The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-29
CHESHIRE CHEESE
REMAINS THE SAME
Famous Tavern Frequented
by DIR. Johnson
From the New York Sun.

1 FROM the new YORK sun.
Like landscape gardening the manifesto
ton of interest in ancient landmarks Is
matter of temperament-and fashion.
Your old fashioned soul in the progressive
American town, where the imported ''mu-
ncipal nerve specialist" proceeds to chop
down all the beautiful old trees that the
old fashioned ones father planted in a
barren desert is temperatmentally against
such "saerilege, even If he were fash
ionable in other things. He is the son of
a person who would stand aghast, for
| instance. at the compacent French de-
| struction of the interiors of historic old
| buildings, leaving only the outside walls
which harmonic with the rest of the
street He would, on the other hand
approve of the English rebuilding of the
| highways for modern purposes, while he
| tavern nestled in behind those same mod
ern buildings. The case in point is two
| time worn taverns, one in London. the
other In Paris.
| The Paris tavern is the Cafe Procope
that in London the Old Cheshire Cheese
Both are names men know, but alas
the Cafe Procope is now a memory a
! tradition, for within five years it has
| become 26 sou table d'hote restaurant!
| Five years ago Paris allowed this spot
where the word cafe was applied to
a tavern, where coffee was first drunk
, by Frenchmen, to pass into the hands
of bourgeois seller of cheap meals, who
tore out the old square paned front with
| its little set in terrace, ripped down the
old partitions and covered the age stained
brown walls with shiny white paint, like
all the other 26 sou restaurants in Paris
So far as one can tell this cafe, kept in
| its original state by generations of SYM
| pathetic proprietors, was allowed to pass
| into the hands of the Philistines without a
murmur.
Here Voltaire used to sit and here
| Rousseau and Condorcet celebrated Jean
| Jacques first dramatic triumph at the
| old Coincide Francahise across the street
| Here sat Diderot and Desrnoulins Robe
| spierre, Mirabeau and Gambetta. The
massacre of December, 1872, was planned
lihere, and here the first red cap was
donned while almost the first blood of
| the massacre flowed at it's doors. And
| here. tradition has it, Napoleon, a stu
| dent. left his hat for security. for bill
| while he went after his purse. And that
| demigod of the day just passed, Veraine,
sat here and wrote here.
| And Paris not only let the last poetic
proprietor who tried to save it fall for
| want of patronage. but allowed the place
| to pass into the hands of the bourgeoisie,
| to paint 1t white and pale blue, with
| yellow trimmings. for other bourgeois to
| eat 26 sou dinners in!
| In the same breath with this Paris
allows the Hotel Ritz on the Place Ven-
| dome to enlarge its establishment While
| 1t was allowed to tear down several fine
old buildings, and remake them from
| the ground up, the dismal facades the
| Place Vendome, which were officially a
| historic monument" could not be dis
turbed. Americans are likely to prefer
| London. even if London is as a result
| wee bit milky
| Wise souls contemplating a VISIT TO
| London are likely to substitute Pickwick
| for the more approved perusal of Mr..
| Green. and to save Baedeker for use on
the actual ground. Such folk find the
| Cheshire Cheese on the second day.
| The Cheshire Cheese is the last of the
London taverns, just as the Procope
| was almost the last of the real cafes
of old Paris. The perusal of Mr.. Pick
| wick's humanitarian adventures and the
| renewal of the acquaintance of the re-
| doubtable Mr.. Weller will tend to arouse
in one a longing, far greater than a me-e
| appetite, to visit a London tavern. Which
| longing will lead one to the Cheshire
/ Cheese.
| London feeding methods in general are
a revelation, even to those well read in
| the lore of English good cheer, Especially
| is this true when one comes to London
| from Paris, where food, IL decorative,
| has a way of suggesting that it bears
| a distinct generic resemblance to the
| famed 'pommes soufflees," largely ex-
| panded, very tender but not as solid as
| they look. London food is always as