National Republican., 1885-04-18
THE METROPOLITAN HERMIT.
A RecIuso Who Has Been Secluded In
the Cellar for Over Thirty Years.

tho Cellar for Over Thirty Years.
The Metropolitan Hotel shelters an old
employe whose life for the past thirty-ave
natural curiosity. For this period Mr..
Thomas Kennedy. the engineer of the
hotel, has spent his days and nights
watching tho steam gauge Of his engine
boilers.
A reporter for The REPUBLICAN groped
through the dark passages leading into
tho dusky engine room yesterday, and
there found o tall figure, rather bent and
with the long, white beard Of q Rip Van
Wrinkle, heaving coal into the furnace.
His coat was oil, and the perspiration
poured from his face as he fed tho flames.
you have got we'll used to this work
in your thirty years, | suppose?" asked
the reporter, as leading question.
well, yes. l think | could 60 my
rounds blindfolded," said the hotel her.
NIT. "All these years I've been here l
haven't been absent from tho hotel one
entire day, and every hour that I've been
absent wouldn't amount to month ii
added together, so you SEQ am as regu-
lar as the engine itself, and more so, for
all these thirty years have never been
sick a day to keep me from my duty,
while the engine has broke down hun
dred times"
He laughed, and seemed to grow
younger at the thought of beating his
engine by such large odds.
81 suppose you care nothing for the
outside world ?"
"Oh, yes, / watch the dongs of the
great men and tho changes IN the world,
though so seldom see the day light. But
many times when l read about the world
l feel us II were spirit with my body
buried down here, and that | have
nothing to do with living people. Still
Pm q privileged spirit to get all the
papers, said he with a chuckle.
Wars aud parties are nothing to you
suppose2'
"No; that is, they don't affect me. No
change ever effects me. Now, when
came to this hotel IL WAS owned and run
by Marshall Brown, sou Of the original
proprietor, Jesse Brown. Six years later
1t passed into other hands. and since that
time the hotel has had seven prOprletors.
but they never see me, except when they
inspect the furniture. and then | am in
voiced, just tho same as the chairs and
bedsteads, and like them m passed from
one to the other. But I'm a bett r
;
MS | said, / never have needed any
repairs, but some day | suppose this
old machine will need mending. But
guess it will be cheaper to throw mo out
and get new man. When | came here,
too, our country had its millions of slaves,
ana 1t makes me feel half ashamed that
/ have done nothing toward helping along
the great reforms that have occurred in
my time. l have only read the accounts
like a spirit, as said with my body buried
hero. So all during the war, while this
hotel was alive with excitement, all |
knew of 1t was what | read in the papers
down here in the stiffness of my tomb.
But some one must do this work, and 1t
seems that tho great author of the world
has detailed me for this work"
you know every nook in the house,
suppose"
There's where you mistake. All these
thirty years, last fall, ! have never been
in auy part of the house, except to my
room in the back building and down here
in the basement, whero | run the boilers
and mend them aud the engine when
they need it. DO l get tired of il?
Would you2 Certainly do, but its only
a tleeting life we lead, after all, and from
what read of tho evils that are in the
outside world, perhaps may rs well live
aud die down in this dungeon, quietly
doing my duty, Rs to mix in tho great
wOrld-CrOwd-and cheat and rob as they
do outside. It's rather rough on fellow
to bleach head of black hair in this
musty old dungeon, but when tho end
comes 10 all, what will be the odds then2'
81
Boys spring suits, Eiseman, 7th aud Il