The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-19
washington Starr


81 rs good thing for Us, l suppose,
that whenever we get it all set
tied and arranged in our minds
thar we're too everlastingly bright anu
crafty to be done by anybody, we
usually get a fall that takes the perki-
ness out of US" said a Washington de-
partment store buyer who makes fire.
quent trips to New York. Up TO
certain day last week. for example 1
had pretty thorough understanding
With myself that there was no old kind
of New York bunCO game that I'd
bite on. I'd been going to New YORK
too often and for too long a time fos
anything like that. Well. listen.
"A week ago Monday morning last /
was standing. after breakfast on the
Thirty-sixth street side of the MARI
borough hotel, in New York, taking 4
sun bath for myself and mapping out
my programme for the day. Two or
three other men were standing near me
doing the same.
Our attention was lazily enlisted, as
we stood there. by the spectacle of a
boy wearing a chefs cap and apron.
recklessly swinging an empty crOckery
pitcher above his head. The boy wSs
rugged up like a hotel kitchen appren-
tice. He moved along Thirty-siXth
street from Broadway on his way TO
Seventh avenue, carrying the large
crockery pitcher in his right hand ana
describing half arcs and full circles
and many strange and curious geOmet-
real figures with it as he swung it
through the air. whistling merrily the
while.
What Internal whelps most boys
are. anyhow. remarked a sporty look
ing man standing near me. to a plain
looking individual who was standing
al, a IL. 81
that cub fooling with that pitcher
it's a cinch that he'll drop it and
ash it to smithereens before he gets
to Seventh avenue
" oh. l dunno was the reply Of the
plain looking man. I guecs the kid
knows what he's abOut-he's got
pretty good clutch on the handle Of the
pitcher He'll hang onto it. all right
- Bet you five ne drops it before he
reaches Seventh avenue. was the quick
RESPONSE of the man with the sporty
look.
i guess I'll take that bet answered
the plain-looking man. and he produced
his wad. The spOrty-lOOking citizen
peeled d V from his roll. and both men
put up their money with the uniformed
caTiage-opencr stationed outside the
Marlborough Then they took up the
jog together toward Seventh avenue to
keep an eye on the boy, who was still
swinging the pitcher wildly. I held my
ground and watched the proceeding. 1t
looked like a pretty good bet for the
plain looking man-nO idea of a frame
up had peTcOlated through my mind
then-until. when the boy was only
about ten feet from the corner of Sew
enth avenue the pitcher flew out of his
hand as he was trying some singularly
difficult piece of juggling with il and
a fra OIL ner1fc
on a door step. The sporty-loOking
man and the plain-looking individual
returned to where I was standing. and
the former took the two VS. from the
stakeholder with a grin, saying, I
thought sure I was going to lose out
on that when the kid got so near Sew
enth avenue without anything hap
pening to the pitcher.
We'll perhaps L am thicker than I
have any right to be, but even then,
il die not occur to me that this was all
a prearranged scheme or the part of
the sporty-looking man and the boy in
the kitchen apprentices makeup.
Two days later I was standing
alongside hotel at the corner of
Eighth avenue and One Hundred and
Twenty fifth street, in Harlem. wait
ing for a downtown electric ear when
saw. that self-same yOungster with
the ioentlcal Kitchen apprentices toy
gerry. swinging along Eighth avenue,
again wildly swinging a pitcher. Then
l cast my eyes about me, and there.
only three feet to the left Of me. and
leaning against an L stanchion. was
the spOrty-looking man. He blinked
lazily at me when he saw that | had
observed the boy with the pitcher.
F" What internal whelps most boys
couple OF days before 10 the plain-iook-
ing man who had lost his V. Now,