The question that naturally arises with all who look practically at this
matter is, whether there is any profit in the business of keeping a
cheap temperance coffee-house? Can a pint of coffee, with sugar, milk
and a two-ounce roll of bread, be furnished for five cents and leave any
margin for profit? Mr. Baily's experiment has proved that it can.


FRIENDLY INNS.

But not alone in Philadelphia is the cheap coffee-house to be found.
There are hundreds of them in our various towns and cities, though none
on so large a scale as here; and they are rapidly multiplying and doing
good. "The Friendly Inn," and "The Holly-Tree Inn," are places somewhat
similar in character, but partaking more of the nature of an "inn" than
a simple eating-house. These have, usually, a pleasant parlor, with
light, and warmth, and books, into which, any one may come and pass the
evening, instead of drifting into a saloon, and where cheap meals and
lodgings can be had if needed. In Cleveland, Ohio, Christian temperance
work, which is very large and effective, is carried on almost entirely
in connection with "Friendly Inns," of which there are five. A chapel,
reading-room, sleeping apartments and a cheap restaurant are maintained
in connection with each of these inns. The women engaged in the cause of
Gospel temperance in that city regard them as most valuable auxiliaries
to the spiritual work in which they are engaged. In a large number of
cases, they have been the direct means of bringing men in whom few
traces of goodness could at first be discerned in such contact with
religious influences as to win them over to a better life.