St. Paul daily globe., 1884-11-26

The ODshiscfent FHHofioHdry Who Presfdes
1Iere-HoIes He Has 90 ETfI aud
RnEcs 20 F0ffOtr.

RcOueuees OF DIS make up, auQ Is alWayS SUI
fused with an expansive smile which ab-
serbs his whole organization, even to the
clothes he wears, he is not alone thing Of
beauty, and 20 creatures Of his ilk falls more
than a proportionate percentage Of insight
into the worlds character. Take q hotel
clerk and array him as Solomon in ali his
glory, and also in little brief authority, aud
you have perfected a machine that viii 90
like clock work with automstic motion and
self generated power, aud which besides jab-
bing out hand here for key, singing out
another there for bundle OF letters, and
coincidentally swinging around the register
and shouting at bell boy, viii take in the
demeanor, behavior, and make a shrewd
guess attbe personal history Of anyone in
sight. Constant association with an ever
varying circle Of guests, recruited from every
line Of life, gathered from every country in
the world, with all sorts Of business, all sorts
Of attainments, and all sorts Of am
bitions, has made the hotel clerk wise In his
generation, and hardly a day in his life pas
ses but be has occasion TO add 10 his clerical
duties the functions Of a detective, lawyer,
a doctor, q geographical chart, and a family
almanac. By men he is a trusted eonfidant.
He hears their business secrets, be knows the
machinery Of their advancement he has
glimpses Of their shortcomings, and he has
their escapades by heart. He Is as much the
repository OF female trusts. He has commits
sions 10 discharge, letters 10 post, visitors 10
receive, directions 10 give, lies 10 tell-every
thing 10 do, in short, that IL may occur 10
the female mind, singularly fertile in such
things, TO impose. Then the hotel clerk Is
transcendenty honest. One never hears Of
a hotel clerk suddenly becoming interested
in the economy Of the efTete European mon
archies and posting of by the first steamer 20
see what it is like. Nor is his health subject
to those sudden and dreadfully debilitating
attacks for which so many curative properties
have lately been discovered in the climate Of
Quebec. The bank clerk may
prevaricate, lhypotheeate, and do ali
sorts of wickedness, but the safe does not
belle its name while the hotel clerk is around,
and, all things considered, he seldom thinks
its contents worth the risk Of taking them.
A hotel clerks daily experience is like a
leaf from a romance or police blotter. Every
variety OF people pass under his scrutiny He
has 10 discriminate on the instant between
the chah and the wheat, and determine
at glance whether the seedy old party with
! the sun-browned face is a millionaire or the
natty young swell an impostor. He must
make up his mind without delay If the
I ladies' afixed.to the name Of Messrs.
Brown, Jones and Robinson in the register
are really Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Jones and Mrs
/ Robinson. DE must determine whether the
weighty trunk is freigbted with stones or the
/ light valise has anything IN It. He must
/ learn at once If "Col.' or "Gen." 4" OF "Hon. -
So-and-So, who has just come in with lack
of baggage, which is only moderately atoued
for by chirographical dash and fascinating
melody of ''the gab,'' is TO be permitted 10
remain through the week or is 10 be tolerated
only on c. o. ID. basis. All these
things the hotel clerk must weigh and pass
upon without inquiry or reflection. And
then, thronging upon them, a thousand other
questions that appeal as directly to his iudg-
ment and experience. Here are family
coming down by the elevator who want TO
start right away for Chicago, and must know
at once just when and just how they should
90. The young man with the favor in his
button hole has his new made bride In the
parlor and is awaiting a suggestion about the
incest theater, what is played and paid there,
aud where is the best place TO sit. The trio
of bluff, loud laughing mOrtals at the coun-
ter are awaiting tip on an itinerary Of the
]
mustaches are inquiring the proper ingredi-
ents for satisfactorily frescoing the metroDo-
lis in an essentially lurid way. In addition
are a hundred inquiries about business,
finance, the market, difference of time, lati-
tude and longitude, the price Of bonnets and
bouquets, the inadequacy Of room No. 469
on the upper, and the impaired light Of room
is on the lower floor, the absence OF the
cham bermaid, the insolence Of the bell boy,
the expansive charges, the lack OF facilities
all come pouring in over the counter like
p flood; but stanch aud all undismayed by
the onset, with his perpetual smile on his
lips and his solitaire beaming
its refulgence upon the wide
deluge Of interrogations, the hotel
clerk stands, never overpowered and never
Disconnected. Such a man one could well
believe must have the wide diversity of
knowledge possessed by an encyclopedia and
the control of temper required 10 pass with
flying eolors through an eight round glove
fight.
He has both.
sits part of the business" said down
town hotel clerk 10 Herald reporter, ''to get
posted on everything Most OF US have not
a great deal of school education. But we
read the papers closely, and, above all, We
listen. Would you believe IL! A big per-
centage OF the business Of the country /.
done at the hotel counter All sorts meet
there-merchants, politicians, professions a
men. Each has his hobby and nowhere else
does he ventilate it more. As result, AM
man with average ears and ordinary under
standing who is hotel clerk long must be-
come educated. He may not be up on an
cient history or the dead languages, although
he has a shy at them now and then, too, bu
on all subjects that concern everyday peopli
he has the biggest opportunities to be well in
formed
"Hasn't he to study human natur,
clOselyl"
''More than any other elass-more thar
the detective or the actor. 1t is his constant
study, and indeed he has to play the detec
tive and the actor more than you would sup
pose. You see the city is beset with hote
beats. The clerk has to spot them when the-
appear. II they were shabby looking fellows
or had worked the route before, Of course /
would be easy enough to mark them and firt
them as soon as they appear. But hote
beats are not that kind Of cattle. They ar,
always dressed in the best. Sometimes the
come up with a coach and q big show o
inery. That's the most dangerous kind
Those fellows win wait for remittances I'll
you're cleaned out of house aud home. Well
the hotel clerks business is 10 be equal I,
these fellows with all their devices, and [,
penetrate any disguise or subterfuge benin,
which roguery made hide ITSELF
"Any other detective WORKER
''0f course. Spotting offenders. Guest
wouldn't be comfortable with sneak thieye
in the next room or burglars in the SAM
corridor. Pickpockets are generally hel,
to be undesirable in the ladies' parlo
and the dining room. The hotel clerk has Z
sinple ont nrOfessiOn ale of Uhafsvar olass -,