In 1881 the old Manzaneras warehouse in La Junta started to take on a new look. It was being remodeled to make a new Harvey House Restaurant.

Once in awhile when my father and the boys had to go out of town with the railroad they experienced eating joints on the road that served bad food. After eating scanty meals when they came home they'd attack the food like starving pups. Mama couldn't keep enough food on the table.

"I declare you boys must have hollow legs," Mama said as they dug into the grub.

"Ma," Sammy said. "The other day I found bugs in my rice. I was so hungry I almost ate them."

We started hearing tales of a man by the name of Fred Harvey who after being served some of that grisly food along the Santa Fe line decided it was time to do something about it. He opened up a couple of fancy restaurants in Kansas. The word was that they served food that tasted as good as Mama's. Papa was excited when he heard that La Junta was going to get its own Harvey House. That would help business, folks would stop and stay awhile with a nice restaurant in town. Some people besides saloon girls and gamblers would settle here. La Junta had a couple of those greasy spoon eating places; but they were saloons. There were more saloons in town than there were women. My brothers moaned a heap about the lack of women. Oh, there were women in town, the trouble was they were saloon girls.

Harvey workers started overhauling the old warehouse. Since it was just down the road from our house in the middle of the Railraod yards, we passed it as we walked to school. Those fellows sure did a lot of banging and painting. Oscar and I were full of curiousity and more than once workmen yelled at us to get out of the way. "You kids clear out of here," they growled.

When they were finished, that old warehouse looked as good as the pictures someone had drawn in the newspapers of the new Stanley Hotel they were building in the mountains.

When the Harvey House opened the population in town swelled to twice as big. Employees started coming in by train; cooks, manager, day clerk, night clerk, baker, dish washers and waiters.

"More men," John grumbled. "What this town needs is some ladies."

"We have ladies," Sam laughed. "Ladies of the night."

"Sammy," Mama warned. "Watch your tongue."

"Sorry," Sammy mumbled.

Well, we heard tell that Harvey House had some good food, but it had more problems than you could shake a stick at. One night the waiters nearly broke up the place.

"We've got a nice establishment," Papa said. "And those bums tried to make it into a saloon."

Seems those waiters hit the Golden Bucket to take in a bit of liquid refreshments before they came to work that day. When the train pulled in they weren't up to snuff and some of the customers complained about the bad service. The waiters started fighting with the customers, throwing dishes and food at each other. A couple of windows were broken and they generally tore up the place. There were a bunch of waiters shipped out of town the next day; then the Harvey House closed down for "remodeling" for a spell.

Fred Harvey himself came to town and inspected the place. Word was that he used a lot of new words that we weren't allowed to hear about.

That's when the papers started runnings ads: "Wanted --young women, 18 to 30 years of age, of good moral character, attractive and intelligent, as waitresses in Harvey Eating Houses on the Santa Fe Railroad in the West. Wages $17.50 per month with room and board. Liberal tips customary. Experience not necessary. Write Fred Harvey, Union Depot, Kansas City, Missouri."

Folks wondered how many nice girls he'd get, nice girls weren't usually waitresses in that day. Nice girls taught school or stayed home. But I guess the response was favorable because after a few months the Harvey House opened up again and soon there were some refined women in black dresses and white uniforms parading down the streets. Church membership began to increase. Lots of guys we had never seen in church before filled the pews after they discovered that most of the waitresses came to services each week.

Then my older brothers started missing a few meals, seems something at the Harvey House was attracting their attention, especially around payday.

"I declare," Mama said. "I never know how much to cook these days."

I was downright jealous. I wanted to eat at the Harvey House too, but I didn't have any money and Mama and Papa weren't near as curious as I was.

We did get to go to the open house, that was a treat. The tables were all covered with white tablecloths, shiny silverware and flowers. I never saw anything so splendid in my life. We had assorted cakes, cocoa and buttermilk. Those Harvey waitresses were hospitable.

It didn't take long for Mama to discover why John was eating there so often; he was hanging around a pretty girl with a smile that glowed like sunshine. But he wasn't the only one, there were several other guys who hung around that waitress.

After the open house I really craved to eat a meal in the Harvey House, but knew I'd never get there.

We found out the name of that girl with the sunshiny smile when John started talking about her, Sally this, Sally that. Seems that Sally was nice to all the guys but that was all. She wouldn't let any of them come to call on her. John was shy and he was quiet.

"Have you asked to call on Sally, son?" Papa asked.

"I'm afraid Pa," John said. "She's turned down some of the best looking fellows, she wouldn't have anything to do with me. Look at me, my nose is too big, I'm clumsy. She wouldn't let me call on her."

"Son," Mama said. "You look like your Pa and he's handsome, stop putting yourself down.

John laughed. "You're partial. I just don't know how to talk to women, Ma."

"Well, I think I have an idea," Mama said. "I'll tell you about it later."

A couple of days later I was astonished, my hopes were coming about. I was going to eat supper at the Harvey House, compliments of my big brother John.

Oscar and Albert wanted to go too, but for some reason John wouldn't even talk to them about it. I couldn't figure that out.

"Only Sadie," John said. "She's my guest."

Oscar and Albert did a lot of grumbling about that and called me "teacher's pet." They wanted me to find out why they couldn't eat with us, but I wasn't going to push my luck. I was just happy I'd got the invitation.

Mama let me wear my Sunday dress for the big occasion.

"Now don't forget to be friendly with the waitress," Mama told me.

"I will Mama," I said. I was so excited I could hardly sit still as Mama took the rags down and put curls in my hair.

"You look mighty nice, Sadie," Papa said.

"Don't forget," Mama said as John and I walked out of the house.

"Yes, Mama," I said. "I'll be extra friendly to the waitress." I was a little puzzled. Sometimes when I got excited Mama told me to stop being such a chatterbox and now she was wanting me to be friendly. Maybe it was because I was growing up. I felt grownup as I walked up the steps beside my big brother to go through those doors to that elegant dining room.

"Good evening, Mr. Miller," the head waiter at the door said. "Is this Miss Miller?"

"Yes," John said. "William, this is my sister Sarah."

"How do you do, Sarah." The waiter was very polite.

"Very fine, sir." I curtsied like Mama had told me.

"Your usual table, sir?" The waiter asked.

"Yes." William led us to a table in the corner.

In just a minute a women in black with a fancy white apron and a white bow in her hair came and took an order for drinks. John let me get lemonade. In a few minutes I saw Miss Sunshine. I knew by now her name was Sally.

"Good evening, John," Sally said. "And who is your guest?"

"This is my little sister, Sarah," John introduced me.

Now Mama had told me to be friendly to the waitress so when Sally asked me how old I was and where I went to school I started talking. I thought for sure John would tell me to quit chattering like he always did, but he didn't say a word. He just sat there smiling.

Sally took our orders, it was hard to pick, there were so many things to choose from. There was roast sirloin of beef, prairie chicken, sugar cured ham. I finally ordered Baked Veal Pie because it was served English style and I had no idea what that was. In a few minutes we were eating the biggest meal I ever saw. Sally stopped by every few minutes to see how we were doing. I chatted away, telling her all about my family.

"Oh, John," Sally said. "You're so lucky to have such a big family."

"I think so," John said.

"I have five brothers and two sisters," Sally said. "I sure do miss them."

"Where do they live?" John asked.

"They're in Missouri," Sally said. "I have a little sister just your age, Sarah. I get awful lonesome sometimes."

Before I could answer John popped up, "Our family came from Missouri too."

I felt sorry for Sally, she was all by herself, away from her little sister who was just my age. I couldn't see her being lonesome, I would share my family with her.

"Why don't you come to our house for supper? My Mama cooks almost as good as Fred Harvey," I bragged. "You come tomorrow night."

"How nice," Sally said. "I'd love to come, but I'm sure your mother has more than enough to cook for."

"She --," I started to say but John cut me off.

"Oh, no," John rushed in. "She likes to have company. When will you have time off?"

"Tuesday." Sally turned a little red. "But are you sure your mother won't mind?"

"I'm sure," John insisted.

Well, it seemed to me that John wasn't so tongue tied anymore. He was doing a lot of talking and I wasn't getting a word in edgewise. Fact is they seemed to have forgotten that I was there.

"I'll help her cook," I chimed in.

"All right," Sally said. "I'll do it."

"I'll come get you," John said.

"I'll come with him," I added. After all it was my invitation.

"Don't be such a chatterbox, Sarah," John said. Well, I was sorry he said that, but I had expected those words long before.

For dessert I ate some apple pie and some peppermint ice cream. I ate so much I thought I'd never be hungry again.

When we got home I told Mama "I was real friendly, Mama, to the waitress."

"That's good, Sadie."

"She sure was friendly, Ma." John was grinning. "She invited Sally over for supper Tuesday."

Mama and Papa burst out laughing.

"See I told you it would work," Mama said.

I didn't know why they were laughing, but I suspected they had played a trick on me. Well, it didn't matter, I sure did like Sally. If I'd been on my toes I would have suspected that she was going to be my sister-in-law someday. We saw a lot of her after that.