Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-06

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boiling the evening ration of soup for the men.
Some OF this soup was of beans and another
kettle was of cabbage, while in a third hogs
head buckwheat mush was steaming away. I
tasted all of these. catinga bit with wooden
spoon out of the great ladies' handed me by the
cooks, and did not find them at all bad In
another part of the kitchen were stacks of
great loaves of the black bread which the
peasants eat, and as we looked at this | asked
for the bill of fare of this Scent eating house.
The reply was that each man got four meals for
this sum, two Of which consisted of cold bread
and water and the other two of which we're hot
Each man received four pounds of bread day
and the meals were taken in the following
order: At in the morning, after work
Ing three hours on an empty stomach. tho
men eat breakfast of bread and water. At IL
they knock off for dinner. and at this time they
sit down at long tables and have some of this
hot soup and bread. At 5 pm. they take an
other lunch of bread and water. and at 8, after
they are through with their DAYS work. they
have more soup, with y little of this buckwheat
mush. In his soup each man gets three-quar-
tiers OF pound of meat. and. the rations all told
for the sum of cents are better than can be
had anywhere else in the world. They are
far superior to what the peasants are accus-
toned to AT home and they grow fat on them.
HOW THE PEASANTS EAT.
don't know whether this peasant boarding
house contractor furnishes the dishes or not.
but suppose he does. / watched meal of the
workmen and the extra expense in this regard
could not be large. The men ate as have seen
the peasants in many places where they are
served with dinners by the famine relief peo-
pie. and IN fact just rs they eat in their own
homes. The only dishes were wooden bowls
the size of those in which the ordinary Ameri-
can family chops its hash or the farmers wife
works her butter. These bowls were about
three inches deep and they were filed with a
.nrtv no toh l. 1-1l
of rough planks, and were two feet wide and
100 feet long, with benches running along both
sides of them so as to form seats for the men.
There was no cloth upon them. bat the
white surface of each table was marked off with
charcoal into squares. and each square had
number up to ten and at the end of the ten
squares a second series of ten numbers began
Each man had thus his own square place at the
table. and one OF these bowls was set in the CEN
ter OF each gang and contained enough for ten
persons Instead of plate cup or q saucer
each man had in his hand spoon of yellow
wood which would hold about twice as much as
the ordinary tablespoon, and the men took their
turns in dipping their spoons into the soup and
carrying ii to their mouths. There rigid
order about the whole and there was no chance
for a man to get spoonful more than his share.
As to this service. however not one OF the hun
bred lorg-bearded men at the table objected
and the majority of them would not know how
to handle dishes of porcelain and knives and
forks.
LIVING ON LESS THAN CENTS DAY.
The above is, as l have said, fa. living for
these people, They are furnished it by con-
tractor. who makes some money out of it and
who il dependent for his custom on the excel
lency of his board. The famine relief kitch-
ems, which are supported by the government
and charity. give dinners for kopecks piece
or % cents day. During the worst part of
Iacl I'M |
cent meal. and during the famine one such
meal was given daily to thousands who could not
even pay this amount for nothing There was
one of these kitchens. at Mini Noygorod, which
was serving hundreds of these Decent meals to
all who paid for them and giving them TO such
as could prove themselves destitute. For this
215 cents thev gave bowl of soup. with bit
of meat as big AS the palm OF your hand and a
pound and half of bread, and on fast days
fish took the place of meat. One of the Gus
toms in regard TO this dining room seemed to
be an excellent one. and if eating rooms on a
similar plan could be established in America it
would be good thing. This custom the
giving OF begSars meal tickets instead of
money. The proprietors of the establishment
sold twenty of their dinner tickets for 80 cents
and the citizens of the town bought these by
the hundred. and when approached by beggars
for aims they gave them tickets for these PA
cent meals instead of money. Such tickets
could not. of course. be used at the Vodka
shops or saloons and they prevented fraud on
the part of the beggars.e
RUSSIAN GOVERNOR ON THE FAMINE.
During a lunch which Dr. Hubbel and myself
took with the governor of Mini Novgorod we
had long talk about the famine. and as Mini
Novgorod was one of the first districts to take
measures 70 aid the people his story of the stu
alton was interesting. This Mini governor saw
that the famine was at hand long before it came.
The crops had been bad for several years, and
as far back Nav. 1891. he sent for reports
from the various districts of his province and
found that out of eleven. which comprised it..
only two had enough to carry them through
the winter. This is one Of the greatest grain
centers OF Russia and the governor at once
bought lot Of grain on his own responsibility,