Outside the stable doors a shifting array of boys and girls hovered hungrily and curiously.

When the President had finished, the Rabbinate was invited to address the philanthropists, which it did at not less length, eloquently seconding the proposition that charity was a virtue.

Then the door was slid back, and the first two paupers were admitted, the rest of the crowd being courageously kept at bay by the superintendent.

The head cook filled a couple of plates with soup, dipping a great pewter pot into the cauldron.

The Rabbinate then uplifted its eyes heavenwards, and said the grace: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, King of the Universe, according to whose word all things exist." It then tasted a spoonful of the soup, as did also the President and several of the visitors, the passage of the fluid along the palate invariably evoking approving ecstatic smiles; and indeed, there was more body in it this opening night than there would be later, when, in due course, the bulk of the meat would take its legitimate place among the pickings of office.