The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-30

soups and saVory dishes, sweets etc.,
 were any better than those upstairs.
 A plate of very good soup, either pea,
 macaroni or Scotch broth, is served for
 three pence (SiX centS) though the
 waitress assured me there was no meat
 stock in it; but when asked what took
 the place of the stock, she was unable
 to say. For five pence once could get a lentil outlet, which was very appetiz- ing and looked like meat croquette. The potato stew was even better than
 the outlet and was served with butter
 beans for five pence There were various other "savory dishes," which is the vegetarians name for what meat eat | CTS would call an entree, at from two to five pence each. Plain vegetables were two pence and three pence plate, though the savory dishes were so very
 filling that plain vegetabls to accom-
 pany them were, of course, like those
 served in ordinary restaurants.
 To see the six-penny table hote din- ner in full swing one should go to the
 restaurants in Poultrey, at the begin
 ming of Cheapside, between 1 and 2
 o'clock on any day except Sunday.
 In the large, bare-looking room on the
 top floor are about a dozen long, nar-
 row tables. At these tables sit perhaps 100 men and it is doubtful if in any oth- CT dining room in the city of London can be found more diverse types of hu-
 manity eating together. The majority,
 of course, are rather seedy, but here
 and there one sees a we'll dressed and prosperous-looking man, and fine intel
 lectual faces are not uncommon. The txyit1 f,.ax i,,tt f,,cr
 nails and vest minus a button or two sit beside the dapper-looking law clerk, and neither pays any attention to the
 other. The chances are that they have
 both come here for the same purpose economy; for a plentiful and well cook ed dinner for six pence is a consldera- tion to many who would be quite in- different to the ethical side of vegeta- rianism. The cashier assured me, how ever, that many of the customers were strict vegetarians, who wished to en- courage the movement in every possible 1 way.
 1 On each side is a large bowl of brown sugar and another of salt, from which the customers help themselves at dis cretion A fork and two pewter spoons | are laid beside each plate, but as vege- | tables do not require to be cut, there are no knives in any of the tables. The | tablecloths are of coarse brown linen l and scrupulously clean, but if one Is so fastidious as to require napkin it is necessary to hand over a penny for it's use. Though I looked carefully, I saw only two men in the whole room who had evidently thought it necessary to indulge themselves in this luxury. On leaving I offered the waitress six pence, as she had answered all my questions, but she declined the tip, saying they were not allowed to accept gratuities under any circumstances.
 Between and o'clock tea Is served on the first floor, or, if desired, it can be had in the smoking room on the sec ond floor. One can get a pot of excel lent tea, made fresh, for three pence, or a single cup for two pence There is bread and butter for a penny. One can get a Welsh rabbit for four pence (S cents), but it is not a very large one, and is made with milk instead of ale Though these are strictly temperance places, they serve what is called lager hop ale' for two pence a small bottle, and "anti-burton ale" at the same price. These beverages are said to con- tain no alcohol, and they certainly taste rather flat,
 These restaurants are doing much to make vegetarianism popular in London. The Vegetarian society is behind them, and the cashiers desk at each place Is well stocked with literature on the sub- ject, which can be had for the asking and cook books for a penny, giving [ recipes for many of the simpler vege- \ tartan dishes, are forwarded to any one { asking.
 Much propaganda work is done in the | poorer quarters of the city, and the | poor people are taught how they can live on a vegetable diet at less than one-half the expense of a meat diet 1 They are shown, for instance, that | meat contains 60 per cent. of impure water, which they pay for at the butch CTS at so much pound, and that one pound of peas beans, lentils or oat- meal at a cost of one or two pence, | contains more nourishment than a | pound of beef or mutton at six times the price, because in the former case | water is added which costs nothing 1 while in the latter it is purchased at | about ten pence pound. In support of | the contention that meat is not neces- sary even for those who do the hardest | manual labor, it is asserted that the athletes of Greece and the soldiers of | Rome were vegetarians, and that the chief blood of the Roman gladiator was | barley cakes and oil
 The vegetarian society now has hun dreds of members and associates. The full members pledge themselves to ab- stain from the use of flesh, fish and | fowl as food, though the vegetarble diet may be supplemented by such animal products as eggs, cheese, butter and milk. The associate members do not pledge themselves to total abstinence from meat, but agree to promote the aims of the society and to follow them as far as their environments will allow. The minimum subscription is one shill- ing per annum, but friends of the movement are asked to contribute as liberally as possibly.
 Among the members and associates are many of the brightest men in Lon don.-From The St. Louis Globe-Demo- crat.