The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1910-12-29

Ing TINS tl!ne! he demanded. come,
tell me how it works"
Il just knew You'd be perfectly hor-
| rid about it," said she. Its beau
tiful gilt boudoir clock-something
I've wanted for ages and age. You
! see, there is little pasteboard letter
in every box, and when you get
enough to spell the cereal peoples
name they give you the clock as a
present. It's grand; Mrs. James has
one, and it didn't cost her a penny. l
wish you could see it."
Didn't cost her penny, Ell? No,
can't see it," rejoined the Man, with
sinister double entendre How much
do you pay for this stuff? Fifteen
cents a box? And we've been using
three packages week for say twenty
weeks-that's nine dollars. Seems to
me you must have bought enough let
tiers to get two or three clocks. The
fellows who got UP this scheme must
have a name long enough to reach all
the way around the box ana lap over
some at that What do they call
themselves"
"It's the name of the food you have
to spell-not the company's. The let
tiers are P-r-e-t-t-y-m-a- P-r-e-d-i-
g-e-s-t-e-d Oats, and l have them all
but one. I've four or FIVE of some of
them"
Well" said the Man, glancing at
his watch and shedding his giddy
house coat hurriedly, preparatory to
the usual rush for his train, "ff your
heart is st on getting this clock for
nothing, let us hope you find the miss
ing letter before I am bankrupted-
that's all"
Oats was a dangerous topic for
many days. The Man absorbed his
fodder in silence morning after morn.
ms, leaving a constantly increasing
quantity in his bowl on the plea OF al
lowing himself more time to reach the
station.
one morning he casually asked his
she had so long unsuccessfully sought.
1t was the "Y" He left the house
five minutes earlier than usual and
stopped in at the corner grocery on
his way to the train. When he
emerged it was with a decidedly
guilty air Under his arm was a
small square package wrapped in
brown paper.
At the office the Man opened his
parcel surreptitiously and drew forth
carton of Predigested Oats. He slit
the top with a penknife and CROPPED in
the interior until his fingers encoun-
tered small square of pasteboard.
With far greater agitation than moves
the professional stock-gambler who
notes on the ticker the gain or loss
of thousands, he examined the little
card. 1t bore the imprint of an IN"
Somehow the Man could not fix his
mind on his business. A little leaven
had leavened his whole lump.
Queer things t-anspired at the Of
fee within the next week or so. Each
morning the Man. appeared with two
or three packages under his arm, and
yet he never took any bundles away
with him. The boy was sent so often
to various downtown groceries for
Predigested Oats that he confided to
the jaHitor his fear that the boss was
turning into horse. The janitress
ENORMOUSLY complained that poor
woman's life wasn't worth living, the
way No. 242 Uttered up his carpet day
after day with that brownish powdery
stuff that was so hard to sweep out.
The Man himself began to get
cramped for room. His desk was full
of oats. His coat and overcoat had to
be laid over the back Of chair dur
ing the day-the clothes-lockers
were crowded with square boxes. The
stationery closet was bullying with
predigestion.
There comes point when the addi-
ton of one little straw to the cameIs
burden brings that faithful animal to
an untimely end. IN desperation the
Man one day bought d dozen packages
of the detested oats at one fell swoop,
and found within them a dozen dupli-
Gates of letters he already had. but
no "Y."
he cried, hurting a shower Of oats and
cartons through the open window
into the light-shaft. "By the Great
Horn Spoon, I don't believe there ever
was ~ in any of their boxes! It's
robbery, but they tried their game on
the wrong man when they tackled
me. I'll see whether there's any law
in this land!"
Determined to strike while the iron
was hot, the Man telephoned to his
attorney, who roasted several stories
higher in the same skyscraper, ask
ing him to stop in on his way to
lunch Within an hour the lawyer
appeared and listened attentively to
the Mans recital of how his wife had
invested vast sums on the represen-
tatons of the cereal manufacturers,
and of how much evidence she had
acquired by purchase of the absence
of an essential letter from the pack
ages In thus setting forth the case
the Man deemed it irrelevant and I'M
| necessary to mention his own pur-
| chases. For the sake of convenience
he simply added his expenditure to
| hers and represented the sum total as
| her outlay.
Now, tell me, Galloway" he con-
cluded, sis there no way of getting
back at these people? Couldn't we
| get at them through the postal laws,
| if by no other procedure? Are they
to Oh on rohhinp the nuhIic indefi-