The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-11-17


told me that she would furnish no
more meals for us and that if we
left that room for q minute she
would put q paddock on the door.
And she meant it.
"Nevertholess, we Jared pretty
well for several days, until the land
lady caught Madge, the younseE
girl, bringing a tray full OF food up
the back stairs one morning. Thas
game was stopped. Then Susie and
Harry rugged up a private wire
from the window in orlr room and
leading down stairs. Under cover
of darkness Susie would steal out
side. fasten to the wire basketfui
of cold chicken. and bread and any.
thing else she could sneak out Of the
larder. Harry would haul it up.
throw a kiss to Susie, and dull care
would vanish for the time being.
That had to end. The landlady
packed the two girls or to another
aunt in St. Paul.
Zone day while I was out hustling
Harry decided that it was necessary
that we should have q supply OF
fresh linen. Filling the clothesbag
he dropped it out of the window,
locked the. door behind him and
sauntered down stairs, trusting that
he would escape the notice Of the
landlady. She was too quick for
him. That clothesbag and its con-
tents never reached the Chinaman,
and in jiffy there was a paddock
or our door. Then we were out ID
the cold.
''Of course, as you can readily un-
derstand, where so many others were
in the same boat we could manage
to bunk somewhere, but as to food
that was another question. 1t was
easy enough to get drinks too easy,
in fact. The crisis came one Sunday
afternoon. For three days neither
Harry nor tasted food. We stood
at the junction of the two principal!
streets and looked up and down and
at each other. I gave my belt an
extra hitch and tried to brace Harry
up by feeble joke. I said:
Let's go up to English Billy's
and ask. him if he has got any shell
oysters from Chicago. They're only
81 Dozen
"'Oysters, moaned Harry, why,
could eat the shells.
"That boy had a look in his face
very much like. that I saw in the
eyes of the poor devil who begged
me for food tonight. knew that
something had to be done and that
at once. English Billy, who kept a
restaurant and wine vault, was
about the hardest customer in town
when it came to asking credit. He
had been particularly ugly of late
St;ll, we were starving, and con-
cluded that some of English Billy's
food was just what we needed.
"'Harry,' said, we may not get
another meal in a long time, but
we'll have one good one on English
Billy. You stick to nae and don't
show the white feather. Come on.
"AIy chum objected, and I fairly
pulled him along to English Billy's.
owed Billy about $3.50, and be had
nearly split the bar in two when
he announced that his slate was
broken and that he wouldn't give
his own brother cracker to save
him from starving. So when we
entered the restaurant Billy must
have hoped that money was in sight.
told Harry to let me do the order
ing and for heavens sake to stop
shaking.
"That poor fellow was on the
verge of collapse. As for me, l
could have eaten the tableoloth, but
there wasn't any. We started in
with cocktails, got outside of some
soup, and when 7 ordered a double
porterhouse steak with mushrooms,
hashed brown potatoes and canned
asparagus Harry's face was sight.
"'Oh, Billy will kill us when he
gets that check, he murmured.
We'll, suppose he does, I whis-
pered. 'Wewon't die hungry; that's
one satisfaction
''Then I ordered a couple of bot
ties of ale. Billy brought the ale in
himself. I tried to dawdle over the
meal, but it was no use. Billy could
see that we were hungry. He didn I
waste any words on us, but there
was danger in his eyes. I was try
ing to gain time and had detey mined
to make a clean breast to Billy. ]
concluded to stand boldly and say
to him:
When we had money, we spent
it with you, Billy, and as I figure it
out we are entitled to this meal. ]
don't know that we'll ever pay you,
but we've got meal, and if you
want to fight, let's have it right
here and now
II think my chum aged five years