The Sunday globe., 1901-05-12
LUNCH FIENDS.
A Chapter on the Free Lunch In
Washington.
TIDES MANY OVER STARVATION.
The Experiences Of those who Patronlle and
those who Serve this Exclusive Amer
can Observation-Disclosures
with Caterer,
ain

which the poor are compelled TO make
use Of in their struggle for mere exist
ence, stripped OF all that makes life
happy or desirable, charity and more
heartfelt "thank Gods'' would go up
from the affairs of prayer. 1t has been
said, and truthfully said, that one half
of the world does not know how the
other half lives, and it might be added
just as truthfully that it doesn't care.
When the blasts--Of wintry wind sweep
over the land, chilling the blood Of
halfclothed and half fed wretches who
have merely existed during the sum-
mer months and whose lives during
the seas n of frost and snow will be one
long sgony withno silver Innings to the
dark clouds of misfortune and adver-
sity that cast black shadows over their
pathway, except the anticipations Of
the spring time, when Summer suns
will shine again" Hope fights the
battle of the wretche1 and enables
them to endure the pinches of hunger
and the chill of witer storms. Were
its not for that hope which Springs
eternal in the human breast" the in
crease of suicides and criminals would
be much greater than it is. More real
heroes fight invisible foes in the attics
and cellars of the tenement blocks
than carry victorious banners over the
fields of carnage, wet with the blood of
their fellows. But it is not the ragged
and the wretched herding in the moi.
some tenements that suffer the most
There is a suffering that is more acute
than physical torture, and harder to
bear than the pangs OF hunger and cold.
There are people who must not only
bear these but enUure mental torture
that is greater than these.
The half-naked wretch who has be
come Injured to suffering, and who, in
his struggle for existence has cast SEN
sitiveness and pride to the winds, can
apply to public charities for aid and as
sfstance and will secure it in stinted
quantities, but they will be sufficient
to keep the wolf from the door andshut
out actual starvation. There is another
class, however, and larger one than
people generally think who will suffer
mental torture and physical want, and
die, perhaps, before they will stretch
forth their hand for charity. Some of
these are only unfortunate, Others have
been brought to their present condition
by carelessness and by neglecting OPP
portunities, Tut they all suffer alike no
matter whether mis- 'ortune or reckless
ness has brought them to their present
low estate. During the past winter
many a thin coat covered a chilled
form on the streets of this city and
many a smiling face disguised the
breaking heart that was manlully en-
during torments for the sake of loved
ones whose only stay and protector
smiled that he might keep back the
tears of suffering and humiliation,
The "lunch fiend" has been pictured
in the comic press, and the free lunch
has been the butt of many a good joke
and has served as the subject Of many
a witty cartoon; but there is another
side--a pathetic side-tO the picture,
that few of the rushing thousands stop
to see. Many a slender income is eked
out at the free lunch counter, and many
a fuller meal is guaranteed to the help
less and suffering family at home be-
cause of the fact that one member of
that home circle can satisfy his hunger
from the coarse food set out by the
saloon keeper for his customers.
During one of the coldest days the
past winter as reporter was sitting in
a well known saloon talking to couple
of friends, his attention was attracted
by a clatter of dishes and a commotion
of moving feet, and, lookirg up, saw
that il was OccasiOned by the spreading
&c frnn lnnph a small faInlea
the bar. Around this table were gath
cred some twelve or fifteen men, Of all
ages, from the beardless boy of eighteen
summers TO the venerable grey beard
of sixty. There was the roughly
dressed laborer, the mender of streets,
the "hewer of wood and drawer of
water;' there was the swarthy me.
chanic with calloused hands, and there
was the professional man, the briefess
barrister and the patientless physician,
with frayed coat sleeve aud napless hat.
all busily engaged in clearing the table
of its contents They ate not daintily,
like men with full stOmachs, lazily
picking at choice viands for want of
something better to do, but rather like
men whose hunger had given them
relish for even these pieces of indigest.
BILE remnants, which, perhaps, the day
before, was a part of much more pre-
tentions feast or were bought upon the
market for a song, because they were
too stale to sell to the marketer's Gus
TONERS.
After the rush was somewhBt over
and the crowd had disappeared leav-
ing bare table, the reporter approached
the barkeepeT and asked:
'Do you have such crowd as that
every morning."
eyes, and sometimes a much larger
one. In the winter time, especially,
the free lunch, coarse and unpalatable
as it is, is quite an item in our running
expenses. Many men come here to eat
and not to taste. Half the victuals
that some men eat I'm a day are eaten
from these lunch stands They proba
bly, eat little or no breakfast at all, and
about 8 O'Clock they strike free lunch
route, as II IS called, and by taking i'm
several saloons they soon have a com
Portable meal, such as it is. 1t Is not
very rich, but it fills up and prevents
hunger,
'Sometimes they buy a glass Of beer
or are treated to one 10y some friend,
but oftener they eat the luuch and 90
on to the next place without spending
cent, for the very good reason, per
haps, that they have none to spend, !
know more about some Of these men
than they think / do, perhaps, aud
more than they would like the world
to know. l have in my mind a certain
attorney, who is gifted with rather
brilliant intellect. and who, if 1t were
not for his habits Of intemperance,
might stand near the head of the bar.
That man, every morning, both winter
and summer shows up regularly at the
lunch hour here and at another saloon
near by, and for ten cents gets both