Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-11-30
MISTAKE 3IN JUDGMENT

~ LUX me good many years TO learn
not to judge people by appearances" said
the Washington correspondent Of one Of
the Texas newspapers the other night. ''but
l think I've got that little lesson fairly pat
now. The LESSON w,as clinched by revela-
ton that was Afforded to me and to sew
eral other fellows on steamer trip from
New York to Galveston last summer.
When I went aboard the steamer at
New York on the afternoon of sailing I
looked AROUND, as a chap naturally will do
under such circumstances. to see If there
happened to be any likely material in the
way OF congenial-looking fellows to mix up
with on the nlne-day voyage. didn't have
to do much prowiing about to find that
there were quite a number of them. There
were about dozen New York drumIners
bound for their southwest territory, four
or nve Galveston merchants that had the
proper staying look about them, party
OF SIX or seven panhandle cattlemen that
looked as II they were ready for any old
thing from fight to a footrace. and about
naiI dozen unclassifed fellows who had
that indefinable look of going distance
about them. BY the time the steamer had
got past Sandy Hook most of US had done
a bit Of foregathering In the smoking
room, ana when we were on the lights OF
Atlantic City the game began to look IS II
there were going to be a-plenty Of fun and
iveliness on the trip.
AFTER we'd all got mixed and were on
conversational terms We began to poke
run among our groups at the figure Of a.
little chap who had been prowling lone
somely about the steamer, getting acquaint-
ed with nobody. and looking in general as
II ned been tagging along at the rear OF
throughout life. He was a pale-faced little
chap, with pair of gold-rimmed spec
tacles, about five feet four in height, with
a pair Of white linen trousers. white can
Chnn r,lre do
the same, blue serge cost cut after the
manner of the yachtsmans, and one of the
very cutest yachting caps you ever saw in
your life stuck on the back of his head
and showing his faxen front hair In an
aWfully fascinating manner.
AS l say, when we got coalesced and
jollied up together in the smoking room,
we all took a hack at making fun of the
Willie off the-yacht appearance Of this
lovely looking bit Of work. We asked each
other how 1t ever happened that mammals
sunshine had been permitted to undertake
SO long voyage all by himself, and we
made coarse, brutal cracks anent the width
and color of the ribbons we had 1t figured
out he must sell in some New York depart
ment store: and altogether the little man,
as he walked dismally about the deck,
with his hands in his pockets, was the
source Of whole lot of fun for us wise
ones.
HE didn't make any attempt whatever
to get alongside Of any of us until, along
toward 10 o'clock the first night out. we
had sort O. taken our partners in little
poker games. and then he hesitatingly crept
into the smoking room and began to look
us over. We had been saying funny things
about him only moment before, but of
course we closed up sharp when he made
his appearance, although some of us had
difficulty in restraining our grins over the
daintiness of his makeup.
He only looked on at our games of draw
for about fifteen minutes or so. and then,
nf It,
out Of the smoking room. A couple Of
minutes after he went out we all dropped
our cards suddenly on the tables and perked
our heads sideways to listen. There was
some music as was music coming from the
drawing room, of the steamer. Somebody
with the touch of man had given the keys
of the piano a number of preliminary
swipes that had all the power and conf
dence necessary insthem, and then some
male person with baritone voice that gets
folks up around where they wear their
collars burst 9out into the Evening Star
song from "Tannhauser.' 1t sounded as If
William Ludwig might have been sing
ing it. -n93 7
"'Who the dickens, is ft?' we asked each
other, as We looked around the smoking
room to see If any Of the tabled and iden-
tilted male passengers happened to be miss
Ing: l got up from, my. seat at the card
table and walked down the deck to the en-
trance to the drawing, room There was
our little WilHe-off- the-Yacht seated at the
piano. playing his accompaniment like
master, and singing that glorious piece of
melody all by, his little lonesome, while the
women passengers were peeping into the
room from various doors and ports.
hear that kind of music, and so 1 stood
there and listened while the little chap
with the nice yachting cap and the pretty
white. canvas shoes sang with the voice
Of a Viking. When he got through and
wheeled about on the stool in bored kind
Of way, / crossed over to him and we got
to talking. Say, he talked in the basso
voice Of a Broadway cop-it was the first
time I or any OF us had heard him say
woodland he was right there with the real
kind of talk, too. complimented him upon
his music, and he told me that he hadn't
had much time to practice OF late years
to ascertain then that he was a mining
engineer who had been working around the
middle west and southwest for five or six
years, and who had been taking his first
vacation at home in New York in that
space of time. was so f1abbergasted over
finding what manly, self-contained little
chap he was and hot sport, at that, and
over my reflections over the way we had
all sized him up that there's no doubt in
life that he cut q heap better figure In
that preliminary talk than did, and talk
ing's part of my business.
"His dudish clothes simply constituted a
popularity, that's all-when he'd found
himself back in New York after such
long absence he'd logged himself out in ac-
cordance with the way he thought was the
thing. couldn't help thinking, as talked
with him, Of the fun I'd have in introducing
him around to the gang in the smoking
room, and asked him to come along and
meet the bunch. He did. I'll never forget
the expressions of surprise on the faces
Of that crowd Of fellows when they heard
the little chap talk, and when I told him
that he was the singer. He sat into the
game at which had been playing, stayed
along every time the button was touched
for the liquid refreshments and showed the
effects less than any Of us, played a game
of draw that kept all Of us on the run, and
had a little of the money Of each Of us at
that table when we turned In for the night.
HE was the hit of the trip. He could tell
a rafting story, dance a corking Jig, and
on the fourth day out, down in the steerage.
he put on the gloves with one of the deck
hands and more than held his own. As for
the women, although he wasn't at all keen
as ladies' man. we weren't one, two, three
with him, any Of us, and II he'd permitted
it they'd have monopolized all of his time
in the music room. But he spent most OF
his time with the men, and when we left
the ship at Galveston and he diked out In
a sensible suit and a sweater underneath,
babe us goodbye before taking the train
for Arizona, he got more cordial hand
shakes than any man that had stepped
aboard that steamer at New York He was
simply a plain case Sof man all through.