noon
But there are tea-rooms managed by Western women , if I may judge from the accents involuntarily overheard in their talk at the telephone . The tea of the tea-room means lunch , too , and in some places breakfast and dinner , or rather supper , on much the plan of the several Women 's Exchanges ; but these are mostly of New England inspiration and operation , and their cooking has a Northern quality . They , as well as the tea-rooms , leave something to be desired in cheapness , though they might be dearer ; in some you get tea for fifteen cents , in others a no better brew for twenty-five . But they are all charmingly peaceful , and when at the noon hour they overflow with conversation , still there is a prevailing sense of quiet , finely qualified by the feminine invention and influence . Mere men are allowed to frequent these places , not only under the protection of women , but also quite unchaperoned , and when one sees them gently sipping their Souchong or Oolong , and respectfully munching their toasted muffins or their chicken-pie , one remembers with tender gratitude how recently they would have stood crooking their elbows at deleterious bars , and visiting the bowls of cheese and shredded fish and crackers to which their drink freed them , while it enslaved them to the witchery of those lurid ladies contributed by art to the evil attractions of such places : you see nowhere else ladies depicted with so little on , except in the Paris salon . The New York tea-rooms are not yet nearly so frequent as in London , but I think they are on the average cosier , and on the whole I can not say that they are dearer . They really cheapen the midday meal to many who would otherwise make it at hotels and restaurants , and , so far as they contribute to the spread of the afternoon-tea habit , they actually lessen the cost of living : many guests can now be fobbed off with tea who must once have been asked to lunch . ''