The times., 1897-06-06
STRANGE RESTAURANT SIGNS.
The Observations Of Two Chicago
Business Men.

Wo ifienos, IL uudIu vi tfttuc fIldii ttfiu u
banker, who werein search of a quick noon
day lunch, hurried into the nearest restau-
rant AMI took seats upon stools at the loag
counter. Instantly their attention was at
tfactcd by the grotesque gesticulat tions Of
the waiter III front of them. After gazing
for few moments at the odd spectacle the
banker exclaimed:
'.Well, l must say that this beats all the
performances 1 ever saw What kind OF n
circus is it, anyway? That waiter acts rs
If he had gone mad or was delivering lee
ture upon the sign language of the aborig-
ines
Its certainly u new one on n.e," re-
spondcd the board OF trade man. my
curiosity is thoroughly aroused. This is bet
ter entertainment than the regulation man
doiin orchestra
He followed this comment with an order
for Ioast beef smothered in onions, Then
| he watched ever rynovement of the big col
ored waiter, vino turned about and looked
down the long room TO the Kitchen counter
in the rear. A sharp snap of his fingers
caused the girl at the distan counter to look
up Having caught the eye of this profess
s'onai sigai reader, the waiter began a series
of Remarkable and startling gestures. He
extended his left hand, drew the edge Gf
his tight across the open ana uptnfned
palm with a quick cutting motion, then
flirted his fingers as If they were wet and
dripping Finally he shaded mis- eyes with
his left hand
''Lcok here, waiter exclaimed tn. man
frou the wheat pit. Tel me if my analy-
sis or that signal which you have Just given
is not correct The first motion was in
Imitation of beef siicing and gave the or
der foi IL cut of beef nothing more Bu5the
shakiUgof your fingers, asif they Were drip
ping v:itii blood, modified The order to rare
Then tlie holding of the hand over the eyes
suggested something strong and pungcnt-
the onions. Am right?''
Sure you are. replied the waiter.
''You read 1t plain, as If IL was printed
out in I. book. Most all OF our signs tell the
story III themselves They picture it out
All of 'em did that at first, bat as the bill
OF fare began TO get larger we had to have
more signs, and, consequently, some or
them are simply arbitrary and don't Illus
trait anything Take milk toast, for in
stance l can't figure out why holding The
hanG at the back Of the head should sug
gcst mil X toast, but that $ our 81 gnaI forit =
NO" Juet ttt tiit pun Al III OIucis
terrupted the banker, land see if i can
translate as well as my friend. III take
sausages and soft boiled eggs Now 70
ahead with your Delsarte business
Instantly the little fingers of the wait
er' bands were linked together.
Links of sausage see?" commented the
banker
NrHt the waiter formed an oval with his
thumb and fcrefinger, then brought his
palms together with soft and easy mo-
ton
The oval stands for the egg" inter
rupt,d the delighted translator, ''and the
other sign means done soft,' >
You gentlemen would catch hold of
this system of orders Eighty easy said
the waiter No trouble at all for you,
but we get some fellows in here who
couldn't master it in month";
That's right commented the manager
OF the restaurant, as he Joined the group
1T gives us considerable trouble in the Sc
lection OF walters, but, on the other hand 1T
results in sitting out u sharper, keeneT class
nf men The system was originated for US
by Il colored waiter, and itwa necessitated
by the fact that the distance from our coun-
ters to the kitchen is 30 great that the or
ders had To be fairly yelled before the pres
entpIan was adopted Ofcourse, theoTigiEal
code wasa very simple one, butithas grown
with thrconstantly yinereasing variety ofar-
uicies served. II is probable that We now
have nearly or quite fifty different signals.
The methodisvery satisfactory, as it avoids
a large amount OF noise and confusion and
al the same time affords our patrons no end
of entertainment They appear to enJoythe
effort TO gainan understanding ofthe code
possibly inorder thatthey ma y display their
knowledge to uninitiated friends who come
In with them. no doubt attracts many
new patrons to whom it is an absolute row
elty
1.-The signs may be divided into two
classes, those which are fixed and invari-
able in their application, and those which
apply to different articles under differing
conditions Short ribs of beef with brown
our menn. day after day, and the signal
for that order is always touch of the fin
gers in the vicinity of the short ribs anI
the joining of the tips of the thumbs.
s'But there is ii portion of the bill of
fare which Is changed each day. Today
the boiled dish in this part of the menu is
morrow tie boil may be corned beef but
the sign will remain the sanie-tte hands
clasped in a devotional attitude
THE code is also subject to division
along another line-the signs which are
really significant, and those which are
purely arbitrary Holding the hand eX-
tended, with the fingers waving from side
to side, like the motion of the tail fin
of a fish, is a picture which plainly says
fish But there is nothingain holding up
the hand with the thumb doubled in front
of the palm, which suggests OF itself a
small steak
Yes" responded the hoard of trade man:
"the waiter has touched upon that pecu-
liarity of the system 1t is very novel
and interesting thing, and I'd like to
study it a little more. Suppose you run
your eye down this bill of fare and explain
some of the most picturesque and unique
things"
Very well'' returned the manager
Here are some of the signs which gener-
ally yattractparticular notice: Germanf fries
two extended fingers showed in front of
the lips: liver and hacon-the forefingers
rubbed together and the rghthand touched
against the side: dry toast-all The fingers
stiffly extended and interlocked: ham and
eggs-the right palm slapped against the
face and then extended in an open posi-
t on: broiled hafn-the fingers of one hand
spread wide apart and laid over those
of the other hand in the form OF grid
iron; baked beans-open palm with the
finger points slightly curled upward; Ham,
burg steak-closed fist thrust forward;
Goldfish halls-fists doubled and held