Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-16
LONDON'S ODD CORNERS.
HELEN CAMPBELL VISITS A VEGE-
 HARLAN RESTAURANT.

She Introduces Her Description Thereof with a Dissertation on the Difficulties Experienced by London Working People
 Who Try to Get Meat to Eat.
 Especial Correspondence.]
 LONDON, -v.- -2.--To the American mind the word vegetarian suggests more or less suspicion that it's chief synonym should be ''crank," and though here and there an advo- cate of it's claims is to be foInd it is felt that it is but phase of the many conditions through which the experimental American is likely to pass before settling into comforta- ble acceptance of things as they are. Those who work among the poor discover shortly that one of the tests of prosperity is to have meat three times day, this meat being usu- ally a lump of beef, fried leisurely till of much the consistency of boot heel, and with about the same power of nourishing. Even the better cuts are treated in much the same fashion, and not only the very poor, but the workmen of higher grades, have no concep- tion of what may be done to make cheap cuts savory as we'll as nourishing, the French and Italian peasant woman being on this point far wiser than many an educated American. Cheap meat is here, and in an abundance that one would fancy should suffice for every one of the 4,OO0,OO and more to be purveyed for. Australia and South America pour in their supplies, and lands nearer home are equally called upon. The "cat's meat man" is not one, but dozens, and his trade an- nounces itself unblushingly side by side with regular butchers. All odd bits and ends enter into pies saveloys, a form of beef sausage dear to the popular mind and known to all readers of Dickens. But the saveloy is mystery; not only the cats meat, but the cat itself is an integral portion, and it is known that ancient cab horses look suspici- ously at the windows as they pass this final home, and that rejected meat from any quar- ter has certain acceptance here. The save Joy at a penny, with the accompanying mug of hot cocoa, makes a sumptuous meal for the newsboy or street sweeper; but tie man who has learned to define stomach shrinks from the complications of it's make up, and looks toward the windows where chops and steaks are arranged in seductive nearness to tomatoes and mushrooms. Often he looks in vain, the shilling, which is the usual price for chop and potato, being needed in sev- eral other directions. The Englishman craves meat jnstinctively, but wages for every form of labor are so low that self de- nial is inevitable. The English farm laborer counts himself lucky if bit of bacon large enough to flavor the dinner of cabbage or turnips and potatoes can be had daily More often it is but a Sunday luxury, and fresh meat of any sort is barely seen from one years end to another.
 In the cities it is much the same, though cheap meat, in the shape of tripe and every available ounce of the inward portions of the animal, crowds the stalls and hangs from every available point in the dark and smoky and speckled with soot, which flies perpetually and as perpetually settles where would least wish it-these hideous specimens of ami nal food are sold ill any amount, from a penny worth up or down, and the record of Punch is, like many of it's records, absolutely true to life-the stall and a phenomenaIly big butcher, looking down upon child, who holds out small and skinny hand:
 "Mother wants a ha'penny worth O veal, cut with an 'ammy knife to give it a favor"
 Il is plain that not even Australian sup plies can do much toward bettering these conditions, for, as already said, both the workman and the man few degrees above, live on sum limited beyond anything that even the poorest American would think of calling salary. It is true that clothing and some other expenses are less, but the English man marrics early and finds in the mouths that must be fed his chief and most perplex- ing problem. The time comes when tribe and onions, liver and bacon, even the saveloy are beyond him, and he begins to mediate on the Scotchman's attachment to porridge and to wonder if human beings can really live on it.
 It is evident that the time was ripe for the new departure which seems to have taken place, and which, within a short period of time, has established twenty~four vegetarian restaurants in various parts of London, all thus far being in what is known as ''the city," or strictly business portion of London. Now and then an innovator who had crossed l the Atlantic ventured to hint that cheaper meals were possible, and that New York restaurant made money even from fifteen cent plates, with their slice of roast beef or mutton, potatoes, bresAl and butter, un- l limited ice water and a napkin, with no tip 1 to walters, but he was drowned down by the 1 conservative, who regards bread and napkin as extras and walters tips a part of the l foundation of society itself. Even where coarse chop and steak can be had for six pence, potatoes and bread at penny each, with the inevitable tip, bring the meal to not less than twenty cents, and there is no medium between the ''cheap and nasty' and the high priced places
 It is easily seen, then, what welcome an | aDunuanU anu SaFOIy uIeal IIOIu SlXpenCo up would meet with, and, after the first season of dark distrust with which the true Briton greets any innovation was over, the new de- parture hailed beyond any expectation
 of it's originators. It is possible to make a
 very comfortable lunch for threepence-six
 cents-and quite @ sumptuous one for six.
 pence, while fifteen or twenty cents furnishes
 a varied and very abundant meal. Bread
 and napkin are extras, but there are no tips
 to walters, and the surroundings and service
 re clean and attractive. Girls are employed
 in all of them, and their soft English voices
 and gentle, courteous manner, ill curious
 contrast to the same class among us, are 6
 very comfortable feature of the places The
 menus are made on the same general plar
 as those of any restaurant. There is a six
 penny department on an upper floor, where
 three courses are served for sixpence; a soup
 some vegetable and a sweet, and a very pop
 ular institution known as the ''sixpenny tee
 tray" which includes the pot of tea dear te
 all Englishmen, milk and aroll with butter
 and jam, or, if preferred a round of toas
 and an egg. Either white or brown breao
 may be ordered, the English brown breae
 1xy,aat n1oo1