19 / 252
Many Schools in One
erous board. There, too, many of them first learned of
the superb succulence of Virginia "vintage" ham. As a
matter of fact, the exoteric could there give the "once–
over" to delicacies they had never before seen-or even
imagined. No menu in puzzling French to mystify or
confuse. The uninitiate saw what he saw, and what he
fancied he could sample at his leisure. And spread out
for his delectation-for he was free to choose, and to
wha~ever
extent-were light and savory canapes, thirst–
provoking anchovies in various-tinted guises, and other
delicacies; and there were substantial slices of beef or
ham, ordinary as well as Virginia, and a wonderful as–
sortment of cheeses of robust 'odors; not forgetting the
crisp radishes and sprightly, delicate spring onions, and
olives stuffed and unstuffed.
· The temporary addicts of the lunch table were never
disturbed, or rarely. Their meal ticket depended merely
upon good conduct-supported, of course, by a good
front. The occasional investment of a quarter in a bottle
of beer-not necessarily spent before an attack upon the
lunch table-served to keep them in good standing. By
such an outlay as little as three ,times a week, a man
could eat daily from that hospitable offering a luncheon
that, served in one of the hotel's restaurants, would have
set him back a good two dollars-and get away with it.
And many so did.
The free lunch grew to be a part of every branch of
the American School of Drinking. The table in the Wal–
dorf Bar cost the hotel more than seventy-five hundred
dollars a year. It proved excellent advertisement, for no
inconsiderable slice of the hotel's profits came from the
[ 19]