The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-20
HIS MONOPOLY



One day a tranger came into Truman's
restaurant. and. with a great display Of
secrecy. drew the proprietor OF the eating
lair aside and told him he now had a
chance to grasp n fortune. Mr.. Truman
was out in that country for the sole pur-
pose of g-aspinE fortunes. and he told the
stranger so and requested that he bring
the fortuae before him forthwith.
A right" said the other. and he pro-
duced TO the view Of Truman a large
iron letter OF the condensed Gothic
variety. There 1t is"
What, that coupling link why. fool
man. I can go up TO the L. +. shops and
get all OF those | can cart away"
That's the beauty OF IT," the other
chuckled. shaping Truman on the back
| thing OF having the power which rests in
IL. Everybody thinks I. is a mere. plain.
common c~oupiing-link. You can go ON
making millions of dollars out OF it. and
nobody would ever Imagine that TO do il
you were indebted for your opulence.
That. sir, is n soup magnet"
I'm" said Lise: What does II do?,
which IL contains IL has the property OF
making good soup out OF mere hot water.
You boil that magnet-l call IL the Midas
magnet-in a tank full OF water and you
will have a tank full OF soup. There Is
no getting away from IL. II you doubt
ii, and OF course you d~o-aobody can at
first believe the great truth OF this mar
veil will prove 1t to- YOU. Have you \
pot OF hot water handy"
Lige accompanied the stranger to tho
kitchen AID turned over to his Use the
kettle In which he usually made the soup
for the restaurant. The visitor put about
two quarts OF water into II. set IL over tho
fire. inserted the iron and watched II
while il simmered. meanwhile discoursinC
on the marvel OF IL all until Truman
was pretty well worked up:
IF IL does what you say he said.
"whatll you sell IL for?
"The heggariy pittance of So the keep
er of Midas answered.
Now the soupmaker remarked. that
pot contains all the basic elements OF
good soup. All / need is a little salt and
pepper and some meat and an union to
flavor IL - Truman quickly provided
these. and in a few minutes the other
pronounced the soup as ready for samp-
ling. The restaurateur tasted it. and. TO
his surprise. found that II was good stun.
It had the exact soup taste. That's won
derful." he said. Here's your SO. Did
you intend to sell any more in town."
Il had expected to dispose of one at the
eating house across the street
Well. here. III make it $l5. You go on
and get out OF town. / want to have n
monopoly OF this thing" The stranger
assented, and made for the depot with all
speed.
The cook came down to get the evening
meal under way. Truman, with great en-
thusiasm. called him in and told him
about the transaction. We've got the
thing monopolized,' he said. ITS a great
graft"
with? the cook inquired.
Truman told him, and the cook tasted
the compound before saying anything
more. Then he slowly: We'll,
perhaps it is a good thing. but ii seems
to me that the soup would have been
just as good with all those ingredients IL
he had left this piece of railroad iron
out" Mr.. Truman stared at the COOK
very carefully and painstakingly and then
remarked, with a great deal of improper
language, that that was so. He started
down the street at n gait OF aDOEt ninety
eight miles an hour to get SIS worth Of
satisfaction out Of the stranger, but the
latter was two through trains ahead or
him.
For some reason Truman never worked
his monopoly as he had ntended.-Chi-
cago Record.