The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-11-11
Travellers aIes

Eyes, sir, that was the funniest
boarding house you ever saw" said
Frank J, Chapman lat evening. Chap
man Is one of the "has been" knights
Of the grip and is now manager of the
Dakota Sash & Door Co. His broad
experience in eating houses makes
him peculiarly fitted to spiel on the
hash house" proposition.
He ratified on: "There was a bunch
Of old maids there and you should
have seen them. They nibbled at
their lettuce like a rabbit and picked
up everything with their index finger
and thumb while the remaining three
fingers they held out stiffly as il these
three appendages were posing to have
their pictures taken. oh, gee, but
how | used to laugh at those creatures.
They thought they were SO dainty,
vet with all their thoughts the dainti-
ness was only skin deep and when we
two fellows were away from a meal
they would carry on something fierce.
we had chicken every Sunday at
this boarding house. Ice cream, too,
on Sundays. And many a good piece
OF meat went to waste on these chick
ems because those old maids were too
dainty to pick the chicken up and
eat it with their fingers. One Sun
day l got in late for dinner and every
one of those chicken bones were licked
as clean as sanitary hospital. They
had been working fast with their fin
gers before we fellows got in to din
ner.
And you should have seen the kids
that were in the family where we
boarded. The old man and the kids
always ate after we boarders. And
the funniest thing about those kids
was that every one of them liked the
gizzard. And the old dad liked the
too. There was always
rustic to see who would get the gig
zard. About the time there were five
kids in the family the father mother
and children came to an agreement |
about the possession of the gizzard. |
According to the plan the first one to |
say The gizzard is mine after the |
old dad had finished the blessing, we'll |
he was the one to get the coveted |
morsel Golly, you should have heard |
the rattle in that dining room just |
at the close of the blessing on Sun |
days. 1t sounded like bunch of side /
show barkers calling the crowd. The |
funniest part about the whole thing
was that the old man never got the |
gizzard. He played in hard luck, / |
tell you.
1.-THE dad had a little short thanks
which ran like this: Our Father, we
thank Thee for this food, this beauti-
full day for the happiness of our lives.
Bless this food to the nourishment of
our body. Amen
"And I'll be dog-gone If the kids
didn't always beat him to it. They
always knew just when the old thing
was going to end and they would chop
off the Amen short with The gizzard |
Is mine Those three words got 20
be the by-word with we boarders. We
felt sorry for the old dad. He never
got the gizzard and you could dis
Germ his hungry look when he saw
that dainty morsel going to some of
his cast offs. 1t was really pitiful to
see the way the old man acted about
the affair.
"One Sunday / was late to dinner /
and had to eat with the kids and the |
4CSb VI Tic IthGu the KIDS
so that was not so bad, but hated |
to have to sit there and see the agony
on that old fellows face as he would /
see that gizzard going into some
mouth that didn't belong to his head. /
The father of the little rascals was
& little slow about sitting down, but
he finally managed to drop into his
seat He cast his glance around at
the children, gave me a curt look and
then set his eyes on the chicken.
The gizzard was right on top. He
looked at that gizzard for about 240
seconds, then bowed his head The
rest of us bowed our heads and waited
for the old man to start the show.
But he didn't start, at least, not for
some time. Finally, after a duration
of-oh, don't know how long, but it /
seemed like half an hour--he opened /
his mouth and began.
"He faltered at the start but this |
was the way he completed the cere- |
mony from beginning to end:
"'Our-our Father, we've thank |
Thee for this food, this beautiful day |
and for the happiness of our lives |
Bless this food to the nourishment Of |
our BODY Che faltered and wavered |
slightly, but continued) The gizzard
is mine-Amen!'"