Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-12-26

boards watched over by the white-jaeketed
hotel waiter or the demur maiden OF the
boarding-h house, yet if one pauses sufficiently
10 run over on his finger ends the long list
Of establishments devoted exclusively to
catering to the wants of the inner man,
the conviction is speedily reached that the
number of patrons must be very large,
and from that follows the involuntary
thought that a heavy percentage OF our
male citizens must be without any very
definite habitation, sleeping where they
can and drifting about from one restaurant
to another for their meals. There is, OF
course, more or less of floating pOpula-
tom about every city Of the size of
Wheeling, which population naturally
goes to the restaurants for its meals, but 1t
is a fact, attested by the personal obser-
vations of many curious observers, that by
far the largest share of restaurant pat
rouage comes from people well settled ln-
Iife-married men with the most cOmfOrta-
BILE of homes, sons of mothers with whom
I - u
ingly would never have occasion to eat
elsewhere than by their own tresldes.
But, through the ever varying exlgencles OF
business, the demands of pleasure-sceklng,
| or the thousand-and-One incidents and ac-
cidents which 90 to make up life on tins
mundane sphere, occasions do rise when 1t
is impossible to dine en- tdmiiie, or at ones
regular boarding house, and out OF these
exigencies the restaurants rise and flourish.
| A rapid reportOrial glance up one street
/ and down another reveals the existence OF
| twenty regular restaurants here IN
Wheeling, ranging in attractiveness from
| frst-claSs to zero, in the quality OF food
served from faultleSS to very bad, and IN
the prices charged from fancy to sum
calculated to suit the lowest pocket
book. As a matter of course, the
| FIRST CLASS
establishments are limited in numbers.
| Ii is safe to say, however, that there are
fully rs many good restaurants in Wheel
| ing as in many cities of double the pOpu-
latiOn. The service in some is uneXCcptiOn-
al, the food of the best the market affords,
we'll cooked and we'll served, while the Ia
bles, laid with the whiteSt OF linen and
glistening with silver and cut glass, are I'M
menSely attractive to a hungry man. In
such places the daily menu is an extensive
one, orders being filed for about every
thing which the fancy can
suggest, while the Sunday and holiday
spreads are enough to tempt smile OF ap-
prevail from old Epicurus himself. At
this season of the year game receives spec
/ ial attention at the hands OF the really ac-
complished chefs, and veniSon, bear meat,
ducks of all the varieties, pheaSantS,
cartridges, prairie chickens, turkeys, wild
and tame, rabbits, squirrels, and the finer
and rarer fish have only to be named to be
\ forthcoming, with a delicate preface IN the
way Blue Points on the halt-shell. The pat
ronage of the restaurants of the first class
is necessarily confined to people who COM
bine desire for the good things of life
with a we'll lined pOcketboOk, the multi
tude being content with humber surround
ings and palmer and more substantial fare
To meet this by tar the largest portion of
the trade the restaurant Of
THE POPULAR CLASS
started into busy being. Here the red
ltable-cloth, the silver castor and the plated
case-knife, somewhat worn along the edge
but still in the ring, confront the diner as
he settles into his seat, and amid these sur
roundings hundreds daily appeaSe the
cravings OF appetite with plain but sub
stantial food ut q price Mt which 1t seems
impossible for the proprietor to make both
ends meet. But they meet and lap oveI,
in most instances, in a manner most graft
fying to the proprietor aforesaid, and sew
eral gentlepen could be mentioned who
have amaSsed very comfortable cOmpe-
teuce from the profits accruinS from TWEEN
ty-fve cent meals, while their more pre-
tentiOus rivals have gone to the wall. 1t
Is in restaurants OF this class that the deli
cious oyster holds his even sway
all the year round-setting at def
ance the eighteenth letter of the alphabet,
and raws, stews and frys are served mp in
astonishing quantities every day. The
number of patrons ut some of the most
popular Of these restaurants Is very large,
one place in particular being so crowded
at certain times that customers frequently
have To wait to obtain a seat at 4 table,
while on occasions when large crowds Of
strangers are brought into the city the
crush is tremendous, and it takes very
liberal allowance Of the Divine gift of
patience before plate and waiter can be
secured.
| This brings us to a consideration of the
restaurant where style is conspicuous by
its absence, where the napkin is an entire
stranger, and where
THE HIGH STOOL
reigns supreme with none to modest or
make il afraid. There are several OF these
lunch counters which do a rushing bust
ness in oyster soup, sandwiches, beans.
sausages, fried eggs and coffee, which form
| the staple bill of fare, and the patronage is
heavy nj all times. In these establish
ment a man can get a meal Of plain but
substantial character for ten or fifteen
cents, this small price still atfording fair
margin of profit. At the long counter
which is the chief article Of furniture all
classes mingle with charming disregard
for the conVentiOnalitieS, and as most of
the places run all Bight-dOuble turn, as
| il were-the cooks and walters see
good deal of the most interesting
phases of life, and can relate
many episodes of interest Dudes
out for lark, reporters, policemen, mark
ct men, belated business men, thieves,
toughS, and about every other class hob
mob upon the high stools at all hours of
the night, and all enjoying the couven-
fences Offorded, and, in the case of the re-
porters especially, the moderate price de-
manded.
1t must not be supposed that the restuar-
ants here enumerated or referred to COM
prise all the places o, the city where meals
can be secured. Far from 1t. Most of the
saloons set a more or less elaborate lunch,
or furnish q meal at short notice, and much
food is daily consumed within the walls en-
closing them. Take ii al! Ground, certain
" not less than one thousand people
niReteen-twentieths of the number men
aat ~ ,>rht,a 4ah1aS Iaily in nnr CITY opd