The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1897-01-02
APPErrrEs.

a Story Which Shows How oAcultIsm Il
HItched to Industrial Art.
"One of the oldest things 1 ever saw"
remarked a physician in a small party
OF Washington story-tellers, 81 saw in
a kind of a hotel or rather feedery at
the Chicago stock yards"
Men OF ~cattle?" queried a listener.
Men; and good men. Iwasn't board
ing there, but 1 knew the proprietor OF
the place, and had been his physician
before he went to Chicago, and after
he got there he made money enough to
pay me to come down and look over his
family about twice a year. 1 lived only
100 miles away, and usually made my
trips between daylight and dark, tax
ing my monday meal with him, at
which time his main dining-room had
from 100 to 200 diners in it. A great
many of these were transients, nd very
many were green and unsophis-
tlcated young men from the country
who had come in with stock and were
utterly unused TO city ways.
"On the day in question 1 sat with
the proprietor at his little lookout
desk, from which he kept an eye on the
business, and watched the people eat,
which is not as bad a show as Won
might think, if you never witnessed
such a performance. As we sat there |
noticed one waiter, a dark-skinned,
strengthening chap, who, instead of
having a territory assigned to him,
seemed to work all over the dining
room. He was a worker, too, and first
attracted me by the way he handled his
people.
Il spoke to the proprietor about him,
and he told me to watch him, and he
would tell me about him as soon as
he had time. l followed his advice, and
saw that the waiter would apparently
spot a man as he came in, and when he
reached a chair he would be there with
a bow and a smile ready to wait on him.
The man would seem to start, as if rec
ogniZing him, and would sit down and
begin to look nervous.
The waiter, in the meantime, kept
his eye on him, and would take his order.
Often the order was extremely light,
covering only a cup of tea or a piece
of meat and bread, or possibly n glass
of milk, or a bowl of bread and milk.
The waiter would smile and would
seem to insist on the guest taking more,
but the guest shook his head, and soon
finished his frugal repast. AS a phys;-
clan, l wondered how men who worked
as these did could get along with so
little food.
THAT afternoon the proprietor smiled
when l asked him about the peculiar
waiter. He's a Jewell he said, and he's
worth more to me than any waiter I've
got, though I'm always a little afraidof
him, and to keep him in good humor
1 pay him about so per cent. more han
l do any of the others. l don't know
what he does, and I never speak of it
to anybody, and only to you because you
are my family physician, but he has
a way of picking out the people he
wants to wait On as they come in, and
when he gets hold of them he makes
them eat what he wants to.
Sometimes a big, hearty fellow will
gag and apparently get sick when he
sits down to the table, and after a bite
or two he pays his bill and goes out.
That doesn't happen often, though. His
way is to make his people eat just q
little of the cheapest things-it's a 35-
cent dinner, you know-and many times
a glass of milk and bread oil a piece
of pie will be all they want, and they
will go out perfectly satisfied to pay
IS cents for it. 1t isn't any of my bust
ness to ask about their health OF their
appetite, and l don't. lleave my waiter
to do that and the proprietor smiled
innocently rather than in guile.
Il don't want to spoil u good thing,
but 1 thought 1 ought to-" concluded
the physician, and l proceeded to tell
my friend that the waiter was a Sven
gali-by the way-and was defrauding
the patrons of the restaurant by hyp-
nothing them and sending them out
filled only with suggestions, and that
while it might be extremely
tive, it was not right at all, and the
waiter should be sent away. Then,
thinking m advice would be followed,
of course, 1 took my departure. Six
months later l came back, and the first
man l saw in the dining-room was Sven
gall. fancy" and the physician sighed,
''the Chicago climate or something
must have had an effect on my friends
moral Observation-Disclosures Star.