The herald., 1898-12-25

pidtts. At last succeeded III DuttOn HO.iuS
one of the wal. RS aL;, asked hiE whether
he could serve me with something 20 eat.
He looked at me- from Lead to foot and re.
peated my plaintye words: Serve you
with something to eat, sir. No gentleman
in London luuches before Il O'Clock, sir"
With gasp | +, :a,lnd quickly the rebu'ic
that l had received az the Langham upon
my first visit 10 London) from a servant
whom | had inteeroga.ed concerning the
Langhams table d'hote: Quality always
eats privately, sir
1t was now nearly IL, and felt exhausted,
despairing. My forced promenades had de-
veloped in me ravenous appetite, and L
did not know what to do. / stood still in
the spinning street of London and said to
myself: Gust think of man being un-
able to get a morsel of bread in the city
that daily consumes a pile of loaves four
times as high as st. PauPs steeple. And
a man with ten sovereigns in his pocket
ruled out of every restaurant he ap-
pioaches! 1t seemed preposterous.
thought first l would take the train and
go back to the hotel, but it looked so
ridiculous to stumble back to my lodgings,
nan fainting, yet the possessor of ten
soveieigns. Of one thing l felt certain,
however, and that was that could not pos
slbly remain without food for ten minutes
longer. So | wandered on in desultory
way, without knowing exactly whittier |
was going. My head began to spin from
fatigue and an empty stomach. A well-fed
man can face trouble, but a hungry man
is prey to that very old canonical "Lion,' -
who goeth about seeking what he may de-
YOUR. cherish now a new pity for the
devil If he is hungry. | am quite serious.
You don't know what being hungry in Lon
don is. | turned the corner of a narrow
street. The name of the street was Grace.
church street. "Gracechurch!" Did not
bethlehem" of old mean the 'House of
Bread!' Yea, verify. Would not Christian
Gracechurch street of the nineteenth cen.
tury accord fellow crumb? | would
see.
My eye ran down the shops. Oh, JOY!
IN front OF me, over dingy looking place,
| read in faded gold letters: Restaurant
Francais."
Restaurant Francais!" Was it not a
trenchman who moaned in New York city,
Mon Deu! You have fifteen religions,
and only one gravy" Restaurant Fran
cals!" l knew l was saved. | knew there
would be fifteen gravies within it, and the
gravles' groundwork meant the one step
up from the gravy" to Gallo chicken a
la Marengo. ] did not walk into that
restaurant. l flew in. Everything seemed
inviting, from the genial proprietor to
the garcon with the boulevardier's mus
tache. The place was not large, but it
seemed well patronized. How sweet that
cohee, and how tender and juicy those lamb
chops! l. ate on in revenge for the Palmer
ston buildings and the Crosby hall, and
one, two. three, four eating houses whose
scorn had eaten into my soul and turned
me into a Jeremiah. 1 feasted like a
prince. In fact, l am quite sure the waiter
TOOK me for prince when / paid my bill
without looking at the items, and when |
gave HIM shilling for his tip. After all,
thought !, the English may think that, Lon.
don Is the greatest place in the world. but
without the French restaurants | would
hardly call it civilized. Could Won starve
IN any other place on the face of the "a art h
before u o'clock with $50 in your pocket :
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