The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-12
CAUGHT IN
THE CORRIDORS

And yet they say that the old IA
bic of ST. Nicholas is dying out" re-
marked the stranger who was standing
on the corner of Bull and Broughton
streets intently watching a crowd of
children, white and black, of all ages,
who blockaded the street in front of a
large plate-glass window in which a
dressed-up Santa Claus and a doll
house were used for advertising pur-
poses. 1T isn't true. Why that
crowd is actually blocking traffic and
they all believe in Santa Claus: it is
the most absolute faith that 1 have
ever seem" Just then a little ragged
urchin ran past him, fastening toward
the crowd. He was stopped and asked:
MY little man, do you believe in San
ia CLAUSE" stopping long enough to
look up into the gentleman's face with
and expression which told of his aston
ishment that he should be asked such
question, he answered: "Cose l do, mis-
ter. Amt it Chris mus times?"
1.-THE housegirl isn't question mark:
she is a mystery" remarked the man
whose lack of hair on the top of his
head and surplus of wrinkles in his
brow, eloquently expressed the fact
that he was weighted down by good
many things which do not worry a
bachelor. why, you think that you
know them, and they know you better.
| only found this out the other day
when 1 took it upon myself to investi-
gate one of the mysterious things about
our maid: the manner in which she an
swers the door-bell. When my wife or
myself rings she answers Immediately.
When one of the children rings there
is q delay in answering. My sOn-in-
law, whom she likes, gets in quickly,
whereas my married daughter, whom
she dislikes, must wait a long time.
Since the maid can't see from within
the person who is at the door, 1 Won
dered for year how she regulated her
responses, and recently l asked her if
she could tell certain persons by the
way they ring. To my amazement she
said that she could and then described
all our various ways of ringing in de-
tail. My wife, she pointed out, gives
one short and one long ring. / ring
twice, short and snappy. My son-in-
law rings once, but keeps his finger
on the button for some time. My
married daughter gives two short
rings with a long interval between,
the rings of all our family relations"
And then, he added, And there's no
telling what else she knows"
He hasn't anything else to do, he
has plenty of money to spend, and his
one occupation is to enjoy himself with
expense a secondary consideration. He
is spending a portion of the winter in
Savannah. ut wasn't the beauty of
the place that brought me to Savan-
nah,' he said, because there are other
places equally as attractive, and, al
though the climate here is delightful,
1 didn't come altogether to enjoy that
either. To the contrary it is these ex-
cellent drives around the city that are
talked about all over the country, and
being very fond of horses l have en-
joyed my spins out to Thunderbolt and
Isle of Hope more than anything else
, since l have been here. In fact, l
think that the roads around Savannah
are the finest in the entire South, and
are really equal to the Kentucky
pixies in the Bluegrass region. There
are several portions of the road to