It appears from the books that the annual consumption at the refreshment-rooms averages—
| 182,500 | Banbury cakes. | |
| 56,940 | Queen cakes. | |
| 29,200 | patés. | |
| 36,500 | lbs. of | flour. |
| 13,140 | „ | butter. |
| 2,920 | „ | coffee. |
| 43,800 | „ | meat. |
| 5,110 | „ | currants. |
| 1,277 | „ | tea. |
| 5,840 | „ | loaf-sugar. |
| 5,110 | „ | moist sugar. |
| 16,425 | quarts of | milk. |
| 1,095 | „ | cream. |
| 8,088 | bottles of | lemonade. |
| 10,416 | „ | soda-water. |
| 45,012 | „ | stout. |
| 25,692 | „ | ale. |
| 5,208 | „ | ginger-beer. |
| 547 | „ | port. |
| 2,095 | „ | sherry. |
And we regret to add,
| 666 | bottles of | gin. |
| 464 | „ | rum. |
| 2,392 | „ | brandy. |
To the eatables are to be added, or driven, the 85 pigs, who after having been from their birth most kindly treated and most luxuriously fed, are impartially promoted, by seniority, one after another, into an infinite number of pork pies.
Having, in the refreshment sketch which we have just concluded, partially detailed, at some length, the duties of the seven young persons at Wolverton, we feel it due to them, as well as to those of our readers who, we perceive, have not yet quite finished their tea, by a very few words to complete their history. It is never considered quite fair to pry into the private conduct of any one who performs his duty to the public with zeal and assiduity. The warrior and the statesman are not always immaculate; and although at the Opera ladies certainly sing very high, and in the ballet kick very high, it is possible that their voices and feet may sometimes reach rather higher than their characters. Considering, then, the difficult duties which our seven young attendants have to perform—considering the temptations to which they are constantly exposed, in offering to the public attentions which are ever to simmer and yet never to boil—it might be expected that our inquiries should considerately go no further than the arrival at 11 P.M. of “the up York mail.” The excellent matron, however, who has charge of these young people—who always dine and live at her table—with honest pride declares, that the breath of slander has never ventured to sully the reputation of any of those who have been committed to her charge; and as this testimony is corroborated by persons residing in the neigbourhood and very capable of observation, we cannot take leave of the establishment without expressing our approbation of the good sense and attention with which it is conducted; and while we give credit to the young for the character they have maintained, we hope they will be gratefully sensible of the protection they have received.
Postscript.
We quite forgot to mention that, notwithstanding the everlasting hurry at this establishment, four of the young attendants have managed to make excellent marriages, and are now very well off in the world.
Gardens, Libraries, and Schools.
Before leaving Wolverton Station our readers will no doubt be desirous to ascertain what arrangements, if any, are made by the Company for the comfort, education, and religious instruction of the number of artificers and other servants whom we have lately seen hard at work. On the western boundary of the town we visited 130 plots of ground, containing about 324 square yards each, which are let by the Company at a very trifling rent to those who wish for a garden; and, accordingly, whenever one of these plots is given up, it is leased to him whose name stands first on the list of applicants. A reading-room and library lighted by gas are also supplied free of charge by the Company. In the latter there are about 700 volumes, which have mostly been given; and the list of papers, &c. in the reading-room was as follows:—Times, Daily News, Bell’s Life, Illustrated News, Punch, Weekly Dispatch, Liverpool Albion, Glasgow Post, Railway Record, Airs’ Birmingham Gazette, Bentley’s Miscellany, Chambers’ Information, Chambers’ Journal, Chambers’ Shilling Volume, Practical Mechanic’s Journal, Mechanic’s Magazine.