In the back of the stage the curtain that told of the wonderful feeding system—50,000 people, 6¾ minutes!—fell.
A hush also fell on the audience, for back of it was another white sheet on which everybody read:
WATCH YOUR GUESTS EAT
YOU ARE FEEDING THEM!
H. R.
The audience, metamorphosed against its will into charitable hosts, now remembered the starving fellow-beings who were there to eat.
H. R. motioned. A bugler advanced to the front of the stage and sounded, Charge!
The soup began to pour out of the faucets. In fourteen seconds 12,137 cups of steaming soup à la Piccolini were before the guests.
The audience applauded madly. It was perfectly wonderful what charity could do—in fourteen seconds!
The guests were very hungry. The soup, however, was very hot. This made the drinking audible to the remotest recesses of the Garden.