Pittsburg dispatch. (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, July 07, 1889, SECOND PART, Page 16, Image 16

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Id. BELL BOY'S LIFE.
r
fBill Ave Eitracls From One Urcliin
a Chunk of Real Eomance.
toS FIRST WICKED EMPLOYER
$'And His Hearty Indorsement of the Im
ported Habit of Tipping.
1 WET WELCOME FROM A DEAP GUEST
tWKIIIEK FOB Tin DISPATCH.!
HE hotel bell boy has
never bad what might
be called a fair show
in the columns of the
press. He has not
been interTiewed, and
not beinj; a Toter, his
appeals (or recognition
hare never been listen
ed to. The bell boy is
the connecting link between the upper and
lower order ot beings at a hotel, that is, he
fills the upper order alter it is given.
Yesterday I detained a bell boy with red
hair who came to bring me a pitcher of ice
water, and asked him ii he would mind be
ing interviewed for publication. He said
lie would not, but would have to wait until
6 o'clock, at which time his day's work
closed, and he would be at leisure. At that
hour he appeared at my door. He is a
medium sized boy, but older than I thought
nt first. He might be anywhere from S to
20 years old. Sometimes he looked one
wav and sometimes the other. He said
he had been in the business all his life. The
first dav he worked he cried a good deal for
his mother and still lelt kind of hungry for
the boyhood he never had.
"Would you mind telling me your name,
xnv son?" I'queried in superior accents.
""My home nanieis Henry Clay Williams.
Hcreiny name is Front."
'-'What would you do if you had your
time for a year?"
"I would play. Sever played a day in
my life that I can remember. Jest polish
mv troupers on a settee and wait till the
office hollers 'Front,' and then I've got to
run up five or six flishts, knock on the door,
and find that some old pestilence of a feller
has forgot what it was he rung fer. That's
what puts the grey hairs into a boy's head."
MEMORIES OF A BLIGHTED LIFE.
"Who did you work for first?'
"I worked lor a couple of fellers that run
the Palace Hotel. I won't tell you the name
of the town and I won't tell you the name
of the firm. I used to call 'em Messrs.
Dewey Little & Owen Moore. That's what
I called 'em. Their hotel was called the
Palace because the man that named it was a
humorist. It was hanted, the house was.
lights it was hanted by wicked spirits and
days it was hanted with the spooks ot de
parted biled dinners. Did you ever run
across the ghost of a biled dinner? I think
it is the saddest sight I ever smelled."
"How did you come to take hold of the
hotel business?"
"Well, my mother died just as I got out
of skirts, and my father he was a poor hand
st the practice of industry himself, but had
the theory all right, and could find openings
for other folks bullv. He got me the job at
the Palace. He then began to rest, lie did
most of his restine in "the barroom of the
Palace. He said once that he bad read in a
paper somewhere that the earth was the
Lord's and the fullness thereof. He didn't
want the earth, he 6aid, but if there was any
fullness lelt over he would be glad to get
enough for a grown person."
"Where is your father now?"
"He is busy just now filling a drunkard's
grave. It is the first openine he ever filled
trim any kind of satisfaction. If my father
THE
w
According to the late decision of the Supreme Court, we are prepared to do -business once more, and can and will offer you the very
fordsat prices for the quality and maturity of goods that defy competition.
We adhere to the cash plan, thus giving you the benefit of the very lowest prices. Avoiding all losses, all accounts, you need have no
us. Any failure on our
Our pure 8-year old Export Guekenheimer "Whisky,
dozen.
Finch's Golden Wedding, 10 years old, full quarts $1 2B
Kentucky Bourbon, 10 years old, $126 per bottle, or $12 a dozen.
Overholt & Cbs Pure Rye, 6 years old, $1 per bottle, or $10 a dozen.
. -:-
' -' .
. '
Please Accompany Order With Postal or Money Order, or Draft.
"V
412 Market Street,
had put the talent into most anything else
that he did into bowlin' up he would have
been a rich man and I could have got out in
the grass and played and had tun, instead
of getting kueesprung here in a hot hotel,
breathing gaa leaks and sewer gas, while
other bovs are chasing squirrels."
"Ton didn't like the Palace?"
"No, I did not like the Palace."
"Why not?"
"Well, the proprietors were clost, too
TnecAa
Aye Convene With the Bell Boy.
clost to suit me. Old Dewey Little was the
meanest nn:n I ever saw. He used to gnm
up the gas burners so that a guest couldn't
see to read, and then of course would have
to come down stairs and maybe spend a
dollar at the bar. He was the meanest man
than ever walked. He used to steal wipes
out ot the wash and go through the pockets
of the overcoats in the check room.
NOT FAB BEHIND SATAN.
"I've read a good many stories about
Satan, and of course he has had ad vantages
that Old Man Little never bad. Satan has
had thousands of years to think it over and
improve on his first amateur work, and so I
say that it would be hard for anybody to
take his place, but I say this, that if he
should ever get disabled or have a felon on
his thumb or anything like that and want .1
good understudy, Dewey Little could
run things so that only a few heads of de
partments you know would get onto the
lact."
"What do you think of tipping in
America?"
"Well.I think it's just getting on its feet,
and getting to be self-supporting. Hut it
ain't what it ought to be. In ti.e old coun
tries everybody tips a little, but here it is
only the liberal lolks that does it, and so
they are overworked. We would rather get
a nickel a head all day than to get a quar
ter from one or two. Ontside of the big
cities, tips are mighty seldom, you bet.
Here in .New York it is getting 10 be pretty
good. I've made a dollar a day quite often
outside of my regular pay, which pay is
TTw-r
The Mellow-Yoiced Orator's Order.
pretty blamed small. Bell boys watch the
office mighty close, I tell you, and some
rooms we fight over, while others get mighty
slow service."
"What was your best tip?"
LONG
part to fulfill all obligations promptly and satisfactorily would injure
ALL THE LEADING FOREIGN WHISKIES $1 50 PER BOTTLE, OR $15 A DOZEN XASE.
If you have not bought any of our California Wines yet, please include one or more bottles in your next order. -They are, very fine,
, 4 years ,old, and only 50 cents for full quarts. . . ' - . ;
SIEIfcTID FOE IPIRICIE LIST. MAILED FREE.
V -
THE
"Well, it was a dollar, I believe. We
had a temperance lecturer in No. 39. He
was a reformed temperance lecturer. That is.
he had been a rounder and so finally be had
braced up, it teems, and went onto the
platform. He done well as a lecturer, all
allowed, and great crowds came to hear the
man who bad beeu jerked out of the gutter.
I was sent to answer his bell. He looked at
me kind of skittish, and then he walked the
floor quite a spell and looked out of the
winder. Finally he wanted to know if I
wad to be relied on to transactbusiness with
out too much conversation. I said yes, and
that I had the secrets of great men and
great actresses locked up in my breast and
that I had a time lock on it and that the
world wouldn't know anything about it till
Gabriel said so.
SOME QUEER EXPERIENCES.
And then the reformed lecturer told me
to bring up an Apollinaris bottle full of
common cooking whisky and a high glass.
I done so, and people that went to the lec
ture said it just laid over anything they
ever heard as regards beseechin' tenderness
and all that kind of business. He'was a
wet-eyed lecturer with a wabble in his voice;
and he could gather in a great many chil
dren and yonng ladies whei he got tuned
ap. He gave me a dollar for working the
Apollinaris racket."
MABKS OF TRAVELERS.
"What do you notice mostly about guests
when they come in?"
"Well, I judge them a good deal by their
Metenting the Sell Boy' Intrusion.
bags. You can't always tell bv clothes, hut
baggage means a good deal. Fresh people
have fresh looking, shiny baggage. Expe
rienced travelers have sensible, but more or
less weather-beaten bags and trunks."
"What is the general failing among
guests." , .
"The general failing is to return the key
to the room. I went up with a man yester
day that said his kevdidn't fit and hecuuldn't
open his door. When I looked at ths key I
saw it belonged in Philadelphia. He
laughed kind of foolish and pulled out the
right one, as he supposed, but it belonged
to Yonng's Hotel in Boston. He had a key
in every pocket that belonged to some other
hotel. Then some folk get the number
of their room mixed up with the cumber
they had perhaps in another city a day
or two before. We had a case of that kind
last week, and it wonld have made a great
deal of trouble if the matter had not been
hushed up at the office."
"What do you do when a guest enters
the hotel?"
"Why 'Front', whoever 'Front' happens
to be at the time, is expected to go and pull
the handle off the guest's bag, carry it away
and conceal it somewhere, and then re
luctantly find it when the owner puts up
for it" '
"Do you have many squabbles with the
other bell boys?"
"No; we get along all right and have no
foss. We swap stories, too, when we have
a slack day, and get a little fun that way.
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LOOKED FOR DECISION HAS COME!
WE WILL
JOSEPH FLEMING- & SON,
,
PITTSBTJRG- DISPATCH,
I knew a bell boy once that used to work at
the Lahr House, at Lafayette, Ind. He
worked there quite a while. One day they
sent him up to call No. 13. No. 13 didn't
say anything, and so they concluded that
something might be wrong, and thev told,
this boy they would have to put him over
the transom to see if No. 13 was there."
Who was Number 13?"
"Whv, he was a kind of inventor some
how. He had been staying at the Lahr
House a week or so, I believe, and carrying
up tools and pieces of boards and stuff
because he was building some kind of a
machine and was quiet about it for fear
some one would beat him on the patent, he
said.
ROTJGH ON FRONT.
"Well, anyway, they put this boy up to
the transom audit was dark in there, so they
allowed he'd have to get inside and light
the gas to see what was the trouble. It was
a little feller and nimble as a weasel, and so
he got over there and struck a match. Short
ly after that he came out again by unlock
ing the door from the inside. He was quite
pale and said that he wished that bereaiter
they would put some other boy through the
transom whenever they had any curiosity
about people. Otherwise he would want
more pay. No. 13 had, it seems, got his
machine done the night before and had tried
it to see if it would work. It was a kind or
meat ax running in a groove like the
French Doluny, and it was hung with a
cord and trisrger, fixed so that a little thread
that run the" trigger was pulled through a
wax candle. A man could load up with
morphine or something kind of soothing
like that, lay down with his head on the up
holstered head rest, light the candle and go
to sleep. He had greased up the running
glass of the thing and then began to experi
ment. It worked first rate. They didn't
have any -autopsy. Friends thought it
wasn't really necessary. The practice of
putting bell boys into rooms that way, is be
coming outre, I think. We could not get
any reply out of an old man in 47, last sum
mer, and so the clerk put me in over the
transom. The old man was somewhat deaf
and did not know what my motive was in
coming over the door that way. He was
just about to take a bath as I came in. He
was not expecting me, but he rallied and
took me by the clothing with a firm grasp.
He then inserted me in the bath tub six or
eight times and threw me out through the
transom again. The old man also invited
other friends to call. He said he was in the
sere and yellow leaf, as one might say, hut
yet would strive to interest each and all who
might drop in on him, and if they would
just take him as they found him,"they would
be welcome."
At this point the bell boy looked at his
Waterbury and said he must go. Thank
ing him for bis information and dividing
my scanty store with him, we shook hands,
and the next moment he had shot down the
stairway like a tat scientist engaged in fall
ing from the tail gate of a big balloon.
Bill Nye.
An Unaccommodating Ofllcer.
Detroit Journal.
Tho Muskegon Chief of Police is not an
accommodating fellow. Yesterday an un
happy wretch called on the officer, and,
after explaining that his wife had lelt him
and he had no home, asked that the Chief
should shoot him. The officer objected be
cause the city ordinance prohibited such
business, and 'the unhappy man is com
pelled to live as best he can without his
wife or home.
A Thonghlfnl Agent.
Fllegende Blotter.
Mrs. Younghusband This girl is too
yonng for a nurse. She is hardly taller than
the.baby itself.
Madame O'Bourke (of the Continental
Employment Agency) Sure then, madam,
it she drops the baby it won't have so far to
falL ,
Professional Etlqaetts.
Pnck.J
Lawyer Quabble You a doctor? Why
you couldn't cure a haml
Dr. Sawbones And you, sir; you
couldn't try a case of lard.
CONTINUE TO OFFER YOU
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STJNDAY, -.JULY J,
A WOODCOCK'S GAP.
An American Bird Tliat Plays With
Amateur Sportsmen.
ITS HADHTS AND ITS HABITS.
Places Around Conneant Lake Where it May
be Brought Down.
THE HIJHTER MUST BE A WAET ONE
HVBiriMJI FOB THX EI8P1TCH.3
THE woodcock is a
very tricky bird, as I
once found by experi
ence. When a small
lad, wandering in the
fields one day in early
summer, I flushed one
of these birds, which
started skimming
along the top of the
weeds and bushes, and
finally, when about
20 yards away, flat
tered, as though it
were maimed, and fell
in the grass. I quick
ly started in pursuit,
but when I approached near, up it rose
again and fluttered away in an apparently
badly crippled condition a little way off,
when it dropped again. Eager in punuit I
panted after, and was led a wild goose
chase, for the next time it rose away it flew
as if its wound had been miraculously
cured, and it never felt better injits life.
So thoroughly was I deceived, that whet,
the thought came to me that I had read of
birds feigning a crippled condition, for the
purpose of leading vou away from their
nests, I was amazed at the perfect deception
that had been practiced upon me; and when
I turned to find a landmark to guide me to
the spot where I had flushed it, I lound I
had been led through such a tortuous
m.ize of jungle that the attempt was hope
less. Does, instinct prompt snch a wonder
ful display of intelligence, or is it pure and
unadnlerated reasoning? Who can answer?
July is here and with it the continuous
crack crack of the firecracker, the hiss of
the skyrocket and the fizz of the pinwheel,
while to swell theconfusion the bangl bang!
of the shot gun and blunderbuss will be
heard on all sides in the country districts,
as now the first game-bird shooting of the
year is lawfully ushered in. When the
birds are young and foolish and loiter on
the wing.they give every blundering school
boy an opportunity with his old musket
that he does not have later in the season
when the birds are older and moro keen of
flight. Your aim must then be sure and
certain or your game has vanished iu the
brush.
8NAP SHOTS AT OAME BIRDS.
Woodcock very often have to be taken at
"snap shot," which means that you have not
time to raise the gun to the shoulder. You
must pull the trigger when the butt is down
at your hip, using your judgment as to the
elevation of the mnzzle. This manner of
shooting seems difficult at first thought, but
you will be surprised at the efficiency you
will attain with a few days' practice.
This bird is of the snipe family, with an
immense long bill, and, with its large eve set
well back and near the top of the head, the
sense of sight is very acute. Its flight is rapid
andirregnlar. The females lay from four to
five dull yellow eggs, with patches
of brown sprinkled over them. The young
birds are very active, and run about as soon
as hatched. If the old bird is surprised she
will rise uttering a peculiar cry, at which
the young will scatter in everv direction
and hide in the long grass. I'hey are a
beautifully colored bird, being of a yellow
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BA'llfi.a
vralrtdflK
our large trade much more than we could possibly gain by doing otherwise.
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1889.
ish red with, a, stripe of Vandyke brown
from the bill to the eye, and also barred
across the wings, which are short, as is also
the tail. I have known men who had lived
all their lives in the country say thev'had
never seen a woodcock. "that is to know
it." This may be accounted for bj; the fact
of the birds being nocturnal in their
habits, boring in the mud and tnrning
over bark and leaves in search of insects and
lyinsr very close in the daytime. But thou
sands of human beings live along life in
rural districts and never become acquainted
with a thousandth part of the interesting
things they trample under foot. The wood
cock delights in marshy places along the
Retrieving.
margin of streams, where he can hide from
the blinding glare of the noonday sun; in
dark and cool old osier beds, under old
fallen trees and projecting roots, overgrown
with swamp willow and fern, where they
doze and dream through the long, hot days,
unlets disturbed by the prying nose of the
keen-scented retriever, w'hoV goes through
the niar&h poking his inquisitive cose into
every nook anil cranny where they may be
secreted. While
THE TOTJNG NIMBOD
with legs incase'd in gum boots that reach
to his hips, wades through morass and
jungle, penetrating into their most sacred
haunts, smearing his face with sticky cob
webs as he stoops to go under some over
hanging bushes. No sooner has he emerged
into a clear space again when some fiendish
little fly will balance himself on wing and
dance up and down with fiendish glee in
front of his eyes, clapping its wings .with
joy as it sees its dancing image reflected on
the hunter's shining orb. Clout him away
and he dodges the blow and is back again
A Snap Shot.
as gay as ever. Again and again strike at
him, each time fiercer than the last, but one
might as well try, to kill a sunbeam, so
ethereal is this little fiend, who dances and
pirouettes in tront of his new-found mirror,
while the hunter is expecting every moment
to leel his sting.
Of courseif it is you, it will be just your
luck to hctr a bird rise while you are in
combat with this pigmy. While the mos
quitoes are boring it into you at every ex
posed part and stinging vines brush your
neck and face, which smarts with the sweat
that runs from every pore, you are hot,
1,1 I .'
as heretoforefull quarts
'
per bottle, or
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angry and perspiring with much tramping
through mirey places, pulling your feet with
difficulty outof the bogi, that seem as though
a thousand swamp furies were dragging you
down, letting go with a smack as tqu wearily
pull out ot'the mud. These are some ot the
discomforts of hunting in mid summer.
I will admit that it is fine sport when the
game is plenty, which will give yon a
chance to display your alertness, while the
epicurean treat that comes at the end of the
day is worth all the little annoyances inci
dent to a day's hunt in July. But give me
October and November for my shooting,
when all the insect pests are frost nipped
and the brush is withered and beat down.
The best dog for woodcock hunting is the
setter or retriever; his long woolly coat pro
tects him from the brambles, and he will
work hard all day without onre coming in
Bhivering to heel. The pointer, being desti
tute of this protection, is not so well adapted
for this kind of sport.
PENNSTTLVANIA SHOOTING GROUNDS.
Along the small streams that feed Con
neant Lake and in the thousands of acres of
swamp and marsh land adjoining, there is
an abundance of these fine birds. While
hunting there one day last seaon, I suc
ceeded in capturing a good-sized bag, and
would have had greater sucrss had I been
able to secure some local hunter, who Vas
familiar with their known haunts, as a
guide. Along the bed of the old Erie Canal,
which is now grown up with underbrush. I
was informed they were the most plentiful.
The greatest precaution should be taken to
insure against accident in hunting this time
of year, as the jungle is so thick you cannot
see your companion even at the'distance of
15 or 20 yard, but you can keep him located
by the noise he mafce breaking through the
brush, and of course will have made arrange
ment with him in regard to the direction
each may shoot, always keeping on a paral
lel line with each other. II you can hire a
"beater," then yon can stand at either side
of the thicket and drop the birds as they are
driven out.
If you want to discover this bird feeding
you will have, to approach his hannts noise
lessly, for if he hears you he will turn his
head around until his eve appears to be lo
cated directly on top or the head, giving it a
very comical appearance.
A Good Test.
Boston Tranicrlpt.l
"Tell me,, Uncles Charles," pleaded
Amelia, "do you think that Henry will
make a-good husband?"
"I think he will," replied Uncle Charles,
without hesitation. "I offered him a cigar
last evening and he took it as freely as it
was given. When he opened his coat in
search of match he exposed his waistcoat,
and his two upper pockets were filled with
cigars. I have no hesitation in saying that
Henry will prove a saving and economical
husband."
PAIK
.fnr.?K
SCATFNGy
GMEniniNE
For Weak Stomach Impaired
ipftFi mm mrm
-ffioy
awr- iEK&sK mm - aitss w $sH a
sh .BrnJiri mm nun
SOLD BY AM, DRUGGISTS.
, PRICE 25 CENTS PER BOX.
reparedonlybyTHOS.BlCHiJLSt.HeIens,ln(IlireJEglau(L,
B. F. ALLEN & CO., Sole Agents
FOB TJHJ1TE1 STATES, 363 St 307 CATJAL ST., NEW TORE,
Who (if your druggist does not keep them) will mail Beecham's
Pills onreceiptof pricea inquire first. (Please mention thispapec)
best Wines and Whiskies that the market af-''
fears in trusting your orders and money with,
$12 a dozen.
1
Pittsburg'.
S
A Costly Prayer Bosk.
Philadelphia Times. I
The wedding gift of Mrs. JL V. Dahlgrea
to Miss Drexel, who will Tecomft her daughter-in-law
June 29, will be a vellum-bounol
prayer book, beautifully illuminated. Tif
fany has made the cover a work of art.
From the family jewels a lot of gems were
taken, and a cross, a crown, and an anchor
of diamonds, rubies and sapphires set into
the covers. The clasps are similarly en
riched.
When Ibe Flag Looks Strugs.
Detroit Free Press. 1
There won't be much change in the old
flag when theadditional fourstars are added,
and this is a wise thing. A good share ox
the American people, especially on holidays,
can hardly make out the emblem now.
Tndigestion
IS not only a distressing complaint, ot
itself, but, by causing the blood to
become depraved and the system en
feebled, is the parent of innumerable)
maladies. That Ayer's Sarsaparllla
is the best core for Indigestion, even
when complicated with Liver Complaint,
Is proved by the) following testimony
from Mrs. Joseph Lake, of BrockWJy
Centre, Mich.:
"Liver complaint and indigestion
made my life a burden and came neap
ending my existence. For more than
four years I suffered untold agony, was
reduced almost to a skeleton, and hardly'
bad strength to drag myself about. All
kind3 of food distressed me, and only
the most delicate could be digested at
an. Within the time mentioned several
Shysicians treated me without giving re
el. Nothing that I took seemed to do
any permanent good until I commenced
the use of Ayer's Sarsaparilla, which
has prodnced wonderful results. Soon
after commencing to take the Sarsapa
rilla I could see an improvement in my
condition. My appetite began to return
und with it came the ability to digest
all the food taken, my strength im
proved each day, and after a few
months of faithful attention to your
directions, I found myself a well
woman, able to attend to all honsehold
duties. The medicine has given me a
new lease of life."
Ayer's Sarsaparilla,
PRIPAEID ST
Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass
, trice $1; six bottles, . Worth . a bottl.
EFl
&Wn
' AlfH
GUINEABV
Digestion Disordered Liver.
$1, or $10Jari.
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