St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1901-01-12
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: HUDDERSFIELD'S
! SURPRISING BARGAINS
44*+4$44%4$4%*+$%*4$$4S4$

l 4 !
| THE love of picking up bargains
bargain appeals to the instinct of
economy, and that is also common to
all men, although it may often be
dominated by love Of profusion, an
| Incidence of character or desire to
faunt a superabundanee of wealth in
| the eyes of a supposedly admiring
world 1t fatters a mans sense of
superiority. He has not only got the
better of the seller by reason OF his
knowledge, diplomatically concealed,
of the value of the article sold, but he
can also chuckle in his sleeve at the
less acute public who pay three times
the price for the same thing. Hud-
dersfeld has the bargain habit to an
abnormal extent.
It extends to everything. 1t Hud-
dersfeld meets an old friend and
wishes to entertain him en- garcon
he very seldom takes him to dine at
the club. He says: "Say, old man,
I'll tell you what I'm going to do
with you. I'm going to take you to
little out-of-the-way joint where we
| can get some eonsomme souyeralne
and larded tenderloin au madere or
something like that that you will re-
member as long as you live, with q
bottle of wine that you can't get in
| the cellar of the Astorf-Waldoria =
Then he rushes the friend to a street
car and presently, after traversing
| two or three mean streets and one
or two alleys that make the friend
| feel extremely nervous, they arrive
at dingy restaurant whose badly
| Illuminated and dusty sign announces
that it is the cafe something or other,
but whose external appearance other
| wise would lead one to suppose that
it was gospel mission poorly sup
ported on an off night.
Inside there are half dozen tables
extending to a sort of box office
through the window of which a view
of the kitchen can be obtained. Three
men with soiled shirts and a great
| deal of throat and anarchistic boards
are smoking cigarettes at one of the
tables and throwing out their fingers
excitedly at one another as they gab-
BILE in a strange tongue. A gaunt
and depressed looking woman pensive-
| ly stabbing a roll with a three-tined
steel fork is the only other patron
Of the establishment present. Hud-
dersfe1d and the friend take their
places at the table which seems to
have the eleanest cloth. There is
verdigris on the top of the salt cruet
and dark brown crust of undoubted
antiquity ornaments the mustard pot.
"a little bohemian" says Hudders-
field, rubbing his hands briskly and
looking around with a smile. ut is
just what like. A man who gets in
the habit of judging by appearances
misses lots of good things in this
world of ours .s
s'Does it always smell so ?" asks the
friend.
"Smell how?''
.sWell, 1 don't know whether I can
analyze it exactly y''-sniffin but I
should say that the garlic is unmis-
| taxable. I think can detect wet
clothes and yeast, but it may be the
cigarettes
you wait until you get your din
ner," says Huddersfeld, "and in the
| meantime watch those fellows over
there. There's sight you wouldn't
see in Binsley's in 100 years. Life
| that's what you see here; life and hui
man nature. ] like to observe ii" !"
BY this time a dark-eyed waiter
who has neglected to shave for sew
eral days appears and takes Hudders-
fields order and spreads coarse nap
kin over the worst stain in the cloth.
| This done, he vanishes into the kitch-
en- and is heard to shout fierce1y at
the cooks. who scream at him in re-
| turn and seemingly begin to smash
dishes
They've got a cook in here who
could be earning his $3.50 month
| downtown If he only knew it" says
| Huddersfeld, removing leftover
| crust that the waiter had not noticed
IF this place was known by people
who could appreciate it half the block
wouldn't be enough for the custom. .
There is rather long wait and in
| the interval stout man afflicted with
catarrh comes in and takes seat at
table close by. Huddersfeld no
tices smoky picture in a much fly
| blown frame hanging in a dark cor
| ner of the room and, scenting bar
gain. gets up to inspect it. But il
turns out to be nothing but an oleo-
graph The dinner comes in and
really is not SO villainous a dinner as
| might be expected, although some
what permeated with garlic and de-
cidedly greasy. The wine is merely
drinkable, and it is likely that Hud-
dersield was right in saying that it
could not be obtained at the Astorf-
| Waldoria. Huddersfeld expands over
the wine, holds it up to the light and
looks at it knowingly out of one eye,
sips it slowly and pauses between sips
! with both eyes turned up ecstatically
| The friend tries to be enthusiastic
over it, too, but he has not yet recoy.
| cred from the thumbmarks that the
waiter left on the edges of the plates,
They finish up with long stogie-look-
| ing cigars with straws run through
| them for the improvement of the
draft. 1T really improves the flavor
of the cigar as well. When the cheek
comes Huddersfe1d exhibits it tri-
umphantly.
You couldn't get dinner like that
i . r. - II -