¥
. OF DISCRETION.
THE} HEAD WAITERS IN NEW YORK’S
: FASHIONABLE RESORTS.
Difficulties of the Calling and the
Ni ce Judgment That Must Be Exer-
cl ed-—Duties They Perform and the
ig Incomes They Command.
very restaurant and hotel proprietor
izes the value of a head waiter who
$ not only a large acquaintance, but is
able to keep his old friends and make
ne ones. He knows how much such a
magn does toward attracting custom to his
place, and he is aware of the extent to
which persons who are going to dine at a
restaurant alone or with friends will be
influenced by the knowledge that they
will find in this restaurant or that some
man who knows what they want and will
look after their needs and wishes with
the interest that comes from past ac-
quaintance and a knowledge that a re-
ward for his interest is certainly forth-
coming. It is not alone in his treatment
of the old patron that the head waiter is
invaluable to his employer. The func-
tionary of that kind who is polite and
efficient in other ways soon learns how to
make friends for the restaurant, and per-
sons who have once become accustomed
to his ministrations and like them will
return to the restaurant for the sake of
having his particular attention.
The duties of the head waiter in a
small hotel or one that has a permanent
clientele are not nearly so responsible as
those in places which have a constantly
changing public. It is in the latter that
the capacities of the head waiter are put
to the greatest test, and as their number
is limited there are always men enough
to meet the demand. Generally the wait-
ers in these places hold their employment
for a long time.
The duties of the head waiter, who is
anxious to make friends for himself and
his place of employment, may be as man-
ifold almost as he cares to make them.
They do not end with a polite greeting
and the selection of a table. They rarely
begin there. The head waiter in case the
party to be served is in the nature of a
dinner party has probably been consulted
in advance as to the selection of a table
if indeed he has not had the entire order-
ing of the dinner. If the guests happen
to know the head waiter well, there is
usually no more for him to do than call
him up on the telephone, tell him the
number of his guests and the hour they
are expected fo arrive. The rest he will
leave altogether to the head waiter, pos-
sibly telling him to be sure and have some
certain dish on the table, or to limit the
price to a certain figure or possibly the
extent of the meal, as the party may be
on the way to the theater and not care to
linger over the dinner. But, as a whole,
he puts the ordering of the dinner into
the hands of the head waiter that he has
confidence in and whom he also knows to
be iar with his tastes. It will be
seen how responsible the position of such
a man is and how important to the suc-
cess of a restaurant or hotel an efficient
head waiter is.
There are less extensive operations to
promote the comfort of his patrons that
are expected from the head waiter. Thus
if the guest enters the dining room for
breakfast with no appetite it is the duty
of the head waiter to suggest that a coo!
|
melon or sliced oranges on ice may put |
him in a frame of mind to enjoy his piece !
of crisply fried sole and his coffee. One
head waiter in the men’s restaurant of a
Fifth avenue hotel has made his particu-
lar reputation by his sympathetic sugges-
tions at breakfast, and he has a regular
folloyving that travel in the direction of
that hotel when they are feeling that
without his advice breakfast might be im-
possible. He has especially pleased his
patrons in this way, but there is not a
- head waiter in New York hotels who does |
not knew the value of making his guests
feel comfortable at breakfast time.
The duties of the head waiter in the
different city restaurants are varied in a
measure by the rules of the house, al-
‘though he is always the one person in
charge of the rest of the waiters. In one
or two of the city restaurants all of the
orders are taken by the head waiter and
served by the waiters stationed at the ta-
ble. But that is rare. In the majority of
places the head waiter takes the orders
only of those persons who are his regular
customers and confines his attention to
strangers, to seeing that they are seated
and have a waiter to look after them and
are not neglected during the meal. But it
is to the regular patron that he will de-
vote himself most, as it is only from the
regular guests that the compensations of
the head waiters come. The casual pa-
tron of a restaurant never thinks of tip-
ping a head waiter unless he has looked
after a large dinner for him. The re-
wards of the head waiter come from his
own clientele, and he is therefore most !
solicitous of them. His rewards are so
much larger than when they come from
the tips of the waiters that he can afford
to receive them at less frequent intervals.
The head waiter who is known to cer-
tain patrons of a restaurant who do not
give dinners there, but are more or less
regular diners or come to breakfast and
are looked after by him, is not likely to
benefit from his fees to the extent of
more than $10, given at intervals of every
six months and in one case at Christmas,
| when the head waiter is the functionary
in the dining room that is most liberally
rewarded. It is the number of his clients
that makes his compensation in the end
so large and enables him to earn an in-
come that would in the case of any em-
ployee be high compensation. The best
known head waiter in this city is said to
receive annually about $9,000, although
less than half of that amount comes from
the establishment that employs him. The
rest is made up from his fees. It rarely
if ever happens in this city that a head
waiter shares with those under him the
tip given by a guest who orders a dinner.
If, for the sake of illustration, a guest
orders a dinner for six persons that comes
to $100, he will probably give to the
head waiter $15 or $20 ax his feo. Pasci.
| to God.—Franklin.
1
bly he may think that a certain share of |
that is going to the waiters who served
the med, but unless he particularly tells |
the head waiter to give some part of it to |
them they will not reccive a cent. The |
head waiter takes it all as his share. He |
does not tip the chef either unless the |
diner who Lunds to him a large fee espe- |
cially tells Lim that a part of the money |
is intended tor the chef. He is supposed
to attend mciely to his business when he
prepares the best meal that he can.—New
York Sun. :
The difference between a day dream
and the ordinary dream is that the latter |
only costs you loss of sleep, while the |
former costs you both loss of time and
money. !
. ous matter, lethicin, of the
VIRTUES IN APPLES.
They Are Good For the System, Es-
pecially the Stomach.
Not alone are apples pleasing to the
palate of the average mortal, but they
pogsess medical properties of great value
to mankind. German analysts say that
the fruit contains a larger percentage of
phosphorus than any other fruit or vege-
table. This phosphorus is admirably
adapted for renewing the essential nerv-
brain and
spinal cord. It is perhaps for the same
reason, rudely understood, the old Sean-
dinavian traditions represent the apple as
the food of gods, who, when they felt
themselves to be growing old and infirm,
. resorted to this fruit for renewing their
~ powers of mind and body. Also, the acids
APHORISMS.
Rebellion against tyrants is obedience
Riches are apt to betray a man into ar-
rogance.—Addison.
Revenge is the abject pleasure of an
abject mind.—Juvenal.
Responsibility walks hand in hand with
capacity and power.—Holland.
He who is firm and resolute in will
molds the world to himself.—Goethe.
No man has a right to do as he pleases
except when he pleases to do right.— |
Simmons.
He who wishes to secure the good of
others has already secured his own.—
Confucius.
He that easily believes rumors has the
principle within him to augment rumors.
—Jane Porter.
The superiority of some men is merely
local. They are great because their asso-
ciates are little.—Johnson. ,
No man can be provident of his time
who_ is not prudent in the choice of his
companions.—Jeremy Taylor.
A kind heart is a fountain of gladness,
making everything in its vicinity freshen
into smiles.—Washington Irving.
Rage is essentially vulgar and never
more vulgar than when it proceeds from
mortified pride, disappointed ambition !
and thwarted willfulness.—Coleridge.
Saltmaking In Spain.
The Spanish method of producing salt,
as employed near Cadiz, is by allowing
the sun to evaporate the water from
what are known as “pans,” small ponds
prepared for the purpose of a uniform
depth of about eighteen inches. These
are flooded directly from the sea three or
four times a year, and in time there is
left a deposit of about three inches of
salt, which is piled in the open in the
form of small pyramids until sold. This
method has the advantage of being inex-
pensive and of not requiring machinery.
The only requisites are a hot sun and &
soil which will not permit the water to
filter through, as the salt in solution |
would then be lost. Something depends
also upon the analysis of the water. or
instance, the water of the Mediterranean
has a greater specific gravity than that of :
the Atlantic.
of the apple are of signal use for men of
sedentary habits, whose livers are slug-
gish in action, those acids serving to elim-
inate from the body noxious matters
which, if retained, would make the brain
heavy and dull or bring about jaundice
or skin eruptions and other allied troubles.
Some such an experiment must have
led to our custom of taking apple sauce
with roast pork, rich goose and like
dishes. The malic acid of ripe apples,
either raw or cooked, will neutralize any
excess of chalky matter engendered by
eating too much meat.
It is also a fact that such fresh fruits
as the apple, the pear and the plum, when
taken ripe and witheut sugar, diminish
acidity in the stomach rather than pro-
voke it. Their vegetable salts and juices
are converted into alkaline carbonates,
which tend to counteract acidity.
A good, ripe, raw apple is one of the
easiest of vegetable substances for the
stomach to deal with, the whole process
of its digestion being completed in cighty-
five minutes. Gefraud found that the
“pulpe of roasted apples mixed in a wine
quart of faire water and labored together
until it comes to be as apples and ale—
which we call lambswool—never faileth
in certain diseases of the raines, which
myself had often proved and gained
thereby both crownes and credit.” “The
paring of an apple, cut somewhat thick,
and the inside whereof is laid to hot,
burnizcg or running eyes at night, waen
the party goes to bed, and is tied or bound
to the same, doth help the trouble very
speedily and contrary to exception—an
excellent secret.”
A poultice made of rotten apples is of
very common use in Lincolnshire for the
cure of weak or rheumatic eyes. Like-
wise in the Hotel des Invalides at Paris
an apple poultice is used commoniy for
inflamed eyes. the apple being roasted
and its pulp applied over the eyes without
any intervening substance. — New York
Herald.
An Opportunity For Him.
Mose Ioreace (ardently)—Tell me, Miss
Angie, may I contribute to yo’r future
happiness? ¢
Miss Angie—Well, Mr. Foreace, as I
accepted rhe Ciugerhriad last chenin’
dere is weddin’ presents to be thought ob,
to be shuah.—Judge.
|
, bluing water to whiten the clothes. =
MAKING ATONEMENT.
A Little Known Story About One
‘Who Bere Benedict Arnold’s Name,
Touching on the treason of Benedict
Arnold there is a little known story |
which had for the scene of its action the |
four years of the war of secession, says |
the Chicago Times-Herald. In response
to the first call of Abraham Lincoln for
troops a young man appeared at a De-
troit . recruiting office and enlisted. He
went to the front and in the course of six
months was made a commissioned officer.
He was of a retiring disposition, always
courteous to his fellow officers and just to
his men, but he sought no close friend-
ships. He was known throughout the
command as a man whose devotion to
duty amounted to a passion. He once
sought and secured a change of command
in order to have more frequent hand in
the heavy fighting. He was wounded
three or four times and was so restlessly
anxious to get back to duty that the sur-
geons found him a hard patient.
This soldier rose to the rank of major,
At the battle of Lookout Mountain he
was desperately wounded. He was in the
hospital for some months. Then conva-
lescence came and with convalescence the
restive desire to get to the front again.
He told the surgeon that he was fully
able to report for duty. The surgeon told
him that he was not and that he must
stay on the sick report for some time lon-
ger. Then the major wrote a letter to his
colonel in the field and asked him if the
obeying of the doctor’s orders was com-
pulsory. The colonel, who knew his man,
wrote back that it was as much a part of
a soldier's duty to obey the surgeon as it
was to obey a commanding officer who
ordered a charge on a breastworks in the
face of shrapnel. This satisfied the ma-
jor, and he underwent the rest of his con- |
finement in the hospital resignedly if not
cheerfully. 4
Finally the major went back to the
front. Ie was offered at one time a colo- ;
neley. He declined. He fought in every |
battle of the later Richmond campaign |
and was in at the end at Appomattox. |
The major headed his battalion in the!
great parade of the returning victors up!
Pennsylvania avenue. Then there came!
the final mustering out of the troops. |
Less than a month afterward the colonel
of a fighting line regiment received a let- |
ter bearing a Toronto postmark. It was
from the major. It said in part: “I serv- |
ed all through the war under an assumed
name. I trust that I did my full duty. I
wish you now to know that I did what I i
did in order that I might in some little |
way make atonement for the deed of one
of my family. Sir, I am a Canadian by
birth, and my name is John Benedict
Arnold.”
LAUNDRY. LINES.
Add a few drops of ammonia to the
“If curtains are allowed to dry before i
being starched, they will last clean quite!
a month longer.
~ To clean black cashmere wash the
goods in hot suds containing a little bo-
SRT Rs
"to keep them in good condition.
iron while damp. 7
Clothespins need washing occasionally
Itis a
good plan to put them in the copper after
the clothes have been taken out. After
they have had a good wash they should
be thoroughly rinsed in clean water.
Woolen goods when washed in soap
and water shrink and acquire the odor of
the soap. Therefore steep the articles i
a warm solution of washing soda for
several hours and then, after the addition
of warm water and a few drops of am-
monia, wash and rinse in lukewarm water,
‘Starch for table linen is made by pute
ting one tablespoonful of dry starch into
two quarts of boiling water after having
first dampened the starch with cold was
ter. Let this boil for ten minutes, stirring
constantly and adding a little wax, lard
or butter. Fine, heavy damask table
linen does not require starch. 3
Tibetan Skull Drums. i
A drum of an extreme repulsiveness of
nature is one used by the lamas of Tibet
at some of their church ceremonies. For
this the craniums of two skulls, prefera~
bly children’s, are taken, and over the
concave side of each is stretched the skin
of a snake. The two skulls are then ce-
mented at their vertices to either side of
a wooden disk covered with a cotton
cloth, the stretched skins being outer-
most. These drums are often ornamented
by having the heads of devils and such
like horrors, the more repulsive the bet=
ter, painted upon them in red and blue
colors. The method employed in playing
them is rather curious. To the wooden
disk between the two halves a cord is
fastened by which the drum can be sus-'
pended and then rapidly rotated. Two.
short cords with knobs at their ends hang
down in such a way that as the drum res’
volves they strike alternately on either
face ‘and thus produce a régular “tum,
tum.”—Good Words. ie
ax
A Matter of Identity.
“Here’s another story about ‘the oldest
inhabitant,” he remarked, looking up
from his paper. : A
“Who is he?” she asked, although
without displaying much interest. X
“I know,” broke in the bright little girl.
“So do 1,” asserted the smart little boy.
“You know who the oldest inhabitant
is?” repeated the father in surprise.
“Well, who is it, Ethel?’
“It’s the man who dies so often,” an-
swered the bright little girl. “You’re al--
ways reading about him in the paper.”
“Huh!” ejaculated the smart little boy
scornfully. “I guess you don’t know what Sx
you're talking about. It’s the fellow that’s
always remembering about cold winters
and het summers when the weather's
bad,” —~Chicago Post. E
His Prayers. g
“But my prayers are not answered,” ©
complained a parishioner to the late Rev. &
Dr. Patten of New Haven, Conn. =
are like some promissory notes—presented §
before they are due,” suggested the doc-
tar. :
“Possibly that’s beeause your prayers