Delta chief., 1884-03-26
THE WATERS TRAGEDY.
TeiAs sifitngs.

THE WATERS TRAGEDY.
TsIA. s,htnx,.
1t was q dreary winters day cold,
and raw, and wetysuch q day as you
would naturally expect in New York in
November. l WAS in sympathy with
the acknowledgement. cranky, and
niserable-for had lost heavily on
Change that morning. passed a
restaurant on Broadway, and ii occur
ed to me that steak, tender and juicy
would. to some extent, SOC the my
wounded spirit; so l kicked little
boot black on; Of my way, boxed the
ears of newspaper boy who yelled:
.E-cho-o-o!" at me. and entered the
hostelry. II was large, handsome
room. well furnished with mahogany,
plate glass. etc. The guests were es-
pecially numerous. and the walters
were very busy. ! seated myself, and
man with iack-lustre eye. and n far
away expression. came up to the table
and quietly waited for my order.
"Sirloin steak. rare; potatoesi Bruss-
els sprouts.
Silently he went. nor long remained
away. In few minutes he returned,
bearing-chops (overdone), tomatoes,
and Vienna bread! ! gazed at the as
sortment of viands l didn't want, and
shcn ! gazed at the waiter. He was
evidently several centuries away.
What in thunder is this?' Iinquir-
ed.
He aweke.
beg pardon. sir; lunch. sir. Chops
sir: tomatoes, sir. bread. SIR"
In tones of fearful GOODNESS, I repli-
Just you take those straight back.
and bring me what ordered. Hear?"
and repeated my order.
The man looked at me with troub-
led air, ns II he wanted to speak, but
couldn't. He removed the dishes and
departed. Presently he returned with
anc ther porcelain tower. Steak-good.
Csulifiower-whnt? opotatocs!-oh'
come now. this Is too, too much. You
Internally stupid-ncver mind! Send
the landlord here a, once"
Again the waiter looked at ue as il
about to speak. He hesitatcd. And
then he went for the proprietor. Har-
rassed and worried as had been all
day. you may be sure that my accusa-
tion of the laundering waiter was not
Of the mildest. Iprobably represented
him as something superior in the Luci-
fer line to that old gentleman himself.
know / declared he had made me
miss an appointment, the missing OF
which would cost me Thousands
statement devoid of even n grain of
truth. Finally intimatcs that would
never enter the miserable den-mean-
ing the rcstaurant--again, and bounc-
ed out without paying cent.
had forgotten all about the matter
when, ms ! was crossing Canal street.
two evenings afterwards, observed n
wrctched looking creature shufiling
along. II was my stupid waiter of the
day before! But how changed. The
beautiful white tie and spotless shirt
front were gone; the neat swallow-tail
was replaced by an old threadbare
ovcrcoat; the trousers were fringed At
the ends; the boots were broken. and
the only good thing he had on was his
hat. I stopped him, and inquired what
had brought him into such wretched
condition. He looked up with a
puzzled expression; then he rccog-
nized me. and. while the tears started
to his eyes, he answered simply:
"You did"
.'Is the man crazyP" thought, as
watched the twitching mouth and ner-
vous movement of the hands.
MY good SIR" I said, chow on the
face Of the earth could / have anything
to do with your misfortunes. whatever
they may bep"
'iAh. SIR" he replied, .'you don't
know what employers are. You re-
member the mistakes made In bring
ing you your lunch day before yester-
dayp"
~ do; and most inexcusable they
were"
..Inexcusable." he repeated with a
ring of bitterness in his tone. ..Inex-
cusablei Ay-everything is inexcusa-
bic In the poor. Well now, sir, let me
, tell you short story, and then you can
say whether am 'incxcusablo' or not.
Six months ago held a position Of
trust In n large firm, and was well paid:
Ny eyesight began gradually to fail
me, until became unable to do the
fine work necessary. That was 'inex-
cusable' Of course, and so had to
leave at weeks notice. The chronic
illness of my wife had prevented me
from saving any money. and so ! was
destitute. At length obtained the
waitership in the restaurant where you
found me. I was badly paid and
hard.worked, but / was satisfied, be-
cause Il gave me bread for myself and