The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-08-24
AS BAD AS A FIRE.
iJaveier in Texas Was Compelled
TO Move Three Times in
One Night.

Dhd you ever sleep in three differ
ent towns and in three different hotels
in one hight, paying three times for
rather Incomplete nights rest?'
The old travelling man threw out the
question in an unconcerned way after
having listened in silence for an hour
while the other members of the Corner
clublreeled off yard after yard of stories
about the road, its pleasures, its dam
gers and its humors. The pause that
followed was only broken by some vio-
lent but futile efforts by the sufferer
to launch a sentence.
We'll, | have done it," the old travel
ing man continued. And | may add
that although | have been kept on the
road for 20 years | have never met a man
who was able to boast of the same eX-
perience. 1t came about in this way:
L was down in Texas in 1881 and 1882,
and New Years day found me in a small
town called Longview, with my nose
turned in the direction of the neighbor-
ing town of Tyler. To get to one of
these towns from the other you must
travel on two different railroads and
cover NDout 40 miles of ground, al
'efiesS@gn the towns are hardly more than
10 miles apart as the crow flies. Long
view is on the International & Great
Northern, while Tyler is on the Mineola
branch of the Texas Pacific. The two
railroads cross each other at a juno
ton called Troop, about "a miles from
Longyiew and Is miles from Tyler.
Il was having my dinner in the hotel
at Longview about six o'clock on the
evening of New Years day, when first
class norther came swooping down
upon us. If you have never met genu-
inc Texas norther pray that you may
be spared from having the experience.
The wind will spring up without mo-
ment's warning, and | have seen it low
e. the temperature so degrees in 60 min
utes. Everyone had been going around
in his shirt sleeves. After the norther
began an ulster was needed. There
was no fire in the house and no com
fort. My train did not leave until 11:1O
p. m. The only thing l could think of
was to take a room and go to bed, and so
l did. | awoke at 1890, jumped into my
clothes and caught my train.
MY watch showed few minutes
after midnight when l arrived at
Troop and heard that the west bound
train on the Texas Pacific was any way
from two to three hours late. a band
of immigrants was waiting for the same
train and they filled the waiting-room.
Some were cooking a meal on the red
hot stove in the middle of the room.
Others were sleeping on the benches
and on the floor. There was not a va
cant seat to be had and the atmosphere
was Undesirable. The air outside was
pure enough, but the thermometer reg
istered ten degrees above zero, which is
not very comfortable temperature
for man without an overcoat or
glo~Ss There was only one way to keep
warm-to cross the tracks to the little
hotel opposite the station and. crawl
into a warm bed for a couple of hours,
and this l did.
Il slept till 4:15 and caught the be-
lated train at 4:43 There was only one
passenger, who left the train when we
reached Tyler at SIS, and that was ].
1t was pitch dark then, cold as Alaska
and so quiet that your steps sounded
like hammer beats along the streets.
No one was stirring in the hotel at that
time and it took me a quarter of an hour
to wake up an old negro who was sleep
ing on the floor in the office. The first
thing l did when l got inside the house
was to dig out the keys to the bar and
to gulp down two big drinks of whisky
And then | asked for fire.
No coal, massa,' the old niger an
swered, grinning like a split water
melon; no wood no nuffing. Massa had
better go to bed
And so | did, to be sure, for the third
time that night 1t was 5:45 o'clock
in the morning then and | slept like a
dead man till $3.50. Have YOU ever
heard the like of it? And yet my lodg-
ing for that night cost lie only 81 so. or
so cents at each hotel. The fun of it,
when it was all over, was worth $1.50,
| think. IN. Y. Sun.