The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-09-21
THE euEsTLEss HOTEL.


II was at the Ponce de Leon directly
after 1t opened, when II had only 10
! guests and 300 servants" said a Chicago
drummer, "but that wasn't anything TO
an experience had once at u summer
resort up In the northwest. had wan
dered into the region looking for fellow
who had beaten our firm out of a big
account, and somebody told me about
this hotel. A branch road connected it
with the main line, 80 miles away, but
early in the season the landlord and the
railroad president had had a row, and
they stopped the train service. That
killed business as dead as Cesar, for
the place was buried in the heart of the
wilderness. But, strange to say, the
landlord had kept it open, and as was
near by and needed a rest hired a wagon
and went over. 1t was a big, handsome
structure Of the regulation summer re-
sort pattern, all gables and porticoes and
stained shingles, and as walked up the
fine, shady driveway l could see that
everything was in apple pie order. When
l entered the Office boy in buttons seized
my grip. and the clerk got up from be-
hind the counter, rubbing his eyes and
looking a bit dazed. The register was
perfectly blanF, and while there was n
full office force on duty there was not
guest in sight. Business is a little light,
Ell? l asked. after writing my name.
The clerk grinned. You're the first soul
I've seen in six weeks he replied.
II thought at first he was joking" con-
tinued the drummer, "but II was the Cos
pei truth. l was the only guest in the
house, yet, as far as could see, it was
being run exactly as if all Of its 100
apartments were full of people. 1t gave
me a strange sensation, and upon my
word l could actually feel the emptiness
as l walked down the big. wide corridor
to my room. l supposed, Of course, that
l would find all this really a blur and
everything pared down to the lowest pos
sible notch, but 1t wasn't the case. There
was a full corps of help from kitchen to
checkroom, and the chambermaids used
to turn to of mornings and make up a
few dozen unoccupied beds just to get
exercise. The table was tiptop, al
though most of the stuff was evidently
canned, but to walk into that huge din
ing room, with q row Of waters stand
ing motionless at each side, and eat in
solitary state was a trial to the nerves.
The proprietor kept almost entirely to
his private Office. He was a very quiet,
baldheaded man. and naturally I enter
tanned doubts as to his sanity. At the
outset the strangeness Of the situation
interested me. but after four days of
noisy grandeur 1t began to give me the
horrors, and l packed up and left. I
used to often think about it afterward
and wonder what the deuce could have
possessed the baldheaded boniface to
throw away good money in that kind Of
fashion. but it was more than two years
before found out.
"One day ! was sauntering along Clark
street. in Chicago. when l met my friend
and landlord coming out Of a store. He
remembered me, shook hands cordially
and finally accepted an invitation to
lunch. L expect you thought l was era
~. out there in the spruce woods he
said over the black coffee, but there was
method in my madness. That internal
railroad had a contract with me to haul
a certain quantity of fresh vegetables
every day. They had forgotten all about
1t, but when they threw me down on the
train service ! saw that my cue was to
keep open at full blast and then sock it
to them for damages at the end Of the
season. Ny lawyer claimed that the
lack of fresh vegetables was what kept
away guests. OF course the jury under
stood it was just peg to hang damage
suit On, but any stick is good enough to
beat dog, and they gave me a whopping
good verdict. l soaked them for enough
to pull out $4,000 ahead of the game."-
New Orleans Times-DemocraL