Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-12-24
THEIR HONEYMOON.
CAME PRETTY NEAR STARVING DUR
ING ITS FIRST WEEK.

New York Hotei-The Carte de Jour
Was Too Much For Them. and Hunger
Drove Them to Light Housekeeping"
Starving amid plenty is a hard fate,
yet such was the case Of a difident
bridal couple that staid for a week at
the Hotel Netherland recently. They
came up from the south, and the period
Of reconstruction did not seem TO have
left a mark upon their open and genial
characters He was rawbOned and ath-
letic, and she was one Of those typical
southern girls who speak in the Ian
guorous dialect Of Dixie Land when she
does speak, but carries on conversation
mainly by the use of her eyes. The cou-
pie were well supplied with money and
manifested a desire to have a good time,
but showed a woeful lack Of knowledge
of the details Of a great city. To the
manager Of the house the young bride
groom confded the information that his
family had once been wealthy. but, like
many others in the south, had been
drained by the war. The girl also came
of an old plantation family that had
been left penniless by the war, and all
either could boast of was n long line Of
fine ancestry, health and good looks. By
dint of hard work and extreme economy
the bridegroom had saved a few hun
Sred dollars, and he intended to have a
honeymoon that would be worthy of re-
membrance.
The couple came to the hotel about
noon and passed most Of the afternoon
in looking over the house and admiring
the furnishings. When it began to grow
dark, the young husband seemed to get
uneasy. He wandered around the cor
ridors Of the hotel and seemed to be at a
loss for something. Finally his feelings
mastered him, and he approached the
clerk and asked: ''Ah, say, can you tell
me when the supper bell rings? Am get
ting sort o. hungry"
The clerk was amused, but he ex-
planned to the sOutherner the mysteries
Of living upon the European plan. When
the bridegroom learned that the 81
day he was paying for his room did not
include meals for himself and his wife,
he whistled softly and remarked: you
all must max heap Of money ha'ging
like that To- rooms. Well, we uns are
going to have a good time, and suppose
we all might as well go in and get
something or other 70 eat. ~
He walked OFF and went up to his
room to get his wife. He manifested
peculiar liking for the elevator and,in-
sisted on riding IN it at every occasion
He found his wife as hungry as himself,
and under the tow Of a bellboy made his
way to the dining room. Previous TO en-
tering this room his honeymoon had been
a dream of Joy, without a cloud to hide
the sunshine. When he seated himself
at the table the first ''rift in the lute'
came. a white aproned, obsequious
waiter laid a carte de jour in front Of
the southern visitors and then hurried
of to get glasses, plates and so on A
consultation at once took place. The
card was printed in French, and after
studying it from every side and reading
it backward and forward the husband
gave it up and passed it over ruefully to
his wife She looked in hopeless Devil
derment at the card, and it was evident
that she was at sea also, so far as French
was concerned They gazed hopelessly
into each others eyes and then at the
card, and then back into each others
eyes again. He was game TO the last,
and suddenly n thought struck him. he
called the waiter to him and said softly,
suppah?''
The waiter replied that everything
that had been prepared for the meal was
on the card The husband sighed and
the wife looked glum. Then the young
fellow said quietly: "Well, 1 guess we
all don { want any Of what you uns have
got fixed We uns viii get something or
other to eat later +" Then he arose and
xvay,t mn m his rom hts wife following
obediently. For two days the young cou-
pie haunted the house. They did not
seem to think that there was any more
of New York than that which lay i'm
mediately within the range Of vision
from the hotel They eyed the dining
room IOngingly, but did not enter it.
One day one of the maids came to the !
manager of the hotel and told him that |
the persons In the room occupied by this |
young couple were Iittering the place /
with cooking. The manager, who felt I
that something was wrong with tho /
young fellow. called him aside and told /
him kindly that the management did I
not allow cooking in the rooms, as 1t in /
terfered with the regime of the house /
and damaged the furniture The young /
man bIurted out: "Ah don't see what 4
we all is to do, then Ah can't get any
thing to eat in the dining room, and we
uns has got to eat. Z"
When pressed for an explanation, he
explained the trouble about the bill Of
fare, and confded to the manager that
he and his wife had finally grown so
hungry that he slipped over to a corner
store and got some vegetables and other
eatables and a frying pan The couple