The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-07-05

Robinson's cafe that | first got to know
Rose Noonan and Name McMann.
Robinson's. yer know, is noted for
its good food and pretty mattresses, If
/ do say 1t. No women is allowed in
there at all, and yer can bet us girls
used to thank our stars for that. A
woman II come in, yer know, and set
down and look at the menoo anywhere
from ten to 20 minutes. Then she'll
say, Il guess I'll have an eclair--no, a
Charlotte r~uche,-and does bread and
butter go with it," and then when yer
git half way out to the kitchen she'll
shout at yer, Say, come back a min
ute; changed my mind. l guess !
will have al eclair after all"
Well, Mr.. Robinson, he said he
couldn't be bothered by nothin' like
that, SO he just catered to the business
men, an say, he done a pile of bust
ness. They'd flock in there noontimes
as thick as women to a bargain sale.
As | said, W. had the best lookin'
mattresses in town and though we was
all ~fair-lookers, Rose Noonan and
Name McMann was the prize beauties
of the bunch. They was about of a
prettiness, the one bein' light and the
other dark completed.
Rose was a. awful pretty girl, just
like a dawl, pink and white, but 1t was
Name that had the tongue for yer.
Say, she'd keep her customers in roars,
and as soon as not, If ever they got
too fresh, she'd lean owe and give 'em
a good swipe across the face with her
hand.
Well, this MI. Leighton that used to
come was Names customer, and a real
nice gentleman he was, too, | don't
know just what he done, but he was
some kind of a broker, / think, Some
of the men that come in there used to
be kind of flip with the girls, askin'
i%nsinuatin' questions, and tellin'
stories. This Mr.. Leighton was never
like that, And he wasn't afraid of a
good, fat tip, neither.
Well, one day he come In and
Names seats was all full, SO he goes
up and sits down by Rose. The next
thing | notice, he is settin' there all
the time, and Rose and Name amt
speakin'!
He got in a way Of comm after the
rlIch bpur wnC pvar opd cft+;ps uo,,
up at the end of the counter, and
while he was eatin' he'd talk to Rose
as serious, and she'd listen as earnest
to everything he said. / used to won
der what in time they we're Cabin
about, and / used to go slow past EN-
to hear. 1t seemed to be mostly about
books, and every now and then he
was bringin' her a new book.
Rose always was awful studious.
She was always tryin' to learn some
thing. l could see 1t in her eye that
she didn't mean to be a waitress the
rest of her life.
Mr.. Leighton had a way of bringin'
her a flower, too, pretty les every
day,--one of them thick stemmed big
cabbage.roses. Once heard him say
in to her, This is the kind of rose
that puts me in mind of you. You
amt Ek a wild rose, nor a tea rose,
but you're strong and Vigorous and
CLOWN like this one" says he.
After that Name she got as mean as
dirt to Rose. Seemed as il there
want nothin' she wouldn't do to tor
ment her If she could. She'd steal her
orders out in the kitchen; she'd hide
her check punch on her; she'd run
into her and spill a whole cup of cot
fee down the front of a nice, clean
apron and shirt waist. That means
something, too, when you're Twin on
yourself in the city, and payin' rs
cents for the washin' of every clean
waist you put on yer back. Once
she come pell-mell through the swing
in d~oors,-she could see right well
through the little glass winder who
was on the other side, don't tell me
she couldn't, and she run right plumb
into Rose and lac her drop her tray,
and every blessed thing on 1t was
Ar. $500 o'o = NoSAoN