The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18

10y 10y" BS~ - ~
Of the class that in some way is grating
through residence in the hotel, using the
address a. a means to gull others.
Il don't mean to ~insinuate that they are
criminals. They are merely q cheap lot OF
buffers whose actual incomes justify their
existing In some middle class boarding
house. where meals are provided and paid
for. But these hotel birds seem to live
without eating anything. At all vents
they never eat at the hotels. They browse
sround somehow and acquire free lunches
or else victimize their friends.
Then there are brokers and men in other
lines who derive an actual money ad-
vantage from a residence In the Filth avenue
hotels. They settle in rooms there with
quarter a. comfortable a. most people enjoy
10 q moderately priced Dat.
First, in order to get moderate prices,
they take rooms looking out on air shafts.
The effort to live UP to the hotel becomes
all but insupportable, especially to the
woman for she must nave clothes and must
look well and frequently she csnnot even
AFFORD to tip the ohsmbermaid to help her in
dressing, so CLOSELY are the expenses Hgured
out.
Living at the big hotel becomes the
whole thing. There 10 no going to the
theatre, never a drive in the park. and as for
entertaining it is a closed book. In fact,
there is no social life, for the hotel rooms eat
UP every cent OF the income.
Some OF these guests will spend the most
Of q day preparing their clothing for the
evening, and We ave had cases Of women
who do laundry work in the bath tubs
during the hour they are invisible.
They arrange their meals by getting
coffee and rolls in the morning. and that il
the extent Of their dining room bill. The
men manage 10 pick up something at the
bar or in the cafe and support life in that
way, while the women slip out to the res
taurants Of department stores and acquire
bargain lunches.
Eating becomes a very u~nimportant
detail with these people. TIE main thing
Is TO meet the room rentand put in a smiling
appearance in the elevators and the hall
ways once a day.
Some philosopher once discovered that
the easiest way in which to avoid spending
money was to remain in bed, and many Of
these hotel guests have mastered this secret.
as any number Of them are invisible until
the electric lights are shining.
"We had one industrious woman who.
during a summer in town. affected luxurious
neglig@ gowns, while her husband sported
silk shirts, Hannels and white waistcoats.
The ohsmbermaid discovered that the wife
did the entire wash in the bath tub. hung
the things on temporary lines and turned
the electric fan on them for an hour.
Then she rolled up her sleeves and went
to work with an electric iron attached to a
chandelier. Next day she worked with
gssolene on gloves and canvss shoes and
Panama hats and lace wells.
in the evening the two wandered about
as though they had a maid and valet to
dress them. The wife worked all day in
he seven dollar room and bath, getting
ready for that one blissful stroll through
the marble halls.
SHE always had the air OF ono fstigued
by a trying social day and no one could
help respecting her pluck and her industry.
but the amazing thing was why they
continued to pay $50 a week for their
room. Doubtless they had q reason, but
We didn't keep them long enough to find
out what il was. Gasolene is q dangerous
thing when the laundress smokes an COCA
sional cigarette.
But the browning stroke Of busines
enterprise was unearthed when we found
a lady. gray haired and of superior n
and great refinement. who was putting up
jams and preserves in a ten dollar suite,
labelling the jars with the name of the
hotel and ~disposing of them to the fash
ionable grocers and fruit stores.
They were excellent preserves and she
was indignant when we requested her room.
She had a small oil stove and was so clever
in ventilsting INC killing odors that she
would have carried on the work indefinitely
il she could have managed the shipping.
But when her orders became extensive
she had to bride a bellboy and she worked
him too hard and he gave her away. She
had had a good start though. and her ex-
cellent jellies and jams are still for sale
at the shops that deal in delicaoies.
"Of course the most common offender
and perhaps the most Objectionable is the
person who, choosing to pay a high price
for hotel accommodation, starts in to cook
chops and steaks in a chatting dish, to boil
Egg and potatoes over a spirit lamp and
to carry in delicatessen foods in opera bags
and suit cases.
1T is not always economy that prompts
these people. There seems 10 be some
charm in the idea of outwitting the hotel
and breaking one OF the strictest rules
made for the sake Of cleanliness and to
svoid the danger Of fire.
Almost invariably they leave traces of
their feasts and the evil ia endured for a
time, hoping it may abste. II not there is
another vacant room.
1T is difficult TO draw The line in these
cases. as tins OF biscuit, boxes OF candy
baskets Of fruit and such things are all
right. But when it comes to a milk bottle,
a cream cheese and picked pigs feet rest
ing on top OF a Gothic window overlooking
Fifth avenue the long suffering ger
objects.
One such couple managed TO live unde-
tected for more than a month although
they were suspected OF grave crimes. They
first attracted attention by retaining hotel
dishes, plates, forks, spoons and pepper
casters in their rooms and they we're thought
to be thieves.
They walked out each evening in a queer
guilty way, carrying oddly shaped bundles,
which they ~endeavored TO conceal.
Finally they were followed one night
until thav a ma IN n daaprtad blOck whorA