The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-10

VOLTA, 1t is infinitely more appetizing
than the food at the American cheap
restaurant.
Rows and rows of plates are arrang-
ed along the stall. some hold two or
three kinds Of food that 20 well to-
gether. Some contain only kind.
A plateful of rich salad has been res
cued from mussiness, picked out. scrap
by scrap. from the general melange,
r~egarnished. topped by fresh slices of
the egg that was its comrade in earlier
and better days, n there the gourmet
of the Place Maubert has a Bignon
salad for four sous. Perhaps some
rooms. IL comes high at the Cafe An
glais. but al the market N can have
Il for a modest sum. To be sure IL needs
warming and the mushrooms have
come together from many sources and
have never before met the hlet. Per
haps the nlet itself is oddly cut, but a
slight dose of melted butter and artis-
tic taste can make the dish exceeding
ly presentable.
There are customers who are not sat
isfied TO make n meal OF me or TWO
things-who demand n course dinner.
NJ. le Proprietaire is ready for them. On
a large plate he has put a small sup
ply of each thing that goes to make
up a dinner CONNIE IL faut. IL grieves
him that he must omit soup. The So
cable character Of that item OF a menu
bars IL from a society where each MEM
Der must preserve its ~indivuality while
deigning to come to close quarters with
not I'm its set. The menu
must begin with fsh-say n bit Of sole
that originally reposed in win blanc and
still retains the flavor OF good society.
Their comes a slice of roast. garnished
with tiny potatoes n Brussels sprouts
and carrots. Next Is n spoonful OF
-. - TIr..tn. 40 N aNEanf
and n morsel of cheese. A few Goals,
a stewpan and no prejudices against
the method by which the menu has
been prepared, and one has a dinner ut
for a nabob.
The sweets Of desserts and the green
salads are the things that most sturdily
refuse to assume their pristine charm
under the skilful manipulation OF the
vendors of secondhand food. Pastry
will crumble and lettuce and chicory
will wilt. but even with them much
may he accomplished, n they are not
So much In demand as meats and vege-
tables. so the supply of them need not
be so large. Fastidious persons may
object To the hit-and-miss character Of
these food supplies. and mi In
general has an aversion to "leavings."
but evidently the prejudice isn't uni
versal in Paris. for. the stalls have a
thriving trade.
Tne business mas TedCneu great pIo-
portions. and IL a recognized factor In
Partisan life. The hotels reduce their
losses in waste. the merchants make a
small profit. and the customers get bet
ter food than they could afford to buy
in any other way. The only objection
90 the system Is a matter of sentiment,
and that objection Is weakened by the
fact that the food sold to the merchants
is not taken from plates. but only from
the side dishes in which IL has been
served. Food left upon plates would
be too mussy to he OF any use, but
whenever a man Is served with n
order of anything at a good restaur-
ane he almost invariably gets more
than he can eat. He takes a part OF
the food upon his plate. The rest Is
left upon the dish i'm which IL Is served.
and i'm Paris that part OF the order
goes To the stall I'm the market. The
idea isn't so disagreeable after all,
when one gets used to IL. Many a
diner orders a S1.50 steak at a restaur-
ant. and leaves half of II. for which he
would gladly pay a quarter the next
morning. II the hin were possible.
The customers OF the secondhand
food stalls are not of the poorest
classes. Filet with mushrooms. ever
second hand. Is too rich for many poor
wretches of the Paris f~aubourgs. but
there is a fairly respectable laboring
class who's wages are small. whose
sous are few. who are good patrons Of
the secondhand stalls, and many a
thrifty housewife who could afford to
market more ambitiously carries home
n plate OF ala or a cut Of meat whose
origin she will keep secret from the
family.