Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1895 — A NOTABLE DINNER. [ARTICLE]

A NOTABLE DINNER.

It was Cheap,and Prepared bye Social Economist. There was a notable dinner party given at the Washington residence of Charles Sumner Hamlin, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, a few nights ago, at which there were fourteen guests. The host was Mr. Edward Atkinson, of Boston, the famous social economist, who did all the cooking in the dining room in the presence of his guests, upon a stove of his own invention, and the entire cost of the banquet was $2.80, or 20 cents per plate—without wines, of course. Mr. Atkinson is at work those days trying to solve the problem of cheap living so that the expenses of the working classos may conform, without the sacrifice of health or comfort, to the low wages that he expects to be the rule in this country when Congress adopts his thoories of free trade He believes that almost every family wastes half tho money spent for food, and that double tho amount of nourishment can be got in a much more wholesome form by a proper selection of their viands and their preparation for the table. To educate the public in this particular he is publishing bulletins of information through the Agricultural Department, and has invented a stove which consumes oil for fuol and will furnish bout enough to cook an ordinary dinner for a cent or two. This stove and its apparatus have been patentod, hut tho patents liavo been convoyed or assigned to the Secretary of Agriculture, who is authorized to permit its manufacture and sale by such persons as will not attempt to mako too much profit therefrom. Thoso who sat down to dinnor wore Mr. Hamlin and his two sisters, Secretary and Mrs. l.'arlislo, Secretary Morton, Secretary and Mrs. Gresham, Mrs. Bissell, Mr. Kurino, tho Jnpaneso Minister; Mr. Atkinson and his daughter and Miss Lee, of Boston. Tho bill of faro was follows: Fish chowder. Roast leg of lamb and green peas. Baked beans and Boston brown broad. Frlcasseo of chicken and asparagus. Cold baked ham und sulud. Indian pudding. Tho asparagus was not included in the $2.80. It probably cost more than that sum by itself, as it was very fine and of hothouse growth and a contribution to tho dinnor by a friend. Tho beans, ham and Boston brown broad wore cold, having boon cooked by Mr. Atkinson in his room at the hotel on Saturday, but all tho rest was prepared upon one of the stoves by hlrnsolf, and lie explained his methods of cooking to his guosts ns he went along. Whllo they wero eating ono courso Mr. Atkinson would bo cooking anothorover in tho corner of the room. There was not tho slightest odor or smoke from the stove—no more than from a pot of water at a 5 o'clock tea—and everything was wholesome and greatly enjoyed.