The morning times., 1895-11-11
ABOUT SOME DINERS OUT
They Possibly Go to Dine, or
Possibly to Eat Dinner.
QUITE A GREAT DIFFERENCE
Scenes In a Not Exclusive Cafe, Where
Birds OF Every Pretty Feather Flock
Together and Order According to
Taste or Impulses of Economy or
Show of Epicurean knowledge.

The old distinction between dining and
eating dinner win never be eradicated so
long as the restless American lives to
believe that time is money and money only.
There used to and are stiIl places where
they go only for dinner. 1t is not strange,
though, that in city that Is fast assum-
ing the cosmopolitan atmosphere a Wash
ington is, place may be found where
people do both.
There is a restaurant in this city, not
more than hundred miles from the
Capitol, where the people who enter do
SO with either the intent to enjoy them
selves or to feed themselves.
They are usually eminenuy successful
in whichever course they pursue. Amuse-
ment comes for the waiting to be who
win sit at one of the round tables and
| keep his eyes open.
Every Washingtonian at some time in
his life goes to this -fooo dispensary.
Others go oftener. Still others 60 daily.
Strangers seek 1t on their visit to the
Capital The menu runs from basso pro-
fundo to pianissimo. From good and sub
stantial TO dangerous and dyspepsia court
ing food.
The place has the regulation restaurant
look, mirrors and electric fans give it
that. The table linen varies in purity
OF tone from the light TO the darker
sarts of the room. BY the front windows
| and under the rear skylight 1t is ever
potleSs In other Parts of the rocm IL is
never bad, how ever.
Just as the observer gets fairly seated
in comes person no has never been there
before. Anyhow, that was the experience
of The Times reporter when he seated
himself at one of the tables the other day.
The new conner was nice-looking, middle
aged gentleman OF more than medium
weight He puffed as he sat down, The
waiter handed him the menu card.
The eatables were arranged in depart
ments, tie plain foods and the delicacies
being claSsed together. The putting man
waded boldly in and began perusing tie
card. He got down the cover page without
saying anything and as he TUNED to begin
on the entrees the coiored walter lurched
over TO his left foot like an excursion
steamer shifting her crowd toward the
wharf side. The waiter was tired of stand
ing on his right foot. After another ap-
parenuy endless round OF waiting, inter
rupted only by the labored putting of the
new arrival, he ordered. He took only
''an onion steak and trimmings"
When it came he ate IL as though II was
| the meal OF his life and inwardly patted
| himself for his gagacity in ordering such q
| layout from so stupendous a reserve.
| 1t is not always the newcomers that so
| closely read the bill OF fare through. There
| are lots of people that go to this ard
| other restaurants, who each time as care
| fully go over the list as though it was
| tue daily paper or some piece of choice
| literature.
ANOTHER PATRON.
A thin man sat on the other side OF the
room. His clothes hung very loosely about
| his frame and gave the apPea rance of being
| much too large for him. He was nervous
and eager to get away apparently. After
| looking down the card, he wound up sud-
| ienly by ordering iced tea, q cheese sand
| witch and a pfece of fruit cake. When he
| had cleared away the outfit as completely
| as prairie fire licks up town lots, in an
| enterprising trans Mississippi region, he
called for a piece of apple pie and a glass
milk. He grabbed the check from
! the waiter, paused nervously at the cash
| isr's desk and was gone.
| The nervous man had hardly had time
| to turn the corner when a jolly company
| entered. II consisted of two. Their COM
bined weight would not fall far short of
half a thousand. There scould easily
| arise a controversy as to which was the
| larger. They moved over to the table
\ where the thin man had sat and she took
| his chair. The other member of the party,
| who was her husband, squeezed in the chair
| opposite her and between the table and the
| wall.
| Mt the faces around her as he hunted dow n
| the list
What shu goin, to take?'' he queried.
| Anything you like" she replied, In
unbroken English, and continued her gaze
| about the room.
| The waiter brought an order-both
alike-that began with noodle soup. In
| addition came Frankfurt sausage and
1 sauerkraut. lamb fries. shrimp salad, rye
| bread, and two or three vegetables
The two laughed and talked all the time
| they ate. He spoke in his broken English
| with German accent and she in her plain
| American. She knew her parents mother
| tongue, though. and when he leaned over
| and said half dozen sentences in soto
| voce German she laughed most heartily.
| They ate and ate until 1t became
| problem whether the man would be able
/ o get away from his chair unless the table
| was moved or a hole was cut in the wall
| They enjoyed their dinner. apparently. and
| when they began on the beer each wanted n
Schwcitzer sandwich to eat with 1t. When
they got up one knew they had dined.
A GOLDEN BLONDE.
| The hour had grown late and there began
| to be more dining and less eating done
| That does not mean, though, that less is
| ,aten A young blonde, vivacious and
| stunning, came in with her escort. She
4 wore q bonnet of the description OF a flower,
| row of beads and fastening, and it was
plain that she came to be seen. The young
| man, who was even more styltshly
| 2ttired than she, was proud of her, but she
| did not seem over-zealous about him. They
began and slowly moved down through
the oysters, soup and fish.
Just enough of each was left to look well
| or for that matter nothing at all was some
times left and on other occasions everything
was left untouched, so thatit alwa Us looked
well. That is. one got the impression ny
the time they have started on the entrees
they had dined earlier. When the roast vas
served one began to forget them, and wheT
the glace tortoni came. ones attention wa'
entirely diverted, and he almost forgo
that the young man called for quart o.
extra dry as though he did it every dinner
time.
A trio came in together. They were from
the comic opera that happened to he here
that week That was plain, they could have
come from nowhere else. One girl wa
demure and petite and the other was o
the new woman variety. The latter wa
clad in a gray plaid coat, cut much aftel
the fashion of that worn by her escort
and fell away from q collar and shir
bosom similar to his.
Alphonso that was what they called him
did the ordering, and the rapldity witt
which they stored away what was Sc
before them was truly astonishing. Every
| thing from oysters to cheese, went dow
| with the assistance of so many quarts al