Page 8 - To Dragma January 1934
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2 To D R A G M A January, 1934 13
r u t h JCMISON finished and delivered before most o)ff the luncheon f o r G o v e r n m e n t and other office
tests arrived, not, however, without great workers. Being situated among the Govern-
P R S T R Y 5 HOP vcitement and commotion in the pastry shop ment buildings inspired the idea to make up
fnd in the kitchen of the hostess a paper plate luncheon of salad, rolls, pickle
9 or relish, and a piece of cake in summer ( i n
The best story, though, is about the time winter there is a hot substitute f o r the salad),
tnl iiefyicewnterteeag etting ready for a large and mag- all in a paper bag with a paper fork, f o r
given by a prominent author in the sum of one quarter. The idea has been
Washington. The sandwiches and hors d'oeuv- so successful that last summer the shop had
wr e hS enwethree just finished and in their boxes all the appearance of a cafeteria at the rush
oil burner began to smoke. The hour, the line extending out on the sidewalk.
olace was filled with black smoke and it looked The workers can take the lunch out into the
os if the whole building was on fire. The park, go f o r a drive, or go back to the office.
colored boy was dispatched to get the oil Thus they save time and can enjoy the lunch
burner mechanic and the rest set to work to hour much more than if they had to rush
get the boxes out of the shop—the shop might into a restaurant and right out again.
\o up in flames, but not the tea things! The
boxes were carried out and set on the side- Another innovation which makes this shop
walk with a Girl Scout standing guard, the individual in its attractions is the furniture
boy came back with the report that the man for sale. A Vassar woman sells spool tables
"would be up in a few minutes," and Mrs. and lovely fireside stools which are made in
Jemison herself had to run down the street Pennsylvania. The proceeds go to charity and
for the mechanic. When help finally came, college scholarships. Mrs. Jemison has also
ns ooo t and ci nders were a ll ov e r the shop, but secured those beautiful hand-woven rugs f r o m
serious damage had been done, and best the Virginia mountains. I n fact, through the
of all, the tea sat safely on the sidewalk! Pastry Shop, the interior decorators for the
restoration work in Williamsburg, Virginia,
Tea for Diplomats The ever-shifting official Washington dis- ordered three hundred yards of rugs for the
covered Ruth Jemison and her shop some halls and rooms of the hotel—a perfect god-
-+- NOT FAR from the White House, Washing- wiches f o r her! She will put up the grandest time ago and many orders come in f r o m the send to the women who make them. A n d the
ton's social center, is a tiny little pastry boxes f o r school or college feeds—her own embassies and cabinet officials. During the last North Carolina mountains are represented by
daughter, away at school f o r the first time, is administration one of the White House cars cunning cornhusk dolls, little and big, which
shop run by Ruth Williams Jemison, Kappa. one of those lucky students who gets a regu- often stood outside the shop, f o r the White make clever favors for luncheons and bridge
The shop, painted green, has a large shining lar box with every kind of tid-bit one could House secretaries were frequent customers. parties.
plate glass window, behind which tempting possibly want. The official W h i t e H o u s e teas have also
cookies and cakes are arranged. Inside it is served Mrs. Jemison's sandwiches and cookies I asked Mrs. Jemison f o r some recipes, but
homelike and simple, with only two small 'through the Gentlewomen's League (an old she modestly disclaimed having any unusual
counters f o r cookies, cakes and breads, and ^Washington institution very similar to the ones—if they aren't unusual, she must give
a long table f o r jellies. I n the back is the Women's Exchange). And then there is the some special touch to them, f o r her cakes and
kitchen, planned f o r the speedy dispatch of never-to-be-forgotten time when they made sandwiches are delicious. I did get one sug-
sandwiches and other tea accessories. Ruth two thousand sandwiches f o r the garden party gestion which I ' m passing on to you. When
Jemison started this pastry shop just three at the British Embassy. They started at mid- you make cream cheese sandwiches roll them,
and one-half years ago (before that she had night the day before and worked through to cover the ends with a tiny bit of cheese and
a charming tea room in Georgetown, the old- noon of the day of the party—calling f o r dip them into chopped nuts. They give the
est section of Washington), and now she has coffee between relays! effect of muffs and are particularly appro-
built up a flourishing business. Her specialties priate for winter parties.
are tea sandwiches, cookies, cakes, plum pud- While I was in the shop one day, a prom- The Pastry Shop's pet innovation is the
dings, mince pies, c h e r r y t a r t s , jelly—all inent Washington society woman came in to
sorts of goodies—doesn't just reading about buy some cookies and her departure started
them make your mouth water? She speaks a train of reminiscences about early days with
nonchalantly of sandwiches by the thousand the pastry shop. This particular society woman
and f r u i t cakes by the hundred pounds! Can — I wish I could mention names—always gives
any of you make up six dozen tea sandwiches a large party at high noon on New Year's v^O ^OH f?rlO& ^C^af
of at least four different kinds in half an Day. Ruth Jemison took her order for sev-
hour? The shop supplies any amount or kind eral hundred sandwiches thinking that they
of tea refreshments from sandwiches to nuts, were to be f o r a four o'clock tea. New Year's
in fact, one day a customer came i n with morning she started down to the shop about Our President, Edith Huntington Ander- Martha Ann Shepardson ( A T ) received
a bunch of water cress and some cheese and ten to begin making sandwiches. When she son, presented society w i t h an eleven-pound an award for having the highest grades on
asked Mrs. Jemison to make a dozen sand- arrived she discovered that the cleaning wom- son, Arthur K., Jr., on the night of Janu- the Denison campus?
an had gone off with the key in her apron ary 9? Edith has three daughters.
pocket and her home was several miles out Florence Ashley ( X ) is president of W .
of the city. By the time the locksmith had Abbie Ray (IT) is Newcomb College's A. A . at Syracuse University?
come to break in the door it was almost head cheer leader?
twelve and Mrs. was telephoning fran- Alice Wolter ( X A ) was chosen "Miss Co-
Gladys Phillips (T) won the McDonald- operation" at the A. W. S. banquet at the
tically about her order. She was assured that Skillen Cup awarded to the Upsilon senior University of Colorado?
the sandwiches would be ready in time (this who has the highest scholarship and most
while Mrs. Jemison and her three helpers activities on the University of Washington Amy Chisholm (H) won the scholarship
were frantically cutting bread and spreading campus ? cup awarded to a freshman woman in the
filling) ! But the sandwiches actually were Commerce School at the University of Wis-
Helen Thorpe ( A * ) is president of Ham- consin?
ilton Hall, women's dormitory at Montana
State College? Rosamond Kaines (EA) is president of
Archousai and Ethel Filbert (EA) is treas-
urer?
By JANE SCULLY, Alpha Tau
