Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-10-16
HE WOULDN'T SHARE.
WHY A DRUMMER REFUSED TO pou-
BILE WITH ANOTHER GUEST.

BILE WITH ANOTHER GUEST.
There Was Timc When uc Did That Sort
Of Thing Without Murmpr. but he
swore on After His Thrilling Experience
with the Editor In culpeper.
twas drummer. and he had just ar
rived at the best hotel in New Jersey
town.
"fhis is tho first time I've ever been in
the town, " he said in the fresh and breezy
manner of the CHEEKY traveller that makes
you feel as If somebody had left the door
open, "and / want to have good impress
sion made on me, so / IL como back again.
Nothing like first impressions, you know,
my boy, to make town stay up in the
front end of the procession, and the hotel
is the place where the impression business
starts. Good hotel, good impression; good
impression, good for another visit. +"
The clerk looked really hurt.
"I'm awfully sorry he said, ''but 1
can't do as well for you tonight as would
like to, You see, we are crowded with a
convention in town of district teachers
association, and you'll have to go in a
room with man who is the only one in
the house who hasn't been doubled yet. /"
well, won't have it, " said the drum
mcr peremptorily.
What would you say to a mattress on
the floora''
sin the hall9''
"Oh, no. Better than that In the room
with that party,
THAT'S as bad as doubling"
What do you say to taking my bed and
1nNf
81 don't know you. f"
This made the clerk hot.
Nor don't know you, sir, /" he said,
with indignant protest
Here's my card, p laughed the drum
mer good humoredly THAT'S all right, :"
he went on. at isn't you or it isn't any
one else except myself. I've got preju-
dice about getting into anybody's power.
used to didn't have, and I'd just as soon
sleep in stall with horse as not If it
was going to accommodate the landlord
and give him chance to pick up dollar
or two on the side. But did it once too
often, and now don't want anything be-
tween me and the four walls Of my room.
You see, it was this way"
The clerk submitted helplessly.
About six years ago" continued the
~ heAo hOhlA llCIE III
where the editors eat coons and cordwood
for Thanksgiving dinner, and one night
stopped at hotel in Culpeper, l believe
the name of the town was Something
was on in town, and the place was full,
the only bed that had room enough in it
for me being occupied by an editor. I
never turned word, though, but went off
to bed like good child, and in about IS
minutes 1 was sounder asleep than dea-
con on warm Sunday.
"What happened in the interim do not
know, being the kind of sleeper that at
tends strictly to business. But along in
the night some time was awakened by a
light in the room, and before knowing
just what it was l was entirely awakened
by voice which kept repeating: owe
the devil So / owe the devil So. That
sounded Ikea crazy man in the room, and
was wide awake pretty soon, and was
correspondingly wary, for 1 did not know
what was going to happen next. AS far as
1 could learn by eyesight my editorial
roommate was sitting by table with q
lamp burning ON it, and he was bent low
over piece of paper on which he was
writing. At the same time he kept sway
ing back and forth and grooming to him
self: 1 owe the devil 50. lowe the devil 50.
Presently, when had stood it as long
rs 1 could l coughed slightly and essayed
speech with my friend.
Say, said J. If you don't owe the
devil more than that, you ought to think
you are in great luck. I'm not nearly as
bad as I might be, but I'll be hanged if l
don't consider my Indebtedness to the old
serpent good deal more than So. Then
thought I'd laugh the man out of his
foouShncss, but / hadn't moro than given
one half sized smile till he grabbed loose
revolver there was on the table and turned
it full ON me.
'AhaP he shouted until / could feel
the goosefesh raising all over me so I
could scratch match on myself; AHA,
it's you, is it? 1t is delinquent subscribers
like you that never pay their bills that
make 1t SO hard on us poor, long suffering
editors. It's you that never see the x
mark on the wrapper and give no heed to
our appeals. It's you that take the paper
out of the postotfice all tho time and when
we ask for pay for it the postmaster sends
it back to us marked "Refused" OF
Moved away" It's you that never sees
our slogan at the top of the editorial col
umn, "S2 per year in advance" It's you
that plunge us into the vortex of ruin and
prevent Us from filling long felt want.
Aha, now is the time to diel
"That's the way he carried on, con-
tinued the drummer, almost losing his
breath in his excited recollection, land
then began slipping over to me as if he
was gloating ever the fun he would have
when he had filled me full of holes and
begun blowing tunes through me. If I
wasn't scared to death, it was because I
was born immortal, and 1 didn't do
thing but lie still there in an utter paralysis
and him coming nearer every minute.
But, no. he Kissed when he got up
till could have stuck my head in the
mouth of that pistol and had room for a
four inch washer; but no, you shall dis
gorge your i'll gotten gains before you de-
part this life nourned by large circle of
loving friends. Give me 50 for your last
years subscription Two dollars, do you
hear? l owe 50 to the devil 1 can stand
the printers off another six months for
they are my sisters-in.law. But the devil.
Aha, he is different Two dollars or your
life!'
'Well, to make q long story longer, I
just had to get up and give the crazy Ike
81 of my hard earned money, not to men
ton the wear and tear on my nervous sys-
TEN and the uncertainty of my future
state, and when it was all over and fell
back on my pillow and began saying my
last few words on earth, I'm DANCED if the
chap didn't give kind of nervous start
and gasp and wake up standing right
there before ewith the gun in his hands.
Where am 1 att he mumbled as he
tumbled over on the bed, and if ever did
want to kill man in self defense it was
right then and there. The relapse was
worse than if he had begun to shoot, and
tainted, and he had to go for the doctor
to get me restored to myself
'NOw," concluded the drummer "who
in thunder do know will be having
nightmare on my hands? I don't, and you
bet l sleep all to my little lonesome OF sit
up all night in the barroom and commune
with the spirits that haunt the place.
See?'
The clerk slept on the billiard table,
New York Sun.