The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-22
HOustOn.s Hieh-Bred LandIadIe..

HOustOn.s HfEh-Bred LnndIadfes
The snake reporter was vending his
way homeward last night, when he was
approached by a very gaunt, hungry-Iook-
ing man with wild eyes and an emaciated
face, says the Houston Post
can you tell me, sir" he inquired
where can find in Houston a family
or lOW-bOrn scrubsT'
4 don't exactly understand" said the
Let me tell you how it IS" said the
emaciated man. Il came to Houston a
month ago, and hunted up a boarding
mousse as 1 cannot afford 10 live at a
MOTEL L found a nice aristOcratic look
ing place that suited me and went in
side The landlady came in the parlor,
and she was a very stately lady with a
Roman nose. I asked tl1e price If hoard
and she said: Eighty dollars per month.
fell against the door jamb with a duh
thud, and she said:
You seem surprised sab. You will
please remember that l am the widow
OF GOVernah Riddle of Virginiah. Nv
family is very highly connected; give you
board as a fayah; / never consider money
as an equivalent to advantage of my so
clety: VIII you have a room with door
TN call again 1 said, and got out
Of the house somehow.
Il went to some more boarding houses.
me next lady said she was descended
from Aaron Burr on one side and Capt
Kidd on the other. She was using the
Capt. Kidd side in her business. She
wanted to charge me go cents an hour
Tor board and lodging. i Travelled around
all over Houston and found nine widows
OF supreme court judges, twelve reflects
OF governors and generals, and twenty
Two ruins left by happy departed colo
nels, professors and majors, who put
fancy figures on the benefit of their So
ciety and carried Victuals simply as a side
line. l finally grew desperately hungry
and engaged a weeks board at a nice,
stylish mansion in the Third ward. The
lady. who kept il was tall and imposing.
She kept one hand lying across her waist
and the other held a prayer book and
a pair of ice hooks. She said she was
an aunt of DaVy Crockett and was still
in mourning for him. Her family was one
of the first in Texas. 1t was then sup
per time and 1 went in to supper. Sup
per was from $50 to z, and consisted
of bakers bread, prayer and cold slaw.
1 was so fatigued that l begged TO be
shown to my room Immediately after the
meal.
I took the candle went into the room
she showed me, and locked the door quick
". The room was furnished in imitation
of the Alamo The walls and the floor
were bare, and the bed was something
like a monument, only harder. About
midnight felt something as if had fallen
into a prickly pear bush, and jumped up
and lit the candle. / looked in the bed,
and then put ON my clothes and exclaimed /:
-" 'Thermopylae had her messenger of
defeat, burt the Alamo had a thousand
Il slipped out the door and left the
house.
Now. my dear sir, I am not wealthy,
and i cannot afford to pay for high lineage
and mouldy ancestors with my board.
Corned beef goes further with me than a
cOronet, and when / am cold a coat of
arms does not warm me. / am desperate
and hungry, and hate everybody who can
trace their ancestors further than the late
confederate reunion. ] want to find a
boarding house whose prOprietress was
left while an infant in a basket at a
livery stable whose father was an unnat-
uralized DagO from the Fifth ward, and
whose grandfather was never placed upon
the map. l want to strike a Iow-down,
scrubby, piebald, sans-culotte outfit, that
never heard of finger bowls or grace be-
fore bread and Irish stew at regular mar
ket quotations. Is there any such place
in Houston?"
The snake reporter shook his head sadly.
81 never heard of any," he said. 1.-The
boarding houses here are run by ladies
who do not take boarders to make a liv-
ing; they are all trying to get better rat
ing in Bradstreets than Hetty Green's"
Then" said the emaciated man, des-
perately, 81 win shake you for a long
toddy."