The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-11-14
BEAT TIE CORN ETIST

| ~ OR the last year or So" said Young
man about town, "a little party Of
good fellows, including myself have been
occupying rooms on the second floor of an
old building near Jackson square. 1t is a
famshackle barracks, but the atmosphere is
delightfully."- bohemian, and we were all i'm.
mense.y pleased with our quarters until
about six weeks ago, when young German
bookkeeper rented the last vacant room in
the hail. lie was pompous pink-faced
chap, with white eyelashes and military
walk, and, while you could see at glance
that there was nothing congena about him,
we could no doubt have put up with his
presence all right if it hadn't been for the
fact that he played the cornet
THE first night the new lodger tuned up
every man on the floor thought it was sim
ply practical joke; but when it began all
over again next evening, we put up a tre-
mendous kick. The German was perfectly
calm. lie said he belonged to a music So
ciety and was obliged to practice his parts.
He had no other place for rehearsal, he said,
and, having rented his room for six months
without any special conditions, he proposed
to toot just as frequently and vociferously
as he pleased. If we didn't like it we could
go to blazes, or words to that effect; and
thereupon he shut the door and started in
on fiat.
Unjust confess the fellows deadly GOODNESS
sort of awed us, and when we held council
of war nobody had any practical suggestion
TO offer. Of course, one or two were in favor
Of slugging match then and there but
wiser counsels prevailed as they say in the
papers when the lynching delegation for.
gets the rope, and we decided vaguely to try
moral suasion.' 1t didn't work worth a
cent. Then we attempted counter irritation
in the shape of pounding on pans and filing
saws, but the cornetist kept right on
through all the uproar without missing L
note One of the boys undertook to get him
drunk, but was laid out stiff himself at two
a. m, and the German practiced for the
balance of the night-deadly sober. When
we appealed to the landlord he only shrugged
his shoulders and turned out the palms of
his hands.
The room next to the German" contin,
ued the young man, 'is occupied by my
friend Billee, who works in an architects of.
flee. One evening, about two weeks after
the trouble began, | was passing his door
when l was startled by the most blood
curding growl l ever heard in my life. It
was not very loud, but there was a concen-
trated, tigerish ferocty about it that made
my hair brstle on my head. 1t was such
sound as one would imagine might be made
by some savage beast half crazy with rage or
hunger. / stopped stock still, too surprised
to think, and again the growl sounded from
the closed room, longer and more terrifying
than before.
cat that the Germans door few open
and he came bouncing into the hall as pale
as CHOSE. My GottP he gasped; what il
dot, anyhow?
Before l could reply Billee himself APP
pehred. 'Good-evening, gentlemen he
said, pleasantly; 4 hope my pet isn't an
noying you
What the dickens have you got in there,
Billee? / asked
"A Hondurian pig-dog, he replied; a
very rare animal, given to me this morning
by a friend from Central America This one
has record as a man-killer, he went on,
and has already chewed up four or five ma
lives; but I'm going to tame him and teach
him to do tricks
Where do you keep the brutet In.
quired, beginning to smell rat.
I have him tied up in my closet he
said.
cat that the cornetist turned green. The
closet is double affair, opening into both
rooms, with only flimsy partition between.
In der coset!' the musician roared.
You must take him audit right away! Dot
pig-dog might bite the boards through
"'Well, sir, said Billee, calmly, 4 rented
my room without any special conditions a.
to pigdogs, and propose to keep him in
the closet as long as l jolly well please.
Good evening"
Needless to say, Billee's pig-dog became
the sensation Of the hour, and while we all
understood that it was put up job of some
kind, nobody could imagine how it was
done. We could hear the growls and Bill
lees voice speaking to the creature at the
same time, SO it was evidently not vocal
imitation, and he replied to all questions
with a mysterious smile. Wait and See,'
he said, and meanwhile he was careful to
lock the door every time he went out II
casually, If that pg-dog were TO get loose
in the hall
"On the second night the cornetist tuned
up rather timidly, and instantly the pig
dog began to growl. For a few moments
the duel continued. Then Billee came into
the hall and knocked on the Germans door.
Excuse me- he said, very politely, but I
wish to inform you that music infuriatss
this animal of mine, and it il impossible for
nae to control him while you are playing. Il
Ia nothing to me- he added, and you may do
as you please; but felt it my duty to put
you on Notice
az shall complain to the police said the
cornetist, furiously.
CAN right said Billee, and presently the
footing was resumed, but it lacked it's usual
vigor. At each note the snarls Of the pig
dog were fearful to listen to, and in about
an hour the concert came TO an abrupt
close.
"Well, the new ledger stood it exactly
enc week, and, pom my word, he had my
sympathy. Every evening he barricaded his
closet door with all the furniture in his
room, and l have my doubts whether he
slept a wink know he invested in a shot
gun and about bushsl Of ammunition, and
he exhausted everything in the way of pro-
test, both to the landlord and the author
tiles. At last he surrendered abruptly,
moved out bag and baggage early enc after
noon, and we arrived in the evening to find
him gone.
''That night we celebrated the cspitua-
ton by grand smoker in Billee's room, and
an n snecial feature At the an tart in mAnt ha