Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-09-09
ONE CENT DIsNERs.

6yenlDgF" i he IdlleSt, Itu-utducu
man of about forty, addressing the
other, said: ''Soy, Dick, bum dis fel-
lah comm up for cent and We'll go
round to the 'Delmonico:' got three
and we'll git plate Of hash" A CEN
was begged from q passerby and the
two started down TO Pearl street. A
reporter followed and saw them enter
cheap restaurant near City Hall place.
A sign over the door reads: Little
Delmonico." PAINTED in large letters
ON an "A'i board was the bill of fare.
1t included cup OF coffee or tea for a
cent, with a bowl of soup, and fried
liver for. three cents. Roast heart and
liver were three cents, with dessert two
cents extra. The four cent dishes in
eluded beef stew, mutton stew, pork
stew, corned beef and cabbage, mutton
chops, fish la mode. pork chops and
"porterhouse steak" A sign In the
window announced the fact that fried
brains with bread was only three cents.
The hlgh-tOn dishes, such as
chicken stew, veal outlet, roast mutton
and fried eggs, were five cents. Inside
the restaurant a dozen Italian walters
hurried to and fro supplying orders
To hear them sing out, Zone heart
stew, fried brains and a chop" one
would imagine the walters were insane
But when an order was given for "a
pigs head and a dog" the reporter al
most tainted. Was it possible that
dogs were really eaten in New York
city in a public restaurant? The scribe
called one of the attendants aside and
inquired. ave mean two sausages," ="
explained tie waiter. Those are just
fly names our customers bestow upon
things. So we got in the habit of say
ing dog for sausage. It's shorter, you
know. We have our regular customers,
and as they don't mind what we call
the grub of course We don't. A
'sweeZee' is a cup of coffee. and 'out of
the pot means plate of hash. That
fellow over there who said, Pass the
axle grease is not used to eating in
tony place. lie used TO board with
Jack, and he never saw a hair full of
butter there. He comes in here and
wants the earth for five cents. Do We
do big business? Well, I should say
so! We take in $40 day on an aver
age now, but III the Winter we run up
TO $50. Us walters gets sc a week and
our board. Jack only has his wife and
little girl 70 help him. He don't do as
well as US, but he cuts the rates ter
ribly. He sells nearly everything for
cent"
The reporter saunteTed alcng Null
berry street until he came to the place
designated as Jacks" The restau-
rant is in the basement of a large brick
tenement. Descending half dozen
steps the reporter found himself in
room about twelve feet square. A
table and two chairs was all the furni-
ture the room contained. A group of
dirty looking men stood in one corner
eating from tin plates. They were
lifting the food to their mouths with
their fingers. Not a knife or fork was
IN sight. Some were eating beans,
some hash and others meat. Judging
from the manner in which they
"downed" the food they were very
hungry. Standing about the room
were plumber of men waiting for their
turn TO eat. Behind a counter, which
was covered with oilcloth, a man of
about fifty disbed out the food. This
was ''Jack, +" the reporter was informed.
Ten times a minute his right hand dis
appeared within a large tin wash boiler
and each time was drawn out filled
with beans. The beans were thrown
upon tin plates and handed to the
nearest man, WHO had to pay a cent to
the girl cashier before he received the
plate. Each plate contained a handful.
In a rear room Mrs. Jack was busy
cooking. She only stopped to run out
with a piece of meat in her fingers 10
some one of the hCngry mob. SIC
handed 1t TO a customer and received
two cents. Once in a while she would
rush out with large bowl of coffee and
a stale loaf of broad, for which she re-
ceived two cents. Two cigar boxes,
filled with small coin, on the cashiers
desk, proved that Jack was doing big
business. Tie cashiers desk Was COM
posed of two soap boxes set on ends,
one on top of the other, and nalled to-
gether.
I'VE feed as many as eight hundred, -
said Jack, ''eyery day in the week. and
some days we have as many as thou.
sand here. I used TO run a lodging
house but It didn't pay. have a good
many Italian and Chinese customers, !
but / don't like them. They wanter
take de grub away with them and ask |
ne to do 1t up in paper. They never |
stop to think paper costs money. The |
reason | don't wash the plates is pe- |
cause l don't have time. IL / under |
took to do it these fellows ID kick. |
Some of these Italians come here and !
when they buy loaf of bread they have
the cLeek to ask If haven't gotta some
butt They want butter with cents |
worth OF bread"
Duung all the time "Jack" was talk |
ing his hands were busy dishing out |
food. 'Some fellows around here are /
trying to run opposition to me, but the
Board of Health comes around every
Fnday and scoops up their stuff. do
a legitimate business and help the poor.
What world my customers do were |
to give up? Why they'd starve. do
more for the pOOl than Vanderbilt does,
and he's rich man, too. No, I'm not
rich, but l own three houses in de First
Ward. =
The Hebrews cheap restaurant is on
I1tSAt1 clAttt, utdI NculIc. dtTc tUc
Polish Jews flock in hundreds to obtain
a cheap meal. Articles on the bill of
fare range from two to five cents, and
a 'IegulaT dinner" may be had for
cents. 4 dinner consists of roast beef,
a potato. two slices of bread, an onion,
a cup of tea, coffee or milk and half
pie. Nearly ali the orders filed in this
restaurant are Tor regular dinners.
The place is kept clean and each table
contains a printed bill of fare The
place is always crowded and it Is
said that the proprietor has made
enough money to We in retirement for
the remainder of his days.
An eating house which IS solely pat
rOnIzed by the poor cOlored people of
New York IS situated on Spring street.
a cup Of coffee and cruller is the or
der mostly given here, although some
Of the fIequenters of this place live
high and never 90 away without eating
twenty five cents worth of food. This
amount OF ealables here means as much
ds City Hall Park tramp eats in a
month. In the Winter fish and oysters
are mostly called for. An oyster stew
at this place is six cents. Coffee Is two
cents cup and bread and milk two
cents bowl. The proprietor of the
place is a white man.
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