Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-08-06

much chance to stop" Jack Johnson as
you have the iceman Because the
chunk of ice. Of course, melts into a
little puddle on the back steps long
before midday. and when the iceman
comes the next morning. after you've
gone to the Office he has no possible
way of knowing that he's to be stop
ped: that the folks running the re-
frigerator end of the thing at your
house are away, and that, therefore.
the ice is work Of supererogation. Sc
he just goes right on leaving the ice.
Suddenly. one day, many days after
the wife has gone, the tinkling of the
ice in your tall glass of-er-whatever
1t is, brings ice" into your mind. Ice,
ice, ice! What was 1t about ice. Oh.
ye-eh, Your wife told you at the sta
ton to stop the iceman. That was it.
And you haven't done it. Nope. you
honest have forgot to stop that iceman.
So you call up what you think is the
right ice company on the phone and
you give your name and address and
politely request EN- to can that ice ga g
at your plant till further orders.
What happens
Why. the ice person at the other end
of the phone says ''Waita minnit': and
then he goes away from the phone for
a long. long while, during which you
suppose he's playing basket ball or
squash or writing few letters home /:
and then he returns to the phone and
says that he's looked over the books
and you amt on EN-. Nope. you amt
on the books: never heard Of YOU. You
don't get no ice from that place: sure
YOU don't. or wouldn't your name be
on the books Cer'nly it would
So you call up the other ice COM
pany Same process. Young man at
the end of the phone goes off some
where and takes a lesson on the man
dolin: then he returns to the phone
and tells you that he never heard of
you before; that your name amt on
the books
That settles it. You surrender. You
remember vaguely having had some such
an experience before: and you remember
having made up your mind then that no
ice company ever by any possible chance
does remember anybody. even if the
ice company has been delivering ice to
that somebody since the days Of horse
cars. So you let the icernan deliver the
chunk and chuck it on the back steps
during all the time your wife was away,
and when she comes home and finds that,
without any orders, the iceman is deliver
ing ice just the same as usual she asks
you if you stopped him. and you say
Ye-eh. certainly you did.
Then, while you're at the office. the ice
man brings the bill to her for all the ice
he's been delivering right along during
her absence. and she tells him faint no
such thing, that no ice was delivered
while she was away, and he. Of course,
says differently, and she tells him the ice
company are robbers, who ought to be in
states prison. and when you come home
she asks you if you ever heard of such
a thing in all your born days. but you
feebly suggest to her that maybe shed
better pay the ice bill to save further
chaw about it. and
Then there's that watering the plants
thing. The plants" generally are two or
three feeble, f1accid. sad-looking little
palms, that after a hard winter in a
house overheated. and a cold raw spring.
are just about ready to quit, anyhow, and.
maybe. rubber plant with a bruised ap-
pearance. and couple of ferns that are
rusty and frazzled around the edges. ard.
maybe, a geranium SO.
Now. dearie. you sacTedly promise me
that you'll water the plants every day
while I'm away. don't you?" she says to
you.
"Uh-huh." you reply, thinking about
something else and only vaguely under
standing her: the problem Of who's going
to pitch tomorrow being heavy upon your
mind.