Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-10-28
adopted date, and that ia far enough
back for TINS country.
THOMAS HoLAHAN.


ayowed descendant Of him OF Virginia
lame, oil bis widow. In due time the
son Of old Tom OF that ik, who IL
named Thomas Jackson Holahan. pushed
his usurpIng step'ather from the royal
stool, and now reigns rubicund, soulful
ell known, and beloved as the rightful
Old Tom. To him come magnates Of
/ the ward, the town, the State way
tarers from West and South and exc tho
dwellers from beyond seas-all hungry
for the chops and meaty good things he
can best provide. and go away to praise
his name and make others seek for him
IN the dingy byways Of the metropolis.
Had Shakespeare known the haunt he
would have said. whats in o name,
but Tom s, and thereby saved his credit
as philosopher
ToN's CUSTOMERS.
In the roll OF Toms customers are
nearly all Of those who have been
end are eminent among the poiourners
IN New York. And those among humble
folk who have been feasting there bat
twenty years or 30 have to hear al about
the departed heroes-ss we'll as those
who have net but ought to have depart
e5-and the volunteer fire department,
and the war, aud the theatres and the
players aud dispOTters therein, and ever
/ 80 much else that Is Of no use whatever
TO know but vastly entertaining to hear.
| They have their revenge IN setting old
sters by the eArs--for no two anoIents
ever aFree-unt,l toby OF half-RnS- half
(old and new ale, not porter and aicj,
/ hike q poultlce comes 10 heal the blows
OF sound. Old Tom, fresh aud alert
despite his ffty years and tradi-
tons remembers everything, knows
everybody living, and remembers
everybody dead. It is asserted
of him that he claimed TO remember the
writer's grandfather, who, with Fitz
Creme Halleck, quafed good ale there
long before he was born. but that must
be a mischievous assertion. Now and
then be tells Of his return from the
Mexican war and commands respectful
if unbelieving silence but then his sto-
ries, one and ali, are plenty good enough
TO be true. Long may his banner wave
over his front inside battIement of fat
chops and notified steaks and his CHEEKY
welcome never weaken. That be is the
llCth King Of Tara, Cormemara harps.
halls, and SIT, is undisputed, but he
would rather keep his little Thames-street
kingdom than seek TO regain the ances-
trail crown and leave lis friends here
grieving.
TIE STAFF or LIFE
There are more than a half million
souls in New York city and its envIrous
who to-day are cOnsigning cold Hutch "
and his crew to o very warm and sui
phurous hereafter. They are the work
ing people whose weekly incomes run
under $40 a week A majority OF them
are foreigners-It italians, Hungauans,
BOLemians, Russians, Polaks, Savaks,
and Roumanims. The minority ismsdo
up Of unfortunate Americans. In the
awful tenement districts Of the Fast Side
life is a matter not Of dollars but Of
cents. Quantity and not quality is the
object of every one OF the thousands Of
women who daily sally forth from tier
unprcpossessing tenemenis 30 buy the
! food for themselves, their husbands, and
their little ones. Bread is their staple.
HEY cannot afford TO make It they can
not even afford 10 buy 1t fresh. This
costs i've cents small loaf and ten q
| largo one, or rather 1t used 10 cost these
| fCures. For SINCE tho great Chicago cor
ncr in wheat the small loaf aud the large
have gone up in price and gone down in
size one fitb. They buy stale bread, tho
subject Of one Of the great industries OF
Gotham. If they purchased it from tho
bakeries, wholesale or retail, they for
merlv paid two and hnlf or three cents
a small loaf; if from tue peddlers, who
| buy thor stocks from hotels and restau-
rants, two on two and half cents II
from the itinerant Italians aud Russians,
who buy it Heaven knows whore, ono and
a half to two and half cents apiece.
This lowest grade would be a curio we're
it not 30 pitiable and monstrous. 1t Il
not only stale, but 1t is also seIal-decom-
posed, aud often widowed and mouldy.
In some instances the dealer scrubs 1t
clean with a scrubbing brush, and then
reheats it IN an oven. This operation III
creascs its cost half cent per loaf.
COST or BTgAD.
An average family Of the type de-
scribed uses from three to twelve loaves
per diem, according to It's numbers II
is the chief food for breakfast It "a tho
lunch of the husband in Whatever trade
be may be, and with tea OF the family,
and Is tho piece de resistance OF tho
dinner in the evening. At two cents and
"A half or three per loaf the family Is able
| to invest the remainder IN tea, coffee,
sugar. milk. q little meat or fish, and o
few cheap vegetables. The increase IN
the price of -four has upset all these con-
ditiona. Last week fresh bread increased
in price and diminished in size. Iais
week stale bread followed the example,
and advanced from half cent to one
cent and o half per loaf. The result was
10 increase the food expense of family
from two TO twenty cents day.
GOLD HUTCH"
Already the change is beginning to
express itself in popular Indignation and
outcry. In the Italian quarter, where
niue tenths OF all the bread used Is stale,
the name of the great Chicago operator
undor the romanesque pronunciation Of
coda Hucha" is heard everywhere
coupled with maledictons In the
neiehborhood Of Avenues A, =, and 9,
aud Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh
streets, the very hot-bed of New York
Socialism and Ansrchism, it would be
very unsafe for that distinguished bull
TO be seen. In the Jewish quarter the
philosophic resignation which has SO
long characterized that race has again
come to the front and apparently stihed
stronger feelings.
One consequence of the corner is pc
culiar. The demand for stale bread has
increased ut least third, while the ped
dlers who formerly did a thriving bust
ness are making little or no money, or else
are being driven into other vocAtons.
Two weeks ago there were at least 600
stale-bread peddlers in the tenement dis
tricts. while to-day there are not more
than 400. women and men. The bakers
and hotels can no longer sell stale bread
SO as to allow a margin OF profit to the
peddler. In Mulberry and Baysrd
@.-eats tho bokera ara now eNpQslnQ stale