The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-08-01
A PARTISAN DINING ROOM.
One of the Extraordinary Restaurants Of
the Gay Capital.

Demos. began a series of observations
of his Majesty's kitchen and table serv-
ice. The glorious Emperor Charles
Quint, / had read, used to have for his
dinner whole roasted pig served up
on a golden dish. What does that
many-headed emperor, the sovereign
people. have for dinner? Under the
very shadow of the peoples palace, in
the Rue de la Verrerie, found Demos
table spread. At the end of black and
sooty courtyard men and women were
passing in and out through swinging
doors. On one side of the doors was
the tariff: Plate of meat, twenty
centimes; wine, twenty centimes; soup,
bread, vegetables, and dessert @, each
ten confines. On the other side of the
doors were placards, one stating that
it was forbidden to bring bread, meat,
or drink into the room. and another
stating that the table utensils were
placed in the safe keeping of the public:
Les verres, couteaux, fourchettes, ct
cuilleres sont places sous la surveillance
des honnetes citoyens."
To the right of the doors outside is
ticket-office, where you buy as many
two-sou zinc checks as your purse and
appetite permit. | took five, and fol-
lowed the crowd. Each one, as he
entered. stopped near the door and
snatched glass out of basketful that
stood there. Then, bearing leftward, he
approached a wire grating. through
which is seen an immense kitchen and
furnaces charged with huge cauldrons
holding hogsheads of steaming food
and running on rails. This grating is
pierced with five little trap-doors; at the
first is sold soup; at the second, boiled
beef and cabbage, sausages, behring's
and greasy stews; at the third, beans
and lentils; at the fourth, dessert, con-
sisting of stewed prunes. jam, cheese
and bread, of which you get about halt
a pound for your two-sou check; at the
fifth you can buy one-third of litre OF
very sour pfguette wine, or the same
amount of cider for two checks. Each
diner makes his choice, and gets served
at the different trap-doprs, takes knife,
fork and spoon out of basket, and
with his bread under his arm, his
soup in one hand and his plate
OF meat in the other he goes and
sits down wherever he can find a
place, and eats in peace. The room
is apparently a courtyard, over which
an iron roof has been thrown; at one
end is fountain and at the other bust
Of hn l.. 4. m
Travail. 7" "Concorde" on the pedestal;
on the walls are big painted maps of the
departments of France. and here and
there notices, mo smoking" "Aidez-
vous les uns les autres,s and a request
to give up your place as soon as you
have done eating. The floor is paved with
red quarries; the chairs are of Austrian
bent wood, and at the long, narrow
handicapped tables there are seats for
800 people. There are no walters, no
overseers; the only servant in the whole
room is a man who strolls round with
basket-truck into which he collects the
dirty plates and knives which each one
leaves on the table when he has finished
eating.
Here, indeed, you see all sorts and
conditions of men-workmen. washer
women, beggars, organ grinders. clerks,
shop-girls of low degree-all degrees of
poverty and misfortune. Many come
in without buying checks, and loaf
around on the chance of picking up
scraps. After tasting my plate of stew
(apparently composed of horse-meat,
potatoes and thick. dark gravy. L con-
cluded that it was too greasy, and laid
down my knife and fork for moment.
Suddenly an arm was extended over
my shoulder, and hoarse voice whisp-
cred in my ear: ''Citoyen, vous ne man.
gez plus?" and, almost before l had
time to reply, my plate had disap-
peared. Nobody seemed to think the
phenomenon strange, and after further
observation l noticed that it was quite
common. Pieces of bread, half-fnished
bowls of soup, Jumps of cheese, were
being constantly appropriated by
the hungry, so that the dish-collector
found only clean platters and no leav-
ings. As / was sitting and meditating
over this truly democratic dining-room,
a man and girl came in, sat down and
began to exchange remarks and criti-
cisms as to the fare and those who were
partaking of it. sCe sont des curieux,"
said one woman in drawing nasal
voice to her neighbor at my table; Ills
rigolent present. And her neighbor
replied in a loud voice. so that the young
couple could hear, ION deyrait assassi-
ner des gems qui Sc moquent dune mis-
ere pareille!" The young man and his
companion disappeared promptly after
this hint. and we all went on eating in
the most orderly manner. what little
talking there was going on in low tone.
The portions at this Pension Alimen-
iaire. which is specimen of several
similar establishments in the populous
quarters of Paris, are bountiful, but the
food is naturally of the coarsest kind
and horribly greasy, and the sour wine
is not calculated to fill the heart of man
with Joy. Never have / seen more
gloomy and depressing sight than these
800 indescribable waits and strays of
humanity silently eating their miserable
dinner And to think that this one es-