A RICH FIND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4817, 14 March 1918, Page 2

A RICH FIND.

■— LONDON CITY MAN'S SROKE OF LI) OK. An automatic machine for the sale of butterscotch, chocolate, cigarettes, and matches lurked in an ont-oi-the-way corner at one of the London railway termini when a wealthy city man .happened upon it one morning recently. He wanted a match to light his cigar. He put a penny in,—the slot and drew out a. box of wax vestas. He acted absent-mindedly, as he might have done in the spacious days when matches took their proper place in, the scheme of things. But the sight of the little fat wax vestas brought him back with dramatic suddenness to the grim realities of the present. The machine was full of matches! ] Ho glanced furtively around, and plunged his hand into his pocket for coppers. Eagerlv he put penny after penny into the willing machine and stuffed the pocket of his sablelined overcoat with boxes of matches. Nine pennies more were all he had. He dashed to the bookstall to get change. In his excitement he failed to observe a seedy man who had been enviously watching him. On Ids return with thirty pennies he found this man hard at his own game. “Half a moment,” said the seedy man as the city man remonstrated. “I only, want four more.” At that moment the machine was exhausted. The last box had been given. “Anyhow I’ve got 14,” the seedy, man chuckled. \ “And I only captured 10 —confound it!” exclaimed the city man. “You can have mv lot at twopence a box.” said the seedy man. “Half a crown,” said the _ other generously. And *so the bargain was struck. —Daily Mail.