The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1906-09-01
Secret Of a
Low Rental

~ ctSHltu EHuchtNdDle, TOI u HiV-
ment the two studio hunters were
afraid to ask the janitor If they had
heard Alright. Eight dollars for that
great room Eight dollars month.
1t must have been rs feet long and
20 wide, while the great ceiling rose
Is feet from the floor. They built in
a more ample manner when this old
residence was put up. The skylight,
later addition, was so large that
there must always be a gale blowing
through up there on the fifth story
But $S--surely the man had meant
by the week. The two homeseekcrs.
with feminine guile exchanged chances
behind his stolid back.
You ask him again" photographed
one.
"No--you ask" was the silent mes
sage flashed back.
"Never--it must be you," insisted
the first.
The second homeseeker thought
quickly.
Now, let us see" she said to the
ianitor, that would bring the rent up
to--how much a year,
by the YEAR," replied her unsus.
pecting victim Why, figure it up
yourself Eight times two is is, amt
it? Eight times one is eight, and ono
to carry makes nine-S96 year.
But we don't rent it by the year
you've got to take it by the month"
1t was truel--true. Eight dollars a
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.
"All right; will you pay deposit?'
Would they Purses were opened
and the first months rent put into his
hand in a lump. They would have
tried to raise five years rent had he
demanded it.
So he commented; I'm write you
Tomorrow you move in-eh?"
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
like baby fence.
During the first month they never.
got rid of the notion that they We're
living in Buckingham palace, or Blen-
helm, or the blue room at the White
House, 1t 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 more
definite honey air about the place
But no question ever arose as to how
they liked 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
York, There was always the cool
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 4
in or out. There were signs on the |
doors Of some oldfashioned Offices. |
Many were deserted Once every few 4
lays somebody else moved out But 4.
nobody moved in, BY and by the doors F..
downstairs became placarded with /
signs: /
"Skiddoo q Quick, removed Ia % .
rwenty-third street" Fewer persons /
itill were seen in the old fashioned I
vide corridors. As the building had /
10 elevator, there was no elevator .
nan To question The ianitor kept dis 4
,reetly out of the way. for some rea.
son, though whenever he encountered .
ais tenants his manner had nothing I.
Jut of the ordinary
But when the third months rent was
1aid the secret OF these strange NOV
ngs came out. The janitor felt safe in .
it as soon as the money was
n hand and the receipt given.
"This1I be about the last" he an.
bounced.
The last?" echoed his fair tenants
"Yes-the last month you stay
ere" he replied. Next month this
ime you'll have to move"
But why?" they faltered.
Cause they're goin' to tear the
uildin' down. Down she comes the
rst o the month"
And we've had only three months
ere, after moving. and now we must
love again."
Say. do YOU know what this studio
cnted for before the building was
old2 Twelve hundred doilsrs' Not I
cnt less Blinks. the painter had ~
nd was here ~ years. When the .
uildiDg Was sold last spring he felt En-
ad he pulled up and went IN Paris
10 you got three months rent foi .
hat he used to pay every week. Ny I.