The daily sentinel., 1901-10-26
QUEER vACATIONERs.
EXPERIENCES OF ONE LANDLADY
BY THE SEASIDE.
Ecoentricties Of People Who Rent SUM
ner Outing Apartments Would Fin
Volume and Make Interesting Read
ing at That-stories of Odd Lodgers.

The eccentricities of some Of the peo-
pie who come to my apartments would
fill a small volume, remarked seaside
landlady to the present writer. Their
whims and peculiarities are well-nigh
incredible, and at times l hardly know
how to restrain myself from laughter
when interviewing my potential pat
rons. Only the other day fashionably
dressed woman of some forty summers
refused to take my best room merely
because she did not like the mirror
therein. She averred that it made her
look "old and ugly" and l accordingly
suggested that another glass should be
substituted. She accompanied me
from room to room Inspecting the mir
rors, but eventually decided that not
one of them was sufficiently fatterine
to suit her requirements. l did not
care to point out that it was her face,
and not the looking-glass. which was
at fault, but such was the fact, for the
glass would have been cunningly con-
trived indeed that would have rendered
her features at all attractive. Another
lady expressed herself delighted with
the apartments, but fatty refused to
take them when she learned that there
were some gentlemen dodgers In the
house. 1t seemed that she made 1t
rule to lodge in establishments where
none but women were admitted, and
undoubtedly she was in search OF
nunnery and not q seaside lodging
house. Such cases as this are rare,
for in most instances there Is prede-
hction in favor of male society, and
one lady last season abandoned the
idea Of coming to me when she was in
formed that had only one masculine
patron at the time. A stout military
individual who stayed four weeks at
my house insisted on pasting political
tracts all over the walls of his room,
and 1t needed strenuous efforts on my
part to restrain him from following
similar tactics In the dining and draw
ing rooms. Seeing that he departed
without paying for his final weeks
lodging, 1 have since that time devel-
oped a strong antipathy to folks who
display a tendency to violent political
bias. An old gentlemen who lodged
with me for several weeks had an ex-
traordinary mania for purchasing
newspapers and periodicals. He would
often bring in quite a dozen daily.
though am sure tnat he never read
third Of the same. When he quilted
the house 1 counted no fewer than 220
journals scattered in different parts of
his room, many of which had obvious
ly never been opened. The queerest
lodger l ever had was dark young
man, who occupied a room on the sec
ond floor for three months. Through
out the whole of his stay he never
opened his mouth on any one occasion,
and whatever requests he had to put
forward were made in writing. When
he was leaving he said, "Good-day,
Mrs. -" and that was the first time
that l heard the sound of his voice.
Strangely enough, he wrote to me aft
erward, apologizing for his extraordi-
nary silence, but assigning no reason
therefor. Many years ago, when l had
a house close to the beach, one Of my
dodgers would rise each morning at 6
o'clock and, arming himself with
huge pail, would sally down to the sea
and bring back water for his bath.
He would repeat the process some doz-
en- times until the receptacle was full.
though why he did not bathe in the
ocean itself 1 could never discover
Detroit Free Press.