with these supplies after 
 the groceries were closed, thus helping 
 my day's receipts. 
 
 Such very perishable things as sar- 
 dines, shrimps, lobster, crab and tuna 
 fish I carried in small size cans, because 
 I often had to open a tin for a special 
 salad for which I might get no more calls 
 that day. and I lost less by using the 
 smaller tin. 
 
 Another saving was my combination 
 coffee urn with two compartments heated 
 by one gas jet. In one of these com- 
 partments the hot milk was kept, and in 
 the other was the fresh coffee. I always 
 made fresh coffee before a rush, and had 
 the reputation for having the besr coffee 
 in town. 
 
 Every day. moreover. I made choco- 
 late and divinity fudge, panache, and 
 walnut and pecan fritters. The two last 
 were from a recipe of my own, and proved 
 to be excellent sellers. 
 
 When my business was well under way 
 another branch of it began to develop. I 
 went to people's homes and helped serve 
 their dinners and luncheons, supplying 
 the ice cream, salted nuts, fancy candies 
 and punches. 
 
 In this way. I could help advertise my 
 soda fountain, and enlarged my patronage 
 constantly, so that the two ends of the 
 
 business supplemented each other very 
 successfully. 
 
 Altogether I am a. very busy woman : 
 bur the fun of developing my business 
 and making all I can from it more 
 than makes up to me for the leisure 
 hours which I have sacrificed, to say 
 nothing of the steady income which my 
 soda store brings in. 
 
 Laura BrouUlard. 
 
Jane's Praline Kitchen 
 
 THE second winter after I left school, 
 having nothing in particular to do 
 and needing ;i little pin money as well as 
 ;iu occupation, 1 hit on the idea of making 
 pralines and selling them at my uncle's 
 drug store. 
 
 Every one said my pralines were 1 1 1 * - 
 best ever, and cadi day I tried to make 
 them a little better than they were the 
 day before. 1 went exactly by Mammy's 
 recipe, used nothing but the best sugar 
 and richest pecans and. to make them 
 dainty, wrapped each cue in oil paper. 
 The candy became very popular with our 
 winter tourists. In fact the demand be- 
 came sii .meat that I just monopolized 
 Mother's kitchen, and from November to 
 .May the cook and I fussed continually. 
 
 After the pecan season was over L be- 
 gan to plan a work room for the winter. 
 
 We have an old Warn in our back yard 
 with several big oaks that shade it niece, 
 and such a variety of (lowers that some- 
 thing is blooming continually. Mother 
 suggested that I turn this barn into a 
 work room. I was delighted with the 
 idea. < >f course the whole barn was too 
 large so I just fixed up one of the stalls 
 lien by twelve feet). I had a carpenter 
 floor and ceil it and build a big cupboard 
 at one end. Across the entire west side 
 he put sliding windows to make it bright. 
 
 While the carpenters were working on 
 the "Kitchen" I wrote to numerous box 
 factories for prices on cartons in which 
 to mail pralines, as I had had many calls 
 for boxes from folks who wanted to send 
 tlie candy as a souvenir. Eventually I 
 found a factory that manufactured exact 
 Iv what I wanted a round carton which 
 
 could he made just big enough for the 
 praline to slip in. and deep enough to hold 
 a dozen. I sent in my order for a thou- 
 sand cartons anil then wrote to a very 
 clever friend of mine who designed a most 
 original wrapper to paste on the box. 
 
 I painted all by myself — the walls, 
 ceiling and furniture. I used old ivory, 
 lipping the tahles and chairs with brown, 
 ami used brown and green cretonne cur- 
 tains. After luiying a small oil stove 1 
 had everything ready. 
 
 As soon as tiie pecans started getting 
 ripe, I bought several hundred pounds 
 and commenced work. The hardest part 
 of all wa3 cracking ami shelling the nuts. 
 It was very tedious, but I had a cracker 
 which made it easy and when I got in a 
 rush Dad and .Mother would lend a hand. 
 
 Pralines remained my specialty — but I 
 introduced another candy: "Charlottes" 
 (named for the friend who designed the 
 wrapper I. They're a kind of glace nut 
 but not so hard and much better. I also 
 made chocolate and divinity fudge. 
 
 That winter I did remarkably well, us- 
 ing over one thousand pounds of sugar and 
 something like two thousand pounds of 
 pecans. I advertised at our local picture 
 show and in that way brought most of 
 the Hade direct to me though T still sold 
 quite a bit of candj' at the drug store. 
 And a great many people who had got 
 pralines from me the year before senr 
 orders around Christmas and Easter. 
 
 Last fall I enlarged the "Kitchen," tak- 
 ing in another stall and now it is twelve 
 by twenty feet. Last winter I had a little 
 maid to help as business increased. 
 
 ■fun, Northrop. 
 
 Here's (he whole story — Jane, her garden, and the Kitchen where she mal(es her pralines 
 
A Home-Run Lunch Counter 
 
 A BRIGHT young woman was forced 
 a short time ago to give up an out- 
 side position to be ai home with three in- 
 valids whom she had been supporting, so 
 she went to the managers of two of the 
 leading cigar and billiard parlors in her 
 town, and asked them if she could try 
 serving luncheons at their soda foun- 
 tains. They agreed to let her try. 
 
 She does the baking for the two places 
 at home, and hakes chiefly pies, dough- 
 nuts and cakes. She makes potato salad 
 
 in large quantities; and sandwiches of all 
 
 soils ham. pork, veal, 1 f and various 
 
 kinds of cheese and wraps them sepa- 
 rately in paraffin paper so thai they are 
 always fresh. 
 
 Her day begins ai five, when she gets 
 up and does her baking. This is finished 
 by ten. and she delivers before eleven, at 
 which time I he soda clerks start serving 
 luncheons. Thus I he res), of the day is 
 hers to look after the home which she 
 refused to sacrifice. 
 
 A Family Restaurant 
 
 A MAX and his wife, too old to take 
 care of a large business, were made 
 independent in the following manner: 
 
 The man is caretaker of an apartment 
 house which has iihout twenty families 
 living in it. They got along comfortably 
 on what he made, bu1 could not save any- 
 thing, so they set to work to find some 
 means *>f increasing their small income. 
 
 The basement of the apartment house 
 has ;in outside entrance, which they con- 
 verted into a miscellaneous shop. Canned 
 milk, butter, bread, sandwiches and ice 
 cream are now sold, and they take orders 
 from the tenants and from neighboring 
 families for cake, pie and doughnuts So 
 many of the young married couples who 
 
 occupy the building are office workers thai 
 the caretaker and his wife do a great 
 
 business. They now employ a cook eight 
 hours a day. using their own kitchen, and 
 they also have two helpers in the shop. 
 
 Besides supplying the above mentioned 
 things, they sell fresh vegetables so ihat 
 the people who are away all day can pur- 
 chase fresh things for dinner withoul hav- 
 ing to stop on the way home from worK. 
 
 In the summer they run a successful 
 lunch business, for when people are away 
 on their vacations, the member of the 
 family remaining at home usually prefers 
 the downstairs lunch room to solitude. 
 
 As there is an elevator in the building, 
 the shop is accessible to the tenants. 
 
 She Cooked Her Girls Through College 
 
 A FINE, capable woman who wanted 
 to put her daughters through the 
 university accomplished her aim as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 She was already paying rent in her home 
 community, so she decided to move to the 
 university town and rent there instead. 
 She secured a modern six-room bungalow 
 within a short distance of the campus. 
 
 The living and dining rooms were large 
 and pleasant, and were separated only by 
 two columns. In the front room there 
 was a fireplace with bookcases and seals 
 on each side. The floors were laid with 
 bright colored linoleum to match the gay 
 window hangings. From a sash and door 
 factory she ordered nine tables enameled 
 in white with blue trimmings, and chairs 
 to match. These were arranged in the 
 living and dining rooms and easily ac- 
 commodated forty people without making 
 the rooms look crowded. 
 
 The house had a glass sun-porch open- 
 ing off the living room, in which a piano 
 was placed. When students had their 
 friends or parents to entertain they had 
 music and privacy and special service. 
 
 Her schedule was as follows : Breakfast 
 from six-thirty lo eleven, luncheon from 
 
 eleven-thirty to two-thirty, tea from 
 three-thirty to five-thirty, and a four- 
 course dinner from six to eight. 
 
 Before long she began putting up lunches 
 in a neat basket with cover and two han- 
 dles, for the students to lake with them 
 on trips or hikes. Fine fruit cake, which 
 she now sends all over the country, was 
 one of her specialties, ami she also look 
 orders for special birthday cakes. 
 
 A glass case in the living-room was 
 filled with milk chocolate, almond bar, 
 nougal bar. caramel bar. and peanul bar; 
 and in glass jars on top of Ibis case were 
 gumdrops and mints. 
 
 But the shop which she started in con- 
 nection with her dining-room has devel- 
 oped to such an extent thai much more 
 than this is for sale here now. One can 
 get grapejuice and gingerale, cigarettes, 
 tobacco, tickets for the big 'varsity games 
 and for the opera attractions, violets and 
 cut flowers i by special order i . bulk sugar, 
 walnuts and chocolate — these three for 
 fudge parties in the students' rooms. 
 
 The best thing about it all is that the 
 mother and her daughters have become 
 quite independent, owning their own home 
 
 and living most pleasantly. 
 
Practical Hints from Popular 
 Tea Rooms 
 
 u il'ST two doors off II" campus of a university town, in my 
 ** mother's home, Wi opened our tea room. When June came, 
 we wen asked for recipes by the girls who were leaving college for 
 good and had been our constant patrons. It occurred to me thai 
 thest stum recipes should be of wider help and interest." Thus 
 wrote Mrs. Hutchings, of Tli< Birches Tea Room, to our T h'oom 
 Editor. With h<r letter she sent tin recipes, and hen they are: 
 
 Abbreviations 
 
 e cup 
 
 th — tablespoon 
 
 tsp — teaspoon 
 
 fd — few drops 
 Hi — pound 
 oz — ounce 
 
 Mayonnaise 
 
 I egg yolk 
 1 tb Lemon juice 
 '■_■ tsp Worcester- 
 shire sauce 
 •J il Tabasco sauce 
 
 Vi tsp sal! 
 dash cayenne 
 dash paprika 
 1 tb tomato catsup 
 c olive oil 
 
 Mix all ingredients except oil. Lemon 
 juice, added first, has a tendency to keep 
 dressing from curdling. Add oil — one tea- 
 spoon a: a time — three times beating 
 thoroughly, then two teaspoons at a time 
 three limes heating as before. As dress- 
 ing thickens, quantity of nil added may be 
 increased rapidly. If dressing gets too 
 thick to heat before oil is all in. add a 
 little more lemon juice. It 'nay he needed 
 
 also to make dressing sufficiently sour. 
 One tablespoon boiling water added las! 
 and beaten quickly prevents tin- dressing 
 from separal lug if it is kepi several days 
 or if it is desired to add other materials 
 later to make a tartar sauce or Russian 
 dressing, etc. If the dressing curdles, put 
 one tablespoon of cold water or another 
 egg yolk in a clean howl and stan again, 
 using the curdled dressing first as directed 
 for the oil; and then finish with remain- 
 ing oil. 
 
 Birches Cooked Dressing 
 
 1 eggs or i; yolks ■■_. tsp salt 
 1 <• sweet or sour 1 tsp mustard 
 
 cream, beaten si iff dash cayenne 
 '1 tb sugar dash paprika 
 
 "i c vinegar 
 
 Add eggs, well beaten, to cream, then 
 beat. Mix dry ingredients, lastly add 
 
 vinegar, then beat again. Cook over hot 
 water until thick, stirring constantly. 
 When cold it should be as thick as mayon- 
 naise, ('.ink slowly or it is likely to 
 curdle. 
 
 Birches Russian Dressing 
 
 Add Chili Sauce-half and half — to 
 either mayonnaise or cooked dressing, and 
 sers e. I look slowly. 
 
 Birches Salad 
 
 1 c mayonnaise 
 
 1' '■_• c cabbage, 
 
 shredded 
 1 c pineapple, cur 
 
 fine 
 
 20 blanched and 
 
 shredded almonds 
 10 marshmallows, 
 
 cut fine 
 1 c celery, cut fine 
 
 Mix. chill, ami serve. 'Phis serves six 
 to eight salads. 
 
 Birches Salad Jellied 
 
 Omit dressing from above recipe, and 
 add : 
 
 1 c pineapple juice 1 c water 
 juice '■_' lemon 1 tb gelatine 
 
 lleat water, dissolve gelatine in it. cool. 
 Add juice and other ingredients. Put 
 into wetted molds and chill- Remove from 
 the molds and serve with mayonnaise. 
 
 Fruit Salad 
 
 Have all materials cold, 
 order given. 
 
 S dales 
 
 10 marshmallows 
 '■.. c pini apple 
 1 stalk celery 
 1 '•_• oranges 
 
 Cm in the 
 
 1 apple 
 
 1 : 'i banana or less 
 
 i! oz. Tokaj grapes 
 
 in season or ' ■_• 
 grapefruit 
 
 Mix carefully and add three quarters 
 i<> one cup mayonnaise. Serve at once. 
 
 Potato Salad 
 
 2 c diced cold potato '_' hard conked eggs 
 l c diced apple ! -■ cucumber, diced 
 
 '■j c celerj 1 c mayonnaise 
 
 If mayonnaise is rot very sour a little 
 vinegar should be sprinkled over the po- 
 tato. Mix ingredients, then add dressing 
 and toss together carefully. More -alt 
 mav lie needed. 'Phis serves ten. 
 
Pineapple, Date and Banana Salad 
 
 Cui onp cup pineapple, two bananas 
 and eight dates; mix, and add mayonnaise. 
 This makes six salads. 
 
 Egg Salad Sandwiches 
 
 Shrimp Salad 
 
 1 <■ shrimp 
 
 1 tli lemon juice 
 
 1 c celery, diced 
 
 2 hard cooked eggs, 
 
 diced 
 14 c mayonnaise 
 
 Cut shrimp. Sprinkle lemon juice over 
 shrimp, let stand one-half hour and drain. 
 Mix with celery and eggs. Add dressing 
 carefully, chill. Serves about six people. 
 
 Stuffed Peach or Pear Salad 
 
 Fill center of half peach or pear with 
 a mixture of grated cheese softened with 
 creani. chopped dates, and nuts. Serve 
 with mayonnaise. 
 
 Tuna Fish Salad 
 
 2 c i una. broken 1 c apple, diced 
 
 1% c celery, cut 2 hard cooked eggs, 
 
 small diced 
 
 1 c mayonnaise 
 
 Mix carefully. It easily sets mushy. 
 Chill. Serves six or eighl people. 
 
 Sandwiches 
 
 Butter bread for sandwiches on only 
 one slice, spread sandwich mixture on the 
 other and put the two together. Cut as 
 desired. 
 
 2 hard cooked eggs 
 10 walnut meats. 
 
 chopped 
 
 :'. chopped pickles 
 
 4 finely chopped 
 
 olives 
 cooked salad 
 
 dressing 
 
 Mash eggs fine, add other ingredients 
 with enough salad dressing to make a 
 spreadable mixture. .Makes eighl to ten 
 sandwiches 
 
 Minced Ham Sandwiches 
 
 Mix one-quarter pound chopped boiled 
 
 bam. two chopped pickles, four chopped 
 
 olives with enough cooked salad dressing 
 to spread easilj . 
 
 Olive-Nut Sandwiches 
 
 Mix one-quarter ciip chopped olives, one- 
 quarter cup chopped walnuts, and salad 
 dressing, to make a mixture that will 
 spread. Makes six to eight sandwiches. 
 
 Peanut Butter Sandwiches 
 
 Rub peanut butter to a soft paste with 
 cooked salad dressing. Add chopped wal- 
 nuts or pecans. 
 
 Pecan Sandwiches 
 
 Mix one-quarter cup chopped olives, one- 
 mayonnaise dressing sufficient to make 
 them spread smoothly. Makes six to eight 
 sandwiches. 
 
 Creamy Cheese Sandwiches 
 
 Vt lb. grated cheese sprinkle of cayenne 
 
 fd Worcestershire cream to make soft 
 
 sauce paste 
 
 fd Tabasco sauce % chopped green 
 sprinkle of paprika pepper 
 
 Add seasonings to cheese and enough 
 cream to make a soft paste. Add chopped 
 pepper and spread on bread. 
 
 Toasted Cheese Sandwiches 
 
 1'se creamy cheese mixture, spread on 
 bread. Put sandwich together and toast 
 on both sides. 
 
 Deviled Almond Sandwiches 
 
 2 oz almonds 2 lb chopped pickles 
 
 1 tb Worcestershire ' i tsp sail 
 sauce ('avenue 
 
 1 cream cheese 
 
 Blanch and shred almonds. Saute in 
 butter. Add all Ingredients but cheese. 
 Cook two minutes. Add cheese, grated. 
 Work mixture to a smooth paste, soften- 
 ing with cream if necessary. Makes six 
 io eight sandwiches. 
 
 Hot Water Pie Crust 
 
 3 c flour 
 1 tsp bakii 
 
 1 c lard 
 powder '■_• c boiling vva ter 
 
 Mix dry ingredients. Add boiling water 
 
 to lard and beat till creamy. Add flour 
 and mix well, chill, then roll crusts. This 
 paste will keep fresh for several days. 
 Bake crusts for filling in a hot oven till 
 slightly browned. The amount given above 
 makes two double crusl pies or four 
 crusts. It makes about two dozen indi- 
 vidual crusts. These may be baked on the 
 bottom of muffin tins. Pie crust is never 
 a failure with tins recipe 
 
 Meringue For Pies 
 
 Add pinch of salt lo two egg whiles. 
 
 beat till stiff but not dry, add three table- 
 spoons of sugar, beat again thoroughly 
 till stiff and smooth. Then add three 
 more tablespoons of sugar and mix in 
 carefully. Spread. Bake in a moderate 
 oven till nicely browned. Too ho1 an 
 oven will make the meringue tougb am', 
 it will shrink. Meringue made in ibis 
 way "ill hold up a second day and will 
 be as nice as when tirsi baked. 
 
Cream Pies 
 
 l '■_■ ill cornstarch 
 
 1 c sugar 
 
 '/6 tsp salt 
 
 2 c milk 
 
 1 c chopped dates or 
 '■j c cocoanul or 
 1 c chopped prunes 
 
 Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, add to 
 hoi milk. (look twenty minutes in double 
 boiler. Add beaten yolks and fruit or 
 cocoanut. Make a meringue of whites. 
 Fill shells, spread meringue and hake. 
 
 Amount given makes one large pie or 
 ten to twelve individual pies according to 
 size of tins. 
 
 Chocolate Pie 
 
 Add two tablespoons cocoa to dry in- 
 gredients in recipe for Cream Pies and 
 follow same directions. 
 
 Fruit Filling for Pies 
 
 Use any canned fruit, pineapples, 
 peaches, cherries, raspberries, etc. 
 
 I V6 to 5 tb corn- 
 starch 
 1 c water 
 1 c fruit juice 
 
 1 c fruit, cut small 
 
 2 eggs 
 
 sugar if desired 
 pinch of salt 
 
 Mix cornstarch with a little of the 
 water. Add to the remaining water and 
 fruit juice which should he hoiling. Cook 
 over hot water twenty minutes. Add fruit 
 then heaten yolks of eggs and remove 
 from fire. Have ready meringue made 
 from white of eggs. Fill shells and 
 spread the meringue. This recipe makes 
 a very large pie or ten to twelve indi- 
 vidual pies. 
 
 Over lire and stir till thoroughly dissolved, 
 boil until it spins a long line hair. Have 
 white of egg heaten stiff hut not dry. 
 Cool sirup a few seconds, pour in a thin, 
 tine stream, very slowly into the e^<4 
 while, heating vigorously. Toward the 
 last the sirup may he added a little faster. 
 Beal till perfectly cold, by which time it 
 should he in a spreadahle condition. 
 
 When the mixture is spreadahle, keep 
 in this condition about live minutes longer 
 by adding a teaspoon of water several 
 t imes. 
 
 Then it will stay soft until any 
 number of little cakes are iced. If it does 
 not spread smoothly add a little water 
 and stir it up again. This icing on cases 
 kepi in a tin box will keep soft several 
 days. 
 
 It is therefor a splendid thine to have 
 on hand for emergencies. 
 
 Date Cake 
 
 1 c hoiling water 
 
 I c chopped dates 
 
 I I c hotter 
 1 c sugar 
 
 1 ogg 
 
 % c chopped 
 
 walnuts 
 1% c sifted flour 
 1 tsp haking powder 
 % tsp soda 
 
 Four water over dates. Cream hotter, 
 add sugar slowly, creaming thoroughly. 
 Add 1 heaten egg. then walnuts. Lastly 
 add alternately flour with haking powder 
 and soda to tlie dates. Four into greased 
 muffin tins and hake in a moderate over, 
 twenty-five to thirty minutes. 
 
 This recipe usually makes twelve or 
 fourteen little cakes. Serve with whipped 
 cream for dessert. 
 
 Birches Fudge 
 
 ( "_' pounds 
 
 1 c sugar 
 
 '< ih cornstarch 
 
 salt 
 
 Lemon Pie 
 
 2 c water 
 
 rind and juice of 1 
 large lemon 
 2 eggs 
 
 Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add to 
 boiling water. Add -rated rind of lein.ni 
 and cook for twenty minutes, then add 
 juice and heaten egg yolks. Remove from 
 the lire at once. Coo! slightly and fill 
 baked crusts. Cover with meringue, hake. 
 
 This makes one large pie or ten little 
 
 ones. 
 
 Boiled Icing 
 
 ' • c soft water 
 1 - tsp cream of 
 tartar 
 
 1 c sugar 
 ] egc white 
 pinch of salt 
 
 .. <• sugar 
 
 •"■i c milk 
 
 ;'. squares chocolate 
 
 2tb oil 
 
 2 th white corn 
 
 sirup 
 % c chopped pecans 
 
 1 tsp vanilla 
 
 Fur sugar, water and cream of tartar 
 
 Fut sugar, milk, chocolate, oil and 
 sirup in large kettle. Set over slow fire, 
 heat constantly until it boils, in order to 
 dissolve thoroughly the sugar and blend 
 i he chocolate. 
 
 Then you can boil without stir- 
 line until sirup forms a sofl ball in cold 
 water, without clouding the water. Take 
 from lire and let stand until cold. Beat 
 until the candy can he taken into the 
 hands, knead in the nuts and vanilla. 
 Press into a mold, when set, turn out ami 
 ■ ut. 
 
 Candy will not era in. if when cold it 
 has a wrinkly appearance when moved 
 slightly. 
 
 To avoid possible graining, he sure to 
 dissolve and blend materials before the 
 candy is allowed to boil, as this is the only 
 wa v 
 
More Recipes 
 From Alice Bradley, Principal of Miss Farmer's School of Cookery 
 
 Beverages 
 
 CEOCOLATE SIRUP for hot or iced 
 chocolate may be kept on hand. It is 
 made as follows : 
 
 -I squares unsweet- l'/i cups sugar 
 ened chocolate \& teaspoon salt 
 
 1M> cups boiling water 
 
 Melt chocolate in saucepan placed in 
 larger saucepan of boiling water, add 
 sugar and salt, and stir until well mixed; 
 then pour on gradually, while stirring 
 constantly, the boiling water. Stir until 
 smooth, bring to the boiling point and let 
 boil five minutes. Cool, turn into a jar 
 and keep in ice box or cold place. 
 
 Chocolate Milk Shake Put two table- 
 spoons chocolate sirup info tall glass and 
 fill glass with cold milk. Shake thorough- 
 ly and serve very cold with whipped 
 cream, or ice cream. 
 
 Mint ('nil. This is an easily prepared 
 iced fruit drink which will prove popular. 
 
 .". lemons 1 bunch mint 
 
 '■_• cup sugar % cup water 
 
 Ginger ale 
 
 Remove leaves from two-thirds of the 
 sprigs of mint and bruise with the fingers. 
 Cook sugar and water five minutes, and 
 mint leaves, lemon juice and green color 
 paste to make a delicate shade, and let 
 stand over night. When ready to serve, 
 strain, fill -lass of ice half full of sirup, 
 and add ginger ale to fill the glass. Gar- 
 nish with tips from remaining sprigs of 
 mint. Other fruit juices may be used in 
 place of some of the lemon juice. 
 
 Popular Ice Creams 
 
 ICE-CREAM Shortcake with Butter- 
 *■ scotch Sauce. Place a slice of white 
 cake on the serving dish, cover with a 
 slice of ice cream, with another slice of 
 cake and pour Butterscotch Sauce over 
 all. 
 
 Butterscotch Sauce. In a saucepan put 
 one and one-fourth cups i one-half pound) 
 brown sugar, two-thirds cup (one-half 
 pound) corn sirup and four tablespoons 
 butter. Boil to 230°F., or a thick sirup, 
 and add three-fourths cup thin cream. 
 Serve on ice cream and sprinkle with 
 chopped nuts. 
 
 Ice-Cream Shortcake with Fudge Sane*. 
 Use chocolate ' ice cream between two 
 slices of cake and cover with fudge sauce. 
 
 Meringue Glac4. Two meringues with 
 centers removed, ice cream spread be- 
 tween, and a few crushed strawberries 
 over the ice cream. 
 
 Chocolate Peppermint Sundae. Choco- 
 late i<e cream served with marshmallow 
 sauce flavored with oil of peppermint. 
 
 Fudge Marshmallow Sundae. Ice cream 
 
 Covered with marshmallow sauce and then 
 with fudge sauce. 
 
 Salads 
 
 klKFOKK your tea room opens, have 
 *-* enough lettuce washed to supply for 
 the <lay the number of patrons yon expect 
 to serve. Put it in a large colander, over 
 it lay pieces of ice wrapped in cheese- 
 cloth and keep in refrigerator or in a cool 
 place. Have your dressings made and kept 
 very cold. Prepare and cut up the fruit, 
 nuts, celery, chicken, and all the other 
 ingredients you may need, and put in a 
 cool place. .Make up each salad as it is 
 ordered. Many times it is well to line a 
 shallow bowl with lettuce and arrange the 
 ingredients of the salad in individual piles. 
 then cover with mayonnaise dressing. For 
 example : 
 
 Lobster Salad. Have one pile each of 
 pieces of lobster meat, tomatoes peeled 
 and cut in eighths, celery cut in one-inch 
 strips, shredded lettuce leaves. 
 
 chicken Salad. One pile each, chicken 
 cut in dice, celery or cucumber cut in dice, 
 and hard-cooked egg chopped. 
 
 I iii< table Salad. One pile each, green 
 peas, cooked potato, cooked carrot, cooked 
 beets, cut in dice about the size of the 
 peas. 
 
 Fruit Salad. One pile each grapefruit 
 and orange sections cut in pieces, pine- 
 apple cut in dice, celery cut in small 
 pieces, nut meats cut in pieces. 
 
 Sandwiches 
 
 FILLINGS should be prepared before 
 the hours at which the tea room is 
 open, or the ingredients for fillings may 
 be made ready and kept in separate dishes 
 ready to be put together at a moment's 
 
 net ice. 
 
 Butter for sandwiches should always be 
 creamed, that it may be quickly and easily 
 spread. A small palette knife or spatula 
 is desirable for spreading the tilling. 
 
 Club Sandwich. On a slice of toast 
 place a leaf of lettuce, then lay a thick 
 slice of tomato on ton and cover with 
 mayonnaise dressing. Place another slice 
 of toast above the tomato, and on it ar- 
 range sliced chicken covered with crisp 
 bacon. Place a third slice of toast over 
 all. and garnish with large olives, and let- 
 tuce cups holding mayonnaise dressing. 
 
 French Toast Sandwich. Cut bread in 
 one fourth-inch slices, spread with filling, 
 cover, dip in a mixture of one-half cup 
 milk, one egg slightly beaten and one- 
 fourth teaspoon salt. Brown first on one 
 side, then on the other on hot buttered 
 griddle. 
 
 Hot /[am Sandwich. Make a French 
 Toast sandwich with a filling of two table- 
 spoons chopped ham mixed with one tea- 
 spoon creamed butter and a few grains 
 each mustard and paprika. 
 
 Cinnamon Toast. Cut stale bread in 
 one fourth-inch slices, remove crusts and 
 illt in three pieces crosswise. Toast oti 
 
 53 
 
one side, 9pread untoasted side generously 
 with a mixture of three tablespoons but- 
 ter, two tablespoons brown sugar, and one 
 teas] n cinnamon; finish toasting. 
 
 Lobster Sandwiches. Remove meal 
 from one one pound lobster, chop finely, 
 mix with 'i cup mayonnaise dressing. 
 Spread on crisp lettuce leaves and place 
 between thinly sliced bread cul in the 
 shape ut' triangles. 
 
 Layer Sandwiches or ribbon sandwiches 
 
 are made with thr r more slices of 
 
 bread pu1 together with filling. They 
 should be folded in damp cheesecloth, 
 pressed under a weighl until serving time, 
 then cut in slices, and arranged mi a 
 doily covered plate. The bread mav he all 
 while, ur alternate slices of white and 
 dark bread may he used. \in bread, gra- 
 ham bread, and Boston brown bread are 
 all attractive. 'The middle slice of bread 
 should he spread on both sides with butter 
 or other filling, and the outside slices 
 should be bill tered <m one side only. 
 
 Ribbon Sandwiches with Cheese and 
 Olives. Cm two slices of white bread and 
 one slice of graham bread one-fourth inch 
 thick. Mash a cream cheese, mix with six 
 large olives finely chopped, and season 
 with salt and paprika. I'nt bread together 
 in alternate colors, spreading each slice 
 
 with creamed butter and with the cl se 
 
 mixture. Fold in cheesecloth and press 
 under weighl : when ready to serve. cul in 
 thin slices. 
 
 Ribbon Sandwiches with Egg. Cook 
 three egg yolks in boiling water until dry 
 and mealy. Drain, mash, aid moisten 
 with melted butter or salad dressing. Use 
 as a filling in ribbon sandwiches, sprink- 
 ling each layer of egg mixture with 
 chopped green pepper. 
 
 Sweet French Sandwiches. Roll puff 
 pasie one-eighth inch in thickness and 
 cut in strips three inches Ions: and one 
 inch wide. Bake, split, and spread one- 
 half with whipped cream sweetened and 
 flavored, and one-half with any good jelly. 
 Put together in pairs. 
 
 Fruit Sandwiches. Slice bread thinly 
 and cut in strawberry shape. Spread with 
 mayonnaise dressing mixed with an equal 
 quantity of cream beaten very stiff and 
 seasoned with salt. Cover with thinly 
 sliced strawberries or pineapple, and with 
 another slice of" bread. 
 
 Chocolate Sandwiches. Melt two ounces 
 sweet chocolate, add one tablespoon but- 
 ter, one-fourth cup chopped nuts, and a 
 
 few grains salt. Spread the mixtur i 
 
 unsweetened crackers, border with chopped 
 nuts, place one-half a pecan in the center 
 of the mixture and serve a.s an open sand- 
 wich. 
 
 Swedish Pretzels 
 
 Into one-half pound of Hour work with 
 the .finger tips one-fourth pound .butter, 
 and when well mixed add one-half cup 
 heavy cream. Knead to make smooth, cut 
 off pieces, roll same us in making bread 
 sticks, then shape in form of pretzel. Dip 
 
 each one in sugar, put mi baking -l t, 
 
 and hake in n moderate oven. 
 
 Frostings 
 
 FUDGE Frost it ■; : A good recipe 
 follows: 
 L' tablespoons butter Yi cup milk 
 1 '•_• cups sugar % teaspoon vanilla 
 
 I'm butter in saucepan: when melted, 
 add sugar and milk. Stir, to he sure that 
 
 sugar docs mit adhere to saucepan, heat to 
 boiling point, boil without stirring to 238° 
 F. Remove from fire, cool, add flavor, and 
 heat until of the right consistency to 
 spread. If frosting becomes too hard be- 
 fore it IS put on the cake it may he stirred 
 over hot water until soft, and then poured 
 over the cake, spreading it evenly with 
 the hack of the spoon. 
 
 Condensed Mill; Fudge Frosting. <>nc 
 fourth cup water ami one-fourth cup con- 
 densed milk may he used in any fudge 
 frosting instead of one-half cup fresh milk. 
 
 Chocolate Fudge Frosting. To Fudge 
 Frosting add from one and one-half to 
 three squares chocolate as soon as the 
 boiling point i.s reached. The amount de- 
 pends on how dark a frosting is desired. 
 
 Cream may he used in any Fudge Frost- 
 ing instead of milk. 
 
 Boiled Fronting with Egg Yolks. Use 
 three cut; yolks heaten until very liirht. 
 instead of egg whites in making Boiled 
 Frosting. Flavor with orange extract or 
 any flavor desired. This may he colored 
 with pink color paste. 
 
 Boiled Frosting with Two Eggs. Use 
 two egg whites heaten -Miff in making 
 Boiled Frosting instead of only one. It 
 takes somewhat longer for this frosting to 
 become of the right consistency to spread, 
 and is therefore sometimes more success- 
 fully made. It is most used as an orna- 
 mental frosting. 
 
 Boiled Coffee Frosting. Use one cup 
 white sugar and one-half cup brown sugar 
 
 when making Boiled Frosting, and 
 
 half cup coffee infusion in place of water. 
 
 Coffet Cocoanui Frosting To Boiled 
 Coffee Frosting add one-half cup desic- 
 cated cocoanui and a few grains salt, then 
 spread on cake. 
 
 Quality Frosting. Add two tablespoons 
 molasses to Boiled Frosting just before 
 putting on cake. Flavor with one-half 
 teaspoon vanilla and one fourth teaspoon 
 lemon extract. Add chopped nuts if de- 
 sired. 
 
 [{nihil Chocolate Frosting. Add one 
 square melted unsweetened chocolate to 
 Boiled Frosting, then pour over cake. 
 
 Marshmallotc Frosting I. To sirup for 
 Boiled Frosting add two heaping table- 
 si ns mar.shinallow cream before adding 
 
 to e'_ r ir white. 
 
 Warshmallow Frosting II. Add from 
 ic ii lo twentv tn irshinallows cut in halves 
 i.i Boiled Frosting as soon as sirup is 
 added to egg whiles. Beat until stiff 
 
 enough to hold its shape. 
 
 Boiled )ln nh Frosting. \'±<' one pound 
 maple sugar or half manle sirup and half 
 white sugar in making Boiled Frosting. 
 
 II inn a Frosting, Use one-half cup 
 honej instead of sugar and water. 
 
Menus That Make a Hit 
 
 On the left inside cover of th menu card of th< Coffet House (page 35) 
 
 is the regular printed menu. On thi right a loose, typewritten sheet of 
 
 specials is attached each day with a clip. 
 
 Breakfast 
 
 Waffles 20 
 
 Hoi Cakes 15 
 
 1 loughnuts 05 
 
 Hoi Buttered Rolls 10 
 
 Luncheon 
 
 Waffles - (| > 
 
 Chicken Salad 50 
 
 Potato Salad •">•> 
 
 Hoi Rolls 10 
 
 Sandwiches 
 
 Chicken I Hoi or Cold I ..30 
 Hot Roast Beef . . . .25 
 
 Ham 15 
 
 Minced Ham 10 
 
 Tomato and Bacon . . .'-^ 
 Ripe Olive and Nut . . :'>" 
 
 Club 50 
 
 Olive and Bacon . . . .30 
 Chicken Salad Sandwich. .30 
 
 Toffee . 
 Hot Te i 
 I red Tea 
 
 .10 
 
 SPECIALS 
 Vegetable Soup. Corn Sticks . . .15 
 
 Lunch 
 Fried chicken, sweel potatoes with 
 
 marshmallows. sliced tomatoes, 
 
 hot rolls 1.00 
 
 Virginia ham. potato salad, hot 
 
 rolls 50 
 
 Braised I f, in-owned potatoes, 
 
 lima beans, hot rolls 60 
 
 Baked trout, baked potatoes, lima 
 
 beans, corn sticks 00 
 
 Tongue, potato salad, hot rolls . .50 
 Any above vegetable 15 
 
 Salads 
 
 Vanderbilt salad 50 
 
 Shrimp salad 50 
 
 Avacodo pear salad 50 
 
 Tomato and lettuce salad. . . .50 
 
 Desserts 
 Banana cream pie with whipped 
 
 cream 15 
 
 Blueberry pie 15 
 
 Blueberry pie a la mode . . . .20 
 Homemade apricot cream . • .20 
 
 Preserved tins, cream cheese, 
 
 saltines 35 
 
 With the warning "Pleast do not order broiled dishes or toasted sand- 
 wiches if you an in a hurry," The Skipper I pagi i~> offers thi following 
 choices at his < v< nino >n> al: 
 
 The Skipper's Supper 
 
 
 Salads 
 
 
 Clam bouillon, whipped cream. 
 
 .30 
 
 Lobster 
 
 Fruit 
 
 .1.00 
 
 Tomato bisque 
 
 Roast lei, r of lamb, mint sauce 
 
 1.00 
 
 Egg, Russian dressing . 
 Lettuce, French dressing . 
 
 . .60 
 . .30 
 
 Baked meat loaf, tomato gravy 
 
 .85 
 
 Russian dressing .... 
 
 15 
 
 'Toast nl cheese sandwich 
 
 .65 
 
 Desserts 
 
 
 Baked beans 
 
 Half i cold lobster with 
 
 . .50 
 
 Vanilla or caramel ice cream . 
 with hot chocolate sauce 
 
 . .35 
 
 For broiled chops, steaks, lobstei 
 
 85 
 and 
 
 Half an iced melon .... 
 Sliced bananas and cream . 
 Chocolate blanc mange, whippi 
 
 . .25 
 
 >d 
 
 chicken, see other sheet of menu. 
 French fried or baker potatoes . .15 
 
 cream 
 
 Layer cake 
 
 Fresh blueberries and cream . 
 
 . 25 
 . .20 
 . .25 
 
 
 •»it 
 
 Ice cream, maple nu' sauce 
 
 . .-»>> 
 
St. Andrew's Tea Room (page 16) , besides present 010 337 111 9 ^ 
 to l>< ordered a la carte, offers fn-< special lunches as follows: 
 
 o. 5— 25c 
 
 No. 4— 35c Lunch 
 
 Si uffed peppers 
 
 Pried com 
 
 Slaw 
 
 No. 5— 25c Lunch 
 
 Turnip greens 
 
 « 'teamed potatoes 
 
 Beets 
 
 Hoi Biscuits or Muffins 
 
 No. 1— 75c Lunch 
 
 Breaded veal cutlets 
 
 Sliced tomatoes 
 
 String beans 
 
 Escalloped egg plant 
 
 I l.n 1, is. -nils or muffins 
 
 10c Dessert, Drink 
 
 No. 2— 50c Lunch 
 
 Broiled steak 
 
 French fried p 3tatoes 
 
 No. 3 — 45c Lunch 
 Baked ham 
 Potato salad 
 
 Hot biscuits or muffins 
 
 ) 
 
 < Chimney Corner [pane 8) uses a permanent cover, in which a new 
 typewritten m> ini of three pages is inserted each day. 
 
 Page 1 
 LUNCHEON 
 
 Page 2 
 DINNER $1.25 
 
 Soups T^BL. ' 'hicken in- (Team of p. a 
 
 i 'hi. ken . .7-^1) soup 
 
 < 'ream of pea -M/.'"" 
 
 Hot Dishes 
 
 Page 3 
 
 LUNCHEON 
 
 Salads 
 
 . 50 
 
 < Yah cakes with tartar 
 
 sauce ^S". . . . .65 
 
 Steak with hashed 
 
 brown potatoes 77> 
 
 Broiled lamb chops 
 
 with peas T."i 
 
 Minced chicken on 
 
 toa.st 50 
 
 Deviled eggs and lei- 
 
 1 Uce 50 
 
 Cold Dishes 
 Tomato stuffed with 
 
 chicken salad 7.". 
 
 Crabflake salad »;.". 
 
 Vegetables 
 Fresh asparagus on 
 toast ::<i 
 
 Teas 20 
 
 ( torn on the cob 20 
 
 French fried potatoes . .25 
 
 Desserts 
 
 Cherry pie 2~> 
 
 a la mode 40 
 
 whipped cream 30 
 
 Fruit jelly with whipped 
 
 cream 25 
 
 Strawberry shortcake. . W 
 St rawberry sundae. . . .30 
 Peach shortcake 40 
 
 Peach sundae 30 
 
 ( 'ho.-., late j,- ( . cream . . .-.'> 
 
 Roast lamb 
 Baked ham 
 
 Steak 
 
 Crab cakes with tartar 
 
 sauce 
 
 Creamed potatoes 
 Torn on cob 
 String beans 
 
 Peach and walnut salad 
 
 Asparagus 
 
 Tomato 50 
 
 Lettuce 50 
 
 ( Russian dressing i 
 
 i Ihicken 7-1 
 
 Fruit ."»() 
 
 Waldorf 50 
 
 Pineapple and cheese. ..".(I 
 
 Stuffed .late 50 
 
 Egg 50 
 
 Sandwiches 
 i 'luh :,n 
 
 I Hive 15 
 
 Lettuce 15 
 
 1 >ate anil nut ... . 
 ( 'heese and nut . . 
 < "heese ami iruava 
 
 . 20 
 ,20 
 
 l'ii 
 
 ( 'hi. ken Salad 35 
 
 Sliced 
 Bacon 
 
 < 'oil'ee jelly with whipped Vanilli 
 
 hicken 
 
 Ices 
 
 i or chocolate 
 
 .30 
 
 cream 
 
 ( 'annuel souffle with 
 whipped cream 
 
 Vanilla or chocolate 
 
 ice .ream 
 
 Strawberry cake 
 
 •Strawberry sundae 
 
 1 lemitasse 
 
 ice cream 2o 
 
 Vanilla with chocolate 
 
 sauce :',() 
 
 Vanilla with maple 
 
 sirup and nuts 30 
 
 ( "hocolate parfait 35 
 
 Sponge cake a la mode. 35 
 
 Cakes and Pastry 
 
 I 'hocolate cup cake. ... 10 
 Sponge .ake in 
 
 Kossiuli cake 30 
 
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 Hollinger Corp. 
 pH8.5