Framingham State University - Dial Yearbook (Framingham, MA)

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17 In still another room we watched in operation the machine for nailing up the wooden boxes. We saw another for cleaning the old tin boxes so that they looked almost new, and still another for cutting out the paste board for the boxes used for packing some of the fancy crackers. In the next room we had explained to us the way the designs for store windows were made. Some very artistic ones were shown us and many in the process of being finished stood around the room. At the very last we were shown the engine room, a fascinating place, where the engineer explained how all the electricity needed in the entire building was made by these machines. He also showed us their small ice machine, and explained the process of ice making. After this we returned to the office and prepared to go to luncheon. I think we all were impressed by two things: first the skill, rapidity, neat- ness and personal appearance of the workmen: second the generosity shown us in helping ourselves to all the crackers we wanted but per- haps to the latter the other group will not agree. We had our lunch hour from one to two after which time we met Mr. Howe at the Walker Gordon Laboratory on Boylston Street, this being the next place that we were to visit. Here we were shown the room where the prescriptions for the milk were put up and the methods of filling them. These prescriptions are filled out by a doctor who has diagnosed the child's case, then taken to the laboratory where they are very carefully filled. The milk mixture made from them is put in bottles that hold one feed- ing. These are sealed and then placed in cases ready for shipment. When these bottles arrive at their destination all that has to be done is to heat the contents and give it to the child. The prescription not only tells the amount of each of the nine milk constituents but also at what tempera- ture the milk should be given, how often the feeding should be and the amount of each feeding. I-lere also the special milks for particular purposes are for sale such as lactic acid, fat free, raw pasturized, and sterilized. Some of these we sampled. We were also shown the room where the bottles were washed and steamed and the refrigerating room where the prescriptions were put after they were filled prior to their delivery. In the office itself all the different styles of- baskets for delivering the milk were shown and explained to us. Some were expensive, others inex- pensive. When we were through here we went to the Back Bay Station and took a train to Charles River Village. The station Charles River Village consists of the Walker Gordon Farm alone. The buildings are a large model cow barn, a milk house, a barn where' the younger stock is kept, and a barn for the hay and grain. The model barn has a cement floor with windows near together all around the sides. The roof is high and permits a good circulation of air. There is a supply of running water and a trolley arrangement whereby the food may be brought, distributed and the refuse carried away. The

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16 An H. A. Field Day I F any one had been going by the foot of State Street about eight o'clock in the morning on November IS, l909, they would have wondered what that crowd of girls were waiting there for. Upon inquiry they would have found that they were on their way to Boston to visit the Sunshine Bis- cuit Factory, Walker Gordon Laboratory, and Walker Gordon Farm at Charles River Village. We left on the eight o'clock car and arrived in Boston soon after nine, going straight to the office of the factory, at the corner of Canal and Wash- ington Streets, where we met Mr. Howe who was in charge of the trip. After removing our wraps, we were divided into two groups of about twelve. The first group went through the factory with a guide to explain all the processes of manufactureg the second started five minutes later with a guide and Mr. Howe. We were the lucky group as was discovered afterwards. The first room that we visited was the room where the doughs were mixed. Large, wooden, oval tubs were used for this, into which was poured the proper amount of Hour and water fthe latter measured by meter., Then these tubs were pushed under a machine which had three mixers, like an ice cream dasher, that revolved by electricity. After being mixed the tubs were pushed into' an adjoining room where they were covered with cloths and left to rise for varying lengths of time. From this room we passed through a hallway into the big room where the? rolling machine and ovens were. I-lere we saw and had explained to us the machines for rolling out and cutting the dough for the different crackers, such as animal, graham, soda biscuit and butter thins. Xve watched the bakers fill the sheets of the ferris wheel in the oven with their wooden shovels. They worked rapidly, neatly, skillfully and precisely. We were told in the beginning that we could help ourselves to anything we saw if it was not in a weighed tin, and thereby hangs a tale. From here we went to the sorting and packing rooms. The sheets of crackers taken from the oven were put on an endless chain elevator and lowered to this room where they slid over a rotating surface the sorters rapidly selecting and packing the perfect ones and putting them in boxes. ln a neighboring room we saw some of the fancy crackers being dipped in chocolate and other frostings, drained and then put on large carriers and taken to the drying rooms. We also saw the way the cocoa- nuts were tapped, paired and shredded, the latter done by a machine similar to a meat chopper. Next we watched the boxes being weighed, sealed, wrapped and sealed again. Also the opening of the boxes of stale crackers and the pro- cess of grinding them into powder to be used as chicken feed and in dog bread.

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18 . - cows stand facing each other in their stanchions in two long rows, with a wide aisle between and behind them. Between each cow is an iron basin filled with running water, overhead hang records of each cow's birth, breed, name, age and food prescription. Each cow is kept closely clipped around her udder and well up her sides. She is brushed and wiped before each milking and is so hitched that she cannot lie down. Her milk is kept separate from that of other cows and weighed after it is milked, then sent immediately to the milk house. In the barn where the younger stock were kept we saw the head of the herd, who, from the noise he made, rather resented our intrusion. The milk is taken to the milk house immediately after milking. We were shown and had explained to us the cooling and separating ma- chines. We saw the bottling and sealing of the milk bottles and the arrangement for keeping them until delivery. Such care is taken of this milk in every way that although no guaran- tee is given, if sealed one can safely say that it will keep four weeks with little trouble and it has been known to keep for ten. The milk is supplied especially for babies but we were told that many of the oflicers in the fleet who went around the world took a supply with them, and that the big liners sailing across the ocean carried a supply to use after their ordinary milk and cream had spoiled. After a very generous sampling of this truly clean milk we took a train to Newton Highlands and from there came home on the electrics, each one concluding that an enjoyable and profitable day had been spent even if a few bones did ache. L. C. P. A New Tale of An Old Rhyme Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep, And cannot tell where to find them , Leave them alone and they'll come home Dragging their tails behind them. l never realized the significance of these familiar lines, until I stud- ied the subject of sheep, in detail, and then the mystery solved itself. Asia is the home of many queer things but, to my mind the queerest of all is the so-called fat-tailed sheep. As the name suggests these sheep have huge tails, weighing from fifty to eighty pounds. The tail is con- sidered a choice article of food. In order not to injure it, the natives make sleds and in some wav fasten them to the shoulders of the sheep, so that each sheep may drag his own tail. What a picture a herd of these sled- ders would make. Authorities say this kind of sheep is the basis for the nursery rhyme because if the sheep dragged their tails behind them since the tail is the most important part of the body, the rest of the body need not be mentioned, which is the case in the rhyme. Therefore, when you read the old rhyme again, I trust you will pause at the word drag long enough to make a mental picture of a kindly looking sheep, pulling his tail after him on a low sled and slowly wending his way homeward. K.L.K.