Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-05-20
LIVING ON LUNCHES.
THIS is SAID 3F ONE-HALF THE Pop
ulATiOh OF WASHINGTON.

A Phase Of Life Astonishing tn Strangers.
All Sorts of People Patronize Lunch
rooms The BaIdheaded Referee of
Newspaper Row.
"That one half the world never knows
how the other half lives Is quite an old
adage, !" said an out of town man at one of
the hotels the other evening, "but this
should not be the case with one half of
Washington. The other half lives on
lunches. / never saw u city In my life
where there were half as many lunch
rooms To the square foot of territory. How
they exist and prosper is To me one of the
mysteries of this great city.
why, take any part of the business sec
ton of the city, and you can't east stone
without breaking IA show window Of u
lunchroom. Away out Seventh street, at
the very terminus of the car line, there
are several all night lunchrooms, and l
have always noticed that they were doing
IA good business at all hours of the day and
night.
"The first thing that attracted my at
tention when l paid my initial visit to IA
Washington lunchroom was the signs
upon the wall. One read, Small steak
and trimmings, 20 cents, and was all
Greek to me. | did not care To display my
ignorance and held off many days from
giving that order until that sign used To
haunt me in my sleep Finally ] screwed
up my courage and asked the waiter for "a
small steak, with trimmings He did
not stare at me, as ! thought he should,
and finally ended my suspense by bringing
me steak, potatoes, coffee and bread and
butter. | asked him about the trim
mings, and lie said that they were before
me- The potatoes, bread, butter and coffee
were the trimmings. This was my first
experience, but now can call off the bill
of fare of most lunchrooms by heart, from
the mug of cream at 10 cents mug to
tho Mary land biscuit, unbuttered at a
cent each
Then there is such chance for study
ing men in the way they treat their stom-
achs. A friend was in lunch room with
me at noon one day and pointed out sew
eral prominent men in the crowd who
were eating all sorts of dishes in all man
ner of ways.
" 'Yon see that man over there making
an entry in that little notebooks Well, he
could buy this whole block and not miss
the money He Is IA regular patron of this
place, and eats "a Maryland biscuit unbut-
tered and drinks Il cup of coffee at noon
every day. He always makes an entry of
his purchase in that little notebook, and
dare say there Is not clerk in his employ
who does not give his digestive organs
more chance for u display of their powers.
That other man over there setting them
up to "A crowd, he's got lots of money, too,
but he not only treats his stomach To the
best the lunchroom affords, but he always
has crowd eating with him. You would
think that If he were so generous he would
go to "A higher priced place, but the good,
clean pastry, the fresh milk and the ex-
celent drip coffee To be found i'm this place
cannot be excelled at any hotel or restau-
rant in Washington.
And so he described To me various pa
irons of the room and their character as
developed in such place. The room in
question was In the heart of the business
district, and has the patronage of many
business men, brokers and department
employees.
This room is interesting, but cannot
compare with another place down near
what Is known here as Newspaper row,
believe The time to visit the place in
question is along between midnight and 2
o'clock in the morning. You will find
congregated there the most heterogeneous
assembly that IL was ever your good for
tune to mingle with Race horse men,
touts bicycle cranks, newspaper men, tele
graph operators, broken down poets and
artists, and the man with the jag.
"There is waiter in this place who is
by far the wsest man | ever saw, read or
heard about He has shiny bald head
and wears an expression of profound
thought He sits at one of the tables and
lief. hot IN, h.,t
phere with words alone Finally "a discus
sion arises, and he is appealed To and set
ties the dispute forthwith with decision
slowly rendered and from which there is
no appeal. Whether it was the winner of
the Brooklyn Handicap of 1899, the record
made on their trial trip by any of the
ships in the navy or the number of electors |
who voted for Tilden, he knows IL all and
renders the decision instanter. He can |
give you tip on the winner of the next
bicycle race, can give you the record of
any man in congress and can tell the re-
suit of the last battle in Cuba. And the |
strangest part of the whole business is that |
he rarely reads paper. He gets his news |
first hand ffom newspaper men and tele- |
graph operators and has the confidence Of |
all the sports. He can put you on to an !
opium joint or place To get "A drink after |
hours, and, in fact, can tell You anything |
on the face of the earth you want to know. |
He gathers all this information by listen
ing to the conversations i'm the lunchroom
There Is no place on earth like lunch
room for studying men and matters, and |
there is no town on earth that has finer |
collection of its species. Washington
Post.
Weighty Conside ration.
l. L..