The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-06-14
THEIR COSTLY MEAL i.
What Happened to Two Tramps
Who Ate Exhibits for
County Fair.
BY GEORGE ABE,


fused to pay railroad fares. Hence
his name. "Gondola" is submerged
tenth for fiat car.
He was journeyman Of the rest,
less kind. When he had been three
weeks in Milwaukee. then St. Paul
seemed = more desirable place of res.
idence. When in st. Paul, he had
tired hankering to see the Narcissus
lodging house In Chicago. After he
had arrived at the Narcissus, he began
to watch the trains starting for Gin
cinnati and longed to curl himself on
a truck and jolt away to where the
muddy stream fronts the sloping ware
houses.
Once he was away from the Mar.
cissus for whole year. On the day of
his return to the Narcissus (the prison
pallor on his face and his head
cropped to show white scars) six in
mates were sitting near the windows
reading q morning newspaper. They
had torn the paper into sheets and
divided 1t. The man who had drawn
the small lads" was disconnected
He could find nothing on his sheet
except Help Wanted" He lowered
his paper and before him sat "Gon-
dola" Wilson, seemingly yellow in the
Uttered light
Where's the committee?" asked
"Gondola." where's the triumphal
arch, Welcome Homer"
you're alive, then?"
"Alive and kicking"
1T you're alive, it follows that
you're kicking. How long has 1t been?'
"A year, next month"
You had to 60 crooked at last, did
you?"
well. that's what they called it.
I'm lucky they didn't hang me. Some
Of 'em wanted to-"
Tell me what you done. l amt the
court"
Say, listen, an see IL you ever
heard the likes before. 1t was In Oc-
tober. a year ago last October. I'd
walked from Loueyville to Terry Hut
with a niger that played the mouth
harp. We hid in the yards at Terry
Hut an got into an empty stock car
that we thot we thought was bound
for Dnnville. Some time in the night
a brakeman seen US an fired us out.
I'd been asleep an the first thing re.
member was fallin' out O. the car an
lightin' hard, with the coon comm
after me. We didn't know where we
was, but we could make out side
track and chute for loadin' hogs.
About mile off we could see some
lights an we judged as we was near
purity good-sized town. Me an the
coon started to walk toward town an
then I stopped him an ses:
"'Here, II we go to drillin' around
town at this time Of night an one OF
them country coppers catches peep
at us, he'll shoot us first and then ask
US our names after. Let's crawl in
somewheres an sleep till mornin' an
then we'll go in town an try to round
up handout.'
well, just as l was sayin' this, we
happened to be walkin' along past tall
fence. l looked through the cracks
an could see one or two lights quite
distance off an right near US was a
long buildin' that looked something
like barn. 1t was gettin' chilly an l
ses to this pardner of mine:
Coon gimme boost over the fence
an think we can find q warm plaoe
here
$50 we skinned over the fence an
come to the building. It was q long
| one. still thought 1t was barn. We
walked around, lookin' for a door or
window, SO we could crawl in. , At
last this pardner Of mine-his name is
JEFF an I'll kill him II ever lay eyes
on him again-Jeff found little door
that wasn't locked an we went in,
feelin' our way along, thinkin'. you
know, that we might find some hay
or straw to sleep on. Purity soon JEFF
fell over somethin' an I landed on top
| of him. We felt around us an dis.
covered that we'd run into lot OF
watermelons layin' on the floor.
s'pose the coon was sorry to meet
them melons, huh? The first thing
knew he'd split one Of 'em open an
could hear him chompin' in the dark
Well, I got up an felt my way alone
an purity soon 1 reached out, an
what do you suppose took hold OF
there in the pitch dark? This amt no
dream I'm tellin' you. What do you
think took holt Of? A plate with
about dozen biscuits on it. Now,
amt no crook an never broke into
a house to steal anything, but III
leave this to you. II you hadn't had
anything to eat for eighteen hours an
should happen to crawl into barn at
| night an reach out into the dark an
find dozen light biscuits, would 20,
| eat 'em or throw 'em away"
I'D prob'ly eat EN-" was the 70
ply.
That's what l done. except what
give to JEFF. He found a match in his
close an struck it, and we saw In
front Of US wooden shelf covered
with pies and cakes an all kinds o
cooked stuff. The match only burned
for a minute, but we made out that
much. JEFF found a plate Of butter
,