The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-10-22

Agents. Honolulu. II. I.
/ Secretary decided 10 make an applica-
/ ton personally to a friend for this OBJ
ject; and on the 22nd of October when
we We're settled in our neat and taste
full little room TO hold our next direc-
tors meeting, she was able to state,
/ she held the desire $50 in her purse for
this purpose and the great surprise and
! joy of the committee. About this time
Mr.. A. Parmalee was added to our
Board of Directors and became a most
efficient and valuable member, and
when mrs. w. L. Hopper was obliged
to leave on account of health for Cali
fornia she was made our treasurer.
On the 1st of November, 1895, the lunch
room was commenced with semi
public lunch, and we were ably sus
tanned by the generous ladies of the
w. G. T. Z. in furnishing the provi-
siOns; and then attending and eating
their lunch there with their invited
husbands or friends. Daily lunch have
! been sold from that day to the present.
The lunch experiment was COM
menced with cold food and drink, as
the rooms were under the Odd Fellows
hall, and the lessor was very particular
about allowing fire on the premises.
But as the cooler months arrived it
was found that hot drinks must be fur
nished to keep our patronage. Various
eXpedients were reSOrted to, at first
sending out to the house of one of the
Directors, several blocks away, for
boiling water and later purchasing a
small kerosene stove, which a near
neighbor allowed for short time on
her kitchen veranda, where the assist
About the time Of OR second open
ing, an assistant, Miss Emma Herrick,
was secured to aid Miss Oliver in tend
ing the Exchange room and in waiting
on the tables at noon.
Twelve Directors meetings were held
during the last two months Of 1895,
and committees from their number
made diligent search Ghro' the city for
some new site, where more room and
facilities for cooking could be secured.
But no place centrally located could
be found with a rental less than SIS
a month, and we could not then see
where our small business would war
rant such an expense. About two
weeks after the opening of the lunch
room the lessor consented to the using
of the small kerosene stove at noon for
one hour, and it was brought there and
coffee and tea were made and added
much to the attraction OF the lunch.
1t was in a Directors meeting OF ear
~ November that we decided to charge
a depositors' fee of ST a year, and as
there was an increase OF beautiful and
dainty articles brought in before
Christmas, by new depOsitOrs, this
gave an additional item of increase to
our income. and the Cleaners and the
Y. w. c. T. u. societies both pledged
~ Il II,
rent, which had increased with the en-
largement of the business to $40
month. But with all these rills of help
it became very apparent at the open
ing of the year 1896 that a crisis was
imminent.
Miss Oliver felt it imperative to wind
up her own business, and she was not
willing, altho' much interested in the
Exchange, to assume the response
bility of running ii alone, making her
support from the proceeds of the EX-
change and lunch room. AS she had
served us most disinterestedly for
nearly a year, with no compensation
save the monthly rent, the Directors
decided, in April, 1896, at the close of
our first years experiment, TO appeal to
the general community for funds, and
enlarge the business still more, pledg
ing Miss Oliver salary Of $25 a
month and securing her an assistant
at SIS month. Room and board were /
added. And one month later, when
our appeal TO the public had met with
a generous response, a donation of $50 |
was sent Miss Oliver, with a note of
appreciation of her faithful service
from the full Board of Directors.
AS the lunch business increased and |
the need of more fire was a necessity |
~t,r1 80 i
mOny hall had given notice of utter
refusal any longer, for even the limited
privilege, after May l, 1896. and the |
Directors at once took action, after !
once more laying the subject before |
the w. G. T. L. for approval.
The only place that seemed available |
to our means was the great two-story /
barn of a printing office lately vacated /
by the Hawaiian Gazette Company. (
Here, on the 22d OF April, the full /
committee with the addition of Mrs. !
2. G. Jones as delegate from the So
ciety, met and surveyed that scene of /
dirt and dilapidation for full hour, [
and decided it had capabilities for our (
use if it could be cleaned and put into /
decent order Mrs. Jones volunteered /
to act as a committee with Miss NJ. A. /
to interview Mr.. William .
@. Irwin and see if he would be will F..
ling to put it in such order for us as (
we needed, at the rent of $75 a month. /
Mr.. Irwin met the committee and went .
personally to the premises, looking
obviously around at the amount of re
pairs we asked, but cheerfully consent
ed to assume it for us. at the rent we !
felt willing to promise, and at a second /
interview which Mrs. Parmalee and /
Miss Chamberlain held with him, con-
scented to the full contract OF specifi- /
cations we carried with US.