The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-04-30
Mrs. Magruder's Mistake.
Detroit Free Press.l

Yesterday morning, SOON 6It0r tuc outluS
stands in the Central market had been
thrown open to the NAV of the hungry
public. and while Mrs. Magruder was telling
a small boy that she could hold up her hand
and swear that she never used beans in her
coffee, a stranger came along and asked 1t he
could get bite to eat. Mrs. Magruder had
been on the market for many years, and she
thinks she knows a thing or two. She has
fattered herself that she could tell to q bite
Just how much q customer would eat, and
she has for years had an undisguised con-
tempt for thin bodied, spare-faced men, who
try to chew their coffee and mince their
toast.
six-foot shadow. His foreground consisted
of shirt collar and mouth as big as
nnince pie. and the perspective revealed
nothing but two hollow eyes set below thin
line of sandy eyebrows. He remarked that
he had just arrived from Dayton, and was
somewhat hungry, but wanted first to in
quire how much his breakfast would cost
him, as he was rather short of funds.
'Oh, suppose you may be able to worry
down six or seven cents worth of provisions
and cup OF Coffee" she replied.
Suppose you say 25 cents for all l want
to eat?' he said, as the corners of his eyes
began to twitch.
Mrs. Magruder looked him over and
mentally calculated that she would make
just ID cents by the bargain, and she re-
piled: II must have my money In advance,
you know"
"Oh, certainly-here it is. Now, then,
I'm to eat my fill for this quarter
She said that was the understanding, and
wlnked at the woman in the next stall. The
thin man from Dayton doubled up on a
stool, opened his mouth, and q fried sausage
went out of sight SO quickly that the last end
then second sausage, and after gulp or
two the man handed out his cup with the
words:
'That tastes like real coffee-gimme some
more''
While she was filling the cup he got away
with two hot biscuits and slice Of beef, and
the coffee came just in time to wash down a
hunk OF mince pie. He could use both arms
| and his mouth at once, and he attended
strictly to business. When Mrs. Magruder
had filled the third cup her smile had quite
vanished. She saw that she wouldn't come
out even without resorting to strategy. and
she began asking questions. The man an
swered none of them except by mournful
shake of the head. CRASH crash! went his
Jaws, and he reached out from the shoulder
like clock work. Mrs. Magruder called his
attention to a dog fight across the way, but
he ate faster than ever. The bell struck 8,
and she remarked that big confagration
wss raging at the Union Depot, but the man
did not raise his eyes.
When Mrs. Magruder discovered that she
was at lesst six shilIings behind, she said
| that she was poor widow with fve chill
dren to support"
"How do pity you" replied the man, as
he passed his cup with one hand and raked
| in biscuit with the other.
Then Mrs. Magruder told q story about q
man dropping dead on the market the day
| before on account of overeating, but the
man got away with two fried cakes and re
piled:
Curious how some folks can make hogs
OF themselves"
At length Mrs Magruder wanted to know
how much longer he could stand it, and the
thin man from Dayton gave her reproach-
full glance, and answered:
''Have I thus early fallen in with swind-
lers and falsifers?'
She let him go on three or four minutes
more, and then she limited that detective
| ting some one.
IF he'll only give me 25 minutes to finish
my breakfast, hecan take me and be hangedp'
answered the man, and his arm worked faster
than ever.
! Mrs, Magruder was cornered. She laid his
money down and asked him for the sake oil
her poor orphans to move on and leave her
at least one fried cake as q business found.
alton. He paused with his cup held out fol
the seventh time, and perhaps something in
her fearful look reminded him of his poor
dead mother, for he said:
ssWell, l am only human, and admit
that my heart is tender. / don't like to
break off in the middle of my breakfast, but
I'll take the money and move on for your
| children's sake"
He got up looking just as much like &
lath as when he sat down, and when he wa.
ont of sight, Mrs. Msgruder turned to the
desolate ruins and groaned out:
"I'll take my solemn oath If 81 will make
me good for this, and must tell my hus
band that fitted out schooner on trust"