Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-11-28
FLOATING STORIES.
Heard by the Reporter in His Daily
RambIes.
Another Honeymoon Trick-The Western Col
lection Idea Several Others.

tHdl even the experienced clerk was COM
pletely deceived.
Ihe boarders knew, of course that they
could not have been married long-they
were too youthful-but estimates on the
length of time that they had been united
varied from one to three years.
lie had occasional absences and when
he returned he seemed glad to see his
| wife and she had welcoming smile for
him, but neither looked as If they were
sternly, Jelly repressng an almost over
wheming desire to embrace He was en-
tirely self-possessed when he registered;
he signed land wife" without a second. 5
hesitation. She wore gowns and gloves
that evidently had been worn at least
once or twice before. Moreover, they
were both of a rather sociahle disposition
and evinced no particular desire to avoid
making acquaintance. All this the
clerks observed within the twenty hours
that elapsed before the trunk came, and
| they based thereupon the theories which
they formed.
| The trunk was a surprise. The express
man who brought it was so weak with
| laughter that he could hardly put it
| down, though it was neither large nor
| heavy.
| A young man who was passing sudden
| ~ noticed it, and then caught his com
panlon by the arm. Get on to that, will
your. he exclaimed, and leaning down TO
| examine it closer, smote his thigh and
| whooped.
| serious looking business man saw the
little oblong box with iron corners and
| bands, and the smile that instantly over
! spread his countenance lasted for four
| minutes.
The porter got it out of the way placing
it in a sample room.
He had to tell the clerk about it, new
ertheless, and the clerk went in to have
a look at it.
That's worse than filling an umbrella
with rice" the clerk said, as he bent over
the register.
! near.
| Never you mind said the clerk
| When the young man to whom the
trunk was consigned came in the porter,
who was on the watch, waylaid him and
took him into the sample room and
moved a sample case to one side and
| turned on an electric hight.
On the top of the trunk was painted a
| blood-red heart crossed with two spoons,
and underneath the legend:
| This Trunk is Donated by the Friends OF
MIR. AND MRS. -
In Honor of Their Recent Marriage.
Then came this couplet:.
This sly pair, in thoughtless bliss,
Little thought twould come to this
Beneath the lock: 'sT
i Just Wed.
Mollie and Louie. Who Are They?
Married at Yesterday
On one side:
| She's a bride and he's a groom
Show them to the bridal ROOM
On the other:
Blessings on this happy twain,
| And send them safely home again
The back was ornamented with pink
| Cupids and rosebuds.
Five minutes afterward the porter put
Il shawl over the trunk and took it up
stairs. When he came down into the Of
flee he took "a dollar out of his pocket
and held it up to the admiring view OF
the clerk, who had box of perfectos
| slowed away under the counter.
The reason j can't be interviewed -
said the night clerk, lis plainly this:
People don't read a newspaper to have
their blood chilled and their hair made
10 rise. i pose, when / Go pose. as the
protector of the public; why then should
| | not protect the public from the har-
rowing experiences that haunt me, hotel
experiences of past years that | try TO
, bury?
Il shall not tell you of the night a
crazy man tied the poor little frightened
bellboy TO the bedpost and danced about
| him with a knife and a revolver declar-
ing every minute in his fury and with
terrible oaths that he would dismember
him then and there: nor of how the crazy
man called another bellboy and of the
scene when / broke in the door Oh no;
there was no murder done. 1t was sew
eral years ago, before l came over to this
house.
81 might relate one of my milder SEN
sations that happened the other night.
A wealthy and prominent business man,
1 and asked for room. / saw he had been
drinking. | charged his account with the
hackman's bill and sent him upstairs
about an hour later the boy reported
strange noises coming from his room.
l.
was his room. L threw up the drop on
the enunciator, but it fell again. And
then again. He was stin pressing the
button When | reached his room he
sprang toward me dramatically, with a
hunted look in his eyes.
You must give me another room.' he
whispered. He was so frightened he had
, lost his voice.
What does this mean said I, trying
to pacify him. This room is all right
Il must get out of here, he insisted.
He glanced up at the transom A look OF
4 fear came into his eyes.
"'see?' he cried huskily, seven men
and a dog.
Seven men and a rabbit said I in
disgust. You're out of your head"
i NO, no. a dog; there, he's gone.
Whenever l go towards them they disap-
pear; but they come back again.
Il gave him another room and had no
more trouble That shows what some
men will see when they have snakes
! a Clergyman who was interested in sv-