, 1889-04-21
The NEWLY WE'D.
A Pullman Porter Tells How He Spots
T~hem-Evils of the Rice Habit.

A Pullman Porter Tells How He Spots
Them-Eviis of the Rice Habit
l. is a Pullman porter, who is talking
TO an attentive scribe.
Hardly a week goes by" says the
porter, that i don't see a bridal couple
just starting out on their honeymoon
i don't exactly know how can tell them,
but they are as plainly marked to my
eyes as if they had the words bride and
groom stamped in big letters on their
foreheads. There is something about
them that gives the whole situation
away; a kind of a cling-right-next-to-me-
darling air. OF course, l have made a
mistake now and then, but it is very sell
dom l do, and I've often found out, after
changing my mind two or three times,
that l was right after all, though certain
appearances were against it. We gen.
orally have n test which never fails, and
when a doubtful party comes along we
spring it OF them, just to be sure, you
know.
Whats the test? Well, III tell you.
Not many weeks ago a couple got into
my car and sat down very quietly in
their arm chairs as if they had been used
to it all their lives. These didn't seem to
have the bride and groom air about them
at all, and from external appearances
they might have beer brother and sister
or married for years, but still there
was n something there that made me
suspicious, so when i saw them together
l went to the news company's boy and l
says: Bill, here's a doubtful party; get
out the sample copies
$50 Bill got his tests and started
through the car. He handed books to
everybody, and when he came to the sus-
pected party he took out of his pile two
little books, and said, SO nearly every
body could hear him: Very useful books.
sir; hints on housekeeping and hints to
newly married people. Only 25 cents
"That did it. The girl got as red as a
rose and the man blushed and said n
weak sort Of 'N-n-n-no.' Then they
looked at each other and sort of snick-
cred, and l caught him full in the eyes
and smiled n sweet smile, giving him n
respectful wink at the same time. 1t
was all settled in a minute, and there
was no doubt about it. Well, he took it
very good naturally, and asked me after
ward how in the world he had given
himself away-he couldn't imagine. 1
believe we could always tell, and talked
so nicely he gave me n dollar when l got
through with him.
''There are plenty of other giveaways
by which l can spot brideand a groom,
and they are safe generally as the test.
One day a couple came in the car
which, by the way was jam full-and
the moment they entered it was plain as
day that they were newly welded. 1
I y,r-DI Nv thpy, oprA, ~ tuina and than
went in my closet and got the dust pan
and brush. / walked right up to where
the bride was sitting and busted up a
painful of rice that lay on the floor
around her in a complete circle. Well,
if the people in that car didn't laugh, I'm
another.
1.-THE custom of throwing rice after a
bridal couple always makes it unpleasant
for the party, as lots of rice is almost
sure to stick to their clothes, hats and in
their hair. About the funniest rice
thing / ever saw was that which hap
pened in my car just two or three weeks
ago. A couple came in, and the test re-
vealed to me that they WIRE bride and
groom. They didn't seem to take kindly
to it, however, and we couldn't get any
satisfaction out of them at all. By and
by the man said to his wife: Seems to
me this umbrella is not rolled up very
nice"
"'Then he carefully unrolled it, and,
bezingl out came three or four pocket
fuls of rice all over the seats and floor.
Their friends had rolled up a lot inside
the folds of the umbrella, and, next to
the young man I heard tell about who,
when he went to sign his name in a
hotel register, dropped a lot of rice on
the book when he took off his hat, it was
the most binding thing 1 ever Knew
Philadelphia Record.