Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-08-20
MISERY OF THE HALL BEDROOM.
A Stage In the Life of Many New York;
ers That Few Recall with Pleasure.


A Stage In the Life of Many New York;
ers That Few Recall with Pleasure.
The woman who had arrived grew re-
fective. "I shall never forget my hall
bedroom days, $50 in number" she
said "a good deal has been written
about the hall bedroom of New York,
but no pen can tell all its miseries. l
pie spaces Of country home. l took
a hall bedroom because it was the only
room In the house l could afford. 1t
had in it cot, covered in day with an
Oriental tapestry; washstand, a
screen, shelf curtained off with hooks
beneath for clothes; looking-glass on
the wall, with a little stand beneath,
two chairs, and a useful piece of furni-
ture which was writing desk, bookcase
and dressing case combined. When
my trunk and my typewriter were
added to these treasures I could turn
around with care, by opening the door
so as to utilize part of the hall for the
purpose.
my typewriter knocked out the little
stand in one round. Could it have sat
still it would have stood the burden.
But I had to move the stand whenever
wanted to dress, or to get at my trunk,
and as did not remove the typewriter,
but simply dragged the stand around,
the poor thing quickly collapsed. The
landlady looked severe when told her.
When I got another stand 1 carefully
lifted my typewriter off whenever
wanted to move the stand, which was q
. dozen times day.
| "My dresses were continually falling
from the hooks without the slightest
| provocatioh, and I had always to move
the screen, and then bring chair to
stand on to hang them up again. The
only way could get any light or air
was to sit by the window; and as my
trunk had stand there, l had perforce
/ to sit on the trunk; and trunk can be
improved upon as place Of continuous
repose. 1 have sat upon it for hours,
tailor fashion, mending my clothes,
when my very soul loathed the needle.
''It was an acrobatical feat to dress in
that room in the morning. 1 never shall
forget some of my maddening struggles
feet Of space. For six months l never
knew how my back hair looked, for it
was too dark over by the glass to see.
My destructive tendencies came cut
strong, for pulled down first the cur
tains over my clothes, and then those at
the window, pole and all. had to
keep good many things in my trunk,
and whenever wanted to get at them
had to first remove mass of books,
papers and manuscript from the lid, or
else open 1t and let them slide down
behind. I had to sit on my trunk to
play my typewriter, because neither of
the chairs was high enough"
"And SO you hate the hall bedroom %
"Well, no; don't know that 1 do.
That hall bedroom witnessed my first
triumph. got my first check there;
$40, for a 2,OO0-word story. When l
opened the envelope and saw that check
grew faint. It was the revulsion after
six months Of grim, heartrending deter
mination. Then 1 laughed and cried
and grew hysterical. Anyone with any
experience could have told me that one
swallow did not make summer, but to
me 1t was the beginning of success.
And SO it proved. have not lived in
hall bedroom SINCE"
"And now?'
The woman who had arrived was ST.
lent, and looked straight ahead Of her
q I'm
81 wish 1 could ever be as happy
again as was when got that check
she said.-New York Sun.