The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-28

l mad often heafd fiat the New Orleans
sMardi Gras celehtAtion was the biggest
snow ON earth Ones upon time, there
fore 1 determined no see it, and went
south for that Rprpose A New York
friend. Hickup. also had his curiosity
plqued by tales or the 'Mardi Gras, sc
we went together We did not. realize
until we mad passedSAtlanta what hordes
OF people from all over the South made
an annual hegiras tosSthe Mardf Gras Al
Atlanta our train was broken into two
sections. At ,M9bileGit was broken int1
| three Here l determined to telegraph
Tor rooms, and fa~fred the St.. Charles
MOTEL. AS for3orn hope I bought the
New Orleans mofAing papers and began
to rent"
We arrived at Now Orleans at about
| seevn In the evening We drove at once
to the St Charles hotel. 1t was the old
st. Charles, now replaced by modern
| structure. The old hotel was in former
| PUBIC building, and the office occupied
lofty rotunda surrounded by pillars
| When we entered the office there was a
long line of men in queue, corkscrewed
around tn6 rotunda, waiting to, register
at the desk. With the agreeable smile
| OF one who had taken time by the fore
| lock, l went alt once to the head Of the
line and said to the clerk:
y wired you from Mobile for rooms
yes" said the clerk YEARLY. pointing
to spindled stacA of. kilograms foot
high, your telegram is filed. there in the
| order of receipt
But" said !. anxiously, do I get no
| roms?''
NO said the clerk, the gentlemen
registering will be served ahead Of the
kilograms
And are there rooms for all this
crowd?' said 1, in wonder.
"Oh. no." said the clerk, noncha1antly.
the rooms were all filled this morning.
THESE gentlemen are merely registering
in case of vacancy"
With my hopes somewhat dashed I
turned away. In the middle of the ro-
tunda was mighty mound Of trunks.
A dlsgusted citizen who could secure no
room, and who was tired of his travel
stained linen, had opened his trunk and
was engaged in changing his shirt in the
heart Of the populace.
We determined to drive at once to the
Hotel Royal. There we found less of a
crowd, but the clerk assured US that
there were no roomssr1 AS turned away,
something In N.Y. detected countenance
struck him. It may have been that he
thought had strawberry mark on my
left arm. At all events, he Called me
back, and said IN a whisper
II can give you. a small back room,
with one bed.' 81
No. replied. we must have room
with two beds, and would prefer two
rooms.'' 43a 81
The clerk gazed at me in stupor. He
evidently believed that I was out of my
mind. On the Whole, perhaps I was
I thought 50 later myself.
"Hickup," said i, stif we can not sleep
in this town, let US at least eat" Hickup
agreed, and we repaired to Moreau's
We had Bayou Cook oysters, broiled
red-snapper, canyas-back, fried hominy,
celery salad, and q bottle of Burgundy
We felt much better, so we took another
bottle Of Burgundy. Then our lack of
lodgings did not worry US SO much.
None the less, as the evening was
pleasant, we determined to sally forth
and inspect some of the rooms to rent
as per advertisements. The first was
In the French quarter, In an ancient
building with a black entrance presided
over by black porter. who rang the
bell; down black staircase came a
black woman. who escorted us through
a series Of black passa geWays to black
and gloomy room, which contained a
dark-compl bed iandsa black
horSe-hair sofa. - The price Asiof g this
boudoir was IS per night, paid in adj
vance. Hickup at once engaged it.
All my life I have had a deep-rooted
repugnance to horse-hair upholstery, ever
since the days when as a little child 1
used to be placed on the apex-or ap.ce--
Of pyramidal parlor-chairs only to slide
off. Hickup and 1 tossed for choice
Of couches. won the horse-hair sofa.
My feelings were too deep for words.
The black lady presented to Hickup a
large iron key about fourteen inches long
and weighing a pound ana half. This
1t seemed was the latch-key of TIN s yco-
doc boudoir
/ Somewhat depressed at our first at
tempt, we sought yet other lodgings, but
it would take too long to tell of the
numerous places We visited-aH of them
were filled. The9Dne humorous streak
in this vista of gloom was the plight of
family which had incautiously adver-
tised rooms to rent" They had let
their one room early in the day, and
ever since streams of travellers had been
ringing the bell. When we got there the
hall and staircase were filled with tired
travellers, mostly women, who had
to bulge. i still remember the expostu-
lations Of the lAother and daughter, in
their sweet Southern voices, urging the
strangers to go. But those logical la
dies would only reply: go? But where?
We have no place to go to!''
This suddenly Inade us serious Neither
| had we. We hadano claim on the ST.
Charles hotel. yetaWe determined to re-
| turn there, having nowhere else to 60
| But on the way we met some Califor-
mans who, having berths in a private
| car across the river at Alg.ers, were
! happy, thought-free,. devil-may-care fell
| lows. Besides, they were all married, and
! their wives were some thousands Of miles
| away. When we depicted to them our
| melancholy plight they roared with
laughter But why go to bed?" asked
! they; ''you have no beds to go to. Ha
ha ha! Let us go ito the gay masked
ball! Ha, ha, ha! Then you won't need
to go to bed. Ha ha, ha! What's the
matter with staying up? Ha, ha. hat
| We echoed "Ha, ha, ha,'' but faint.
| LIVERY family. 1t is quite amusing to
talk of not going to bed when you have
! one. But when you have no bed to q
{ to 1t is not so funny.
However, we accepted their advice We
went to the masked talls-several OF