Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1910-01-21
CUPID

atre district. | remember our first
introduction to finger bowls, but that
is not at all what ! wish to tell you
about; possibly I never shall tell you.
as | dwell upon the occasion entirely
without Joy. And the waiter, a
stumpy little chap he was. Tor quite
a while | used to address him as
Mister" with an inviting pause, hop
ing he would supply his name. He
never supplied 1t, however. and as ]
am Of a somewhat determined nature,
persisted in this form of address. un-
iii on one occasion he said to me.
Would you mind. sir. not calling me
'Mister'7"
mot at ALL" replied. as blsndly as
could. what is your name3'
'It is Hezekiah. SIR, but most peo
pie call me Cupid, sir"
For short, / presume?"
mo, SIR" he replied 81 believe
there's q god by that name, sir, who
makes work for the parsons"
The evening was rather a rainy
one. and in consequence the dining
room was comparatively empty The
waiter, therefore. had little to do but
attend us. "You see. sir" he went on.
I'm Of a very sentimental nature. sir.
"Yes," l replied, with as straight a
face as could muster, ut seems as
thought have heard Of Cupid" And
from the table I received a remonstra
tive kick from my wife.
1--WE figured in many matrimon.
lal deal. sir. Maybe you'd like to hear
of the one that gave me my nickname,
sir?"
"I should be glad to- replied, and
the waiter, warmed to his subject by
our receptive attitude, went on: You
see those little numbered dining
rooms on the balcony above2 Well.
one night when / was working up
there. in comes an unhappy-lookins
couple that quite evidently wants to
be alone, SO the head waiter shows
them up to No. 25. No sooner was
they seated, sir, than another couple
gloomier even than the first, comes
in, and we puts them into the next
room. 26. l was to wait on them all,
running In from one room to the other
as was necessary. We walters sees
funny things at times, but those two
couples was amazing. They SQUAD
bled with each other, two by two you
understand, neither knowing of the
others presence, and from soup to
nuts, sir, not one OF them really ate
enough to fill dicky bird.
"'You had no business to take me
up so quick says the girl in rs; sup
pose did ask you to take me out to
dinner, that's no reason why you
should have done So
"'Now, see here says the man,
this is no picnic for me, either. You're
a charming girl, and all that he says,
but l can imagine at least as pleasant
a companion as you are proving to
be- he says. 'Confound the little
MINK he goes in a kind of musine
tone, God bless her, he adds quickly,
she had no business to disappoint
me- You see he was thinking Of
some other girl.
"And that odious jack says the
girl. If he hadn't been so stupid, I'd
now be with him instead Of you And
SO It went on, each mad that they
wasn't with someone else. And in
the next room It was Just as bad.
They weren't so outspoken, but
could see that a more miserable cou-
pie didn't exist that night. 1t didn't
take me long to put two and two to-
gether, so to speak, and ] knew that
through some Misunderstanding each
was out with the other fellows girl
and wishin' he wasn't; and the same
with the girls. They had formally
'Mister'd' and 'Miss'd' each other SO
much that l knew all their names, SO
finally hit on a scheme that
thought might clear the atmosphere
Il goes into 25 and, begging his
pardon, asked II this wasn't Mr.. At
kins? It was. Well, Mr.. Atkins was
wanted at the telephone in the man
ayers office and / showed him the
way to the phone. Then l goes into
26 and asks wasn't this Mr.. Brown
That was his name he says, looking
at me as II he'd like to bite my head
of. Well, Mr.. Brown was wanted a.
the telephone at the cashiers desk
and l shows him the way, which wa:
In a different direction. / had 1t al
fixed that there was a mistake, ant
that the gentlemen really wanted hat
already answered the calls. While
the two men are gone, puts the mum
Der rs on Room 26, and vicey versey
SO to speak. You see those curtains
up there with the numbers on? Well
II was an easy matter for me to d.
this, and when the men got back eacl
goes into the other mans place.
was taking some chances, but II Ger
tainly worked fine.
"Of course it had TO come out righ
away what I had done, and such hap
py looking sets of people I've neve
seen before. They run in her
quite frequent now. all four of then
together, and they always calls NJ
Cupid There's one thing about II
though, that l never could quite max
out, not being very good at figures
sir"
"And what was that?" asked m
wife and in unison.
well. you see" said the waiter
"Mr. Browns check was for IS an
Mr.. Atkins was for 81. Now. eac
man paid the other mans check wit
$40 bill. and both OF them told N
to keep the change. Which one do y
think lost by II, sir?"
I'm sure don't know" l laughln;
ly replied. handing him a ten mysel
"But go thou and do likewise"
Thank you. sir" said the waite
And he did.-ELIzABETH HUMPE
REY.