Pippin; A Wandering FlameRichards, Laura Elizabeth Howe
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Pippin; A Wandering Flame
Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe
Bildungsromans; Ex-convicts -- Fiction; Love stories; Orphans -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
"It's mine, then!" said Pippin, decidedly, and laid his hand on the
wheel. It was a leading, he decided. The man stood irresolute a moment,
but Pippin smiled at him, and nodded assurance. "It's all right, boss!"
he said. "It's mine right enough, see? And I'll see to it. What we've
got to do now is to get this poor old guy buried, what?"
Finally, here was Pippin with a trade ready to his hand.
"Temp'ry!" he assured himself. "I don't feel that the Lord picked out
scissor-grindin' for me, but while I'm lookin' about, 'twill keep the
pot a-b'ilin', and while I'm grindin', I'll grind good, just watch me!"
Pippin had spent for supper and lodging one of the dollars Elder Hadley
had given him, but he had no idea of spending the other. Sharp-set for
breakfast, he carried his wheel through the main street of Kingdom, his
quick eyes glancing from side to side, and stopped before a door bearing
the legend, "Bakery and Lunch." The window beside the door was polished
to the last point of brilliance; the loaves, rolls, pies and cakes
displayed within were tempting enough. "This for mine!" said Pippin, and
stepped in.
"Mornin'!" he said to the crisp, fresh, rosy-cheeked woman behind the
counter. "Nice mornin', ain't it?"
"It sure is!" was the reply. "What can I serve you?"
"Well! I was wonderin' if we could do a little business, you an' me. Say
I sharpen your knives and you give me a mite of breakfast; how would
that suit?"
The woman looked him over carefully. "You a knife-grinder?" she asked.
"_And_ scissors! Wheel right outside here. I'll grind while you get the
coffee. That's straight, isn't it?"
"'Pears to be! What do you ask for a bread knife?"
"You tell me what you're in the habit of payin', and I'll ask that. I'm
new to the trade, and I aim to please. Here, sonny!" as a black-eyed
urchin bobbed in from the bakery, his arms full of loaves. "Gimme your
jackknife and I'll sharpen it just for luck, so your ma'll see I mean
business! Sing you a song, too! Hand it over. My! that's a handsome
knife!
"'There was an old man--'"
The stroke succeeded. The jackknife brought to murderous sharpness, the
mistress of the bakery declared that the others could wait. Soon Pippin
was enjoying to the full what he declared a breakfast that a king would
cry for: eggs and bacon, coffee and rolls, all excellent of their kind.
"I wonder why they _call_ it coffee over there!" he confided to his
stick. "'Cause if this is, that ain't, you see! But 'twas good as I
deserved! That's the way they look at it, I take it; and I expect
they're right. No, ma'am, not another morsel. I'm full as much obliged
to you. That sure was a good meal! Now I'm ready to sharpen all the
knives and scissors in the county. I'll stand my wheel close to the door
where it won't be in folks' way, and then just watch me!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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