The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1898-12-16

at the table, though / wanted another
cup OF coffee.
what is it?" / asked.
'It was a man." was her reply.
That being bit unsatisfactory con-
tinued: What did he want?"
Rooms"
Didn't he like ours?''
He Gid until told him they were
heated with natural gas, and then he
started for the door. He said his w,fe's
cousin was asphyxiated by natural gas
once and that his wife wouldn't live in
house where it was used"
did he say anything else?"
"Yes; he asked if this was boarding
house? ] wouldn't have had him any-
way, he seemed so snappy and never
said one thing about the pretty shades
we put up in there"
We'll, there will be Others" said
encouragingly. and poured a second
cup of coffee for myself.
And tnore were. They began COM
ing steadily at nine o'clock and kent il
up all day. Susan didn't want to 90 to
church for fear that she would miss
some one. and she knew that | could
not answer the bell if it should ring
There was, first, woman with a
whitfield nose and crescent earrings.
She wanted the unfurnished rooms to
open palmistry parlor, and Susan
said she was not in the office-renting
business. The woman with the nose
and the crescents left the house IN
huff, remarking as she passed Susan
in the hall, that she wouldn't live un-
der the same roof with her.
Then there was the young man and
his sister. They liked the connecting
rooms upstairs. He worked on MORN
ing paper and she was a stenographer.
The east exposure he thought would
not permit of his sleeping late in the
morning, and it would be cold in win
ter for his sister during the day and
early evening. No, the rooms upstairs
wouldn't do for them. and as for those
on the ground floor they had no furni-
| ture.
About noon there came a man with
little boy.
He was a widower, but he looked as
though it were not owing to any fault
of his own. While he talked with Susan
his son dug nice little hicks in the win
dow sill with new jack-knife. He
| liked the rooms very much, but his wife
had left on his hands a lot of dishes and
there appeared to be no place to hang
them or arrange them at all. Susan
told him of our large woodshed. bu, he
said that he could never think of 1.-The
light of his life's" things being put out
in the woodshed, SO he didn't take the
rooms.
Then there were two ancient school
| teachers. They liked the rooms up
stairs, but could not see how their
| piano could be moved there. Susan
couldn't either, so they went away.
About four in the afternoon a young
man and his wife came up the front
steps and rang the bell.
They wanted two unfurnished rooms
and wanted them right away. They
wanted running water, stationary
wash-stand. a mantel, and gas crate.
| Those characteristics were of our rooms
exactly. From behind the curtains !
saw Susan's color grow flush with in
terest as she thought: well, they're
gone this time. sure"
She talked with this couple long
time. She came down a dollar a
month when they faltered, and finally
when they went out the front door and
she had slammed it after them, she
came into the parlor and sank into
chair near the table.
"What was the matter with them?"I
asked.
"They didn't like the ceiling chandc-
liers. They wanted wall brackets.
They SAID il it were not for those
chandeliers they would take the rooms
at our own price"
saw the careworn look in Susan's
eyes and began to feel real pity for her.
Poor little girl, i thought, it's shame
| for her to run up and down those stairs
| SO much.
And il was in the midst of my pity
unexpressed that the bell rang again.
This time it was a man and his wife
desiring unfurnished apartments.
Susan trudged down the hall again.
She opened the doors, turned on the gas
in the CRATE. raised the shades and
lighted the jets. The couple were de-
lighted from the outset. They talked
of everything. They wanted to know
if Susan would put down mating IN
the little bed chamber. OF course Susan
would. Anything to choke Oft the re-
suits of that advertisement of three
lines.
Well, they would go out and figure 1t
all up and would they be given the re-
fusal of the rooms until the next noon!
And this time when Susan came into
the parlor her face beamed.
They're coming tomorrow noon,"
she said, "and then there only remains
tie two upstairs. Oh, Reuben, do
hope"
She did not finish. The bell had tink-
led again.
"An upstairs room." heard her say.