Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-28

fee, when the weather is endurably cool,
is the treat which causes q good many
thousands of men pent up in the big stone
buildings in this town to watch the clock
hands with wistful eyes in the neighbor-
heed of noon.
There are living today in Washington any
number of men who do not look at all
feeble or out of the running who have
bolting-of six-minute lunches on every
week day for as many twenty years.
Take Frenchman or an Englishman to an
American quick-lunch establishment when
its tide of patronage is at it's height and
both of the foreigners will decline to credit
your statement that this is the regular
american manner of preparing for the ex-
erttons of an afternoon
You jest, monsieur-it is a contest" the
Frenchman will declare.
Yer chawfin' me-they couldn't stawnd
II every day. the Englishman will affirm.
The MOdus Opcrnndi Described.
The governmental Washingtonian, for
whom existence offers no joy without a
high noon smoke atop of dairy lunch feed.
Is deliberate only as concerns the smoke
The eating part of the program is carnal
necessity which he apparently abhors, even
If he is quite hungry. On entering the
lunch room his trained eye perceives a va
cant chair way down the line in one of the
OBSCURE corners. He makes for that chair.
incidentally, and scarcely hating in his
gait, he picks from the counter trays what
ever III the line of eatables his vision first
descries, continuing all the time his pro-
g eI IN the direction of the vacant chair.
he stakes out his claim to the chair nv
planting his hat and his eatables on the
extended arms of it; then he nayigates up
10 the counter for his coffee and whirls
aIouHu on MS heel for sugar for the coffee;
tnen ne pilots his course with unerrine eve
dumping into nobody whomsoeyer for tie
cnair ne has staked out and Is all ready for
smoke. ioi
II he eats with the voraciousness q, .
Aiondiker. 1t is probably not 50 much he
cause he Is hungry as because he wants ~
e. tne thing on his hands at once and
.oie,er' SO tnat he can go outside and
sn oke. He has been seen to take alterna4a
p,tes out OF sardne sandwich and a choc
oiate eclair the more rapidly to Jrsnoso
W .ne JOB ne has mapped out for himself.
w heh tnlng is undertaken with this de-
gree OF determination, and one is thoroueb h
~ practiced in the way of doing II. mich
may De accomplished in the way of saving
time. ''' iNh
The Record of n Treasury Young Man.
young man in the Treasury Depart
ment who has discovered that the con-
sumption OF three cigarettes during the
noon recess Is an absolutely essential safe
guard for his health is said to hold the
present 10Th street dairy lunch record. He
erveloped, 1t is claimed. two Guns of cof-
Zee cheese sandwich, a salmon sand
Nicn and portion of mince pie in pre-
cisely three minutes and thrty-seyen sec
onds. This left him twenty-six minutes
ard twenty-three seconds for the usine nm
Of the three cigarettes and the discussion
outside on the unambitious hopelessness of
career passed in the service of the gov
errment.
The non-smoking habitue of the Quick
lunch institutions is to be picked out not
only because of his comparative lack of
haste, put because he exhibits a prefer
ence for the sweet things the counters
and washes them down with milk Him
the smoking men regard with an eye of
ccmmiseration-for the man who doesn't
smoke is looked upon with pity, not UNI
mixed with suspicion, by the man who
does.
A Study of the Male Appetite,
The monday swoop by the men In the
departments upon the quick lunches offers
some opportunities for the study of the
Washington male appetite. The Washing
ton male appetite seems to be an extraor-
dinarily incongruous affair For instance.
weakened old gentleman, sitting at one
of the tables in the rear room of a quick
lunch, was observed the other day to mar
take OF deviled crabs, sliced cucumbers,
hot rolls, coffee and a heaping dish of ice
cream He topped it all Off with a big
was all over, he looked quite happy and
content. Still, one was tempted to follow
him around for the remainder of the after
noon for the humane purpose of ringing
up the ambulance should it be required
Sitting opposite the weakened old gentle
man was giant of a man. who keeps linn
self In trim by working two hours every
evening In the Athletic Club gymnas SUM.
The giant of n man was slowly consuming
bowl of milk and graham crackers
good many men, mostly members CT
building associations, probably carry their
lunches over to the dairy eating establish
ments in napkins and invest in cup of
coffee or mug of milk to relieve their
home-brought food of it's dryness These
men are regarded with coldly studious
eyes by the dairy lunch proprietors