The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-14
LONG TIME HUNGRY.
The Worcester Printer, The Wolf
Starvation and the Steak.

The Worcester Printer, The Wolf
Starvation and the Steak
The world over, restaurant proprie-
tors have habit of putting large,
juicy cuts of porterhouse or sirloin in
their windows to tempt the epieure or
transient appetite.
Standing in front Of a certain WELL
known restaurant in this city, ysster-
day afternoon, with The Spy man, a
printer on one of the papers, who has
Travelled about the country good bit,
became reminiscent, as he gazed at a
large steak in the window.
That reminds me-" he said, ''of the
first time l struck New York. l didn't
know soul in the place, and times
We're so dull that it was a lucky man
that got chance to do even little
subbing. l had some relations in the
city, but they had moved and 1 could
not find out where they had gone to.
L saw myself confronted with hunger
and l prepared for the desperate siege.
was not so full of assurance in those
days, else would have touched some
| body for the price or raped upon q
back door and told my little tale Of
hard luck to a more or less sympa-
thetio housewife.
Three days went by, apd / was fam
tshed enough to eat the side Of a house.
Down in Battery park I saw another
fellow who was SO hungry that he was
gnawing peanut shells and munching
the inside of banana rinds. Strange
to say, it comforted me a bit to watch
him. for there is companionship in mis-
cry, and 1t lightens ones burden to
know that some one else is carrying a
load equal to your own.
Il remembered that famous old say
ing that has given hope to many man
and kept him from the river It's al
ways morning somewhere in the world
So went about with an empty stom-
ach, my hands in my pockets, and
whistling to keep my courage up.
There was a certain neat little res
taurant on Park row, in the window of
which rested steak enough like the
one In this window to be twin cut
from the same side Of beef. Every day
1 came and paused in front Of that
window to gaze at the steak. sup
pose that it was changed daily, but as
all steaks look alike to a hungry man,
/ never noticed it. To me It was the
same old steak, and grew to love It,
though the wolf howled at my heels
and hunger worms gnawed at my Vi
tails.
Warren Hastings, you will recall, II
you are student of history, used to
sit for hours at time dreaming of the
day when he would regain his ancestral
acres. In somewhat like manner, I
determined that the very first money
earned should be expended in the
purchase of that steak. 1 was so re-
solved upon this point that / verify
believe that if l were miles away and
suddenly became possessed Of the ALL
essential price. so necessary in this
bank-note world, that 1 would have
gone right back to Park row and dined.
gloatingIy and sumptuously, on that
steak, or what believed was the steak
l saw the first day I paused in front
Of the window.
ION the evening of the third day, by
the action of some special, sympathetic
providence, I ran across the very rela-
ton for whom had searched in vain
1t was up at Madison square, and when
1 told him my story, he wished to take
me into a swell, neighboring restau-
rant.
"But I would have none of 1t. 1 told
him Of my resolution to possess that
Park row steak and he respected my
wishes. He gave me his address and a
five-dollar bill, and | went back to my
humble restaurant. Kings never lin
gered more lovingly around the banquet
board than 1 did at that table. 1 would
have nothing but the steak in the win
dow, and it tasted all the better be-
cause of my recollections of the days I
had been besieged by the wolf of hum
ger"