Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-06-04
CHIROGRAPHY.
A Hotel Clerk Says y Mans Hand sritins
Will Indicate His Position.

"How do you manage when assign
ing rooms to your guests to locate one
on the fourth or fifth floor and the
other on the second, when each pays
the same rate per diem?" was asked
the landlord Of one of the hotels by n
reporter few DAYS since. .a t.
You had better ask one of the
clerks" replied the boniface with q
smile. "They know all about such
things and will doubtless communicate
the secret to you"
The reporter sought out the clerk
and repeated the question. His reply
was laconic and to the point:
I'VE size 'em up."
''But do you never make mistakes?"
asked the reporter.
Seldom" answered the clerk, and
perceiving that the reporter would not
be choked oil, he continued: Zone rea-
son why we seldom make mistakes is
that we can judge, in measure, by
the way a man registers of what he
has been accustomed to at home. II q
man will be contented with a small
room in his own house, he is not likely
to make any very decided objection to
the same accommodation at a hotel.
This is more especially true in the case
of those who, like merchants from the
interior, come to the city but once or
twice year to buy goods. They are
too full of business to think much about
the kind of room they are occupying,
and so long as they have a place to
sleep, they don't care whether it is on
the first floor or whether it is next the
roof. Besides. they don't like to have
any trouble. They would rather put up
with few inconvenience than raise q
row. This is all the better for us, for
we can save the best rooms for guests
who will be willing to pay a higher
figure. The successful hotel clerk is
not only able to do this, but he can al
most invariably tell at glance just
how much man will stand, and he is
very careful not to over-step the line.
Again, look at the way some people
register. The man who is unaccus-
toned to travelling and stopping at ho-
tells picks up the pen as if he was afraid
of it, and is singularly precise in the
formation of the letters composing his
name. He writes plain John Blank,
Blanktown, as nicely as he is able, and
is perfectly satisfied if the clerk takes
him by the hand and says, as clerks al
ways do: Mr.. Blank, I'm glad to see
YOU
1.-The full-hedged drummer or tourist
is easily identified. He will waltz up
to the desk, dash off his name in
careless fashion, toss his overcoat and
grip to the bell-boy, and try to talk to
four or five people at once. He must
have fair room, or there will be
trouble at the Office. A young man on
his first trip will demonstrate his Spen-
cerian education; country lawyer will
write his name so that neither he nor
anybody else can decipher the hierogly-
phics, while the rural legislator will be
anxious to let everybody know that he
has the right to prefix honorable to his
name. These characters are universal,
and almost invariably We can get a
mans character and position in the
world by an inspection of his chirogra-
lphy.
'.In small towns hotel clerks have a
practice of giving the most desirable
rooms to parties who claim to come
from some large city, for the reason
that they should have a better knowl-
edge of hotel life than their rural
brethren. Travellers are beginning to
realize this, and will register as from
New York or Boston, in order that
they may get good room, and they
win the trick. The most essential
thing in the makeup of hotel clerk
is to be able to fill the house from the
top down, and at the same time make
everyone believe that they are getting
the best rooms. '-Detroit Free Press.