Page:London - The People of the Abyss.djvu/285

Rh And what is true of the coffee is true of the coffee-house. Working-men, in the main, frequent these places, and greasy, dirty places they are, with out one thing about them to cherish decency in a man or put self-respect into him. Tablecloths and napkins are unknown. A man eats in the midst of

the debris left by his predecessor, and dribbles his own scraps about him and on the floor. In rush times, in such places, I have positively waded, through the muck and mess that covered the floor and I have managed to eat because I was abominably hungry and capable of eating anything.

This seems to be the normal condition of the