The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1902-09-04
THE UNUSUAL INCIDENT.
Trines Out of the Ordinary That At
tract the Attention of the
Passing Public.

Passing Public.
"In large cities 1t 10 both astonish-
ing and amusing what trifles will at
tract attention If they arc out of the
ordinary run of events" remarked an
observing Washingtonian recently,
says the Star, land a few instances
which have come under my obserya
ton recently will be recognized as
familiar examples.
II was dining in an uptown res
taurant few days ago when l no.
ticed u heavy-set, middle-aged man at
an adjoining table finish his dinner,
rise, take his hat and cane, and de-
liberately walk out of the place with
out paying his check, the cashiers
back being turned.
zone of the other diners called the
attention of waiter to the man who
had just skipped out. While the
waiter hurried after him, the second
guest rose and spoke to the
cashier. The man outside evil
IDENTIFY said something to the waiter
which made him feel very uncom-
Portable, as he returned much crest
fallen with a flushed face The cash
Ter In the meantime had left her desk,
but. upon going to the door, returned
with the remark that the supposed
beat was a regular guest who
boarded by the season.
when the man who had taken so
much interest in the welfare of the
| restaurant left the place, the first
man wal awaiting him, and swatted
him handsomely in the face, backing
his eye and putting his nose. That
much for his officiousness. He will
never again pay attention to the 'un-
usual when he sees another man
leave a restaurant under apparently
suspicious circumstances, for even
money.
THE other morning at IL o'clock a
whistle in the vicinity of the Star
| Office blew sudden, loud and pro-
longed blast. People stopped on
Pennsylvania avenue and Eleventh
street. looking around the hot street
expectantly, then up at the windows
of the adjacent buildings. at the
hands of the big clock in the tower
of the post Office building, and finally
up and down the street for the fire
engines. 1t was the unusual and
attention was attracted. An hour
later it would have been unobserved.
Some engineers clock was an hour
ahead of time.
81 was walking up F street the
other afternoon reading the Star SO
interestedly that | both fguratively
and literally walked all over a young
thing in a killing, trailing summer
gown, the first intimation of my helm
GUS crime coming to my ears when i
heard the gatherings rip with a
heart-rending tearing sound like a
lot of caps on the street car tracks
on the Fourth of July. Did / apol-
ogize? Did l grow suddenly warm
and perspire profusely as ! heard
those gatherings part, and looked
down into the reproachful, pretty
eyes OF the young thing I had almost
trampled to death? Did j stammer
and stutter, and wish myself a thou.
| sand miles away? Well, didn't l!
"AnI did she rip me up the back
with the usual remark: Careless
brute! Can't you see where you are
walking? Why don't you read the
Star at home, instead of on the
street, walking all over helpless
women? Ough! You have ruined my
dress!"
Instead, she did the unusual and
murmured: 4 accept your apology;
1t is unfortunate, to be sure. but my
skirt is not entirely ruined and she
smiled with such divine sweetness,
emphasizing the word entirely so
nicely, that / was restrained only by
the conventionalities from proposing
on the spot, and Offering her a treas
ury note with which to buy a new
skirt.
And all through life, on the
streets. in public and private places
where people congregate, it is the
unusual incident that attracts our
attention from the usual and ordin-
airy events In our existence which be-
come conventional by constant repeti-
ton. Sometimes it is only boy
peeping down a coal hole, or peering
up to the sky; kind word where an
angry retort is expected, or vice
versa; the least thing, in fact, SO
curious Is man and so accustomed Is
he to the same old grind, will cause
revulsion of feeling, and thus is the
monotony of life broken"
Measles and Amonia.
A Detroit woman who labors among