The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-08-13
THE LADY CASHIER.
Seated at Ter Ds K She Was
Beautiful, but When She
Walked!

ute late. and ye. ! say and believe that
punctuality Is an execrable vice. Who
does not despise the man who always
arrives on time, appearing just when
n is trying to finish some occupation.
and watch in hand. saying blandly. Am
not punctualY' Yes. sir. after serving
as a regulator for all the clocks in my
neighborhood for twenty years, | re-
peat, punctuality is execrable. | am
cured Of ii, for it was the cause Of the
greatest disappointment of my life
Listen. and judge for yourself.
For seven long years / had break
tasted at one restaurant; every morning
at exactly five minutes past IL | opened
the door and at precisely FIVE minutes
before noon | closed it.
1t is useless to describe the lady
cashier, suffice it to say hat from the
instant | tasted my first cup of coffee in
that restaurant she reigned in my heart.
Did my glances express my feelings!
l cannot say. but | know that for seven
years we loved in silence. It took inst
that length OF time for me to get near
enough to speak to her. as had to work
my way from table No. z, which | first
occupied. up to table No. l. which stood
next to the cashiers desk. | was too
punctual to arrive an instant earlier at
..4e restaurant than the six other guests,
and as they were as exact as l. was
obliged to employ strategy to dislodge
them.
The first man, at table No. @, was
easily disposed Of. While waiting to be
served | amused myself in cutting corks.
and the sound set his teeth on edge and
annoyed him SO much that he went into
the next room, and | took his place.
Six months after chance came TO my
aid and relieved me of No. 8. A waiter
broke a goblet and spilled coffee on the
table, and the occupant being supersti-
tious insisted on changing his seat. so |
moved up again.
In the course of the next two meals |
succeeded in making myself obnoxious
to No. 4. who had a habit of taking q
little nap Immediately after his break
fast. | contrived. by fitting my chair,
to knock his repeatedly. so that at last
he got up and left in a fury.
No. 8 held out only one day against
me. | made bread and butter black
with cayiare and soaked it in my coffee,
and the sight of the mess made my
neighbor so sick that he fed pr~ecipitately
and hardly had time to get out of the
room.
Then | sat next to No. 2. All. l shall
never forget that mani 1t took me four
years to get rid Of him, and but for the
encouraging glances of my angel |
should have given up in despair. Per-
haps you wonder why | did not come
to breakfast two hours earlier, when !
would have had my choice Of tables.
That would have been a simple matter
to most men, but l was a victim to the
folly Of pu~nctuality.
To return to No. 2. | tried cork cut
ting, putting caviare in my coffee and
dancing about on my chair, but it vas
all in vain. Then | discovered that the
man was stone deaf besides being blind
in one eye. | decided, therefore, to at
tack him through his pocket, and ac-
cordingly | made a practice of surrepti-
tously putting cups, glasses and ocean
tiers close to his elbow, on the blind side,
and he invariably knocked them down
and had to pay damages. Every day
there was q heap of broken glass and
china ON the floor between us, and every
day he paid the cost uncomplainingly.
The restaurant keeper p~rotited largely
by these accidents, for he had the affiict-
ed guest served with cracked and broken
ware and charged him the price of new
on its being demolished.
At the end OF four years No. 2 had de-
stroyed as much table ware as would
suffice to set up in housekeeping all the
savages of Oceanica, those people who
have SO few Injuries that one pair OF
gloves is sufficient to make clothes for
ten men. Poor No. 81 | pity him now,
for | have learned that the reason he
chung to his post so pertinaciously wa
that he too adored the lady cashier. /
had no mercy ON him, however, and be-
ing at the end of my had re-
solved Il put the police on his track,
when he was one day knocked down
and killed by one of those butchers
wagons which are allowed, / know not
why, to rush through Paris streets at
full speed. The next morning | seated
myself at table No. 2, where. although
not quite within the promised land, l
enjoyed its delicious fragrance. 1
breathed the odor of the orange flower
water which she poured into hideous
little onion shaped bottles.
Only one obstacle now separated me
from her. my beloved. 1t was No. l. /
determined to crush him, and from that
day war was declared between US. He
was a terrible man, formerly a captain
of gendarmes, strong as a Turk, with
heavy beard and mustache. There was
a certain amount Of gallantry and senti-
ment, however, under his rough exterior,
for he used to fix his great eyes upon the
lady cashier, and repeat, hour after hour,
these words, II am like the ivy; | die
where | attach myself"
The prospect did not console me in the
least, for he looked as if he would live
to be a hundred. l tried TO win the
monster by relating amusing tales and
making puns, but he suddenly dampened
my ardor by saying, as hs twisted his
mustache hercely: