Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-18
SUNDAY IN HOTELS.
How the Drummers and Strangers
Spend the Day in Pittsburg.
LOBBIES DESERTED YESTERDAY.
The Grumbling Against the Blue and Brooks
Laws Increasing.
SOME PEOPLE WON'T STAY IN THE CITY

most desirable places in which to spend
| Sunday, for certain types of humanity.
| Certainly, the all-year-around tippler, the
| lover of the beer garden and the cranks on
| Sunday baseball haven't much use for a
blooming village like Pittsburg on the Sab
bath day. But it is the poor hotel clerk
who must weekly listen to the complaints of
the hapless stranger stranded in town
on Sunday, where, as he bitterly walls,
''There is nothing else to do but go to
| church. Can't even buy cigar or a drink
in the blasted place, and what am to do all
day? :? Loaf and bite my finger nails. Bah p'
and he slams his fist on the counter with a
look at the clerk as much as to say, ''Well,
I'll get even with you for this"
Hardships of the Hotel Clerk.
the hotel clerk on Sunday in Pittsburg
During the week he sleeps on bed of
roses, but the thorns break through and
pierce him about midnight every Saturday.
How do people spend Sunday at the ho-
tells in this city? Well, most clerks say
they don't enjoy it, they simply try to en-
dure it, and heave sigh of relief when the
barroom opens bright and early Monday
morning Yesterday the lobbies and corri-
doris were deserted. What had become of
the usual Sunday crowd? Oh, gone out to
kill time in the open air. Some to ride in
carriages or on the different street car lines,
some to walk in the parks or climb Mt.
Washington, and a goodly number to seek
secluded spot where "a friendly game"
could be conducted without interruption
from the police. Yes, few go to church in
the morning, but the universal testimony of
the clerks is that it is not piety they in
quire after, but where they can hear the
finest oratory and the sweetest music. Dur
ing the long winter months the jolly COM
mercial men band together in little groups
in the lobbies, and each man tells story
that makes the other fellows hold their
sides.
Difference Between the Hotels.
Some of the hotel corridors are crowded
all day on Sunday with an interesting class
of people, and each house has different
stripe Of men, but they are all capital peo-
pie.
At the Duquesne you meet a dignifed
class of well-dressed gentlemen who enjoy
a social chat with the rest of humanity, but
their conversation is quiet, and they like to
sit by the hour, smoking gently, and proba-
bly, slipping little wine, but never on Sum
day. As rule they are men of means and
up in the world. At the Monongahela
House the corridor on the Sabbath day is
generally deserted. The guests there seek
their cots early in the afternoon,
ing. Yesterday Charles E. Appleby, of
the Santa Fe road, had the big lobby all to
himself. He sat complacently studying the
reflection of his face in the bright sheen on
his tan-colored low shoes.
'Where did you get the fine polish?"
asked reporter.
'sFrom banana peel, he rejoined, mys-
teriously. 'Tt is an old Mexican trick, my
boy, but works like charm, as you see,
and will give your shoes patent leather |
appearance that will last for week. No |
more stove blacking for me. "
"But I don't understand" continued the |
reporter, How do you apply it? Dc you
rub the shoe with the inside or outside of
the peel?"
How to Turn a Neat Trick.
"With the inside, of course" he an
swered. 'fWhen 1 was at dinner to-day I |
took a banana from the table with me. I |
knew my shoes needed cleaning. I told |
the colored boy to eat the banana and rub
the shoes thoroughly with the peel, and
then go over them with dry brush. Be-
hold the result. A decayed banana is better
than a good one, and the pulp from
oranges will do as well. Rub the
stuff into the leather thoroughly. The oil
in the fruit makes the shoes soft and pre-
serves them, while the acid removes the
dirt and brings out the natural color 1t
doesn't make any difference whether the /
leather is black or tan. The effect is the
same. will never allow bit of polish to
ing car porter spoiled pair of S11 shoes
for me by shining them. He wet them first
with towel That fellow bought NE an
other pair, and he was wiser afterward.
Use banana peel and your shoes will last
twice as long"
With the above practical information
salted, the Anderson was next visited. Like
other hotels, the lobby of this house was de-
serted, but for the first time in many months.
The dear boys were out for walk or ride to
see the town.
Where the Good Dressers Loaf.
Here is where the young bloods congre-
gate on Sunday, and the best clothes and
latest styles are always to be seen in the
to dress, and bright, active set
of people they are. Many of them
the best commercial houses in the
East, and they are posted in every trick in
trade, and will discuss baseball or the Bible
with anybody that comes along. These boys
know how to make money, and they spend
it freely.
At the Seventh Avenue you find the
plainly dressed oil men, who are able to
write checks for thousands, aud class of
people who prefer economy to expenditure,
as long as everything is good. The guests
are less ostentatious in dress, but not
because they lack the means. The large
corridor of the Seventh Avenue is always
jammed on Sunday, and yesterday was no
exception. The Philadelphia Baseball
Club took up considerable space, and be-
moaned their hard luck against the Pitts
burg sluggers. With saddened eye and fear
and trembling they look forward to the con-
test to-day, and wish it was over.
As for the other hotels, similar scenes are
enacted on Sunday to those already de-
scribed.
Those who are posted never suffer for
cigars or liquor on the Sabbath. He is not
a wise man who fails to lay in supply of
these articles ON Saturday. 1t is the theat-
rical people and the strangers who arrive on
Sunday who make the loudest complaint
because they can't get something to allay
their thirst. Coming in from the trains with
parched throats, some of these people are
almost frantic when they find padlocks on
the barroom doors and on the screens of the
cigar stands.
Driven to Cincinnati on Sunday.
Hotel clerks say the complaints made
about the blue laws are on the increase.
Harry Ulam, of the Central Hotel, said that
a gentleman with his wife left the house on
and went to Cincinnati to spend
Sunday. He remarked that he liked Pitts
burg, and intended to stay awhile longer,
but the quietude of the Sabbath about