IT'S TOMATO CHOWDER NOW.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 369, 4 June 1903, Page 3

IT'S TOMATO CHOWDER NOW.

Tie S)l«a»p«BriiK<* ad a Good Old Dlab. ta Which dHM Obm Figured. That good old American dish which used to deserve its naqju of clam chowder steins to have degenerated these days into a thick, souivfcastinig tomato soup, says the New York Sun. There is scarcely a place in town when one can get ciam ehi.wder now as i.t was made when the dish earned the great measure of popularity upon which its disreputable successor is still trading.

Instead of clams tomatoes have become the chief ingredient, and the result is an indigestible mess that recalls only in name the savory chowder of better days, and nine times out of ten the deluded diner who partakes of it 'will be afflicted with heartburn for hours afterward. At the seashore where clams areabundant one would naturally expect to get a chowder made after the old orthodox fashion, but in the neighborhood of New York at least there remains only disappointment for anyone who banks on this hope. Even there the enterprising and inexpensive tomato has won the fight, and it is that product and not the clam that dominates the chowder.

Another instance of the aggressiveness of the tomato is to be found in most restaurants that serve spaghetti. This, too, instead of being an appetizing mixture of macaroni and meat gravy, topped with: Parmesan, haa come to be nothing more than a ■auoe of tomato poured over the spaghetti. So that it is little, wonder that these two dishes—olam chowder and spaghetti—which formerly were so highly esteemed by those who knemr good eating, have fallen in favor here, and it seems probable that the time k at hand when they will be found on the lists of only tha poorest grade of eating places.

SECURING A LOWER BERTH. Tbs •Megeflc lomsilmei Played by Vnwelera to Get ifa« Coveted Sleeping Plaeo.

Those who travel a good deal and are compelled to make use of night appreciate the value of a lower berth in a sleeper. All kinds of tricks are resorted to to secure one and the agent must keep his eyes wide open if he would escape several kinds of trouble. One of Chicago's veteran passenger men the other day told of a practice that was common before it was decided not to show the diagrams of the cars to passengers.

"A customer would come into the office," said he, "and ask to be shown the diagrams of the various sleepers. In looking - them over he would notice that John Smith had a lovver reserved until four o'clock in the afternoon, as he was not certain that he would be able to take the train that day. After getting the name well fixed in his mind the tricky customer would purchase a ticket and go back to-his office. About two o'clock lie would send • a messenger boy to the agency with a notice that John Smith had decided to take the berth he had conditionally reserved, whereupon It would be turned over to the messenger. When John Smith called at four o'clock the diagram showed that his lower berth was gone. It would not be proper to quote all that John Smith would say at such times. To save ourselves from these embarrassments and to protect our customers, we recently decided to treat our diagrams aa confidential."

PROVISIONS FOR AN ARMY. Large Ocean Steamship* Are 'Obliged to Have n Well-Stocked - Ifardcr. is ;; J People Who cross the Atlantic in one of the great liners are in no danger of famishing. A gentleman with a penchant for statistics has given the public the average supply aboard the Deutschland at the beginning of every voyage between New York and Hamburg, and, of course, all the other big ships are provisioned in about the same way.

In the first place, there are 40 tons of ice to keep things eatable and drinkable, and these are the things that were on the ice on a recent trip across: Fourteen beeves, ten calves, 29 sheep, 26 lambs, 9 hogs, 1,500 chickens, geese and game birds, 1,700 pounds of fish, 400 pounds of tongues and sweetbreads, 1.700 dozens of eggs, 14 barrels of oysters and clams, 175 barrels of potatoes, 75 barrels of other vegetables, 20 crates of tomatoes and celery, 200 dozen heads of lettuce, 90 barrels of flour, 600 pounds of oatmeal and hominy, 1,300 pounds of butter, 2,200 quarts of milk, 300 quarts of cream, 1,000 big molds of ice cream, 4 tons of fruit, 12,000 quarts of wine and lquor, 15,000 quarts of beer and 400 tons of drinking water.

Of course all of this is not used on each trip, but enough is carried to provide a liberal.margin. The Lerel of Lake Hrl«, Lake Erie is now three and one-half feet below the city base of level, the standard from which the city takes measurements of altitude. What is known to engineers as the "city datum" represents the high water inarjs of the lake in 1838. It cannot be said that the level of the lake is steadily lowering', as some believe, for the level has risen above and gone below the city datum several times since 1838. It is interesting to note that the greatest depth in Lake Erie 'directly north from Cleveland is S3 feet. The greatest depth in tbe lake is more than 200 feet, off L«Bfr Point. Cleveland