The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-26
THE AMERICAN BREAKFAST.
Though Disappearing in the City, 1t
 Gill Exists in the Country.

From the New York Sun.
 A new writer on social topics thinks that the growth among wealthy people of the custom of owning two or three homes has already begun to lessen the love of Americans for home. since, possessing so many, they have time for enjoying none in particular. This is the theory on which the sultan is supposed to care for none of his wives, especially since he IS em- barrassed by possessing so many. But the English families of wealth who have for generations possessed homes in various parts of thelr own country have never been accused of lacking the feeling for home.
 In any case the love of home is going to finger in the hearts of most Americans if it is to be expelled only by the posses sion of several establishments in various parts of the country. There are many Americans still who have struggled hard enough for one home to cherish it. A greater danger, in that it spreads over wide area of society, seems to lie in the gradual abolition of that national cus- tom, once so popular, the American break fast. That has all but disappeared in the east and in the larger cities of the coun- try. Now the continental, as it used to be called, or the very light breakfast of cof- fee and rolls, prevails in most cities. And the members of most families" said the social philosopher who be- moaned this new phenomenon of New York life, scarcely think it worth their while to come down stairs to drink a cup of coffee and eat a roll. The women get into the habit of taking this slight meal in their rooms, while the men go to the dining room whenever they are ready
 "Thus the old fashioned family custom of gathering around the breakfast table has disappeared. It is no longer possible to start the day with the family idea of home fresh in the minds of all.
 "The dinner is, of course. the family forum. There all meet and there matters of common interest are discussed. There it might be added the family qnarrels, if not too violent q nature, are discussed The breakfast used to be a calm con- trast to the later meal. There the cheery | good morning that was traditionally 1 thought to send it's sunny influence through the whole day, was spoken. There were the flal kisses for father and mother.
 That sort of breakfast has disappear ed nowadays. Belle and Louise, who were at dance the night before and got in late, have their chocolate in bed. Jack
 
 where. get a cup of coffee and hurry out. And they do not seem to care much about the coffee at that
 "Ony the father and mother are left to represent what used to be the old fashioned family breakfast And 1t fre- auently happens In this year of grace that they may have been at late sup per or a long dinner and decided that breakfast is an unnecessary form of be- ginning the day"
 Tn smaller cities and in the country the family breakfast has the same respect as an institution of the household that it formerly enjoyed And the very New Workers who treat 1t with disrespect dur ing the winter months in the city are likely to appear bright and early at the breakfast table during the summer in the country. City diversions do not in- terfere then to keep the family away from the table and the old fashioned breakfast blossoms in all it's domestic beauty So the situation Is not so bad as it might be.
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