The record-union., 1898-11-13
ABSOLUTELY PURE
soysl BAKING rowoea CO., NEW voax.


and around decks Funny game, that,
funny game. They were all pretty nice
| chaps, too-most of 'em New York
| drummers setting out for their fall
campaigns in the Southwestern Terri
tory. We had three high ones. the
| whole bunch, right off, and the voyage
down to Galveston began to strike me
as heap of a good job. Along toward
afternoon / took it into my head to
climb the foremast rope ladder leading
UP to the main yard. / climbed it, and
started to swing joyously from the yard
| by my hands. There was a big swell
| on, and the Conal was listing over
| about 33 degrees to starboard and to
i port in the swell and when I looked
1 down to the deck I saw all hands look
/ ing up with white mugs. / decided to
| descend then, and when I got down |
| found the skipper with a pair of irons
/ in his hand
If you try that on again. said he
| to me, I'll clap these on to your wrists
| Don't take it to heart So says / to
him, and then I went and had few
more with the commercial travellers.
Well, that trip is kind O. hazy in my
mind until we got down to Key West
and tied up there for twelve hours. 7
remember that the beer was warm in
Key West, because the ice steamer was
i a week behind schedule time. We
| couldn't hit up warm beer so we did
the other thing. We tore Key West
apart some, but don't remember getting
aboard the Comal again. I found my
self aboard the next morning. though,
| and on that morning I started in TO
| play poker with a couple o. Maiden lane
diamond drummers. They took it off
me so fast that I felt myself catching
cold. Same the next day. Same, also.
the day after that On the night we
got off the Galveston bar, to wait there
until morning for a high tide to let
us into the harbor, I counted over my
bundle. / had So.
That amt much to begin life anew
$500 miles from New York I thought,
l-meaning my layout of togs-left any
how.
'I went ashore with the gang the
next morning, and the blank begins
here for another twenty-four hours.
guess I must ha' gone around some
with those commercial travellers. The
next morning, when I woke up, the
low monotone of the sea was in my
ears; also, there was wet sand in my
hair, and the sun was shining hard in
my face. I sat up. The Gulf of
| Mexico was right in front of me.
looked behind. There was a big hotel
there. 1t looked something like the
Oriental Hotel down at Manhattan
Beach. There was a sign on it, Beach
Hotel I dug into my pockets, looking
for the necessary dime. 1t wasn't there.
was lying on the sands of the Gulf Of
Mexico in front of the Beach Hotel,
broke, without even the price of a
ride into Galveston on one of the dnky
mule hauled street cars. That's why,
| assI said at the outset, looked at the
/ Beach hotel so dsapprovingly on this
/ occasion.
81 busted the sand off my clothes and
walked over to a fountain spigot in
| front Of the hotel and took a drink of
water. Yes, water 1t was hard, but
| it had to go. Then I hunted around
for the street car track Galveston was
! two miles away but had to make
/ Galveston There wasn't any car in
sight, so I took the track I didn't
have the price of a fare, anyhow The
|
most of the way in. I walked through
brackish gulf water full of tadpoles and
| softsheH crabs all the way in. I didn't
have anything particular in view when
I struck Galveston, but I wanted to
| get there, anyhow for the Beach Ho-
| tel, I figured, was full o. happy sea-
| shore vacationizing people, and as
| wasn't happy myself / didn't want to
1 +I,nr1o nx- 4, sx,+z
I mapped it out that I wasn't going to
| do any telegraphing back here for
| funds, even if I had to drive a truck
Talking about trucks as I was nearing
| Galveston I passed a whole lot o. cir
Gus tents. I prowled in among them
| and got to talking to a tentman. He
| said it was Forepaugh's show. I asked
| him where the show was going from
| Galveston and he said it was going to
close up and go straight back to Phila-
delphia. / asked him how it would be
for a job. He sent me to one of the
| head guys, and / offered to feed the ze-
bras and do other useful chores in re-
turn for ride with the show to Phil
adelphia. He turned me down and /
kept on into town.
| When / got into town a sign that I
4
miliar to me-. The Two Brothers Sa-
loom thread. kind o'remembered hav-
/ ing been in that place with some of the
drummers on the day before, when we
got off the Comalt So 1 went in, not
because / had the price of anything,
but just went in anyway. It was
about 10 o'clock insthe morning but no
customers We're in the place, which was
a pretty swell rum joint, with piano
in the sback part of the room. One of
| the Two Brothers was behind the bar
that is, / found out afterward that
he was one of the Two Brothers.
Hello, there, pal, says he to me as
I walked in, how re you cuttin' it this
morning.
Il told him there was nothing doing,
and sat down at table, for was tired
with the trudge in from the Beach Ho-
| tel. The man behind the bar sized me
up, and he walked over to where sat
Up against it, eh, chum?' said he to
me. Better have a couple to sort o.
jeck yourself together
| They tasted pretty good, I'm telling
you. went back to where the piano
stood and sat down on the stool. They's
made me practice four hours a day on
the piano when I was a kid, and 1 was
a pretty good player. Well, I felt
/ pretty woozy and down in the mouth
and so. naturally, I started in to play
| Schubert's .Serenade,' and that sort.
with the soft pedal down. was play
| ing away at this kind of music. think
| ing pretty hard of the jay was, when
the man behind the bar touched me on