Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1886-01-09


SOME or HIS GUESTS BELIEVE THAT
THEY ARE DINING DOWN BELOW.
Mr.. William Hammer gayean cleo
trio supper to few old classmates on
New Years eve. 1t was like an ev
ening in sheol. Mr.. Hammer has
been associated with Edison, the
great electrician, for such a long time
and has become 80 stepped in cleo
tricity that it fairly oozes out at his
finger tips. He carries lightning
about in his pockets as careless as a
boy would carry toad. His pretty
little home at No. % Rowland street
is built upon Legion jars and batter
les and queer electrical inventions,
and everything about the place from
opening the front gate to backing
shoes is done by electricity. You
can't walk across the threshold with
out ringing bells or sounding burglar
alarms, or lighting the gas, or doing
| some odd thing that you never dream
ed Of doing.
Thursday evening Mr.. Hammer
had all the hidden wires about his
house connected so as to give his
twenty guests lively time. AS far
as outward appearances went, the
parlors and dining room looked like
any other well-furnished apartments.
But hidden beneath the carpets and
in the walls and ceilings were strange
systems of wires and buttons and
signals that made the place like one
of the enchanted castles we used to
read about in fairy tale days.
You enter the gate and the house
appears dark, but as your foot touches
the lower stoop three electric lights
blaze out and the number of the house
appears in bright relief The next
step sets bell to jingling, and the
third throws open the doorand lights
the gas in the hall by electricity,
transmitted by the pressure of the
foot. Inside the hall there an odd
looking foot-rest attached to the hat
rack, and by pressing a button pair
Of brushes come out and shine your
shoes. Upstairs, where you remove
your wraps, there is bedroom that
would be worth fortune to lazy
man. BY touching your head to the
pillow the gas fifteen feet away is ex-
| tinguished, and by pressing a knob
at the foot of the bed it is lit again.
Outside the door a clockwork attch-
ment sounds drum at the proper
waking time, and ifthe occupant does
not get up after fifteen minutes grace
the bed rises on it's hind legs and
dumps the sleeper out on the floor.
In the parlors the guests who had
come early stood about in little
groups. Nobody sat down, although
| ottomans and sofas and chairs were
scattered through the rooms. Every
newcomer was cordially greeted and
chair pushed towards him. If he
sat down-as he usually did-the
chair either doubled up on him or
started for the door with him, or dis
appeared or completely exploded. If
he sat on sofa he set banjo to
playing on the opposite wall, and
drum to beating; or if he took another
seat the movement put out the lights
and introduced queer phosphoresoent
figures. No man knew when he was
safe, although there were few APP
parently safe seats. In one of these
Humorist Brown was telling a very
funny story He had left electricity
far behind, and just as he reached
the climax q pretty funnel-shaped
japanese affair, like big Ounce cap,
that ornamented the ceiling overhead,
dropped quietly down and covered
him up, silently extinguishing the
story and the story teller.
Somebody proposed music, and
half of selection went very nicely on
the piano. But just as every one be
came interested something seemed to
give way, and instead Of strings the
KEYS beat upon a horrible iangle of