The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-21

Now, had noticed that the clerk IS
! signed the guest TO room 591 (which had a
bathroom attached before the aforesaid
guest had said a word as to the desirabIity
! Of that very excellent addition to the guest
chamber. | presumed that the newcomer
was known TO the clerk, who possibly " as
familiar with the guests predlsposition to
personal cleanliness, and l asked HIM II
that was tie case.
NO" replied the clerk affably; hotel
clerks are always effable. II never saw
the man before, but | knew from the man
ner IN which he registered that ne wanted
all the conveniences the hotel affords"
knew from the way he regisJeredm
repeated in surprise.
Hes, | very seldom fail to size a mar up
from the way he handles the register. One
half a hotel clerks value consists of his
memory for faces and the names that go
with them. The other half is his ability to
read the desires Of a stranger guest from
outward indications as he spreads his sigma
ture over the register. OF course, some
times get left, hut not often"
Wont you put me onT This from me
anxious for Information regarding a new
feature of character reading.
why, certainly; it's no secret. Take
for instance, the newly married young Lus-
band as the easiest ex ample. HIS lunch is
the simpl st. | can always locate him from
Wife to his name, even If his bushes didn't
disclose his newness in the role of benedicr.
But it Won't do to let him know you are
dead onto him. Oh, no! Instead of that
l lead him to believe that L am laboring
under the delusioh t. at he's the father of a
large and increasing family. That style of
treatment Just tickleS him nearly to death.
And l don't say word about the bridal
chamber, but he gets it just the same.
q
deal with is the choieric old gentleman who
won't register until he knows just where
his room is, how it fronts, and where the
| tire-escape Is; how much we're going to
charge MIN per diem, and if the bed has
been aired A kicker? Why, he's walk
| ing expostulation. Yet that type of man
usually ends by taking the very best in the
house and paving his bill without q muir
| muir. There are lots worse than he if you
| only work him right.
There is the man, too, who, before he
registers, looks all over the names and
| addresses on the register for week back,
and yet never seems to know a soul in the
house. l generally assign him a cheap
room, and If he gets away without paying
| it's not our fault. As for the travelling man
and the theatrical advance agent, it's no
trick to pipe them off. The 12-year-old bell
boys can do that before they get into the
| door. But there are different species of
| these classes, and it requires an expert to
decide in advance just what they want.
| Generally gauge them by the size of their
| signatures, on the bias that the larger the
signature the smaller tle room. As a rule
the man with the mega herian autogra phi
is generous ouly with writing ink. Again,
| find that the more airs man puts on be-
fore the hotel register the more apt he is to
be satisfied with roof parlor and one
towel
Once in a while we have a queerer char
acter even than usual to deal with. OllY
yesterday fine looking MAJ, whom after
ward found to be a distinguished scientist,
couldn't for the life Of him think of his
own name when he came to sign it on the
register The general run of queer custo-
mers comes from the agricultural districts.
A zig city hotel is a revelation aud a terror
to him. Everything in and about a first
class caravansary surprises and scares him
everything except the dining room-there
he is very much, too much, at home. Even
the first act OF signing tue register is a seri-
Gus, an awful thing to him. To him the
signing of his name, besides being an act of
mental and physical difficulty, is, in his
mind, ever connected with judgment notes,
mortgages, lawsuits and foreclosures.
"The meekest and easiest to satisfy of all
whom a hotel clerk meets is the typical
western CO Sboy. The tougher he is on the
plains the meeker he is here. Tue muZzle
of a loaded Colt placed against his temple
wouldn't make him turn half so pale as the
sight of pen and ink thrust toward him.
he is out of his element then and he ap-
preciates it without the slightest effort at
disguise"