Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1906-08-25
Secret of a
Low Rental


great room! Eight dollars a month
1t must have been Is feet long and
20 wide. while the great ceiling rose
rs feet from the floor They built in
a more ample manner when this old
residence was put up. The skylight,
q later addition, was so large that
there must always be gale blowing
through up there on the fifth story
But sS-surely the man had meant
by the week. The two homeseekers,
with feminine guile exchanged glances
behind his stolid back.
You ask him again photographed
one.
'No-you ask was the silent mes.
sage flashed back.
"Neyer--it must be you, insisted
the first
The second homeseeker thought
quickly.
Now, let us see" she said 70 the
janitor, that would bring the rent up
to-how much year,
by the year?9 replied her unsus-
pecting victim. why, figure it up
yourself Eight times two is rs. aint'
it? Eight times one is eight. and one
to carry makes nine-S96 a year
But we don't rent 1t by the year
you've got to take il BY the month
1t was true.-true! Eight dollars
month was the price You could not
rent hall bedroom in that part OF
the city for less. They took it, and
held their breath while the decision
was conveyed to the janitor He
seemed to have no objections to them
as tenants.
AL night; will you pay a deposit2
Would they! Purses were opened
and the first months rent put into his
hand in lump. They would have
tried to raise five years rent had be
demanded it,
80" he commented; I'm write you
a receipt and take down the sign
Tomorrow you move in-eh2"
They moved in next day and when
the few bits of furniture, curtains and
rugs that had crowded the old studio
were put in place in this new one,
they came nowhere near furnishing it.
The big table around which one had
to walk In the old place was in this,
almost lost under the skylight. Every
thing seemed microscopic in such an
apartment They put up curtains, but
they did not divide the upper half OF
the studio. A screen, somehow, looked
alike a oaby fence -.~,, y---------,,assz,-s.
During the FIRST mosth they never
got rid OF the notion that they were
living in Buckingham palace, or Blen-
helm, or the blue room at the White
House It was simply impossible to
get on terms Of familiarity at once
with such a rooom, and they did not
really feel settled till the second
month. when there was a more
definite honey air about the place.
But no question ever arose as to how
they fixed their eight-dollar apartment.
High above street that was deserted
at night, and in daytime busy enough
to have purely impersonal roar, it
was more secluded than any dwelling
either of them had known In New
a VI n ntAt Ndo dANtiN Ahf NppA
breeze through the skylight and the
sky seemed much nearer after sunset
than the affairs Of New York.
It was during the second month that
they began TO note how few tenants
the building had. People seldom went
in or out. There were signs on the
doors of some old-fashioned Offices.
Many were deserted. Once every few
days somebody else moved out But
nobody moved in. BY and by the doors
downstairs became placarded with
signs
"Skiddoo & Quick, removed to %
Twenty-third street" Fewer persons
still were seen in the old-fashioned
wide corridors. As the building had
no elevator. there was no elevator
man to question The janitor kept dis
cr$etly out of the way. for some rea-
son, though whenever he encountered
his tenants his manner had nothing
suit OF the ordinary.
But when the third monrh s rent zas
paid the secret of these strange NOV
ings came out The janitor felt safe in
imparting it as soon as the money was
in hand and the receipt given.
"ThisIl be about the last" he an
nounced
"The last?" echoed his fair tenants.
'Yes-the last month you stay
here" he replied Next month this
dime you'll have to move
But why?' they faltered
"Cause they're goin' to tear the
buildin down, Down she comes the
first o the month.
And we've had only three months
here, after moving, and now we must
move again.
Say, do you know what this studio
Tented for before the building was
sold? Twelve hundred dollars Not a
cent less. Blinks the painter, had IT,
and was here IS years When the
building was sold last spring he felt So
bad he pulled up and went to Paris
so you got three months rent roi