The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-11-07

A FAMILY Of friends of mine have
just been through the mill in Paris.
The gentleman is a prominent official
iii New York State Government, and in
any well-regulated country is pretty
competent to manage his own business.
But Paris ways beat him, he says. He
has been made to pay thousands of
francs damages for injuries to apart
ments which he occupied a couple of
months--injuries which any unpreju-
diced observer ,oan $685. have been. the
work of years in the rooms and a long
succession Of nntidy dodgers. He and
his wife and two grown sOns-all very
neat people-are charged with having
made grease oceans with their heads
upon the wallpapers and paint of the
different rooms, one of which they
never occupied at all-never sat down
for moment there, there being more
than enough rooms without it. And
the sums they have had to pay for re-
pairs are so large that for many months
to come their income will be terribly
crippled, as they are not rich people.
Naturally, they don't take such a
.rapturous enjoyment ont of the Expo
sition, the salon, the theaters and the
other attractions of Paris as they might
if they'd had comfort and a peaceful
state of mind there.
The last trick l have heard of to
screw final penny out of departing
stranger is to send small boy or girl
with a sympathetic appearance to the
train just as it is starting, with claim
of a few francs, as few sometimes as
three or four--say sixty or eighty cents
saying that a little bit of washing
has not been paid for, or you forgot
that the garcon bought few papers
for you Tor something), and was never
paid for that. With the full knowledge
that you have paid an enormous price
for everything, and have the landlords
receipted bill for frightful figure in
your pocket, and that you have stood
the squeeze of "drink money to
every hound about the establishment
beside, you are, of course, indignant,
and say you will not pay one centime
more to any living soul.
Then the sympathetic messenger be-
gins to whine, and say she was sent to
get this by the landlord, and if you dom
pay it, he will be forced to out of his
poor earnings.
All this makes you the more furious,
for you see, and have seen from the
first, that the thing is a deliberate
fraud On the part of the landlord, and
that the messenger is honest enough
about it, and knows nothing except that
he has been informed, on pain of dis
missal, to bring back that money. The
disagreement makes row, Of course,
and the first you know some police Off
Ger is on the scene, who gives you the
alternative of leaving the train at once
in his custody, with your whole party
and your baggage, or paying instantly
whatever sum is demanded. 1t is no
use for you to show him your receipted
bill for more money, probably, than he
ever saw; the particular item is not on
your bill (why should it beD. You
have got no receipt for it (why should
you havep), so, of course, you owe it!
Furious as this false and ridiculous
reasoning makes you, you still see that
the cheapest way is to pay the petty
demand, and, as that was the only
thing your screw was after, you are al
lowed to hustle on the train again,
breathless and angry, just as it is off,
and all the good seats are TAKEN
London Cor. San Francisco Call.