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Show Meals on a Sliding Scale. (Philadelphia Times.) A few miles out' of Philadelphia, on the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, during some work on the roadbed that required a large force of laborers, a thrifty old negro turned his shack into a refectory and hung out a sign reading: "Meals from i cents up." A heavv, stolid black of the "shiftless" kind came along one morning, asked for. and obtained work on the road, and at noon went to the- "restaurant" and ordered a 4-cent dinner. A half loaf of bread and a bowl of water were placed before him. "What sort of meal am dat to Rib a hungry man?" he asked, indignantly. "De reg'Iar fo'-cent kind," was the reply. "No man can wok on dat!" protested the customer. "It ain't no ban ket, I admits," said the restaurateur: "but two courses am all we can gib when de price am limited to fo' cents. Dar's bread and dar's water. If yo' wants to go five cents, I'se'll put out de pepper box an' gib yo' a knife an' fork." ' |