Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-03-15

the CHAIR winch Dy preScrlptYe right /
belonged to the senior traveller in the /
room, took long sip at his grog. and,
with preliminary clearing of the throat. |
began.
"It was in forty-two. and it's a strange |
thing, but it was in this very identical |
place. There was a cocky, stuck-up |
young fellow of the name of Brownsmith |
travelin' for Stokes & Nokes, Great |
He 'adn't been ere afore, and didn't
I'll just takea rise out o. you, my young
popiniay; see if l don't"
At that moment the great man snar-
ratiYe was interrupted by the entrance
of little old man dressedi in black, who,
observing that the seats round the fire
were occupied and that nobody offered
to make room for him, sat down at a
side-table and commenced to write let
tiers.
''Ahemp said Mr.. Hicks. al beg your
pardon, sir, but 1 was just agoing to
begin tale; but as see you are busy;
I'll wait until you're finished"
''Not at all, not at all. said the stran-
ger. pray don't let me interrupt you;
you won't disturb me, assure you. In
fact, l. m not sure that, not being traY
eler, [ 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 monarchicai
granduer. ''It's against custom, know,
for strangers to enter the Commercial
Room; but under the circumstances, I
don't think We'll mind VIII we, gen
tlemen?"
The gentlemen chorused that they
didn't mind so the little man proceeded
with his writing and Nh. Hicks with his
tale.
''Well, as 1 was saying, gents, made
up my mind to take this young Brown
smith down a peg or two. So what do
you think I does I goes to the stables,
and l says to the hostler: ''Bill, if
you'll get Mr.. 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 a good deal more than a
sovereign to me to get the young chap
out of the way, for I saw he was pretty
cute, and knew he'd be after my Gus
toners. But that amt all; for knew
it was the easiest thing in the world for
him to hire another cob and gig until
his own was returned. So l 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 quietly 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
hole and no mistake. Next morning,
l was uncommonly Nathalie with him at
| breakfast, pretending, of course, not to
| know he was in the same line as me;
and 1 starts oft and does all my bust
ness. When l came back, l found the
poor young chap running about
! like q mailman. lie was satisfied
that the gig business was a mistake; but
when he came to find that another
man had gone off with his bags and had
left him with lot stuffed full of French
! frilling, I 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 [ was grinnin' in my
sleeve and pretendin' to be as concerned
about it as any one"
well, and what happened?" asked
one of the audience as the speaker
paused
''What 'appenedP Well, I'll tell you, :"
replied Mr.. Hicks. ''The gent who had
taken Brownsmith's bags by mistake for
his own, lad 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 pretty row in the place, in which
of course l joined, saying that it was a
disgraceful thing, and threatening the
landlord that T. d take my custom over to
the other hotel if better watch WASH t
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.
Weren't you very sorry you'd done
Eit?" asked one of the party.
"Me sorry?" said Mr.. Hicks, with
contempt. ''Not me. ALPS fair in
love, war and commences; and if 1
hadn't done it, he'd have done
me by cutting me out of lot o. bust
ness. As it was, never set eye on him
again, and I've card he got the sack
from Stokes & NoEes. Sorry Not
me p
There was an expression on the faces
of some of the young men as if they
thought it was rather 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-goe- ne 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 ne stood there chuckling to
himself and rubbing his hands as in
great glee. Clever chap that! I'm
Commonly clever chapr he muttered to
himself. ''He's quite right. Young
BOwnsmith did give up travelling; and
! if he hadn't, he wouldn't be one of the
/ MOI, ~, tho oOuDtyr 6o - ovry