Soup House (1850)

[George Thompson]

Hadn't occurred to me that this might be an antedating:

New Soup House. [headline]  [the managers acknowledge contributions; they gave out “this forenoon” 2831 rations.]  The time of distribution is from 9 o’clock till 11.
The Columbian, February 18, 1817, p. 2, col. 1; [a soup house, in Franklin street, near the Arsenal; 800 supplied; others turned away; plans for doubling the quantity of soup; request for donations] N-Y G&GA, February 18, 1817, p. 2, col. 1; [report from the managers of the soup house]
N-Y G&GA, March 11, 1817, p. 2, col. 1; National Advocate, March 12, 1817, p. 2, cols. 4-5

The passages in [] are paraphrases, not direct quotations, but the Feb. 18 headline is a direct quote, and the phrase "soup house" no doubt does appear in the other stories as well.  I will check upon request.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African
Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.

----- Original Message -----
From: Bapopik at AOL.COM
Date: Sunday, December 14, 2003 11:26 pm
Subject: Ladino (1840); Soup House (1850); Ice House (1859)

>   A few notes before I travel across four states at 4 a.m. to get
> a visa for Ghana.
>   NYU is open until 3 a.m. during finals week, but when I came
> here yesterday, ProQuest was down for maintenance.  I now see that
> the databases haven't been improved.  I'll check the LOS ANGELES
> TIMES again later this week...I'm expecting 1950s "Margarita" and
> "Screwdriver."
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
> LADINO
>
> A WINTER IN THE WEST INDIES,
> DESCRIBED IN FAMILIAR LETTERS TO HENRY CLAY, OF KENTUCKY,
> BY JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY
> Second Edition
> New York: Negro Universities Press
> 1969
> Originally published in 1840
> by John Murray, London
>
> Pg. 6 (June 1, 1840):  We were amused, one morning, by watching
> the motions of a great shark, called, from its known discernment
> and cunning, the "Sea lawyer."
>   (OED has 1811, then 1876 for "sea lawyer"--ed.)
>
> Pg. 220 (July 1, 1840):  In the much agitated case of the Amistad,
> the decision of the local courts of Connecticut, against the
> delivering up of the slaves, was grounded, as I understood, on the
> fact that these persons were not Ladinos--i. e. true Cuban slaves--
> but Bozals, who are no slaves at all, in the eye of the Spanish law.
>   (OED's "ladino" has 1863 for "a stray animal," 1877 for "in
> Central America, a mestizo or a white person," and 1889 for the
> Sephardic Jewish language.  Is the Amistad decision/"ladino" on
> WESTLAW?--ed.)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
> SOUP HOUSE
>
> IMPRESSIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF THE WEST INDIES AND NORTH AMERICA
> IN 1849
> by Robert Baird
> Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard
> 1850
>
>   OED has 1861 for "soup house" and 1839 for "soup kitchen" (see
> ADS-L archives).
>
> Pg. 52 (Antigua):  The stranger visiting St. John's should
> certainly visit an institution there, denominated the Soup House--
> an institution which is, all circumstances considered, one of the
> most creditable to be found in the West Indies.  Like most other
> establishments in St. John's having for their beneficent object
> the relief of human want, and the alleviation of human suffering,
> or the improvement of human nature, this institution is mainly
> indebted for its origin and foundation, and subsequent progress,
> to the exertions of the Rev. Archdeacon Hal- (Pg. 53--ed.) berton--
> a clergyman whose beneficent efforts, in the cause of Christian
> benevolence, all classes in the island agree in eulogising.
>   The Soup House is so called from its having originated in a
> humble endeavour to supply soup to the indigent--its origin being
> so lowly that the first boiling or brewing took place under the
> shade of a tamarind-tree still in existence.  To the soup or
> kitchen department there has been added an infirmary, a separate
> sailor's hospital in a different part of the town, and near the
> sea, and a lazar-house for the reception of patients deformed by
> that awful species of leprosy which attacks the black population
> (at least I did not see any white or coloured victims) in these
> islands.  When I visited the institution, there were one hundred
> and thirty patients in the infirmary and sailors' hospital, and
> nearly thirty in the lazar-house; but these are of course in
> addition to the numerous body receiving outdoor relief.
>
> Pg. 135:  ...--was asked by a genuine Yankee whether any of "these
> fixings"--pointing to a dish of tolerably cooked artichokes--was
> grown in the "old country."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
> ICE HOUSE
>
> THE WEST INDIES AND THE SPANISH MAIN
> by Anthony Trollope
> Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing Limited
> 1985
> First Published 1859
>
>   OED's "ice house" has 1687 for "a structure..in which ice is
> stored," and 1857 for "a hut made of ice or snow."
>
> Pg. 155:  And here it may be well to explain this very peculiar,
> delightful, but too dangerous West Indian institution.  Ny-the-by,
> I do not know that there was any ice-house in Kingston, Jamaica.
> If there be one there, my friends were peculiarly backward, for I
> certainly was not made acquainted with it.  But everywhere else--
> at Demerara, Trinidad, Barbados, and St. Thomas--I was duly
> introduced to the ice-house.
>   There is something cool and mild in the name, which makes one
> fancy that ladies would delight to frequent it.  But alas! a West
> Indian ice-house is but a drinking-shop--a place where one goes to
> liquor, as the Americans call it, without the knowledge of the
> feminine creation.  It is a drinking-shop, at which the draughts
> are all cool, are all iced, but at which, alas! they are also all
> strong.  The brandy, I fear, is as essential as the ice.  A man
> may, it is true, drink iced soda-water without any concomitant, or
> he may simply have a few drops of raspberry vinegar to flavour it.
> No doubt many an easy-tempered wife so imagines.  But if so, I
> fear that they are deceived.  Now the ice-house in Bridgetown
> seemed to me to be peculiarly well attended.  I look upon this as
> the effect of the white streets and the fusty shops.
>
>
> A GLIMPSE OF THE TROPICS
> OR, FOUR MONTHS CRUISING IN THE WEST INDIES
> by E. A. Hastings Jay
> London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Limited
> 1900
>
> Pg. 28 (Barbados):  We drove to the Ice-house in the centre of the
> town (famous for flying-fish and West Indian cocktails), where I
> was to spend the first night before moving to Harrison College,
> which, through the kindness of the masters, was my headquarters
> during my visit to the islands.
>
> Pg. 277 (The Blue Mountains):  On the broad platform or "barbecue"
> used for drying the coffee we performed our toilet, shivering with
> cold in the mountain air.
>
>   (So much for West Indian BBQ--ed.)
>