Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-12-17
HUMANS EATING
THEIR MEALS IN
VIENNA STABLES
Dinner Is Served Every Day
in the Space Which as
Stalls Once Sheltered the
Cavalry Horses
NV RUTH DENNEN GARNER

Vienna--How would you like to
eat dinner every day in a stablel
In the very space which as stalls
once sheltered the horses Of u
cavalry division?
Yet that is what the writer saw
today-Sunday- Vienna-known
to the world as one of the gayest
cities on the globe-hundreds Of
men and women, a sprinkltng of
youth, but mostly old and feeble,
eating-eating as a business, their
entire physical effort fixed on the
greatest object Of their lives
food!
They were eating at tables, to be
sure, and there was a floor and q
ceiling and windows of sort, for
the Austrians took good care of
their stables and their finely bred
horses. And this was the Belyedere
stable in the grounds of the palace
Of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Yes,
it was a good stable that housed
perhaps so thoroughbreds-but for
a dining room?
The hundreds / saw eating, as
though they were pressed TO make
q certain train, were not worrying
that the place had one time been
the abode of horses. In their eager
ness to put away food, good plain
food and pitifully small in quantity
it was too, they were not bOtherlng
their heads about the cavalry
horses for whom / am told the
place was kept heated in winter.
Today was q brisk cold day and
there was only the warmth, COM
ing from the steaming urns Of soup
standing in the kitchen, that wound
its way into the dining room TO
comfort the blue hands.
Vienna Is Not Gay
No! Vienna is not gay. 1t was
perhaps someday it viii be again
but today in the year 1892 Nien-
ma is only gay in the carefree
hearts of those outsiders who come
here with plenty of money and
plenty of leisure and no eyes for
the real Vienna, the city of the
sorriest sights this writer has seen.
Rushing from the public Kitchen
as | entered it today Gall public
dining rooms run for the poor in
Vienna are called "kitChens') on a
tour of inspection, poorly clad
woman who weighed not more than
80 pounds though she was of aver
age height, threw her sleeve over
her face to hide her tears. One Of
my companions knew her. What
is the NATTER" the latter said in
German.
"Ach," the woman replied, "my
husband is so sick and | have no
food for him" She was gone be-
fore we could detain her for fur
ther details.
And this woman, 70 years of age
now destitute, was once Baroness.
Baroness Works in Kitchen
Going through the dining room
and into the kitchen beyond, l was
introduced to a gentlewoman, re-
fined, sweet-looking and with red
dish-gold hair. She it is who is the
guardian of this public Kitchen u
She Is herself Baroness Wasstlko-l
q woman who before the war never
turned hand to wait upon her
self Today she goes to the kitch-
en- each morning at Z o'clock and
helps prepare the food for the 500
persons who will have their noon
day meal there. When the meal
is over she helps wash the pots
and pans and the few dishes used
to spread the scanty meal.
For four and a half years Baro-
ness Wassilllo nursed in a hospital
for wounded and dying Austrian
so1diers--a hospital sponsored by
the Arehduehess Maria Teresa, Att
er the war the Archduchess sug-
eested that Baroness Wallike open
fhis "kitchen" for the starving
"niddle-class" men and women OF
Vienna.
II should be understood that fol-
lowing the war when the Austrian
currency began to fall In value,
hundreds of kitchens were opened
by various institutions and organi-
cations and in some cases by In
dfviduals for the relief of the mid
die classes--the men and women
whose incomes were not settled
MANY of them being those of the
most cultured classes of society and
the most revered professions. These
classes in Austria, generally called
the Intelligensia, have suffered
more than any others except the
children for whom work was un-
dertaken first of all.
The "kitchen" referred to above
was opened with much faith and
10000 kronen. 1t sounds like
large amount. At that time 1t was
q fair sum. But today with AUS
tria's currency at terribly low ebb
it is considerably less than an
American dollar and it will buy
----.--------=------~-=--==----=