started. It is one of the most profitable enterprises in Europe for
the amount of money involved, but that fact does not diminish the
benefits conferred upon the public, and the generosity of the company
to the poor, particularly in times of labor troubles and financial
depression, can not be questioned. Hundreds of bachelors and single
women take their meals there regularly, and hundreds of families
obtain their entire supply of food, wholesome and well cooked, at
nominal cost.

There is a long official title to the company, but nobody ever
mentions it. It occupies a two-story building covering nearly half an
ordinary block. The location is convenient to the business portion of
the city, the docks and the market-place. There are two large halls,
one above the other, containing five long tables, seating thirty
persons each, thus accommodating three hundred customers at a sitting.
In the upstairs room it costs eleven cents in our money for a
good dinner; in the lower room it costs nine cents. There are no
tablecloths and no napkins, but the tops of the tables have been
scoured until they shine and everything is spotless. The whole
institution is a model of neatness. It seems remarkable how it can be
kept so clean with so many unwashed customers and so much business.
The windows are large and let in plenty of light. The walls are
covered with bright tints, and the waitresses wear white caps, aprons,
and oversleeves. At each place is a knife, fork, spoon, drinking
glass, cup and saucer, and a piece of bread about three inches square.
Dinner is served from ten in the morning until six in the afternoon to
an average of 2,500 people daily. Some of them come twice. They take a
cup of coffee and eat a piece of cheese and bread at their homes early
in the morning. Then at ten or eleven, and again at four or five
o'clock, they go to the "kitchen" for a square meal. Thus it costs