Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 301, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1914 — Change For A Dollar [ARTICLE]

Change For A Dollar

It was the busiest hour of the day. The restaurant was crowded. At a long lunch-counter were seated those who had time only for a sandwich with a glass of milk, or a oup of coffee, and the rapidity with which - the seats were filled and vacated, awakened wonder as to the future of the human digestive system. The leisurely, who could allow themselves twenty minutes for luncheon, seated themselves at the marble-topped tables, with the napkins piled in the center. The girl who waited In line for a chance to pay her check at the cashier's desk, was ruefully reflecting that she had been extravagant She was opposite the cashier's window, and slipped the check and the bill under the grating. The cashier Impaled the check on a spindle, laid the bill on a pile in the drawer, and slapped down a little pile of silver. The man behind was pushing, and the girl took her change and went on. a Before she got to the door she counted it and once outside, she counted It again. She moved out of the range of the window, and counted It for the third time. The thing seemed to become a habit. She was not mistaken. There were three quarters in her hand beside a dime and three nickels. The cashier had simply returned her dollar, In a little different form. “My luncheon didn’t cost me anything” the girl thought with a sense of triumph. "Not a thing. To-mor-row I can have a slice of watermelon if I feel like it.” She put the change into her purse and her face was smiling. She spent the rest of her noon hour looking Into the shop windows, and then hurried back to her post at the office. She was nearly at the door when she encountered a crowd. There were so many people that she could not make out the center of attraction, and she appealed to the tall man next her. “What is it all about, please?” “They've/ just, caught a thief. The policeman is taking him away." The crowd parted at that minute, and the girl caught her breath. The policeman was so big, and the captured thief was so little—just a boy, a small boy, with a white, miserable face and ragged clothing. "Put ids hand Into a man’s pocket and pulled out a quarter,” the tall man explained. "Good thing he’s caught, the young rascal” Then it was that the quarter in the girl’s pocket-book began to feel very heavy. Twenty-five cents! That was the way they treated people who took twenty-five cents that did not belong to them. That quarter in her pocket'book did not belong to her. Knowing that fact she had kept it. The difference between herself and the pallid boy with the burning eyes, was that they had'not found her out. The afternoon's work went badly. The girl forgot things she should have remembered, and mislaid things she continually needed, and blundered wearily on till half past five. When /She left the office, she did not take her car, though it passed her at the first crossing, and for a wonder there were a number of vacant seats. Instead she hurried down to the restaurant where she had eaten her midday meal. The hurry and confusion were over. A fair nnmber of.people would come in to supper, and all night long there would be occasional patrons, but not till the next noon would the dally rush begin.' The marble tables had been scrubbed clean and in the middle of each towered a pile of freshly Ironed napkins. The cashier, with a wrinkle between her brows, was trying to balance her accounts. The girl slipped up to the desk. "You gave me a quarter too much today,” she said. "Here it is." She hardly waited for the other girl’s surprised “thank you,” but turning on her beel, marched out. And she wondered how it was-that lightening one’s pocket-book by a weight so small could lift at least a ton from one’s heart.