The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1907-03-22
Old Fashioned
Strategy
BY 6Oiibur Bafes
Copyright. 1908. by c. H. Sutclife

The instant you laid your eyes on her
you felt quite sure that her grand
mother had selected her clothes.
Ihat Is not just the way the girls at
the Empire lunch room. No. ). express
ed it. Kitty Behman, who bad al
ways queened it over the force of
black frocked. white aproned wait
resses. patted her marceled locks plac-
IDLY and remarked:
We'll. his nibs sure picked lemon
in that"
That" otherwise Sally LOTUS, sat in
the cashiers booth near the entrance
arranging small change in neat piles
Her head, crowned by brown locks.
parted demurely and almost severely
In the middle, was bent above her
work, but her quiet glance travelled to
the group of gossiping girls. Incl
dentany they took In other things. At
one table the ice had melted in the
butter dish and water trickled over the
mahogany surface. On another table
the glass sugar bowl was nearly emp
ty. A soiled napkin and butter plate
had been left at third table.
The girl who looked IS if her grand
mother bought her clothes fingered the
round buttons on her queer cashmere
basque, and then her well manicured
nails tapped gently against the old
fashioned brooch at her throat. Inside
the chased circle Of gold reposed braid
ed strands Of hair the exact shade Of
the girls. Her glance finally rested
on the sloping shoulders of the young
man who stood by the big plate glass
window. where white aproned youth
poured stream of white dough on
hot griddles.
The young man. who was Ralph Put
nam, son of the owner of the Empire
circuit of lunch rooms, started back
to the kitchen. and as he passed the
new cashier he flung her a glance that
was almost appealing. She met him
with one oddly reassuring and fully
understanding. He frightened per-
ceptibly, but as he passed the group Of
girls near the coffee counter the light
died out of his eyes once more.
Kitty Behman smiled up at him ia
miliarly.
'Where'd you get the Christmas tree
ornament, Ralph? There's one thing
sure. You needn't worry about any of
the boys coping her out. She's had
her fortune read old maid by every
clairvoyant in town, or 1 miss my
guess"
"Her father went to school with
mine. She comes of very good family"
he said apologetical!y.
Gee, but it's fine to have pull!'
was Kitty's contemptuous reply. E.,
Ralph wandered into the kitchen.
More than ever he hated the lunch
room and everything connected with
it. And in truth he was not entirely to
blame. His father had sent him from
private school to college, where he had
taken the classical courses. and then
his somewhat unreasonable parent
could not understand why his bookish
son could not walk. diploma in hand,
into an Empire lunch room and man.
age it as well as the other young men
in the same position OF responsibility
who had served their apprenticeship,
even to cooking griddle cakes in the
window. Ralph had trouble auditing
his accounts. settling quarrels in. the
kitchen and preserving some SEM
blance of discipline among the pert
mattresses.
nNnrn-Sa1lv
learned before the breakfast rush set
In. 1t was a soggy day, and gradually
discomfort seemed to permeate the
room. A tired looking stenographer in
bedraggled skirts was arguing with o
waitress because her toast had been
burned. The waitress replied tartly
that some folks expected lot for 10
cents. Ralph stood helplessly at the
table, afraid to take hand in the ar.
gument but when the waitress finally
flounced to the coffee counter he step
ped in awkwardly and told the patron
he would bring her some fresh toast.
After he had done this he paused wea-
rily at Sally's elbow. She crossed her
hands demurely on the marble ledge
and said quietly:
Il was so glad to see you reprimand
that waitress. She was very imperti-
nent, and we ought to make every GUS
toner feel that she wants to breakfast
here regularly. Don't you think so?''
Ralph started. He had not called
down the saucy waitress. He had
merely tried to undo the mischief she
had wrought. Now he wished he had
scolded her before the customer
1--WE have a lot Of regulars" he said
in the same apologize tone he had en-
ployed to Kitty Behman.
"But we want a lot more. We ought
to have every place at these tables
taken between 7:3O and 8 o'clock"
Suddenly Ralph started down the
narrow aisle. For the first time he no.
ticed the water dribbing from the but
ter plates. He approached the saucy
waitress and said with a funny at
tempt at sternness which was quite
lost on the astonished girl:
"Clean up those butter plates, and
don't you ever again tell customer
she wants too much for her money.
We want them to get all that's coming
to them"
"What do you think of that?" de-
manded the girl. with an injured ex-
alb %rrvsy 20 bny yNA0