the Poor in Bavaria. 281 



are frequently obliged to wait some time at the door, 

 before they can be admitted into the dining-hall, — 

 that is to say, till all the poor who work in the house 

 had finished their dinners, — for their more comfort- 

 able accommodation, a large room, provided with a 

 stove for heating it in winter, has been constructed, ad- 

 joining to the building of the institution, but not within 

 the court, where these poor people assemble and are 

 sheltered from the inclemency of the weather while they 

 wait for admittance into the dining-hall. 



To preserve order and decorum at these public din- 

 ners, and to prevent crowding and jostling at the door 

 of the dining-hall, the steward, or some other officer of 

 the house of some authority, is always present in the 

 hall during dinner ; and two privates of the police guards, 

 who know most of the poor personally, take post at the 

 door of the hall, one on each side of it; and between 

 them the poor are obliged to pass singly into the hall. 



As soon as a company have taken their places at the 

 table (the soup being always served out and placed 

 upon the tables before they are admitted), upon a signal 

 given by the officer who presides at the dinner, they all 

 repeat together a short prayer. Perhaps I ought to ask 

 pardon for mentioning so old-fashioned a custom ; but 

 I own I am old-fashioned enough myself to like such 

 things. 



As an account in detail will be given in another place, 

 of the expense of feeding these poor people, I shall 

 only observe here that this expense was considerably 

 lessened by the voluntary donations of bread and offal 

 meat, which were made by the bakers and butchers of 

 the town and suburbs. The beggars, not satisfied with 

 the money which they extorted from all ranks of people 



