It was mentioned incidentally at the
beginning of this book that Mrs. Tingee
keeps boarders at $3.50 a week, having
lately had to make a reduction from her
former price of $4, to meet the demands
of her boarders and the stringency of the
times. Let us see how she does it. Our
emals in this small country^ house up to
the 1 2th of August, counting the small
family meals at 5 or 6 cents each person
and the more profuse hotel dinners at
from 10 to 16 cents, averaged 10 cents
each meal each person. Suppose Mrs.
Tingee allows her meals to cost 10 cents,
either through allowing some things to go
to waste, or through want of skill to make
good dishes out of cheap materials, or
through depending too much on meat
and butter to make up her table, then
her boarders cost her $2.10 a week each
and she has $1.40 each as a margin to
meet her other expenses and pay herself;
if she has 20 day boarders that leaves her
$28 a week.
She will do most of the cookin:^ herself;
she has 2 girls, and a boy in the yard,
whose wages average $2 a week each, and
their meals $2 a week more, making $12,
leaving $16 a week for Mrs. Tingee, but
out of that she must pay about $4 for fuel,
light, ice and incidentals, and she has for
herself about $50 a month.
Now, she has house rent to pay and the
house she occupies costs her $30 a month
but it does not properly come within our
scope, as her business is in taking
day boarders and letting out rooms
enough to pay the rent of the whole
house. The only time that she needs
and seeks a sympathizing ear is when a
young couple or two gentlemen who
have been paying a good price for her two
best rooms have moved out and left her in
fear of having little or no rent coming in.
So that, if she sets as good a table as we
have been setting here and keeps her 20
boarders she still is able to appear very
respectably and send her two children to
a ^ood school. In reality, however, Mrs.
Tingee does not set any such table. If
she would she could set such meals as
we have shown in the divisions of this
book before the first birthday supper at
an average cost of about 7 cents a plate,
and, giving a sufficiency, ; could keep
her full quota of 20 boarders. There is a
defect in her method, however, which
never allows her full success or a full
house, for while a pound of food and a
pint of drink are required on an average
to make a full meal, Mrs. Tingee devotes
her ingenuities to make her boarders get
along with half a pound, and regards
three-quarters as a piece of extravagance
only to be indulged in on Sundays. In
consequence her boarders, not being well
fed, piece out by buying apples, peanuts,
candy, cakes and beer, and find when
they count up at the end of the week that
this sort of desultory boarding around has
cost them more than it would to board at
a good hotel, and all who are not bound
in some way, leave her and she has but
10 whom she can depend on to stay and
a transient customer now and then. She
does not allow the provisions for these to
cost more than 5 cents a meal, 15 cents a
day; $1.05 a week, or $10.50 a week
total, for which at $3.50 each she re-
ceives $35. This leaves her $24.50 in-
stead of $28 as under the other calcula-
tion and as tne work is less it is a greater
proportionate profit. The great differ-
l62
SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL GAZETTE'S
Page 314
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
It was mentioned incidentally at the beginning of this book that Mrs. Tingee keeps boarders at $3.50 a week, having lately had to make a reduction from her former price of $4, to meet the demands of her boarders and the stringency of the times. Let us see how she does it. Our meals in this small country house up to the 1 2th of August, counting the small family meals at 5 or 6 cents each person and the more profuse hotel dinners at from 10 to 16 cents, averaged 10 cents each meal each person. Suppose Mrs. Tingee allows her meals to cost 10 cents, either through allowing some things to go to waste, or through want of skill to make good dishes out of cheap materials, or through depending too much on meat and butter to make up her table, then her boarders cost her $2.10 a week each and she has $1.40 each as a margin to meet her other expenses and pay herself; if she has 20 day boarders that leaves her $28 a week.
She will do most of the cooking herself; she has 2 girls, and a boy in the yard, whose wages average $2 a week each, and their meals $2 a week more, making $12, leaving $16 a week for Mrs. Tingee, but out of that she must pay about $4 for fuel, light, ice and incidentals, and she has for herself about $50 a month.
Now, she has house rent to pay and the house she occupies costs her $30 a month but it does not properly come within our scope, as her business is in taking day boarders and letting out rooms enough to pay the rent of the whole house. The only time that she needs and seeks a sympathizing ear is when a young couple or two gentlemen who have been paying a good price for her two best rooms have moved out and left her in fear of having little or no rent coming in. So that, if she sets as good a table as we have been setting here and keeps her 20 boarders she still is able to appear very respectably and send her two children to a good school. In reality, however, Mrs. Tingee does not set any such table. If she would she could set such meals as we have shown in the divisions of this book before the first birthday supper at an average cost of about 7 cents a plate, and, giving a sufficiency, ; could keep her full quota of 20 boarders. There is a defect in her method, however, which never allows her full success or a full house, for while a pound of food and a pint of drink are required on an average to make a full meal, Mrs. Tingee devotes her ingenuities to make her boarders get along with half a pound, and regards three-quarters as a piece of extravagance only to be indulged in on Sundays. In consequence her boarders, not being well fed, piece out by buying apples, peanuts, candy, cakes and beer, and find when they count up at the end of the week that this sort of desultory boarding around has cost them more than it would to board at a good hotel, and all who are not bound in some way, leave her and she has but 10 whom she can depend on to stay and a transient customer now and then. She does not allow the provisions for these to cost more than 5 cents a meal, 15 cents a day; $1.05 a week, or $10.50 a week total, for which at $3.50 each she receives $35. This leaves her $24.50 instead of $28 as under the other calculation and as tne work is less it is a greater proportionate profit. The great differ-