JULY 1. 1916 



529 



How aboxit Honey 

 for a Siie Line? 



P.V Ri:SSELL WILMOT 



So many things had been suggested for 

 side lines that Tim Smithers was ready to 

 declare there was nothing new nnder the 

 sun. Tim was wrong, and, being a big man 

 and a successful one, he was ready to ac- 

 knowledge it. It is only the little two by 

 fours who " never make a mistake, and then 

 only for variety's sake !" 



Tim was wondering on this particular 

 early spring morning just what he could 

 feature that the other fellow hadn't thought 

 about, when a Avoman all out of breath 

 hurried into his store and asked him in a 

 peculiarly wheedling manner if he wouldn't 

 please tell her where she could buy some 

 nice honey, either strained or in the comb. 

 She went on to explain that she had been in 

 thirteen stores and had not been able to 



locate what she wanted. It was either all 

 dried up, mussy looking, or the people de- 

 clared they didn't keep honey. Tim winked 

 four times, turned the toothpick in his 

 mouth around the other end (o, scratched his 

 head, and broke into a beaming smile. 



" Well," he said at last as he placed the 

 honey on the counter, " you've come to the 



right place this time. Seven is called the 

 lucky number, and tliis is the fourteenth 

 place, so it is doubly lucky." 



The woman added, as she took the honey, 

 that her small boy was sick and would not 

 be comforted until she made him one of her 

 famous honey cakes. 



Tim Smithere winked four times again, 

 turned the toothpick around to its original 

 position, and reflected silently that this 

 woman certainly had given him the hunch 

 he was looking for. What he said aloud 

 was simply this : 



"Isn't that queer? We are planning to 

 sell honey cake at our soda-fountain lunch- 

 eonette — large, nice, square, luscious pieces 

 of it. Wonder if your recipe is like mine?" 



The customer assured him that hers was 

 something extra fine, having been in the 

 family for a number of years. She didn't 

 offer to reveal what it was; but that didn't 

 discourage Tim. He knew, if worse came 

 to worst, the partner of his joys and sor- 

 rows, the renowned Mrs. Smithers, who was 

 an excellent cook, could originate a honey 

 cake that would surely equal any old moth- 

 eaten recipe anybody might be able to trot 

 out. 



A reasonable amount of well-directed ad- 

 vertising reminded two-thirds of the women 

 in Smithereen how ^ood honey and hot bis- 

 cuits were, how fine honey is on griddle 

 cakes, how healthful a sweet for the chil- 

 dren, and how nourishing as well. Tim 

 soon found he hadn't bought nearly enough 

 honey to slipply his demand ; but he soon 

 corrected that mistake. 



In the meantime his good wife had evolv- 

 ed several honey delicacies which brought 

 every single man, every boarding-house vic- 

 tim, every small boy with a nickel, and 

 every hungry school student to his counters. 

 This is the way some of the good things 

 were made. 



