Evening star., 1900-09-29
PARTNERS IN TROUBLE

The angry-looking man hesitated at the
door leading into the F street real estate
ofice.
''Is this Groundrent & Company's officer"
he inquired snappiiy Of the caim-looking
man who was leaning back In the revolving
chair before the big desk in the middle Of
the room.
YES" replied the calm-looking man.
"Well, say, look here" said the angry
looking man, in a tone OF some violence.
my names Digup. and my wife rented
one Of the houses in that row Of yours up
on street last week. She rented 1t with
the express stipulation that you'd put 1t
in first-class repair. It's the one num-
bered 1909 street, as I s'pose you'll re-
member. Well. we moved into the house
yesterday. as we agreed to do, and we
found that nary lick had been done to-
ward getting the house in proper repair.
Now. want to know what kind Of a way
that Is to treat people, and l want to tell
YOU that"
We'll" interrupted the calm-looking
man, with far-away smile, eff your wife
made any such agreement as you state
with this firm, why
Look a-here," exclaimed the angry-look-
ing man, beginning to shout, II want you
to distinctly understand that I'm not in the
habit of letting people doubt my word. and
when l tell you that my wife had an ex-
plictt understanding with you that you were
to fix that house up properly l don't pro-
pose to permit you to doubt what I say.
and there's no occasion for you to try to
crawfish out Of your stipulation, and
Whats the trouble with the house?'
cut in the calm-looking man seated In the
revolving chair Because II It's In the
same condition as the one L
whats the matter with the mouse!
growled the angry-looking man, looming
over the calm-looking man in the revolving
chair There's every blamed thing the
matter with 1t. The papers peeling on the
In Mace.
well know, and the inside WOODWORK doesnt
look as If it's been painted since the deluge.
There's big. hunk broken on the oaius-
trade, and
.That's queer" cut in the calm-looking
man, ref1ectively; 'there's a piece broken
off the balustrade In my =,
"Oueer-I should think 1t was queer!
snorted the wrathful-looking man. And
It's a confounded sight queerer that you
people faithfully promised to attend to all
Of these repairs, and that absolutely morning
has been done to put the mousse IN a.nn nanl.-
able shack under the natural presumption
that the repairs had been attended to, and
say. what did you mean by telling my wife
that you were going to put In exposed
plumbing, with a porcelain bath tub, when
the bath room hasn't been so much as
touched7 Heyr'
'If there was any promise made to your
wife that there'd be exposed PLUMBING" "hS'
that's a whole heap more than-
ANY promise made TO my wife. you say.
Look here my friend. what the dickens DO
you mean by sitting there and trying TO
sneak out of what you said in that way!
You know blamed well that all OF these
promises were made, and that you told my
wife that the house would be put into tip
top shape from cellar to garrett Ihe Whole
outfit needs repainting and repapering, ana
half the windows In the house won't go
either up or down, and the doors either
decline to open or refuse to be closed ana
the cellar needs to be cleaned out, and there
are three broken panes in the Kitchen WIN
dows, and the kitchen range won't burn,
and the furnace is in such battered con-
dition that nothing short of new one ii
do, and the back stairs are rickety ana
need bracing. and
"Well'' once again Interrupted the CAIN
looking man sitting in the revolving char.
.if YOU managed to get this firm to promise
to make all of those repairs you mention
now, be good enough not to interrupt me
for a minute won't you-if your wife was
firm to promise to make all of these repairs,
then it's a darned sight more than my W1fes
been able to do for two years, and that
no piece of sheet music, either. L m the
tenant of 1911 J street. right next door to
YOU you know, and my wife and L nave
been hammering away at this firm or agents
for more'n two years to get EN- to make
repairs but without any success, and
came down this morning to make another
effort / guess Mr.. Groundrentll IL be In
shortly and If you nail him and succeed
In getting him to fix your house up, why,
I'll just follow up your trail and he ii nave
to fix my house. too. OF nh
But the angry tenant of 1909 street,
when he found out how dismally he had
been wasting his breath. walked out OF the
Office. grinding a lot of the top dFessans on
n i, ha went