The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-17
HOW PEOPLE n

Fast and Slow Eaters and Their Peculiarites.
Philadelphia Times.
Four men sat down to "tiiinH at the Bellevue
cafe recently. : 1.-THE proper caper just now. "
said the clerk, lis to say tifin when you mean
lunch"
With a glass each of Chateau Laftte the quar-
tet began feeding. The musical French clock in
a corner OF the pretty dining-room chimed the
quarter hour past l o'clock. The oysters are served
and the musical clock has again chiIned another
quarter hour.
There is a slight wait for the serving of the
consomme a Ia Colbert.
The musical time piece has chimed the hour
of , o'clock, played a merry little air from La
File de Madame Angot and chimed
again. The attentive waiter has served the
fish, Spanish mackerel; then the wine is
changed and champagne takes its place on
the table. Thu bill of fare suggests French peas,
caulifloweT au Gratin, potatoes in croquettes,
onions a la creme, asparagus, Italian artichokes
and corn ~fritters. With these come blue-winged
teal duck and broiled squads, then a fllet of
beef a la Chateaubriand smothered in mush-
rooms. For the salad IA little celery mayonaise.
By this time the sun had made long siantinS
lines across the pavement, and the French clock
had struck another hour. The desert of walnuts,
pecan nuts, almonds and fruit had come on. A
taste Of Roman punch stimulates the appetite
for daintieS. The luncheon is almost over. the
black coffee is finished, cigars are lighted, and as
the party rise from the table the timepiece
unsteady announces the third hour since they
sat down.
The clock registered a quarter after 6 o'clock
when a reporter entered the Twelfth-stree
market Eight men sat at one eating counter.
On the opposite side of the bar was an elderly
country woman and a colored man. The old
woman was hard to please, but eventually settled
on 1.-TWO fried eggs!' and the eolored man took
'~buekwheat cakes and coffee! !"
At Gil o'clock all were hard Mt work, nearly
all having supplemented their orders with cups
of coffee snd buttered rolls. At 6:27 o'clock the
customer whose fancy was a tenderloin steak
and the old woman who had ordered the fried eggs
were the emily people out of the ten noticed who
remained at the counter. The old woman had
been heavily handicapped at the start. Five
minutes later the steak-eater went out and he
was almost Immediately followed by the old
woman. The toadstool seats were soon occupied
by other customers and the race for ~victuals be-
gan again.
'sHow long before the New York express
leaves?7 asked a 5reathless passenger, at the
restaurant counter of the Broad-street station
yesterday.
'Half an hour, sir, replied the head waiter.
'Well, give me a sandwich and a cup of tea"
said the man, dropping his sachel and mounting
a stool in hot haste.
The door from the corridor flew open and three
commercial drummers entered, with their sam
pie cases. The man in the lead exclaimed:
we have ten minutes to catch our wagon,
old man. Trot US ont a half-dozen fried and a
bottle of wine"
The order was filled, the drummers deftly sur
rounded their hasty meal and were on
board their train with three minutes to spare.
"Au waitarr, give me a bit Of chicken, with
Saratoga ships and a glass of AlaerDey milk, "
said a dude, with a single eye-glass stuck in his
starboard optic, as he parted his coat-tails over
his stool and sat there sucking the head of his
rattan. Nine minutes later the chicken eater
wiped his lips. set fire to q cigarette and tod
died, mineingly to the cars