Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-01-01

TOPICS or INTEREST TO The GENERAL
READER.
Phases Of City Life as Illustrated By the Gossip
Caught "On the Fly by Re-
pOrterS.

pofterS
''This has been hard week on the
gas Office employees" said man with
monkey wrench and lantern, last
night. 1--WE get frost calls Till we
can't rest. and the entire force has been
working from early,in the morning un-
til late at night, often not getting
chance for supper until elght or nine
o'clock. The biggest rush comes IN the
evenings. People never think OF ascer-
tanning whether their gas is all right or
not until about dusk, and then they
rush TO the telephone and tell US the
meter is frozen up, or has TOO mucn
water in it, or something or tnat sort'
'It's a tough season on us ioiks,
said a bewhiskered "lodger" at the
lookup. last night. "Some OF the ooys
who got into town on freights this week
came pretty near losing their ears ana
fingers from frost-bites, and II IL wasnt
that they keep pretty we'll soaked WIN
whisky some OF them would have lSiieh
of the cars. One of the worst rldeS the
profesh has to encounter Is that coming
over the mountains on the b. " w. l
tell you tourist with long head WIZ
take that trip before snow lies, il lie
has any notion Of going West. Is ain l
so bad coming through to Plttsburg on
the Pensy-that is, the cold isn't-out
the train men are feartully rough on
anything like tramp on that road, anu
it's to be fired off between STA
tions or at water tank with ice s-torm-
in every minute"
"Do you know, this has been the
worst holiday season for years in the
profession?" asked an actor OF repor-
ter, last night. 'In the Eastern cities
business is good enough, but In the
smaller cities and the overnight STANDS
business has been rotten for three or
four weeks. The season started OF with
a great squirt, all over the country, and
the ghost walked regularly every Sat-
urday night and managers were
comparatively happy. l say compare
lively because no manager is ever
really happy. Sometimes he's better
than at others; that's all. Well, as
was saying business commenced to get
worse as Christmas approached and
Christmas week was terror. Houses
which had been doing good business
all along suddenly dropped off fifty and
even seventy-five per cent, and it took
the life right out of everybody. Things
are not much better as yet, but | hope
they are going to improve or else I'm
going to try to accumulate enough to
get a scalp ticket back to New York. ="
"Doan' you ever be rouster, boss"
said colored man who totes freight on
a river steamer when the boats are run
ming. "Doan' you eyer be a rouster,
kase it's the d-nest life man ever
tried. When de boats is runnin' the
works powerful hard, and sometimes a
rouster only gifts cat-naps all along the
trip, and then de pays small, an in de
summer de riber's done dried up, an In
de winter it's friz up, and it's powerful
unsartin all de time. Doan you cher be
rouster, er you'll 'pent de day yer
was bOan."
"The consumption Of city gas IS in
creasing steadily" said Secretary
George He'll, of the Board OF Gas Trus-
tees. "New consumers are being booked
right along, and il looks IS If the books
for 1892 would show very satisfactory
increase over 1891. The electric light
seems to be simply an incentive TO burn
more gas"
ST notice a marked improvement in
the conduct of young men at the public
Dances" said a policeman. sit used to
be that three or four officers would have
their hands full attending to DRINKS,
stopping scraps, and that sort OF thing,
but this winter there has been no
trouble at any Of the balls. think the
fact that the police clear the halls at
three o'clock, and promptly fire any one
who gets full or disorderly has had the
effect OF tanning a good many of the
young 'bloods.' "
Say, Mister, goin' back in the ball?"
said a young man in front OF Turner
Hall, the other night. The reporter
said he wasn't, and was met with a re-
quest for a check. The newspaper
man had no check. and the young man
rejoined a group Of twenty or more who
were lined up along the curb, although
the thermometer was twenty degrees be-
low the freezing point. THAT'S the reg
ular racket" said policeman. Them
felers will stand there from 9 O'Clock
until the doorkeeper goes away at l, no
matter how cold it is, waiting for a
chance to get in the hall. Sometimes a
Teller chucks 'em q pass, and then
they're happy, and sometimes they at
tempt to play the reporter racket, and
have to be fred out. After l o'clock
they make grand rush, spend several
nickels for beer ana catch the last few
dances"
ABOUT PEOPLE.