Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-02-11
INCIDENTS OF HOTEL LIFE.
High Priced Slap, Fit of DeIirium Ire
mons, and an Earthquake

High Priced Slap, Fit of Detirium Ire
mons, and an Earthquake
Some line ago Il French waiter was
attending upon very registering party
of diners in u private room at Lon
don restaurant, when an alteration
arose and the waiter attempting TO re-
store order received couple of slaps
in the face He made no remark at
the time, but when he brought in the
bill there was on it this item: 'Deux
souffiets. Co AS the aggressOr
scanned this entry the waiter set his
lips and said in a significant tone: If
you find those slaps too dear. sir, |
will return Lhem!'
| once spent a remarkable night in a
hotel at Belgium. owing to the antics
of man with delirium tremens, says
a writer 10 the London Graphic. The
Serviaus have an abominable hquor
distilled from fermented cabbage. The
mere smell is enough TO turn an Eng
lish stomach but the natives swili the
stuff until sometimes it adde's their
heads. The killer of my nights rest
was a member of the Servan skupts-
china or parliament, who had come to
Belgrade on some place-hunting eXpe-
dition and had found the excitement
combined with the cabbage liquor, too
much for him. Awakiug in the mid
die Of the night with a fit Of the hor-
rors he began flinging boots, brushes
crockery and money at the door which
separated our two rooms. | went out
into the passage anti found a throng Of
gentlemen in their night-shirts. Most
of them were for allowing the fit to
spend itself until somebody suggested
that the M. 2. might set fire TO the
house. Then they altered their minds,
vanished to put on their neither gar
ments, and reaDpeared ready for ac-
ton. A series of THUMBS on the de-
1irious ones door caused him to open
it, when Il spring was made upon him
BY half dozen men together. Such
yells as tho NJ p. uttered | never
heard from any other human being,
and the bumps which he got as he was
carried, kicking and foaming. down
the staircase TO the courtyard, were
enough to make one shudder. The
mans wooden head seemed TO come
into collision with every knob and
angle on the way. At last his captors
got him into the stone trough OF a
fountain and turned wide-moulhed
powerful watercock on him, till he
was nearly drowned. When he could
yell no longer, but only gasp, they
tore his only garment dripping from
his back, culfed him and smacked him
numerically with their huge brown
palms, bound him hand and foot with
wisps of hay. and finally flung him
quite extinct into the loose box of
cow-shed. | thought the man must
have been killed. Great was my re-
lief therefore, when on the very next
evening | beheld him sitting in the
cafe of the hotel with one of the men
who had doctored him in the approved
national fashion. He looked little
another go" of his fayorte cabbage
stuff
As to the earthquake, I was staying
on the Riviera when the famous con-
yulsion of 1888 occurred. was awak-
ened by shock which dashed two
pictures off the wall of my room and
upset tine Washstand. While | was
striking a match another shock strewed
me and some chairs among some frag-
ments of broken crockery. | had
presence of mind enough 10 remember
that during an earthquake YOU are no
safer in the streets than YOU are in a
covered building, so | dressed without
mad prccipitaucr, and after desper-
ate struggle to oaen my door-which
had got jammed walked downstairs.
The sight was one never to be forgot
ten. Men, women and children in
deshablle were budlIed i'll the trout
hall, crying, shrieking and praying.
Some had bottled out of doors with
hardly any clothes on, and had made
for the sea- where they clamored to be
rowed out in open boats about the
worst thing they could do. Among
the panic-stricken folk was an old gen
tlemau in pyjamas, who had come
down the stairs three steps at time
But on reaching the hall he exclaimed
that he had forgotten something and
must go back His friends shouted to
him that the upper stories were dam
gerouS; but he turned a deaf ear,
bounded upstairs, and presently re-
turned painting. The thing which he
had forgotten was his set of false teethi