The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-17
EVENING STORY
The Pie-Eating Party.
BY ANN STEVENS.

Mr.. ELI Fem DefLOn always ndu uoh AF
in upon him definitely when it came
to ordering breakfast. Still, pie-eating
with him was bred in his New Eng
land bones and to renounce this deli
cacy at the first meal Of the day just
because he was obliged to spend two
or three weeks on business in that city
never occurred to him.
On this memorable trip to New
York he had gone to a newly COM
never gone to before. His reason, if
the truth must be told, was because
that distinctly charming young woman
named Miss Lancaster, whom he had
watched with interest in the Pullman
car coming on to New York from the
west, and to whom he had eventually
been introduced by a business ac-
quaintance. who ALSO knew her, gave
orders to the taxi man to drive her
there.
Drive me to the Metropolitan,
please, and when you come back take
these baggage checks and have my
boxes sent over" Miss Lancaster had
then given the taxi man quite a hand
full of baggage checks, and as Eli
Pemberton raised his-hat to her and
watched the retreating taxicab he also
made up his mind to stop at the
| Metropolitan.
That was how it happened that he
when he went to the dining room the
next morning there were walters
| whose faces he had never seen before
| and an entirely new headwaiter to
break into his Yankee tastes.
| AS soon as he had ordered oatmeal
and pancakes and sausages and coffee,
| he said to the waiter: And a piece
of apple pie" That was the ord er
that the walters at the other hotel had
| had to get used to.
Happle pie, sir?" echoed the wait
er, with as much surprise expressed
In his voice as a waiter could permit
nlmsef. Him not sure, sir. as we
can DO that, sir. We do, sir, have It
for few orders at night, but happie
pie for breakfast is something that is
| never asked for. The pies do not
come in till toward noon, sir, and
there would be none on hand"
MI Pemberton summoned the head
waiter, ana placing dollar bill in the
nand OF that dignitary, he asked him
to fix it up about the pie" for him.
And the pie was speedily got from a
| nearby pastry makers and was set be-
fore him for breakfast The next
morning the pie was on hand when
MI: Pemberton arrived at breakfast
| HI once knew an actor fellow that
'ad to ave oatmeal for supper after ne
came in from the theater," commented
the waiter to the headwaiter, and an
| other that put tabasco on his musk
melons. but Hi never came across that
before"
Mr.. Eli Pemberton meantime went
about his business in the big CITY that
day with a heart heavy with Ioneli-
ness His business trip in the West
that finally terminated in New York
| had kept him away from his native
New England for several weeks. and
in none Of the cities he had visited did
he feel farther from that beloved New
England than in New York where the
women he met or passed in the street
all seemed like women of a race ain
ferent from the Yankee women of his
| home. He was thinking about Miss
Lancaster. and something that he had
learned about her set him wondering
Toward the close of the day he Hnrer-
ed in the office of one of the men with
whom he did a good deal of business.
I've been wondering" he said to
this man-Mr. Montague Stone, whose
| wife Eli had met and, on that meeting.
had classified ss"typically New York"
I've been wondering how many hats
most women have to have. You see [
never noticed those things. 1 have an
idea that my own mother never had
more than two hats at a time, but
then she was a plain Yankee woman
Seems as If remember that she used
to have a big box full of ribbons and
flowers and the things women fasten
| on their hats to make them pretty,
and as recall 1t. she used to take an
old hat and sort Of bend 1t up and fuss
with it and make another hat out of
| it. But nowadays a New York woman
| I suppose would have to have a dozen
hats at least"
Shed have to have a husband with
more money than have to have that
| many" commented Mr.. Montague
Stone. ''why, don't believe my wife
ever has more than four in a season
| OF course. some of those rich society
| women you read about might have
dozen or so. I suppose they do"
IF you knew a girl that Travelled
| with twenty hats" suggested Mr..
Pemberton. ct suppose you'd draw the
| conclusion that she was what you call
| a society woman. then"
| "I suppose So"
| ELI hcaved sigh a-ts5 ~
| Whats the fdea7" -