Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-01-03
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
WHAT THE WOMEN OF~IHE Me-
TROPOLtS EAT.

TROPOLIS EAT.
Some of the Various Reasons why They
Are Thin and Pale-A Diet of Sweet
I pensive Bonbon Boxes.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, Dec. 3O.-A speculative Eng
lishman stood at the bewildering junction of
Madison square and T~wenty-third street on a
sunny day last week and watched metropoli-
tan femininity surging up and down and
g across like tri-crossing streams. An hours
observation from this vantage point is equal
to a weeks experience elsewhere.
pretty, very pretty" said the Englishman
softly, as busting young matrons, real
'swagger" girls in furs, violets and patent
leather, and dotted-veiled, piquant faced
chorus girls brushed past him; ''but their
pallor! They lack the blood and stamina
which make our women hold their own in
hard, cross country rides. What on earth do
they eats"
In that question we arrive at the difficulty
of the whole matter. What do they eats
Ask rather-what don't they eat? They eat
little of what they should, a great deal of
what they@ought to avoid. They eat at the
wrong hours, they don't eat enough, or they
eat altogether too much. They eat in a hurry
generally, lunch i'll hot, crowded restaurants,
with even their bonnet strings united. They
take three-quartcrs of an hour to decide what
they shall order, and manage to eat it in
twenty minutes. They are very troublesome
customers. Walters 10 not like them, and
no wonder, for these airy, inconsequent nui-
sannac Sal6pO, riy, tine To alu tbav oro IN.
clined to stimulants. They do not drink milk.
And tea-that beverage supposed to be a
panacea for every feminine ill-tea, l say, is
nowhere!
From Fourteenth street to Thirty-fourth,
taking in Broadway and Sixth avenue, there
are at least fifteen places, including restau-
rants, bakeries and candy shops, where mixed
ala fancy drinks are sold, which are patron
lied to a large extent and in some cases al
most exclusively by women.
Let us start OH a tour among them. Here
is a crowded restaurant on Fourteenth street,
the Mecca Of hungry bargain hunters, and
numbering among its customers a large per-
centage of women and girls employed in
shops and offices in the neighborhood.
A few days since 1 found a seat near two
middle aged gossips. The elder had a tiny,
ied bonnet poised on a pyramid of gray hair,
AID her stout face, with its easy expression of
content and don't-careism, expressed a liking
'forsthe good things of life. The other was a
thiIs sallow woman, with a shrewish nose and
dustcolored hair. They had evidently been
porting over the bill of fare for some time, as
the waiter standing BY had a worn and pa
tient expression, and Occasionally twirled his
napkin or elevated his Eyebrows.
"Really, 1 don't see anything very invit.
so~ y cold tho yvop,o, with tla ,,oI bo,,ro+
"Er-what do you say to codfsh?
"What else is there?'
"Clam fritters."
$50 greasy"
"Do you like oysters?"
"Can't Dear them. never could"
The waiter sighed, and both women looked
at him with an Impatient questioning so that
he felt it incumbent to cover up the tracks OF
the sigh with a smile SO unctuous. so servile
that they appeared to forgive him and re
turned to the study of the bill of fare.
"What do you say to picked tongueg"
"It always gives me dyspepsia" said she OIL
the shrewish nose sadly.
"Ill tell you Il splendid thing for dyspepsia
far ahead of pepsin. Take two grains Of
but there, III tell you afterward! We're ,
little long making up our minds, it seems tx
me. Now here's some fried eels."
"Ugh! But you just go on and order VIVA
you like; Pm hard to please"
''Indeed I shall not. Almost anything
suits me, so have a squint at the bill of far.
yourself"
"An right. steaks 1t doesn't agree will
me at all. Chops? Always too rare o.
something. Oh-roast pork with appl
sauce! How's that?"
"Well," said the stout woman, with a hope
1.a, ,,;1o ttif ~, b,l hoo, 1,,I;,x fo, $500.
thing to make me deathly i'll you couldn'
have struck it better. Inever eat it, :
The waiter, who had been standing first O,
one foot and then on the other, now com
menced to change his napkin from hand t.
hand in the same way. His glance had be
come leaden and his lips were slightly apar
as if he had fallen into a trance while retain
ing an upright position.
- There was all impressive silence for thirt7
seconds and the sharp nosed woman CLOSED
the book.
"After all, we might as well go back tx
fried Goldfish. It's as good as anything. Tha
suits you, does it? Very we'll. Two friee
Goldfish, waiter, and don't be all day about it
as we're in a dreadful hurry"
The waiter did not permit himself the lux
ury of one s~atirical glance, but obediently
trotted off while 1 sat still and marveled a
the inconsistency of my sex and at the won
derful command walters have over their ia
cial muscles.
About noon I entered a we'll known baker,
a few blocks further up Broadway. Seats ar
arranged at long counters and about eight
cen inches of space allowed each person. Wo
men entered in a hurry burdened with UNI
brellas or muffs. and wrapped in thick ulster
and furs. They sat down elbow to elbow t.
get their lunch "by hook or by crook.
There was a fluttering and gossiping an,
clinking Of forks. The dainties consumed
round me were oyster patties and choco
late, coffee and ~eclaires, lemon meringue pie
jelly rolls, angel cake, sugared buns, etc.
Now is it strange New York women ar
pale? There's as much blood in a stone as il
piece of angel cake although it has such
beautiful name. And lemon meringue pie
not particularly noted for staying powers.
But perhaps the most startling thing
about the feminine palate were those I nc
ticed in q large restaurant scintilating il
mirrors and gas jets in the neighborhood O
Sixth avenue and Twenty-third street. Here
az oil ho,,rc IF tha dav choppor, ooporor,+,