Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-22
ON THE DOWN GRADE

neatness and excellence to q sort Of greasy,
steamy slovenlfness-is thing that have
been studying and maryeling over for five
or six years. or ever since I adopted the
scheme-to escape boarding houses-of liv-
ing In furnished room, and eating out. it
is called. here and everywhere" said
bachelor, the forlornness of whose virtual
homelessness is written on his face
Il am speaking, remember, only OF the
small eating establishments. where people
of restricted incomes have to eat-not of
the establishments where hungry man
must be prepared to lay down = bill or
SO IL he picks what he really wants to eat
of the menu card. only eat in the places
where a steak costs $1.75 or something like
that, very occasionally. The rest OF the
time drift around the places where
lar meal. I go bit higher than that
pretty often, and my restaurant food costs
afford.
II suppose I know these moderate-priced
restaurants as well as anybody in town.
have seen good many of them begin
business, and have been a patron of all
OF them at different times And l am ever
puzzled over the way the great majority
OF them fizzle out in point of service and
general character after the first few
months
The new restaurant of this sort begins
and argus-eyed alertness. He's going to
get the trade and keep it. He is all over
the establishment at once. He Is calling
down employees for the slightest negligence
or inattention. He watches the food as 1t
is taken off the dumb-waiter or tossed
upon the counter by the server, and he
sends back dishes to the cook that don't
look right to him.
1.-The new place is spotlessly, oStenta-
tiousy, almost oppressively, clean. The
floor is mopped couple Of times q day.
The table cloths are like little fields OF
virgin snow. The napkins smell of sweet
laundering Everything is tidy, neat to the
eye, pleasant to the sense of orderiiness,
inviting to any patron possessed OF proper
appreciation.
"And at first-for quite while, in truth
the moderate-priced food is delightfully."-
satisfactory and satisfying. The chops ana
the steaks are broiled to a tasty, dripping
BROWNIES. The mashed potatoes have the
right creamy consistency. The vegetables
are fresh and cooked they ought to be.
The pastry is choice. The coffee Is OF the
most superior aroma and flavor
1.-THE walters of the new little place are
almost embarrassing in their solicitous at
tentions. The proprietor casts discern
ing eye upon what Is served to you, ana
goes back and reproves the COOK Tor the
ina ginary dryness of the string beans II
is great. You fall in love with the little
place. You go forth and tell all the rest of
the drifters of your acquaintance about the
new little place to eat that you have dis-
covered.
you find. however, that few of them
need to be told by you. The drifters are
all aware OF the new little place to eat.
It's in the air. The out-eate-s naturally
gravitate to these new little places and hnd
them out in an astonshingly short space
of time. At the new little place. within
week after you first begin to patronlze IT,
you see the faces of nearly all of the folks
who formerly ate at the little restaurants
that you yourself have deserted. You won
O oSf3 h1iShmontS that everybody
has deserted managed to go on and do bus
mess
well, the new little place is all very de-
lightful for a while. 1t picks up flour
ishing trade. You observe that the propri-
etor is dressing great deal better than he
did when he first opened the new little
place-at which time, as matter of truth.
he struck you as being really shabby, poor
chap-and you note that his wife, who
drops down occasionally to talk to her hus-
band behind the cashiers desk while you
are eating there, is diked out most fash
ionably, and that she is wearing some sure
enough diamonds.
'Then your practiced eye begins to note
the beginning of a gradual deterioration.
1t is very slow at first, this deterioration,
but ii is none the less palpable to the out
eater who has been drifting from one little
restaurant to another for long years
THE first sign of the slump, usually, is
the untidness of the table cloths. They
are not changed so frequently as they
were. The grease spots left by the preced-
ing eater at the table are suffered to abide
throughout your meal at that table. The
napkins about the same time lose their
sweet smell. They smell roachy.
''Then the floor doesn't seem to be SO
well mopped as at the beginning. The mus
tard cup on your table looks unpleasant,
with the caked mustard clinging to 1t. The
bottled sauce looks thick and sedimenty.
The top of the catsup bottle is not kept so
clean as formerly. The salt cellar is not
kept filled. and you have to call up the
waiter for salt
"Yuu wonder, at this stage of it, why the
proprietor, who sits behind the little desk,
fumblng his watch chain, and looking con-
tentedly out of the window, doesn't per-
ceive that his little establishment is going
back-why he doesn't get instantly busy
and take off his coat and proceed to restore
his place to its former tidy excellence. But
he rarely or never does. 1t would seem
took it all out of him. And there he sits
or stands, and his place loses niceness and
character right under his eyes.
The meats become greasy and tasteless.
lacking Kitchen f1avoring. The vegetables
become simply sloppy and no-account, all
of them tasting alike-the peas like summer
squash, the Lima beans like mashed tur-
nips, or almost. The attractive garnishing
such like ceases. The mashed potatoes be-
come watery and impossible. the fried po-
tatoes chunky, greasy, and tepid. The
pastry becomes sodden. The coffee be-
The walters slump from their former
solicitude, toss things on the table before
you any old way, their fingers in the soup
as like as no., and they begin to studiously
avoid your eye after they give you your
hrst serving, so that it is all but impossible
to summon them when you want to renew
an order or to order something else
THE former subdued air of the place,
which was of its charms gives way to
a noisy gathering of dishes on the part of
walters and servers. And the servitors be-
gin to talk a great deal too much among
themselves, especially when the proprietor
happens to be out. You can hear the COM
planning of the cook in the kitchen high
pitched, querulous and irritating. The
walters and servers talk back to him.
''The floor becomes Uttered with hunks of
bread, which are not picked up. The drink
ing water loses it's former pleasing filtered
look and has muddy appearance. The
drinking water goblets, held up to the light
have that unwashed-window look. You OBJ
serve that some substance that has hard
ened on the blade of your table knife has
been suffered to remain the blade by
the scullion. And thus on to the day when
offended and Disguised beyond measure,
you pay your last check at the little place
that had been promising. and that you
had Dragged so much about to your drifting
acquaintances-and you never go back