The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-03-15

side-table and commenced to write let
tiers.
"Ahem!' said Mr.. Hicks. Il beg your
pardon, sir, but l was just agoing to
begin a tale; but as l Sc, YOU are busy;
Pll wait until you're finished"
'tNot at all, not at ALL" said the strau-
ger. pray don't let me interrupt you:
you won't disturb me, l assure You. In
fact, I'm not sure that, not being a trav-
eler, L ought MOTTO apologize to you for
coming into the Commercial Room; but
the fact is that the fire in the coffee-room
has gone out, and the waiter said he
thought you would not mind me coming
in here"
''Quite welcome, sir, quite welcome"
said Mr.. Hicks, with almost monarchical
granduer. at against custom, l know,
for strangers to enter the Commercial
Room; but under the circumstances, l
don't think we'll mind. Will we, gen.
tlemen?"
The gentlemen chorused that they
didn't mind. SO the little man proceeded
with his writing and Mr.. Hicks with his
tale.
swell, as I was saying, gents, l made
up my mind to take this young Brown
smith down peg or two. So what do
you think 1 doesY Igoes to the stables,
and 1 a Y to the hostler: 'Bill, if
you'll get MI. Brownsmith's cob and
gig out of the way the first thing to-
morrow morning, and when he orders
them, say you're very sorry, but you've
let them out to another gent by mistake,
here's a sovereign for you.' OF course,
it was worth q good deal more than a
sovereign to me to get the young chap
out of the way, for1 saw he was pretty
,cute, and I knew he'd be after my Gus
Itomers. But hat amt all; for l knew
it was the easiest thing in the world for
him to hire another cob and gig until
his own was returned. So / goes down
into the all very late that night, where
all the bags was-bags in those days
were very much more alike than they
are now, and used to be chalked with
the numbers of their owners rooms, to
distinguish them-and l suietly rubs out
his number and puts on another, and
puts his on to another lot of bags, so
that if he did start, he'd find himself in
a hole and no mistake. Next morning,
I was uncommonly haffable with him at
breakfast, pretending, of course, not to
know he was in the same line as me;
and 1 starts of and does all my bust
ness. When 1 came back, 1 found the
poor young chap running about
like a mailman. He was satisfied
that the gig business was a mistake; but
when he came to find that another
man had gone of with his bags and had
left him with lot stuffed full of French
friIling, 1 thought he'd have brought the
'ouse down. He got the landlord and
the 'all-porter, and the chambermaids
and the walters, and he threatened to
ave 'em all up before the magistrate;
and all the, time l was GRIMM in my
sleeve and pretendin' to be as concerned
about it as any one"
well, and what h~appened?" asked
one of the audience as the speaker
paused.
'.What 'appened? Well, I'll tell you,"
replied MI. Hicks. 1.-The gent who had
taken Brownsmith's bags by mistake for
his own, 'ad gone off to 'astings; and
there was nothing to do but to wait till
he came back. And when the gent did
come back you can imagine that there
was a pretty row in the place, in which
of course 1 joined, saying that it was a
disgraceful thing, and threatening the
landlord that I'd take my custom yer to
the other hotel if better watch WASH
kept for the future. The poor young
fellow took it very ard, he did; and
when he got his gig and bags and went
round the next morning and found that
all the business had been done, he came
back, and he sat down in that corner
there, and told me it would ruin him,
cause it was his first job for Stokes &
Nokes, and he was on trial"
sSTVaropst Won voru cOrru rorf1 dnno
itp" asked one of the party.
ssMe sorryP'' said Mr.. Hicks, with
contempt. mot me. Alrs fair in
love, war and commerce; and if
hadn't done it. he'd have done
ness. As it was, l eve set eye on him
from Stokes & Nokes. Sorry? Not
me !"
There was al expression on the faces
of some of the young men as if they
thought it was rather a low trick; but
they made no remarks. and after some
further conversation, a general yawning
and knocking out of pipes and draining
of glasses proclaimed the hour of bed.
So the great Mr.. Hicks took up his can
die and departed; his example was
quickly followed by the rest, and the
little old gentleman who had been writ.
ing his letters was left alone.
When the door had been closed upon
the last bed-goer he shut up his writing
case, and took up the position in
front of the fire lately occupied by Mr..
Hicks. Something in the story he had
heard seemed to tickle his fancy. i'm.
mensely; for he stood there chuckling tc
himself and rubbing his hands as ir
great glee. "Clever chap that! I'm
commonly clever chapr he muttered tt
himself. "He's quite right. Young
Brownsmith did give up travelling; an6
if he hadn't, he, wouldn't be of the
richest men in the county, as he is now.
He rang the bell for tine waiter. Wher
the men appeared, the little old fellow
said: ..What time does Mr.. Hicks start
upon business in the morning ?"
"Well, l 'ardly know. sir" replied the
waiter. .sYou see, he don't come here
reg'lar-in fact l can't call to minG
hever 'avin' seen him before. But the
gents mostly goes out about ten o'clock
Tell the boots to call me at seven,
will youP" said the old gentleman; an6
taking his candle, he went to bed
The next forenoon, Mr.. Hicks saun'
tered majestically forth from the inn
upon a round of visits; and as he walked
along he seemed absorbed in the con
temptation of his own figure in the shop
windows, as if anticipating with no small
degree of pleasure the sensation such
representative of Hooker & Smoker
would make in the shops of the humbl,
tradesmen. He entered the establish
ment of Mr.. Willow, who said upon hi
door that he was p~atronized by the Roya
Family, but assuredly o to a fifth par
of the manner in which he was %patronizec
by Mr.. Hicks.
, Anything in our way, Mr. Willow
said the great man, condescendingly
Hooker & Smoker, you know"
! ..Nofhinn for Hooker & Snnnkar.N re