The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-15


 Women have already appeared in the streets of Paris wearing low shoes shaped like sandals. with houses and student restaurants at the large centers. The government has converted a part of one of the great army barracks here into restaurant for the boys and girls of the Berlin university, and it Is feeding over three thousand such every day. When I visited it. I found the plain. boa rd young men and women, taking their chief meal of the day at cost of less than one cent. The meal con- table stew without bread. butter or anything else. Each portion was about quart, and this was ladled out into tin basin. The basin is furnished free, but each diner had to bring or hire his own spoon I saw the place where they were hand ing out the spoons. The rent of a spoon for the meal was just about one two hundredths of cent Notwithstand- ing this low price, many bring their spoons with them.
 Lodging for Three Gents n Month. , want to take you into one of the students homes or lodging houses, which are found here and there in Berlin In some of them the students get their lodgings at as low as three cents month. and for this the boy has his shoes shined by the maid and substitute for coffee each morning. The home l refer to is in the heart Of the city. IL has 80 rooms, and there are S5 students living in them today. Each pays from three to Is cents a month, according to his accommo- dation. The three cent, Quarters are in the attic which has been divided a o Tt, tv each containing one or two beds. a rude waShstand. d bookcase and a table and stools. There are nine such compartments and the students who dwell there call their hom Mount Olympus, after the famous mountain which the ancient Greeks supposed touched the heavens and was the residence of the gods. It eheered me to think of tho nerve of the boys who, at the peak of their misery, were able so to name their miserable home.
 On "sIount Olympns.S
 The students were out when the manager of the home showed me iheir rooms. Each had some pitifuf attempt at decoration of one kind or another. Pinned to the cloth walls were pictures, fraternity emblems photographs of sweethearts and Of mothers and fathers. Some had or naments similar to those in the room 1 CT an American college student, and the better to display their pictures had pasted wallpaper on the cloth as a background. They had put tis- sue paper over the electric lights and had done their best to cover the shab- biness. l observed that there were no le"d pictures or photographs ot half naked actresses such as one sees In all the chief magazines here and that the quarters looked like the hCmes Of clean men. I remember one room which had in a frame a eertifi- cate of the students first communion showing he had been confirmed by the church
 In another room the wardrobe was encirc,ed with dog-chains fastened with numerous padlocks. l asked what this meant and the manager said that the student occupant adds to his income by buying old umbrel- las which he patches and repairs and then sells again. The wardrobe con tained his stock" in trade. The man aser tells me the students do al sorts of things to help out on their | expenses. Three of them are porters in the theatres, one is a night watch | man and others work in banks ant offices for a few hours every day | Many teach part of the time and some | who arc musicians play at night IT the cares, theatres and moving pie ture shows. Some go to the railroad stations and drum up business for a | hotel connected with the home, re- ceiving one-fourth of cent for eacr | guest they bring in.
 This place is governed by stu dents council which settles all mat ters of increased cost and other things relating to the management of the establishment.
 o O O
 In n students' Restaurant.
 This home has general restaurant where about 500 boys and girls are fed daily, The meals are more elab crate than those at the army bar racks, and cost more. The actuaI | nr{ra of tpp ,e |.