The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1901-08-10
THE NATIONS in THE FLATS.
some OF the Peculiar Lines They
Take in Causing Trouble
to the Owners.

anu Tue woman IN the blue
waist replied by asking: "Why, do
you want to know"
meant no offense," said the
agent Il only thought that by find
ing cut your nationality could re-
Ter you at once 10 certain buildings
on my list which would be apt to
please YOU The woman in the blue
waist had half notion to get angry,
says the New York Sun.
i don't see what my nationality
mas to do with finding u suitable fat
she said.
1T has good deal to do with it."
said the agent. Now, can see
straight off that you are an Ameri-
can, born and bred. This is deli
cate question that you have plunged
me into, but since am in it | mean
30 founder around little while
longer and tell you few facts per-
tanning to the merits and dement's
OF different nationalities, considered
in the light of fat-house tenants.
First of all, want to speak from
the standpoint of prompt payment.
II my success in business depended
upon each tenant paying his rent ex-
actly when 1t was due | would try
to fill all my houses with Scotchmen.
Never have l lost penny on Scot,
and seldom have ! had to wait.
Il am not making the rash asser-
ton that it is impossible for a
Scotchman to be dishonest while ev-
erybody else is trying his best to
cheat me out of my very eve
teeth. The point | wish to make is
that personally | have never suffered
loss at the hands of Scot But they
give trouble in other ways. They
are fearfully quarrelsome and raise
SO many rows with the other ten
ants through the dumbwaiter shaft
that it keeps the janitor busy
strengthening out domestic snarls.
In all my buildings where Scotchmen
reside l select janitor with view
to his even disposition and diplo-
matte gifts. 1t doesn't matter so
much about his ability for scrubbing
and keeping the furnace going. Utili-
tartan accomplishments are a sec
ondary consideration SO long as he is
endowed with the blessed qualities
of peacemaker.
Taken all in all, the most peace
able people l get in nay houses hail
from 2rua1nn ha0r. N
out of Swede. He doesn't bother
his neighbors and he doesn't bother
me, unless the provocation is ex-
IRENE. AS rule he is good pay, too.
The only fault l have to find with
him is his fondness for moving. A
lease is dead letter in his eye, and
he has no more compunction about
moving without a days notice than
he has about going to bed when he
is sleepy"
The woman in the blue waist asked
what were the chief characteristics
of Americans as tenants.
"Their supreme selfshness," said
the agent. "They have not spark
of consideration for a landlord. They
want the earth They never get
through asking for Improvements
walls tinted and the woodwork paint
ed and the plumbing fixed once OF
twice year. They want new decora
lions every month, and all the trim
mings must be frst-class, too. Amer
lean tenants pay big prices for then
flats, but there really isn't so mucf
profit in catering to them as to Other
nationalities, for the simple reason
that / have to pay out nearly all my
income in trying to keep up the build
ing in the style they demand. On thu
other hand, the people who ask fol
the least are the Italians and tn
French. They take most any old thing
I feel like giving them, the Frencl
meekly providing their own decora
tons and the Italians going without
81 like German tenants pretty well
too, but they are terribly hard OF
fats. | never could understand hov
thew manage to infict so much dam
age on walls and floors. Judging b,
the looks of an apartment just va
Gated by a large German family, on
would think that their star piece 0
furniture was battering ram. Tn
czar's former subjects also have al
abnormally developed bump of de
structiyeness, although they run t
glass instead Of plastering. l nav