The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-09-26
The Blue Hen Hotel,

"Some time ago." said the drummer,
"I had occasion to visit the city OF D,
in the State of Delaware, and con-
cluded to stop at the Blue Hen hotel,
where had spent one night during q
previous visit. When reached the
spot where the hotel used to be, was
surprised to see that the tall building
had given place to low structure with
a single row of windows, and the roof
close to the ground. However, I recog-
nized the keeper of the old hotel sitting
on q chair in front of one Of the win
dows, and asked him where his estab-
lishment was.
"There she is, sir. I've enlarged her
since you were here last"
Indeed Enlarged? I don't ex-
actly understand.
"Oh, know she looks smaller but,
stranger, I tell you that I've added four
stories to this hotel since January, '75."
"What became of them2"
"Il explain. After the hotel had
been built a year or two she suddenly
began to sink. I dunno what the rea-
son is. A quicksand under her, 1 reck-
on. Anyhow, she kept going down and
down, until the first story passed under
ground. Then I moved the bar-room
up stairs, put another story on top and
began business again. Pretty soon she
sank to another floor, and we moved up
second time and added another story.
It's been nothing unusual in this house
to go to bed in the second story and
wake up in the morning to find yourself
in the cellar. The milkman has regu-
lar instructions to pour the milk down
the chimney in case he comes some
morning early and can't dig out a win
dow. Last month I oversight myself
for forty.eigt hours because the room
remained dark, and when did get up,
the roof was just even with the streets.
"This part of the house that you see
now 1 built on early last week. The
property became too valuable to lease.
There are sixteen stories to the Blue
Hen now, and I have got to add another
before the week is out. If this hotel
was spread out sideways she'd be about
three hundred yards long. Eventually
1 expect she'll be six or seven hundred
stories high, and it IL take you week
to get into the celler. s'pose if keep
on, this here hotel will reach clean
through, from Delaware to China. The
lower end will come bursting ont into
Hong Kong or Shanghai, and maybe
I'll be taken Cinnamon for boardere
without knowing it. Then, very likely,
they'll tax both ends Of the hotel and
take money out Of my pocket. They're
always grinding poor man SOS he can
hardly get along. Costs like thunder,
you know, to run hotel like this that
requires so much to keep up respecta.
BILE appearance. I duno exactly what
I'll do if she breaks out on the other
side OF the earth and then slips through
the hole. can't carry on hotel float.
ing out into ethereal space, you know.
81 have some hopes that may be, be-
fore she sinks more'n mile or two, shell
strike volcanic vein or something and
get shove up come all the way out
for all 1 know, and stand on solid
ground. If she does, you come round
and see me, and I'll take you up and
show you the view. I'll bet you cal
see Peru and Oshkosh and Nova Zembls
and Tuckertown, and all those places
regular birds eye view. You come
round anyway and I'll take you dowI
into the cellar"
said I would, and then hunted NJ
a safer hotel. The Blue Hen is too
original, too eccentric for comfort
Ma1 Adeler, in Philadelphia Bulletin