Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-14
ROOMS TO LET,
The Search of An Unfortunate
Man of Family.


The search of the goddess Deme
ter, wandering night and day in anx
iety through all the countries of the
earth with kindled torches in vair
endeavor to find her favorite daughter
Persephone, who was kidnapped by
dreaded Pluto, scarcely parallels the
search which the tenderfoot must
make in order to secure rooms In
the city of Los Angeles. She made
the whole earth weep with her in the
sad misfortune, but the wretch seek
ing for sunny rooms must 60 from
house to house, bearing his own
burden, with the world coldly look
ing on In stupid Indifference.
If a man, after due deliberation
has made up his mind to be a
martyr and to render himself a peer
to the heroes of the gods, he generally
sets about making careful prepare
ton for the ordeal by procuring a copy
of the several newspapers under his
arm and a solemn conviction that he
knows just what he is doing, starts
che1rfully up street, possibly solilo-
quizing to himself, "Humph, it's not
such a wonderful thing to do. I'll
surprise my wife this evening with as
cosy suit of rooms as her heart
could wish" Poor man, little doth
he know how soon the vial of bitter
ness will be unstopped, but he goeth
on his way rejoicing and bringeth up at
a board arrayed with notices Of rooms
to let. The agent is sought,
who blandly informs him he
has several houses, rooms and
a great many bargains in town
lots. At length six-room house CEN
trally located rent, $50 per month,
causes the tenderfoot's eyes to spar
kle and the agent to bring the one
horse, three-seated carriage around
and in trice off they speed. On
the way the agent intimates that the
lady will expect whoever rents the
house to relieve her of a small amount
OF furniture, which OF course is to be
sold at less than cost. The cottage is
reached, but house fronting OH an
alley is not exactly this hero's ideal,
and after hearing the lady's story OF
how her husband was Obliged to go
East, hence, they are willing to dis
pose OF the furniture at the sacrifice
sum of $4,000, he RECEIVERS his breath,
tells twenty lies about the possibility
of his returning, hastily beats
retreat, and once more
he moves on terra firma, and after
making several such trips with differ
ent parties, he succeeds in running
the real estate-room to let-employ-
ment offices gauntlet, and with pock-
cts filled with cards and papers, calls
halt on lone corner to collect his
thoughts and codiiy the aforesaid
cards of reference, newspapers, etc.
Now the work begins in earnest. Up
the street to No. -; back to a num-
Der overlooked; then wild chase on
the street car up to Boyle Heights,
down on Main street-foiled here, dis
appointed there - and, withal, to
make the sad heart more sick and
heavy, possibly in numberless in
stances he receives in answer to his
soft inquiries-the. naughty, independ-
ent answer, "Our rooms are all taken,
SIR" and at the same time some
pampered child OF wealth, peering
from the attic window will smile
exultingly over his own good fortune,
while perchance a grocer occupying
the front parlor leisurly strolls out,
announcing that man from Michigan
has just opened lodging house be-
yOnd ,WashinptOn Gardens. sOna-
where; and thus the weary search
is continued. Be he high or low it is
about the same, for though, by
chance front parlor, back bedroom
or the rag repository or garnet is
found vacant, the chances are the
poor man will not have money enough
to stand the rent, and the rich one
will swear it is outrageous
and 60 off shaking the
dust from his feet and
beaping all the latest invectives on
the heads of what he calls unscrupu-
lous landladies and landlords. But
when it is least expected, and just
when his spirit is so thoroughly hum
bled that a feeling like that Of the
meek but determined Moses comes
creeping over him, and as he is
thoughtfully taking an inventory of
the ten commandments and trying to
remember whether "Thou shalt not
swear" was one of them, 10! a sign
Rooms to let" arrests the tired feet,
and determined to make one more
effort, the days work is rewarded by