The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-17
aOUICK LUNCH TYPIFIES
 CITY OF BIRMINGHAM
In Business and Pleasure the Idea of the Magic City is Rush. The Young Man
 the Great Factor.
BY WILL T. sHEEHAN.

R,rmingham. Oct i6.--(Speciaf Cor rasnondence. )-The quick lunch coun- fer" typifies Birmingham-it might be made to symbolize the Magic City with all it's rush. with its hurry. and with its universal determination to set something.
 Birmingham in an industrial way Is one great quick lunch" That is the way fortunes are made here. you learn, in business life, in professional life, in any of the many phases of the industrial life which is so nerve racking and which is so characteristic of Birmtng- ham. Everybody seems to be in wild eyed eagerness waiting a chance for a dash at the lunch counter.
 It's an open field and no favor. The fellow on your right or your left can look out for himself. If he gets an el- bo win the ribs or a heavy foot on his pet corn-why he ought to have looked out for himself. He takes his own chances when he joins the crowd and shoves into the competition.
 The young fellow who hasn't got the price may line up in the rear and hold his hands until his time comes around. There isn't any room among the herce scramblers for places for the fellow who hasn't the price. He may be in business, or he may be in professional life, but he has to walt awhile 1T ne hasn't the price. It comes to him in time. his chance and his opportunity if he's got the right sort of stuff in him. but he is heavily handicapped at the start of the rush.
 There is plenty at the counter. how ever. Fortunes are passed over cook ed up in various forms. The man wno has the nerve and the grit to pass through the hustle, the pulling and hauling of the rush is sure Of some thing good when he gets out of the rush of competitors and breasts tne pie counter. If he has the sort of price that Success demands for the varied items on her bill of fare. he Is sure or good service and palatable food.
 It is no great thing no difficult thing to win the favors of Fortune here anu the opportunities are so rich and plenti- full.
 The lunch counter Is everywhere and everybody Is in the rush. And nearly everybody is getting served. The failure at home has come to Birming- ham made good and got his share. ~ is a weak man, ,an almost hopeless case who can't come in, get in the rush and take out his share at the counter Saloon OF Lunch Counter. Birmingham literally is as much Of "ouick lunch" town as it is figurativeiy A quick lunch" town of opportunities The quick lunch counter reaches US apotheosis here in Birmingham. The, are as plentiful here is the autumn leaves in South Alabama forest. Ont gets the idea. that every other place | of business Is either a saloon, "quici lunch counter" or cafe" which 1T nine cases out of ten fails utterly tt | live up to it's flamboyant title.
 The quick lunch" is necessary con cornitant of the strenuosity of Birming ham competition. It typifies here al | 1t typifies everywhere the rush ant push of modern American life. It's distinctly American institution for thu | overworked and the much hurried In pufsating, throbbing city wher' | nobody has any time to do anything except to make money. it is a presen help in time of trouble. That Is thu Ideal of the quick lunch" In practi | cal operation, 1t is an American institu
 tion of very doubtful merit.
 | It is cross between the tramp | hand out" and the square meal of thu
 man of family. It is a hybrid, lik' the mule with no pride of ancestry.
 Is the very station of indigestion be | tween hunger and satiety. It is thu
 busy mans refuge, but at the same tim'
 it is the doctors promise. It is dys pepsia's own present, and the implaca ble foe of the simple life. It is an en
 emy to good temper in the office ant a disturber of the peace of the famil! circle.
 It sets back the hands of time ant | moves man backward through centu
 ries of evolr ton. He perches on | stool and bolts his food as fast as h'
 can shovel 1t in with both hands, witt
 his wild eye glued on the clock. ever | as his prehistoric ancestors did, ex
 cept for the clock He fights for
 place with wild-eyed beings as hurried
 and as implacable as he.
 He blurts out his order before h'
 climbs on the stool, for 'eggs on toas
 and a cup of coffee" The waiter
 takes a dirty towel and wipes away
 the material mementoes left by thu
 previous unfortunate and maJesticalll
 calls out to the cook in the hiddeT
 back. In that wonderful jargon the,
 use, Adam and Eve on a raft Draw
 one"
 All fin the Rush.
 The busy man joins in the sweep
 stakes. free for all. race that Is goinl on around the counter, everybody try
 ing to beat his neighbor bolting food
 Dishes rattle. the walters give won
 derful and weird directions to the cook the food Is shoveled down and thu
 hands of the clock slip around Tn,
 busy man slaps his check and his quar
 ter down on the cashiers counter ant