Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-11-01
THE HOTEL BELL BOY.
ODD WAY IN WHICH HE Is RE-
GARoED BY THE GUESTS.

Looked Upon As Messenger Machines and
Ignored As Human Beings - Errands
They Do for women-Taies Which They
Might Tell.
The bell beneath the annunciator in the
Office of a Broadway hotel gave gentle,
penetrating tang, as good annunciator bells
will, one evening recently, and the little num-
bered tag that dropped at the same instant
indicated that the call came from a room
away up in the hundreds and presumably
proportionately far up in the hotel. The
clerk, interrupting his perusal of the evening |
paper he had bought five hours before and
was just finding his first opportunity of read
ing, swung around in his chair, reached out |
his hand for his own sharper toned bell to |
summon a boy, and instinctively fixed his |
lips to call shrilly:
'Frontf
Before his hand touched the bell or a sound
had left his lips one little bell boy put an
eager face over the desk and four more swung
up in line almost at the same moment, every
one with bright and hopeful look on his
face that seemed to show that, for them at
least, work was pleasure. The clerk looked
at the one who had got to the desk first,
glanced back at the number on the tag, and
said:
'Ten, go see what's wanted in three"-
'Eessr!n and without waiting for the rest
of the sentence the boy was Off, his compan-
ions slouched discontentedly back to their
seats, and the clerk, turning and twisting the
crank of the annunciator, sat down to his
paper again, the numbered tag flying back to
its place with an almost imperceptible click.
A minute or two later there was another tang
| from the soft toned bell, and the clerk again
| reached around for his own bell, and twisted
his mouth to say:
'FRONT.'
This time he had to tap the bell not only
once, but twice, the second time with very
vicious touch indeed, and to call 'FRONT.'" in
his very sharpest tone before even one bell
boy dragged himself up before the desk. One
of the otner boys had suddenly noticed that
his shoestrins needed tying, another had to
stop to button his jacket and the rest seemed
to be tagging behind on general principles.
go see what Is wanted at 23on
"Ye-e-ssir;" and the boy lazily dragged
himself away as slowly as good fortune pur-
suing an unlucky man.
Before the boy was fairly started the an
nunciator bell rang again for the same num-
Der. The clerk calmly gave the crank a
twist and restored the tag to its place. When
he had to do the same thing a second time in
less than half a minute there was a little en-
phasis in the twist, and for the third repeti-
ton of the ring he had muttered execration
of THAT boy" but he let the tag hang down,
and any subsequent attempted rings by the
occupant of 230 interested the clerk no more
Somebody asked the clerk why bell boys
were so quic and spry one moment and so
lazy the ne1. He smiled dryly and said:
They know what they are going to get. "
Pressed further, he vouchsafed the inform
alton that the first ring had come from a
room where the bell boy was pretty certain
to get tip, while the second was from a
room the occupant of which did not believe
in encouraging the cigarette habit by giving
boys nickels
The little rascals see the number on the
annunciator before l do" he said, land
/ they're sharp enough in getting to the front
= if the call is from room where they think
k they are likely TO get anything
e The clerks explanation was confirmed BY
? the appearance about this time of the boy
= sent out Oh the first call, with something il
y Ills lllut pfikui VII nlS JdCkti
It sleeve, and then held up tantalizingly before
the other boys before he put it in his pocket
The boy sent on the second cal may havt
died on the way, or merely have been over
k taken By old age and broken down, but hi
failed to put in an appearance so long as {
casual observer who took an interest in bel
boys waited, and repeated agitations Of th'
dropped down tag of room 230 seemed TO in
dicate that some one there was i'll frantit
state of mind over something or other.
At most hotels the bell boy business nova
days has been reduced TO so much of a scienc
that this sort of thing could not occur. Tn
4 effort of the clerks is to reduce the boys T.
machines, and they have to hop lively whel
the bell rings, and so and come quickly, n
matter whose is the call or what the pros
poets of tip. 1t is good deal easier for
hotel to get new bell boy than for a bell bo
to get new hotel, and the boys risk thei
q situations as little as possible. The idea O
bell boys as machines is not confined to tn
hotel clerks, however The guests whom til
boys serve. especially the women guests, re
gard them in much the same light.
If bell boys ever told tales except anon
= themselves, a great many women who liv
at hotels would be inexpressIbly shocked
Opium, whisky, rouge, morphine, belladonn
30 and The Police Gazette are only few of tn
things that bell boys in any of the big hote
are sent after by the female guests almos
daily, while the carriage of a note to such
looking gentleman on such and such a cornt
or the caring for Of epistles to be called ft
by tall, handsome man with black mu
e tache-and incidentally with quarter fC
~ the boy-is an everyday matter. 1t nevt
seems to occur to a woman that q bell boy
good deal like anybody else in noticin
, things. putting this and that together, al
- drawing conclusions. Occasionally wome
and men too for that matter, have their e
tention unpleasantly drawn to this fact /
= the appearance of an unexpected hotel er
-, ploye with missing link in the evidence
i a divorce suit; but generally the confden'
put in the boys seems to be pretty we
founded for they are a close mouthed lot
any one who has ever attempted to get the
to tell some of their experiences will admit
y Family quarrels are another thing wi
which the bell boys in the big hotels becon
extensively acquainted by actual observ
- ton. The average husband and wife see
~ to think that a bell boy doesn't count VIII
his they are having their little differences
opinion and the boy waits in the room un
1t is settled whether carriage shall
ordered at for the theatre or at 10 for t
ball; whether the bridal tour shall end rig
here as the nasty mean OLD thing" wish
. or shall be kept up for week longer as
wife desires Men who would he shocked
10 anything approaching slight to their W
before s'folks" call her little fool befc
a bell boys without compunction, and the wi
who is always n picture of humility wh
us ''foIksn are around, refers to her better h
'are as wretch and brute when the bell bog
q OF present, without thinking twice about it
''ee New York Sun.
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