... Food, to be at once sustaining to the labourer, and
preventive of disease, must have bulk--must possess solidity--must not
be rapidly digestible, and must contain, in varied proportions, all the
staminal ingredients of nutriment."
Sir Henry Marsh, said one of the morning journals, did not attack M.
Soyer, but he demolished the soup kitchen as effectively as if he did.
As soon as M. Soyer's model soup depot was completed, he resolved to
open it for public inspection with a good deal of ceremony. On the 5th
of April, therefore, the opening day, the space in front of the Royal
Barracks presented a very animated scene; flags floated gaily in the
breeze; the rich dresses of ladies of birth and fashion contrasted
pleasingly with the costly and superb military uniforms among which they
moved; and M. Soyer was all politeness in explaining to his
distinguished visitors the arrangements and perfections of his soup
kitchen. In a famine-stricken land, the good taste of this exhibition
was doubtful enough: at any rate it was criticised with no sparing hand.
When I got a card of invitation, writes one, I thought I was to see M.
Soyer's peculiar appliances for making soup for the poor; but no--it was
a "gala day:" drums beating, flags flying.
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