Hulbert Footner

“ Matty was much distressed at the thought of such innocence abroad in the city. “You don't know your way around,” he protested.
“A fellow can always ask,” said the little one, with an air.
Matty never thought of laughing. Bent on discouraging him, “The kids'll make a mock of your clothes,” he said.
He promptly wished he had bitten his tongue before the remark escaped him; for the little fellow's eyes slowly filled, and he choked over his food.
“They're all right!” cried Matty, desperately remorseful. “I wouldn't laugh at them. I'd bust any kid's head that laughed when I was around. ”

“ His swarthy, flushed face was cast in the unemotional mold that goes with great strength; and with the lowering, uneasy eye of the hard drinker, he had that grim, satiric mouth that, in elders, is such a terror to youth. ”

“ Fellows has got to help each other out,” he added, with what was in Mat rare delicacy.
“A cup of coffee's enough,” said the little fellow modestly.
“Oh, he—” Matty checked himself in confusion. How to maintain the fiction of the little fellow's manliness and at the same time pay due heed to the choice of language suitable for gentler ears was a sadly complicated problem for one of Matty's simple ideas. “I mean,” he continued hastily, “you need something solid. Here, I'll give you apiece of pie to eat with the coffee while I flip you a hamburger. What kind of pie?” ”

“ Upon hearing the oath read, the little figure under the counter had evinced a disposition to emerge, but was restrained by a touch of Matty's foot.
“That was a good thought about the kid,” said Dave reflectively. “That will hold me to it. But what made you hit on three years, now?”
Matty was drawing a cup of black coffee for Dave to drink to the signing of the pledge, and the question took him off his guard. “I'll be twenty,” he said simply. “I don't think a man ought to marry before then.” ”

“ Since the old woman died and the kid's brother went off and got married, them times of getting full was more frequent than formerly. It's expected of a widow man. Folks would think he was glad to get rid of his woman if he come home sober after she was gone. Well, when the kid begun to grow up, it seemed kind of unnatural that her, almost a woman growed, should have such a fool scare of her dad whenever he had an edge on, and I got sore-like on her, though a good girl she was and none handier around the house. ”

“ Under this shelf is a cupboard and refrigerator a little larger than doll's size, and in the spare corners within reach of Mat's hand there are various boxes and shelves; for every inch of space in a lunch wagon must be utilized, just as in the cabin of a canal boat, which it resembles not a little.
“'MAY I COME IN AND GET WARM?” STAMMERED THE BOY'”
Outside the counter the remaining wall space is occupied by a narrow shelf set about with round stools. ”

“ Here Mat's customers, after receiving their suppers at his counter, put them away at leisure. As many as eight men have been accommodated at one serving; but that, it must be confessed, was a tight squeeze. ”