Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-04-09

CoNKLING AND THE BELLBoY.
and gave an order, telling the cook that
itwas for Senator Conkling, a great deal
of care and attention was paid to the
order. Of course you know that in no
tel kitchens generally the cook and the
assistant cooks are very busy and some
times attend to their work in a careless
manner, treating everybody alike as
nearly as possible; but when a man of
high standing like Senator Conkling is
a guest of a hotel they take great care
in preparing things in manner salts
factory to him.
Senator Conkling was plain sort of
an eater, and he was not very hard to
wait upon. In the morning, sometimes
before he was dressed, he would call
bellboy and send written order down
to me. He was very fond of shredded
Goldfish on toast with poached egg on
separate plate. He would take the
shredded Goldfish and toast, place them
upon his large plate, and cut them into
very fine pieces. Then placing the egg
on top of the hash which he had made,
he would break the egg and mix it all
together. l remember one morning,
when he seemed to be particularly
pleased with his breakfast, he said to
me: Jim, there is nothing better for
the nerves than Goldfish; and an egg is
very strengthening to n man who
works as l do. l learned to make this
breakfast for myself when l was lit
tie boy. My mother used to fix it for
me, and have always enjoyed it.
Senator Conkling usually had cup
of coffee with his breakfast, but he
very seldom drank more than half
cup at time. He did not use any
cream or milk with his coffee, but sim
ply put in very small lump of sugar.
He was very fond of butter, and would
not only spread the butter thick upon
his bread which he was eating, but
would very frequently call for an extra
piece, which he would mix in with his
Goldfish, toasted bread and poached egg.
Senator Conkling never would tell
any story about whether he was in the
hotel or not. l used to take cards to
him, and if he was willing to see any
one he would answer very promptly,
put IL AC was uOO lntIc "Oulu DC hO
response at all. He left an order with
me to shove cards under his door and
never to knock. If the cards were from
persons whom he felt obliged to see,
he would open the door and say: Tell
the gentleman to come up here If
he did not want to see anybody, ne
would simply pay no attention to the
cards, and l would go back to the hotel
Office and say that the senator was ev-
identity not in, as he did not respond to
my knock; but that | had left the card
under his door so that he would get it
when he came in. In this way a great
many people were kept away from the
senator, and he WIS not obliged to tell
any stories or prevaricate.
Senator Conhling had a standing
order that none of the bellhoys were
to knock at his door at any time. He
would not respond to any knocks and
did not want to be annoyed One morn
ing there was new bellboy who took
card up, and before he went there
l told him simply to shove the card
under the door and not to knock and
annoy the senator. He merely laughed
at me and said that he would present
the card in his own way. He did so
md knocked several times until the
senator opened the door and asked him
to come in and sit down. He gave
the boy chair and required him to
wait there fully 20 minutes until the
senator had dressed himself and was
ready to come downstairs. He tlen
took the bellboy by the ear, led him
down to the hotel Office and told the
chief clerk that he did not want to be
annoyed by that bellboy any more. He
also told what he would do with him
If he ever came 10 his room and knocked
on the door again. He was very large
and very strong man, and if the
bellboy had offered any resistance SEN
ator Conkling would have probably
thrown him down the stairs, because
he was in very angry mood that morn
ing and was particularly annoyed be-
cause the bellboy had kept rapping on
his door until he was eNasperated.
Senator Conkling never liked TO be
disturbed by any noises about the no.
tel. The German minister had house
adjoining the hotel, and kept very
large rooster which annoyed the sem
ator by growing early in the morning.
Senator Conkling never said cnything
about 1t TO anybody until upon one
occasion. just after be hGd taken his