Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus | Page 2

month. I also carried hot
dinners for the laborers in the fields, for which each one paid me
twenty-five cents per month. All of this, of course, went to my mother.
I worked at different places until I was sixteen years old, but long
before that time I was taking care of my mother.
At the age of sixteen I was employed in Nashville by a
restaurant-keeper named Hemphill. I worked there until I was
twenty-one years of age. In 1881 I came to Chicago and got a position
at 77 Clark Street, where I remained for two years at a salary of ten
dollars a week.
In 1883 I entered the Pullman service, my first superintendent being J.
P. Mehen. I remained in their service until 1897. During the time I was
in their service some of the most prominent people in the world
traveled in the car assigned to me, as I was selected to handle all special
parties. Among the distinguished people who traveled in my care were
Stanley, the African explorer; President Cleveland; President Harrison;
Adelina Patti, the noted singer of the world at that time; Booth and
Barrett; Modjeski and Paderewski. I also had charge of the car for
Princess Eulalie of Spain, when she was the guest of Chicago during
the World's Fair.
In 1894 I set sail from Vancouver on the Empress of China with Mr.
and Mrs. Nathan A. Baldwin for Japan, visiting the Cherry Blossom
Festival at Tokio.
In 1897 Mr. Arthur Stillwell, at that time president of the Kansas City,
Pittsburg & Gould Railroad, gave me charge of his magnificent
$20,000 private car. I remained with him seventeen months when the
road went into the hands of receivers, and the car was sold to John W.
Gates syndicate. However, I had charge of the car under the new
management until 1907, since which time I have been employed as

chef of the subsidiary companies of the United States Steel Corporation
in Chicago.
HINTS TO KITCHEN MAIDS
It is always necessary to keep your kitchen in the best condition.
~Breakfast~--If a percolator is used it should first be put into operation.
If the breakfast consists of grapefruit, cereals, etc., your cereal should
be the next article prepared. If there is no diningroom maid, you can
then put your diningroom in order. If hot bread is to be served
(including cakes) that is the next thing to be prepared. Your gas range
is of course lighted, and your oven heated. Perhaps you have for
breakfast poached eggs on toast, Deerfoot sausage or boiled ham. One
of the above, with your other dishes, is enough for a person employed
indoors.
When your breakfast gong is sounded put your biscuits, eggs, bread,
etc., in the oven so that they may be ready to serve when the family
have eaten their grapefruit and cereal.
~Luncheon~--This is the easiest meal of the three to prepare.
Yesterday's dinner perhaps consisted of roast turkey, beef or lamb, and
there is some meat left over; then pick out one of my receipts calling
for minced or creamed meats; baked or stuffed potatoes are always nice,
or there may be cold potatoes left over that can be mashed, made into
cakes and fried.
~Dinner~--For a roast beef dinner serve vegetable soup as the first
course, with a relish of vegetables in season and horseradish or
chow-chow pickle, unless you serve salad.
If quail or ducks are to be served for dinner, an old Indian dish, wild
rice, is very desirable. Prepare this rice as follows:
Place in a double boiler a cupful of milk or cream to each cupful of rice
and add salt and pepper to taste. It requires a little longer to cook than
the ordinary rice, but must not be stirred. If it becomes dry add a little

milk from time to time.
Do not serve dishes at the same meal that conflict. For instance, if you
have sliced tomatoes, do not serve tomato soup. If, however, you have
potato soup, it would not be out of place to serve potatoes with your
dinner.
Fish should never be served without a salad of some kind.
The above are merely suggestions that have been of material assistance
to me.
TABLE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Four teaspoonfuls of a liquid equal 1 tablespoonful.
Four
tablespoonfuls of a liquid equal 1/2 gill or 1/4 cup. One-half cup equals
1 gill.
Two gills equal 1 cup.
Two cups equal 1 pint.
Two pints (4
cups) equal 1 quart.
Four cups of flour equal 1 pound or 1 quart.

Two cups of butter, solid, equal 1 pound.
One half cup of butter, solid,
equals 1/4 pound 4 ounces. Two cups of granulated sugar equal 1
pound.
Two and one half cups of powdered sugar equal 1 pound.

One pint of milk or water