Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 243, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1913 — DINING FOR 4 CENTS [ARTICLE]

DINING FOR 4 CENTS

How to Live io London on Practically Nothing. Getting a Six Course Meal—Fish Without Price in Billingsgate and Bones for the Stockpot at Smithfield. London.—"l never go without one good meal a day at least,” said the weary old man with the drooping features. “I’m shabby, 1 know. I want a shave. But I’m not hungry. Never am. And why should I be, when there Is plenty of food for all —food in heaps all over the place, only waiting to be picked up?

“Mind you,” he went on, “you have to walk about a bit to get it. And you must have the use of a room, however humble. You must have, besides, a saucepan and a frying pan. Last of all, you ought to have at least twopence if you want to do the thing in style. “Now, if a man hasn’t sufficient gumption ind enterprise to get hold of twopence somehow he has no right to live at all, so far as I can see. Can’t he hold a horse for five minutes? Can’t he carry a bag? Can’t he do a bit of grinding—singing in the street?

“I’ll tell you how to get a five course dinner for nothing at all. I’ll tell you how to get a six course dinner —with a glass of bitter beer thrown in—for twopence.” He considered a while. The dinner would consist of hors d’oeuvres, soup, fish, joint, cheese and dessert.

“Let us begin with the six course dinner. Let us see how we can procure our hors d’oeuvres for nothing, first of all. “We rise early. We don our very ragged rags, in case of emergencies. Then we hie us to Billingsgate. There the salesmen are sorting out their goods. Frequently they come upon a red herring, or a bloater or a sprat that has got broken or crushed in transit. They dare not restore those damaged goods to the box they have opened as a sample. The buyers are not too nice. They would plunge 'their hands in among the fish, discover the damaged one, and use their discovery to beat down the salesman’s prices. So he throws it away. And I pick it up and put it in my bag. Dried fish, fllleted-and cut into strips, makes an excellent dish. You get no better at a swagger West end hotel. “There is other damaged fish, of course, which is flung aside, and gathered in by you in just the same way. Thus we have, you see, obtained courses one and three. “To procure the material for soup we go to Covent Garden market. There we shall find, amid heaps of cabbage leaves and other waste greenstuff, abundance of vegetables—small cabbage, potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips—whatever happens to be in season, the spillings from overfull baskets. We shall find, also, the fruit for our dessert, and if you are fond of beautiful things, you may even pick up flowers to adorn your table with. “So, you see, we now have courses one, two, three and six. From Covent Garden we wend our way to Smithfield; There we shall And any amount of bones to put in our stockpot under the stalls, in pails, everywhere. We shall find odds and ends of meat, too, for our fourth course. We shall find

glbteuo viitu WHICH LiAtcneli ailU flavor our soup. So we have now obtained—for nothing at all —a dinner of five courses. We get six courses for twopence, with a glass of beer; too. “You will observe that the only course missing from the six course banquet is the fifth—the cheese. The publican supplies this. I go into the saloon and order my glass of bitter. “You possess so many vegetables that you don't need bread. But if you prefer to* take bread you have only to keep your eyes open to get enough to stock the baker's shop. The waste of bread in London is prodigious. You will find great chunks of it in almost every street

“Fuel J I will not Insult your intelligence by telling you where to find paper, and bits of wood lie about everywhere. For coal you go to the arches near King's, Cross. There you can get a hundredweight,” he concluded, “if you are strong enough to carry it.”