The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-10-21

1t lOOhcQ pretty SODIul. Inc ADVANCE
man transferred his eloquent spelling
job yer to the manager as soon as he
saw US coming in, but the
couldn't get away with it any better
than the advance man. The manager
who also did the heavies in the rep-uh-
toah-essayed expostulation, entreaty.
importation, haughtiness, wrath, and all
the rest Of the up-stage stunts with the
spotlight on. But the Brewton twin
proprietor Of the -caravansary just snap
ped the elastics on his shirt-sleeves,
poked grinningly at the fire, and said
No, sub, which is the Brewton equiva-
lent to 'Nothin' doin' through a mega
phone.
I'm the meanwhile we stood first on
one leg and then on the other, our
clothes steaming from the heat of the
base-burner, n all of us wondering
why cholera infantum or the bubonic
plague hadn't ragged in our native viii
lage when We were about eight months
or so old. The five women were in
great distress. They were dead game
but we'd been gettin~ more of the CAD
we needed in our business, and it's no
wonder that the women looked to be
about ready to pass it all up and go
into the discard.
AT length the manager, who was get
ting hOarse, tried to pull off a take
your gold calcium-light play. He pull
ed off a four-karat bogus carbon ring
that he carried around to put up a
flash. and he extended the same unto
the hotel mar with great grandeur of
manner.
Here said the manager, reproach-
fully, to the hotel man, just take this
d~iamOnd-it's worth $500, easy-and lock
1t up in your safe as security for my
people. I'll redeem it by paying your
wretched bill after the show tomorrow
night. 1 take it Internally hard of you
though, that you should be so cruel
as to want to deprive a fellow-man of a
jewel which, aside from it's intrinsic
value, has attached to it so many ten
der associations and the manager
wept softly n covered his face with
one of his hands, so adjusting his fin
gers that he could pipe off the Brewton
twin through the spaces between them.
1.-The lank hotel man reached his hand
out for the ring, gave one glance at it.
and passed it back.
".Ah TUX uh piece o beer bottle like
hat once befo' fun uh actuh man like
yo' all, an All don't intend tub be fool
ed no secon' time on such uh piece o
alum, Suh," remarked the Brewton no.
tel person with asperity. as he handed
the bum rock back to the manager.
.Whut's mo-. sub, Aim uh-goin' tub
bald. an All want tub close up this
heah office
'Well, then it did look like the real
thing. The image dazed and ready
to go to the mat for the full count, was
nevertheless just about to unhinge his
face for another cast at the craggy
proposition, while I, as one consecutive
member of tagged outfit, could about
see myself achieving a Brewton in-ou
by peddling patent lamp-chimney
cleanerS-When at the magical m
the individual who clarified the situa-
ton and made all winning out unnec-
esSary blew in.
He carried a fine alligator grip in
one hand, and he was Using the other
HAND as a medium w~hereWith to convey
a large, fat, expensive cigar to and
from his ~countenance. He'd arrived on
the southern train. He was a huge.
bald-headed man. with pink cheeks, a
pair of big baby blue yes that never
thelesS had a crafty glirt in chem,
flowing side whiskers. he wore q SILK
hat and an expensive macintosh.
When he threw the ma kintosh open
we could pipe it off that his raiment
was all that was fit to wear and that
his left mitt was bedecned with Sundry
and divers blue white Kimberleys. The
hotel person had his back to the door
and didn't see the r~osy-looking customer
when he zephyred in. rae big man,
struck by the detected, it's-all-off at
itude of our republican group, stood in
the doorway with his adiOoSe cigar be-
tween his teeth and his gimp in his hand
taking the game in. The manager had
begun on the hotel man with some more
airy persiflage. and the big man was
listening.
Here the manager was saying, nav-
ing caught his No. 2 wind after the Arc
tic turning down his phony ring got
from the hotel man. are five cultivated
gentle-women, all of them tenderly
reared. all of them used to dill of the
comforts, nay, all of the luXuries. that
the world affords. and YOU are cruel
enough. you are heartless enough, you
are inhuman enough, to tell me that, be-
cause we have not been exactly travel
ing in asphodel meadows lately-be-
use-er-w had a tr;fing share OF
misfortune-from which we are tC
emerge triumphant, Proenix-like. TO-
morrow-you are to condemn them to
wander through these dreary. desolate
streets all night in the rain, and
Here pompously but;ed in the big
man with the flowing side-whiskers
suddenly rushing over TO the manager
n the adamantine hotel man, what
the DEVILS the matter here? Have
heard correctly? Am l to understand
hat you, sir fixing the hotel man Sc
verely with his large blue eyes. are
l4ClltAlSlI CAEOUSh " ICAdS-
tons to this party of--=r-strollers
as l judge them to b.. because they
have not the few paltry iucats where.
with to pay you in advance! Is this the
case, sirrah, Answer me-
The hotel person, visibly impressed
by and shrivelling under splendor OF
the huge mans makeup. mumbled som
kind of a reply.
"tDamnation, Sirrah, this is outra
geous,' broke out the mai with thu
prosperity front. Kissing the cusswort
so that the women didn't have to hea
it. Wait a minutes there anothe
hotel in this wretched apology for
hamlet?'
THE shrunken hotel man replied
sheepishly, that the only other inn il
the town was temporarily closed for re
, pairs.
Huh, Too bad. hat too devlisl
bad" said the huge man, parad,ng u
and down the office il his rvirtuous
: wrath. L promise you, Sir'-again ad
dressing the hotel person with marked
disappToval-'that if there were so mucl
/ as a cave where / could secu-c shelte
! for these distressed people. not 10 men
ton myself. you would not benefit b
| their patronage or mine. viii; you b.