The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-24
CONCERNING WATERS.
A STORY OF THE MAN WHO TAKES
YOUR ORDER AND your TIP.
-Four Glasses in Waiterdoun-One Of /
the Guild Who Had a Passion for |
Gorgeous Raiment-A SIX etch of |
AlDhonao
From the Neto York Recorder.

Gorgeous Reiment-A SIX etch of
Alphonse.
from the Neto York Recorder.
No class Of public servitors has received
so little consideration from human kind,
and none has rendered higher benefits to the
race than the the grave-faced gentlemen
who wear a towel on their arm and right
hand that is always open, with the palm
side uppermost. The gentle tribe who look
I to your gsstronOmic requirements IN the
public restaurants is divided into many
clans, and each clan has its peculiar repre-
Lentatives. The waiter III his present high
state Of development is very worthy Of
analysis he is vastly interesting under the
revealing lens Of the microscope of sppre-
citation and for this best of reasons let US
examine him IL his various spheres OF ac-
tivity.
Beginning at the bottom of the scale and
| South street, the waiter is found in a very
| wild and wooiIy state indeed Here he in
| habits deep and narrow room, where the
! dining tables consist of two long pieces OF
| board nailed to the wall and covered with
! oil cloth, atop of which is a miscellaneous
! assortment Of evii-lOoklug bottles with sus-
! piclous condiments and unknowaole fluids.
| The waiter who haunts this sort OF estab-
he would not take the suggestion from you
kindly, fear. His place IS on the stage OF
the variety theater, where fame ana
fortune await him as q JugRer.
| In the terminology Of bis probes
sion the South street waiter Is grub
| Singer and the title fits him like the
soiled paper collar that interferes with his
emphatic commands to the cook, who is
very much en- evidence through big semi
circular hole in the wall. l am sure don't
know what would happen il it should occur
to any patron of an eating place of this
stamp to offer the waiter a tip" l am
morally certain that the astOnished
recipient Of the tip would become mentally
unbalanced: in any csse he would swoon
away upon the sawdust laden floor.
The walters of the water front restau-
rants are well informed men, every one of
them. They will name the probable win
ners in any horse race at any track They
| never indulge in speculation on the rela-
tive speed of noted 1eeted eQuines on their
| own account, because they never can get
enough money to indulge in that sort Of
| luxury. The South street waiter knows
more about the eminent tisticuff artist Of
the day than the sporting journals. He is
HANDY with his dukes himself, he will
| tell you, but this accomplishment has been
acquired in the pursuit of his profession as
a waiter, for part of his daily task is the
forcible election Of some unruly diner,
| VINO mas lDHlsbSQ on uEluklnR buc SuLlTo COur
tents OF the catsup bottle, or who has
striven to battle his toil-stained hands in
the ice water tank.
Next in point Of prominence is the food
server in a "ham-and-eggs Is cents" style
! of restaurant. Compared with his profess
| sional brother down by the wharf, this man
| is a swollen aristocrat. He wears a white
apron, and there are distinct tables and
bill OF fare card in the places where he
serves. No one ever said that the food was
any better here than in the other place, but
an extra spoon in the sugar bowl and
damp napkin for every customer means
| something in these days OF high living and
general fastidiousness at table. There is
| one thing about the walters in third-class
| eating house that distinguishes them from
all others Of their calling. 1t is all IN the
way they walk. Do you know that cork
screw shuttle! II the walters hands are
full. they are made to saw the air with q
lateral motion, and the feet. which are gem
orally several sizes too large for the man,
are flung forward loosely from the knee
like the pendulum of eight-day clock
that hasn't been wound in ten days hut in
sists on keeping in motion.
He is only half bad fellow, this type Of
waiter, even If be does spatter coffee on
your cuffs and give you fork with only
two prongs. His intentions are good but
his code of ethics aud his knowledge of the
properties are full Of knot holes, and the
shoe lace counter in the big Grand street
store calls for a great deal of his thought.
1t was this girl, really, who was responsible
for the walters error in bringing you
plate Of ice cream and butter knife when
you ordered lamb stew and succotash. Peo-
pie who dine in the big and snowy restaur-
ants and get what they order, can never
fully appreciate The excitement OF order
ing corn beef and cabbage, and then gam
: bling with the man who sits at the oppo-
site side OF the table on what you will
, pre- badly receive.
OF second rating in the schedule of ex-
perts who minister TO the various needs OF
the inner man, are the comestible carriers
who pass their time and exhaust their tai
ents in down town cafes andIuptown empor-
Iums,ot human provender, where the edioleS
served are Of finer quality and the mode
of serving more humane and less remindful
of the coal chute and shovel Your artful
waiter OF these high grade masticatory
mills is person difficult to gather into q
single type. But his prime characteristics
are boldly enough asserted for one to build
with them personidCation Of the class
The cultureess aims of the second-rate
waiter possess him in the form of big and
, questionable diamonds, wide striped shirt
bosoms and fiercely waxed mustaohios. But
after all that class of walters now under
consideration has few members OF such per-
! nicious persuasion as the last described
. |
which the second class waiter Is inexora-
Bile, unhinching; he will not affiliate with
men OF his vocation whose professional
status is a scale below bis own. The pride
of an exalted pursuit and the pomp engen-
, dered by the invironmentof clean linen and
triple plated knives and forks lead this
knight.ot the itching palm to don such airs
as are most commonly supposed TO be the
! property Of kings.
! There came upon the writer's horizon one
time a fellow of the Xix and standing Just
alluded to, whose character was unique
He bad way of wearing grand apparel
originally designed for some ostentatious
| moneybags, and which our walters doubt
less rescued from the counters OF a misfit
clothing shop His fur-trimmed coat in
winter and his breezy white hanne!s In
/ summer, always more pronounced in hue
| and cut than those OF the most daring dude,
, made him a mark at every point be turned
! To see him struttinR in the stirring quarters
! OF the town, you would DO led to ask in
! | stlnctively, who is he3" He has been fos-
, tered upon the innocent by those who pose
. as reservoirs Of current knowledge aud dis
. ! seminators OF local wisdom as a Russian
noble, Spanish grandee and a French
marquis lie has been pointed out es a