Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-03-24
~ FRANkfUR1ERs ARE GOING
AID People Are Going Back 10 the Old New
England Pie.

THE day of the frankfurter has gone
by" said the proprietor of one of the
local lunch rooms late the other eve
ming as he leaned over the counter
and told what Augusta people eat for
their lunches There was a time
when frankfurters were all that people
ate for their midnight lunches. Nine
out of every 10 people who came into
my place of business were here to eat
frankfurts.
1T was an easy thing then to get up
a midnight luncheon. We never used
to ask a man what he wanted but as
soon as the door opened we turned to
the can of rolls. picked one out,
dropped in a roll of meat, spread on IA
little mustard, if the man asked for it,
and nothing was said. If the man was
planning to keep awake all night We
added coffee to the lunch. The man
was satisfied and as we made a good
profit we did not complain. | used to
spend my spare time splitting up the
rolls so that / could have n stock on
hand. Those We're the days when We
made money at the business and there
was no work to ii. We bought the
rolls from the baker and the sausages
from the provision man. When | went
into my place Of business / just starte,
the heater, put on the sausages, put
the rolls where they would get hot and
that was the end of the whole thing
There was no outside work | could
wash the dishes while the customers
We're waiting. and have the days 10
myself if did not want to sleep
In those days | used to sell any
where from 20 to 80 pounds of frank
furters a night. And | didn't think
that very much of a night either. Now
| if | sell 20 pounds a week | think |
am doing a good business
'Oh, | don't know what caused the
falling off. When | found that the de-
mand for them was going | tried
something else and found that egg
sandwiches We're the best substitute |
could find. You see when a man comes
in here for lunch before going to bed
he is apt to wake up with no appetite
for breakfast if he eats a frankfurter
and hot roll and then tops it off with
a cup of coffee
Before he had time to answer the re
p1rter's question, What do Augusta
a dozen men.
Piece of apple pie and glass of
milk"
IN take piece Of lemon. Make the
coffee weak"
Mine will be piece of pumpkin"
Give me squash"
Chicken roll will do for me. And
give me a glass of milk"
When the lunch counter man had cut
one pie and taken from that the or
dercd squash and pumpkin and ap-
peased the customers. each of whom
was asking how the other could eat
squash or pumpkin pie. he turned to
the reporter with That seems to an
swer your question. They eat pie now.
You may not think it. but | average
the sale Of los pies a week here Each
pie is cut into four pieces 50 that YOU
can see the number of calls. and a
funny thing is that all the pies are
eaten after supper. our best business
comes then. No one thinks of dropping
in until the evening is we'll under way
and then We have all that We can at
tend TO-
That is another strange thing.
Some of the men come in here with
the intention Of going home after they
have had their lunch Then they settle
back and with the satisfied air man
assumes when he has eaten and takes
different view of life and instead Of
going to bed drifts off somewhere. |
have found them playing pool or
billiards and many of them simply sit
down and talk
Il think that people are paying more
attention to their stomachs than they
used to. You can recall the day when
the man used to go round with little
tin can and stand on the street corners
while he sold hot frankfurts That
was only 10 years ago. Now those men
are never seen and the frankfurt is
disappearing from the city while the
people are showing their old New Eng
land training by dropping back to pie
and once in a while a chicken roll.
You can't teach an old dog new tricks
to which he can stick"