Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-12

business ability that the riches we thus ac-
cumulate on earth really count to our glory
| in heaven.
Fighting for bargains.
| We start in on our noble course of do
nestle economy outside the market ap-
| preaching the entrance.
| How much do you pay for lemons up
town. asks the economical domestic lady
who has me in tow.
| twenty-five cents I answer APOLOGIZE
| cally. expecting to be scored.
Il thought as much Look here-only 10
cents Dozen
| She buys half a dozen and gets one
! thrown In. OF course. She picks out the
| finest to be had. which is business. no
doubt, but. We gods, is charity no part of
| marketing? The lemon vender is an old
! woman, bloated with disease She ought
| to be in hospital. and | confidently ex-
| pect TO go there myself, with touching the
lemons she has sold me. did not dare do
| otherwise than buy them, for am l not be-
| ing economical in domestic way, and has
| domestic economy to do with any thought
but of pennies?
| Inside the market we make directly for
| the butcher. l want to tell you some.
| thing. If you think angels in the skies
| We're one time men who preached sermons
| and took up collections in churches you
| are mistaken. They are mostly men who
| once were butchers in Center market and
| finally We're worried to death by domestic
| economical ladies. / used to think the
| heavenly hosts were most often recruited
| from the ladies' tailors of earth, but that
| was before / knew the nature and condi-
ton OF Center market butchers.
The Bndgcred Butcher.
| L suppose it's that fourth dimension of
lovely woman's genius-her intuition
| which divines the unsupported soft spot in
butchers of all Inen who solicit trade in
| Center market. At any rate for some per-
fectly incomprehensible reason it is the
| butcher who is the special victim CT the
| domestic ladys economy. marketing Part
| of the oddly of the whole situation the
| bigger and brainier the butcher-the better
| equipped he is by nature for sknning
| sheep and splitting steers-the easier mark
ne seems for woman's domestic economy.
| A Stall Reception.
| There is one stall in particular where
! could spend every market morning watch
! Ing the comedy enacted there. The butcher
is a great, broad shouldered, corpulcnt six
| footer. His hair and mustache are beau
tfully dressed, his linen is immaculate. his
necktie always nobby. He is not alone
| handsome; he is stylish in appearance The
| eyeglasses he wears I'm always expecting
10 see abandoned for a monocle. His style
! although generally massive as his watch
| chain, has touch of coyness about It as
In the cunning little gold pig that bangles
| from MS watch chain as charm The
| SbiSe SETTLING OF MS stan Is Sup1rh.
| ne central feature of the background is
| a huge glass case filled with all the heroic
| implements of his profession. There is the
stout rope for lasso:ng steers: there are
| aW1nt maiets, great saws, cruel krives-
| altogether such a realistic exhibition of the
bravery of a butchers art as strongly i'm
| presses women.
Either side the glass case. row above
| lew, hang juicy remains of cows calves
| sheep, lanbs-naterial frcm which none
| but a butcher devoted to the beautiful
| couid manage to produce aesthetic effects
| The poor, deceased animals ar neatly
| carved up. to begin with. and then their
| exposed awards are filled with fre-h-cut
| flowers arranged in simple designs Could
thefe be a more touching tribute to the
DEAD animals, or prettier compliment to the
| economical lady customers among whom
| they are to be appcrtioned?
say LADY customers as if no others pat
| rcnlzed this butcher l believe 1 have seen
| a man or two buying meat here occa-
| slCnaly but the lack of trade is such that
| declare sometimes it's hard to recollect
| that you're not doing > O'Clock tea-So
| many women are assembled at once and
| all talking in one breath, though in some
! respects the function more resembles a
| White House reception. The butcher wei
| comes his guests mCa his patrons
! standing in eminent grandeur in front of
the stall, while behind the line are his
| son and assistants. whom the crowd never
| notices. Quite Internationally on every
| ecdy's part, certain ranking as at PresI-
4
| the presentation of orders.
| / have seen the butcher glance at the
I clock and inquire anxiously the reason If
| the cabinet ladies were a triflle late in an
| pearing, and ! have seen him. too. almost
| lose his magnificent pose when some sena-
| tors Wife has been disposed to push her
| order ahead of d Supreme Court lady. But
| with all the worries to which he is subject
| l know aothing firer than the hospitality
| he dispenses. Insignificant as / am and
| trifling- is my trade when ] have taken
| my place on the outer fringe of the crowd
| pressing TO his counter-a very smart set
are his patrons-while he is ''Frenching"
! the chops of a cabinet lady with his hands
i taking a congressional lady'S order with
| his ears and talking to n lady member Of
| the diplomatic corps with his mouth, his
! eyes beam welcome upon me and give NE
to feel mat in spite of all else his day
would have been spoiled if l had gone for
| my two pounds of steak and some liver
| to any other man.
| CALAMITY aud Diplomacy.
| Then to see the exercise of his art,
| never watched Michael Angelo paint or a
great sculptor sculp. but [ am not con-
| scious of having missed anything in those
| lines watching this butcher saw and slash
and slice red meat. But his art is not all
| in handling meat. 1t is as much in his
ga!iantry Leaning against his counter
| one day the better to see that he did not
cheat her in counting up her purchases q
"oiIloi4 uiuDSu ISf coat with blood. In
stantly the butcher whipped out his own
| pure white silk handkerchief that had
| lovely large monogram embroidered in one
corner, and with his own deft touch re-
moved the dreadful stain.
Another day l stood by when a woman
who had spent nearly half an hour making
up her mind and consulting the butcher
whether she'd better take two beef kidneys
and a pound of suet or one kidney and two
pounds of suet finally concluding she'd take
! neither, but pound OF sirloin steak in
stead suddenly bethought her to inquire,
How Is it you charge me 20 cents a pound
for sirlcin steak when the others charge
only Is cents?'
L expected the butcher would throw a
knife at her, but he only raised his great
soft eyes from the task of cutting out the
bone after he had weighed it, anu, smiling
dreamy. asked:
What others?'
oh" she answered, airily waving her
hand around generally, AL the others"
He put down his knife. took off his eye
glasses, rubbed them with his silk hand
kerchief and we waited breathlessly. Was
he getting ready to knock the lie into her
teeth false ones, too, L knew them to bel,
or had he been found out, and would he ad-