St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-27

81 noticed queer thing at the union
depot the other day as l was going 10
board a train," said E j. Williams, of
Chicago, at the Ryan yesterday. IL was
in a hurry 10 get outside to train,
which was Just pulling into the depot.
There was crowd of passengers walt
ing at the gate on which the name OF
the road over which the train was run
ming was written, and it was the only
train in sight. The train pulled In and
stopped. The gateman was at the door,
and everybody was Tuning and frettlng
to get it, as it was thought that the tram
would be crowded. and everybody
wanted the chance of getting good
seat.
"A lonely passenger. or perhaps one of
the men i'm the employ OF tie railroad
company, was noticed coming up the
platform from another train which had
pulled IN some time previously. Before
he had come within 100 feet of the depot
the gateman approached door on the
other side of the building, waited until
the passenger, or whoever he was, had
entered, and then closed the door again.
A number of the passengers who had
been waiting at the other gate thought
from the fact that he had opened the
other gate that it was the one through
which they would be compelled to
pass before boarding the train they
were waiting for. They ran to the open
gate, but the gateman surllly SAFE tnat
it was not the proper gate. Then ne
slowly came back to the first gate where
the crowd was waiting and opened 1t.
He kept about twenty people waiting
while he opened the other gate for one
man, and seemed to enjoy it. l have
noticed this same thing at ferries and
depots for years. The gatemen seem to
enjoy making the people walt for
time lust for the fun of the thing"
"This weather has knocked business
into a cooked hat" said B. ?. Merrill,of
st. Louis, Yesterday, as he sat in the ro-
tunda of the Ryan, with his feet COM
fortably resting on an extra chair. "Ihe
merchants are all broke up, and they
are as ugly as sin when asked TO Duy
goods. 1t seems that they are filled to
the chin with bad feeling because or the
late season, and, suppose, from the
fact that they have wet their 1eet
coming down town, or something OF
the kind. I have good customer who
lives on the hill and who has store OH
Third street. l have always been on
the best of terms with him, and. when l
recently sold him large bill OF goods,
he sent letter to the house speaking
very highly of the class of goods sent,
and said that they were selling we'll. l
went into his store this morning, and
shook hands with him in my customary
style, noticed at once that something
was the matter, and l tried to be as
pleasant with him as | could for
the purpose of getting GA the
right side OF him again and
to find aut what was the matter. SO that
/ could rcctify any mistake which might
have occurred. He was as ugly as sin,
and answered all my remarks with
grunts and surly responses. told MIN
q couple of good stories, new ones, and
he said that they were chestnuts. He
was mean and ruffleG, and l felt all
mixed up. Finally | asked him what
was the matter, very bluntly, and he
growled out something about the goods
which had been sent him not being the
same kind that he had ordered. lie
acted in this way for some time, and
then he said:
..sL ook here, you had better go away.
IfeeI ugly and mean. / got my feet wet
when came down town, caught cold,
and some one has stolen my umbrella:
Don't try to talk business with me, as
won't treat you decently.'
81 am going to take the next train Tor
the South and wait for better weather,
as I am afraid l will lose all my custom
ers if try TO bother them now. This is
a case where discretion is the better
part of valor. | go South tonight"
"Look at that man sitting at the table
there" said a commercial traveller to
the GLOBE man yesterday afternoon.
..He has been sitting there all day writ
ing letters. l am going to find out what
he is doing, for l ain interested in
man who has that amount of cor
to look after. Tie must be
doing a rushing business, but don't
see how he can stand this weather."
The man referred to sat at one OF the
writing tables at the Merchants hotel.
On the table in front of INN was pile
of letters which had eVeldently been just
written, and he was making the ink fly
on another one. 1t looked as thou gh there
were 100 letters in the pile. The curious
drummer approached him in the style
common to commercial travellers and adj
dressed him.
business good?"
The man addressed looked up, smiled
and replied that it was very dull.
Looks as though you were chock full
of business" said the curious drummer,
pointing to the letters.
The writer laughed in a pleased sort
of way. and then said:
''Pll tell you how that is. My wife has
gone away on visit, and l promised to
write her every day. Now, you know
how il Is. | will not lave the time