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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1899)
1'' THE COURIER. 11 MY BUTCHER. Tho nhop W0B co' ad Bweet-Bmelllop, thoro wae freably sprinkled, sawdust on tho floor, and all the roasts and joints wore put away in tho cold storage room. Only a fow fresh fish lay on ice in one window, and green lettuces and young onions in the other. It was cool and pleasantly dark after the glare of the strret. Summer is a dull time for bust iioeb in New York, and the big shop was empty. My butcher looked up with a welcoming smile as I entered. My methods of marketing are unique. I laid a quarter, a dime, and a nicklo on tho counter of freshly scrubbed wood. What can 1 get for that?" I asked. My butcher regarded the outlay thoughtfully. "Say!'' be said; "You take two butter fish and five chopB. How'll that do?" "Beautifully!" I said, and followed him to the back of the shop to see bim clean the fish. He is a nice looking "i) butcher, with a good figure and pleasant brown eyes; bis hair is curly, and slightly gray at the temples, and his complexion is beautiful as a girl's. I wonder why butcher's have such lovely color though some, to be sure have too much. My butcher muBt be conscious of his good complexion, for he always looks as though he were fresh from the barbei'rf bands, newly shaved and powdered, and his even white teeth add to the attrac tion of his pleasant face. I leaned against the big box that holds the vege tables, and looked at him, intent upon his work, with considerable admiration. His white sleeve covers and bib long while apron gave him a cool, clean look that was refreshing ov a hot day. 'They call these Lafajette tisb," be said, as he turned the water on and Bkillf ully scraped off the scales. "Why?" I asked. I knew, by the de liberate way he was doing bis work that he meant to take his time about it, and was glad to have someone to talk to. "Ihey were never heard of in Amer ' ica," he went on, "until Lafayette landed bore, and the country people and the fisher-folk noticed that, and so they called 'em his fiah. The other name is just butter-Hen; that's all I know." 'That's strange," I said, "for, you know, in the Sandwich Islands there is a superstition about tieh. Just before a member of the, royal family diet a lot of-red-fish are seen in the harbor. I lived there many years, and several of the princesses died, and every time the red tish came into the harbor first." "Did you ever hear," hw said, "of the great plague in London, years and years ago? Well, there were some prisoners in the Tower, and some doctors wanted to make expeiiments, so they got the jailor to help tbem. Tbey told a prisoner who was condemned to death that if he'd sleep in the bed of a man who had died of the plague and did not gel the disease hb'dbelet off free. Well, the prisoner took the chances; be slept in the bed, and he got the plague, and he died." . U ere he threw the two little tisb in a Equare of Lrown paper and begun rolling them up, looking at me very impress ivelyaBhe said: "Only, the point is that nobody had slept in that bed be fore! It wae all imagination!" "Goodness!" I said. "All imagination!" ho repeated; and here we crossed the shop to the wide, Biiooth, wooden counter, He brought a shoulder of mutton from the ice-room itnd began to slice off the chops. "And that's what I think about your Honolulu linge,"he went on, "They knew the rod fish were in the harbor, and so oomobody had to die. Oh, nothing ingbtenB me so much as the unknown; it's the unreal that's terrifying. Now those faith-cure people and the Christian SuientlatB ' 1 opened my eyes. "Ob, I don't believe in them a little hit' he Bald, "but all the same there's Borne truth in it. They get at just that weak-minded superstitious part of us and work on that. And say! I guess the weaker a man's mind is, the more easily he'e influenced to die of im agination, or live when he's got a mortal BicknesB. D'ye want the chopa trimmed?' "Mm!" I nodded. He deftly eliced off the meat from the bone, and with a big cleaver made a big chop in the right place, and then care fully trimmed each little cutlet very neatly, while I looked on. He glanced at mo for a moment with some interest "Say!" he remarked; 'that feather in your hat's an eagle's plume, ain't it? How much.did you pay for it?" "Three dollars and fifty cents," I said. "Well," he replied, "my brother knows a man that's in the business. They call 'em eagle'a plumes, but thny ain't. He pays about three cents a dozen for 'em and I guess they're chicken feath ers!" "I suppose it's only the fashion that makes them expensive," I said, not wanting to defend my hat particularly. 'That's always the way," he said. 'Why, a few years ago you couldn't get fifteen cents for a mink skin. But the dealers were slowly gathering them in, and, flop! all of a sudden you couldn't get a mink-skin fnr, four dollars. If I'd had any sense I'd laid' in 'a lot of mink furs. But I ain't a business man. I don't seem to have the knack. I tell you what's the matter with me I was born to late. I ought to have lived in the old times." "I saw a man the other day," I said "he was captain of a canal-boat on the Erie Canal, and he's seventy nine years old. He told me he could remember his grand father's stories of fighting bears and Indians right here in the state of New York, and he remembers the clear ing in the woods where he used to live, and the old log cabin." "Did you ever read Fenimore Cooper? Bay! you'd like him he's great. He tells all about the Indiaus and log cab ins, and he calls white folks pale-faces. That's when I ought to have lived. If I were rich now I'd have a house with rafters on the ceiling, and a big fire place, and old andirons don't you like old andirons?" "There a a a coal-scuttle in our fam ily,' I said, "that belonged to my great grandfather. It'a brass, and when the firelight shines on it it's lovely," "But it isn't the beauty' so much you think about," he said, "but the feeling that it'a old that it was in the world and used before ever you were born. Would you like a hand-made brick?" "A what?'' I asked, somewhat sur prised. "I've got a brick that my grandmother brought over from Holland. It'a hand made, and it was old when she got it. They brought over a lot to make a fire place or something, and there are two or three left. I'd like it very much." "My grandmother was a great old lady," he said. "She was rich in Hol land, or her people were, but she gave up everything to follow her huabatd to America. Sometimes," be said, reflec tively, "I almost think it is a mistake to love. "That's where all our real sorrow comes from," I said, "The more people you love aid care for, the more liable you are to heartache. After all" it ia the selfish people who care for nobody but themselves that ara the happiest." "But, ah!" he said, following me to the door, "they have an aching void some where. The Bazar. She What a relief this conservatory ia after that crowded ballroom. 1 felt as though I should be crushed to death. He Yes it was rather close. She But I fee! perfectly safe in here with you. f Makes THE BURLINGTON the short est line from bincoln to Denver. SURVEYORS The Heavy Steel Rails, well ballasted Track and J J IVEJ'W POWRHPUI. ENGIN0B jt j Makes this line the quicker by 3 hours and 5 minutes than any other Lincoln Denver line make A note OP this. "Time is Money" and you will save it. irif) City Ticket Office! I Burlington Depo t! Cor. 10 and 0 sts :0R 7th bet. 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