The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-03
QUEER LAPsEs OF THE MIND.
What Some People Forget When they
Leave q Restaurant.

From me Near ! OfE ~ OfiT-
Persons whose absence of mind makes
one to doubt sometimes their presence of
body are very numerous. One of their
traits and oddities of character is the habit
of leaving behind them wherever they may
happen to be any personal belonging which
they may have with them which is not Sc
curely attached to their person.
The habit, if habit it may be called, re-
suits iii the enrichment of Others, while it
does not impoverish the person by whom
the article is left, for he who has no mind
to feel the pangs Of poverty can never be
poor.
One of the best places to observe the alb
sent-minded man is in a restaurant. a
keeper of a popular down town ''eatery"
said the other day:
"Do | have any absent minded men
among my clstomersl Well, [ SHOULD say
l did. Look at this, and this-and this"
And he brought to view succ -ssively, in
recesses behind his desk a lot OF umbrellas,
another lot of canes and a lot of bundles and
packages.
The umbrellas were of all classes and
conditions, from the faded cotton, bulged-
bodied and crooked-handled of the Jersey
farmer, to the aIiStOcratic silk shades with
its taacifully designed handle of silver or
gold. The covers were equally distinctive
of the caracters and classes OF their owners
who had left them.
Il don'C know what are in these packages
| never open them" said the man behind
the desk. Lets see what this fellow left"
Open came a dust-covered, newspaper
wrapped bundles, and out rolled a waist
coat, the bdttonless and frayed condition Of
which suggested repairs
Il suppose the contents of all the packages
are of equal value with that" continued
the voluble lunchman. When get so
numbered up with old umb elias, canes and
things that they are a burden, and that's
every two or three motifs, | have em
dumped into the ash-barrel. Some of the
COMMUNIST things for customers to leave
in winter are gloves, sllk-handkerchiefs,
muih IS and bOnbOns. have had lot OF
patent velvet ear muffs on hand at times
Another common thing is for a guest to
leave his pocket handkerchief. A great
many fine linen handkerchief accumulate
They never are claimed
Some articles OF value are left" the
man went on, but they are generally re-
claimed. For instance, here is a $50 bill,
which was lett by a gentleman about two
weeks ago. He was counting out a large
sum of money on the table, and, III gather
ing it up, he left this bill in plain si2ht.
| am keeping 1t to surprise him wien a
present Wnen ne comes again. But the most
amusing case OF absent -mindednssS which
have encountered is one of my customers
who orders bis lunch, and, after sitting over
it for little while, picks up his cheek,
strols abstractedly up TO the desk aud ays
for FOOD that lie has rever hal When bis
attention is called 10 the fac, that he HASN'T
eaten anything, he laughs heartily, returns
10 the table ard satisfies his appetite, which
before had been unable to bring him out of
dreamand TO the stern reality OF living.
This customer has done this frequently He's
good, paying boarder There are others
VINO walk by the cashiers desk and into the
street without paying, but these cases are
frequently found not to be of abstraction,
save in the sense that abstraction which is
taking another's goods without making re-
turn in equivalent for them"