John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers, talking about
unfair methods in use at the mines for weighing coal, said:
This method is most unfair. The fist-and-pound method, in fact,
was scarcely worse. The fist-and-pound method originated, they
say, in Scranton. A simple-minded old lady ran a grocery store
there. A man came in one day and asked for a pound of bacon.
The old lady cut off a generous chunk of bacon, and then, going
to weigh it, found that she had mislaid her pound weight. “Dear
me,” she said, “I can’t find my pound-weight anywhere.” The man,
seeing that there was about two pounds in the chunk cut off,
said hastily: “Never mind. My fist weighs a pound.” And he put
the bacon on one side of the scales and his fist on the other.
The two, of course, just balanced. “It looks kind o’ large for
a pound, don’t it?” asked the old lady as she wrapt the bacon
up. “It does look large,” said the man, as he tucked the meat
under his arm. “Still--” But just then the old lady found her
pound-weight. “Ah,” she said in a relieved voice, “now we can
prove this business. Put it on here again.” But the man wisely
refrained from putting the bacon on the scales to be tested. He
put on his fist again instead. And his fist, you may be sure,
just balanced the pound-weight. The old lady was much pleased.
“Well done,” she said, “and here’s a couple o’ red herrin’ for
yer skill and honesty.” (Text.)--New York _Sun_.
(701)
* * * * *
One evening, as Vincent de Paul, the distinguished French
priest, was returning from a mission, he found a beggar lying
against the wall. The wretch was engaged in maiming an infant,
in order to excite more compassion from the public when he went
to beg. Vincent, horror-struck at the sight, cried, “Ah, you
savage! you have deceived me. At a distance I mistook you for
a man.” Then he took the little victim in his arms and carried
him to the crèche, where foundlings were kept.--EDWARD
GILLIAT, “Heroes of Modern Crusades.”
(702)
See SAMPLING.