The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1878-06-29
A st. Louis Hotel Romance.

St. Louis furnishes romance in real
/ life, with moral in it for impecunious
gentlemen. At one of the hotels there
a second-class hotel, but with fair
patronage and good annual profit
boarded some time ago a gentleman To
whom with the hard times had come
hard luck. Engaged in huctuatine
business, he had struggled on after the
panic of 1878, and after time failed
entirely. The failure was complete; it
was hard to get foothold again, and,
although single man, he found it diff.
cult to make livelihood. At the time
when he began boarding at the hotel
mentioned it was conducted by widow,
the former proprietor having died and
left everything to his wife The widow
proved equal to the task imposed upon
her, managing the affairs of the hotel
energetically, exhibiting the possession
of decided business tact, and soon be-
coming the terror of all delinquent
boarders. Among this class was the
gentleman out of business Do what he
could, the door of all profitable enter
prise seemed barred to him, and he
found himself unable to meet the
monthly bill, accommodating with painful
regularity, for his bread and butter.
The landlady could not understand how
any man should be penniless, and in
formed him, with the pointedness of
which only vexed woman is capable,
that if his bill was not paid at certain
fixed time he must leave the h use,
leaving at the same time his few personal
effects as part liquidation of the debt.
The poor fellow was in despair. There
had been two or three suicides in the
city within day or two, and his
thoughts invoIuntarily reverted to the
pistol or the moose as affording for him
the easiest solution of the problem. He
had little too much pluck though for
such resource, and in his desperation
seized upon an idea which would never
have occurred to him, rather fastidious
man, under other circumstances. Why
not try to soften the heart of the
widowed landlady by little sentiment2
He dressed himself as best he could
from a scanty wardrobe, visited the
grim widow and promised to settle up
soon, contrived to modify and then to
please her, and, in the course of a week,
became an ardent wooer. He was a
good looking fellow; the landlay had,
with all her vim, weak spot in her
heart, and she finally surrendered at
discretion. They were married, and
the husband became sort of conf
Dental clerk and assistant manager in
the concern. So the honeymoon passed,
when there came suddenly still another
phase to the situation. The middle
aged bride sickened aud almost before
the bridegroom had settled quietly
down to the fart that he was married
man, he had become widower. All
the property was left to him, and he had
become sufficiently familiar with the
business to venture to carry on the hotel.
He is doing it now, successfully. He
may be Sc en- any day, the digoified land
lord, owner of all where 80 recently ne
was troubled about his board bill, and
possibly wondering occasionally, after
mems forgetful manner. how it is that
some of his guests are hard up and can
not settle. He has passed from one ex-
treme to the other, and has furnished an
example for unfortunate single gentle
men. Still, deliberative in his ways as
he now is, it must sometimes be little
hard for him to rec gnize himself.