y, and the
chance had come at last. The study of foods was among the first lessons
brought to my attention. While anxious to know all that was to be
taught, I could never see the reasons for knowing. I wanted to cook
food, and that, with me, was the end.

I began to study chemistry in the academic department, and when it was
applied in my cooking lessons my eyes were opened. I now saw much that I
had not dreamed of. A cooking teacher, a noted expert from Wisconsin,
came to the school about that time and lectured not only to the cooking
classes, but to the young women teachers, and to the married women of
the Institute families. I was especially detailed to work with her, and
was put to working out a diet for the students' boarding department.
This instruction, with that of my regular instructor, convinced me that
here was a real profession. I continued until the end of my school days
to carry, along with all of my academic work, progressive work in
cooking.

I had made such progress that when I came to graduate, Mrs. Washington,
who is in charge of the industries for girls, offered me a vacancy in
the cooking division. I did not feel that I was adequate to the
requirements of the place, and so remarked to Mrs. Washington and my
instructor. They recommended that I spend the summer at the Chautauqua
Summer School, New York. I prepared to go immediately following the
Tuskegee commencement exercises. A scholarship was secured for me.
Domestic science teachers of proved efficiency are in charge there. They
were pleased with what I had already been able to accomplish. My work
was with the classes taking courses in chemistry, physiology,
bacteriology, management of classes, and cooking demonstration.

At the end of the summer I felt stronger than ever, and returned to
Tuskegee in the fall with real enthusiasm. I first began my work in the
little room in which I had been taught. Another academic class of girls
had now been admitted to the cooking classes, the three upper ones.

When Dorothy Hall, the building in which all of the industries for girls
are located, was completed, my division was given a suite of rooms, an
assistant was provided, and the work broadened and made more useful than
ever. Under this division we now have a model kitchen, a regular kitchen
in which the practise-cooking of the girls is done, two dining-rooms, a
model bedroom, a model sitting-room, and a bathroom.

Principal Washington has insisted fro