Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-02-22
4 SEOOND-HAND FOOD SHOP.


| big covered wagon, heavily loaded, drove
slowly through the deep snow and mud in
Willett street last night, and pulled up before
a plain old-fashoned little house above De-
lancy street. The children in that neighbor-
hood are very numerous, and very many of
them were at play on the sidewalks az the
plain, unlettered wagon lurched and numbered
over the uneven roadway. They shouted to
one another. Here's the wagon, Cordolia, "
said one. run, Mary Ann, and tell your
mother" and "Here he is !" Hero he is ~
shouted others. The little ones scattered in
all directions. The street, from being noisy,
became quiet. This neighborhood is near
the East river at the point where the city is
widest. Two-thirds Of the houses are little
old-fashioned dwellings. Scattered among
these relics Of the time when each family had
| a house 10 itself are the tall bare tenements
that, after all, afford better accommodations
for families crowded under one roof than do
the small houses.
A boy came out Of the little brick house at
which the wagon had halted, and took the
horse from between the shafts. The German
| lifted out Of the back Of the vehicle heavy
barrels and big cylindrical tins. When the
boy came back he assisted tho man in lifting
| down two packing boxes and some extra
heavy barrels. All these were carried into
| Tue Dhbtmtul. 1ubu lle CulluEeu TthDDthTtut
| one or two at a time. All ran down the area
steps of the little dwelling, dived under the
stone steps, and took places in the front room,
each with a basket in one hand and the other
little fist tightly clutching silver coin. The
floor is bare, and the ceiling, where it is not
| broken so as to chow the skeleton lathwork of
| the walls, is grimy with dirt. Along the front
wall, passing under the little area windows,
runs bare board bench. A few women drop.
| ped in and seated themselves on this bench
with their baskets on their knees. Two were
wan and pale with bony hands and sunken
| eyes. The majority were robust, big-framed
women, with comfortable, matronly figures.
All we're very poorly dressed. The children
almost filed the room. They were nearly all
| little girls, with short dresses and thin legs.
They wore quilted hoods and capes, and had
faded shawls pinned over their shoulders.
| Their eyes were distended, so eagerly were
they watching what went on in the tiny back
room, the door Of which had been left open
so that they could see within, whence q varie-
ty of appetiziug odors made their way to the
big room. There were German, Irish and
nondescript faces in the throng.
There amt hardly anybody here yet, said
the German. The room was almost filled
there must have been thirty children and hall
a dozen women there. "There sometimes
come here men as big as you are" the Ger
man said to the reporter.
The German was in back room, emptying
barrels upon big bare pine table. Occasion
! ally box or barrel proved too heavy, and his
wife joined her strength to her husbands.
She is big jolly German woman, rosy and
neat. On the table was a constantly growing
heap of meat. Some was cold and some was
| steaming. The pile was made up of frag
ments Of everything that is included under
the terms of fish, flesh and fowl 1t was not
pretty to look at, but moments study of the
pile showed that every fragment it contained
was of good origin and had been well cooked.
Ribs of beef with clumps of meat attached to
the bones skeletons of turkeys, ducks, geese,
chicken and game birds, in the same condi
ton; chops Of veal, mutton and pork, whole
and cooked to turn slices Of cold corned
beef; cold roast mutton and beef, cold ham
and tongue-all these and probably as many
other things besides were in the pile. The
woman began the construction of another
little hillock on a side table The foremost
little ones in the impatient crowd craned their
necks around the door frame TO see the nature
of this second pile.
'Is they any cake? Say, Sarah, is they
cake 2"
Sarah's eyes made the most eloquent reply
They were staring and watering at once.
'Plum cake, and jelly cake, and some whari
got icing on it." reported Sarah; land they'i
hot rolls, d-and-they's pudding !"
The pudding was tspioca, in a gallon car
filed to the top. The German showed it tc
the reporter, and the little girl had heard hin
say what it was. The man filed the deep snG
broad sill of the window with cans. Some
were full of mashed potato, some with potato
and turnip mixed, and some with cabbage
The woman was heapng up slices of bread,
ends of loaves, little cakes, tea biscuits, rolls
slices of costly cake, boiled and baked pota
toes in their jackets, crullers, gingerbread
doughnuts, Boston brown bread, and crack
ers. Her pile grew so tall that an avalanche
formed and food rolled on the floor. She wa,
obliged to leave some barrels similarly stocked
without emptying them. Suddenly she faced
the troop of children, and they began to shou
and scramble for the doorway.
'Please wait on me, " called out half doz
en- at once 'MiSsis, give me plenty of mash
ed pertaters !" please wait on me :" "Twen
ty-f' cents worth and some cake :" Nothing
only meat, please :" "Please wait on me, mis-
sis" were their cries as the doorway was fill
ed with baskets held forward by outstretcheC
arms. There were plates in some of thu bas
kets and tin pals in others The man tossed
in the meat and the woman shovelled bread
rolls and cake in until the baskets were load
ed. Both used their hands. The man tool
a can of mashed potatoes and put one hant
into it to open cavity in the centre of the
mass and show the reporter how fresh ant
warm it was. The woman split a roll in two
to prove the same as to that. She tossed th
fragments back on the pile. Among thous
ands of odds and ends they made no differ
ence.
"Where do you get all this ?" the reporte
inquired.
II get it from the best hotels in the city
| 4 loo - ~ - a
German. II pay the Fifth Avenue hotel So
a week. go there twice day with my wa
gon, after breakfast and after dinner. l bu,
from the st. Nicholas, Gilsey House and Con
tinental also. All this stuff is what was lef
over o.day. Those hotels never carve a ri
after it is impossible to get nice-lookin
pieces from it. They never heat things III
the second day or serve them the day afte
they were cooked. These mashed potatoes
took right out of the kettle in the Fifth Ave
nue. hotel. That's where the pudding cam
from. am expected at a certain time, an
go right in and clean out the warming pans
all this what are called cold pieces and mid
dlings' in the hotel trade. In some house
the help is fed on this. 1t is not what is LEI
from the plates of the guests. That goes
the swillmRn. The only part of this that ha
been set on the tables is what the guests hay
left in the dishes in which it was served, a
when a man is served with a slice of beef, fo
instance, and only takes portion of it on hi
own plate. What remains on the dish il ne
touched until it becomes my property. TheI
too, in carving, the bone of the meat an
frame of the fowl becomes mine"
"Aud the bread and vegetables p
"Well, the bread and rolls and cake 20
see here were all baked to-day" said the Ge
man, land are as fresh as my customer
could get at the bakeries for five times tn
price l sell it for. 1 get it in slices, end
and quite often in whole loaves. l get,
addition to what you see here, stewed fru
and cold tea and coffee. l get a great dei
more than you suppose. just now the hote
are not full on account of the holiday time
but when they are l get from 800 to loo
pounds of meat alone. Fifteen barrels
meat day is the average amount collect.
"And how do you measure this out to yoJ
customers p
"Well, calculate to give enough for tweI
ty-fve cents to keep family of four or fN
a whole day. sell as little as ten cent
worth. / charge about four cents a pour
for the meat, ten cents gallon for the veg
tables, and 1 sell as much bread for thr,
cents as 1 can buy in a bakery for fftee
For twenty five cents 1 give meat enough f
three meals for four people, with half a 60
lon of mashed potatoes and half q gallon
/ -,