Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-04-21
GATHERING A CITY caowo.


Experienee of Waggish C1ub A1As at .
New York DrinkinB Heuntaln. ila
have friend Of tho clubs--aS mad a
wag rs ever lived when the humor of his
before dinner absinthe Is upon him. We
were crossing public square, one balmy
evening last spring; Go O'Clock had just been
screeched at US by every factory whistle
withing hearing, and the sidewalks were
swarm.
'I'n lay You the dinners" said my
farceur, that l can create . riot here in
side Of five minutes" 49,
He stopped at the public drinking foun-
tain and took up the tin cup that was
chained toit. The psssers by stared a little
70 see 80 elegant gentleman stop to drink
at q common fount Of cheap rcfreshment.
Several halted, after going ON Q few
PAGES, to look back. He filed the cup
deliberately. Tho waiting several had
become score. He raised the cup slowly
toward his lips. The score grew to nfty.
Suddenly he dashed the water into the
basin and nlled the cup again, only to
again empty 10 untouched. BY this time
We were encircled by 80 many people that
they could not be counted, and I could
hear such observations aud inquiries all
around Us, a.,
"He'n drink It this time"
'tBet you the drinks he DON'T"
''Must be dirty"
"What II IN"
"May be the cup leaks.''
HE must b some crank"
''What ails him, auyhowS'
MAY be common water isn't good
enough for him." ass
There was also addressed to him,
through this running fre Of comment,
vInnnV mora mr. IA fwfnvAyv opA 1iot,,<o -
ested suggestions and Instructions, like:
"Wrench the cup out" from motherly
fat woman, poking her umbrella at him.
''Have stick In it" by man with
shiny black hat and shiny red nose. ~s
a"Tell the waiter to open another
bottle"
This sally, which proceeded from q
young man In crossed barred trousers,
with very large and massive cauo, which
no carried like yard stick, was hailed
with such applause that park police
man found himself called upon to inter
fere; whereupon my friend hurled the
cup into the basin With an expression Of
the face indicative Of great disgust and
loathing, and showed his way out Of tho
crowd as quickly as he could. We could
hear the roar Of voices and the sharp
rapping Of the policcman's club when we
tuiucu AutO Suc EcStouIduty u UlOCh uuu
more away; and I learned by the papers,
next day, that the shiny red nose and the
shiny black hat slept In a station house
cell on general charge of disorderly con-
duct and the utterance Of murderous
threats against some person or persons
unknown.
1t is the same crowd that inspects the
sewer hole into which q shiny man de-
scends, the cellar excavation where the
men are not working because It Is wet
weather, the house Mrs. Langtry lives in,
or the man at the fountain. This Same
crowd will invest shop window where a
pasteboard cobbler is stitching at paper
shoe under the propulsion Of the heat
from Q gas Jet, or rather under three ton
safe that 10 being hoisted up to tenth
story window by rope that may be rot
ten and machinery that may be on tho
point Of giving way, for all the thought
they give to it, or pack street where
some roofers have left tar pot boiling
while they have sat down on doorstep to
eat their dinner. The quality and guam
tity Of amusement an average New York
street idler can extract from an hours
stare Mt an untended tar pot will, no
doubt, ever remain mystery to you and
me. But such as 1t is, he extracts it, and
Is, to all appearances, quite satisfied with
his bargain. Alfred Trumble In The
ArCOnaut