Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1907-07-26
LlFEIN NV
ONLY ROOM
~ q ledger.


hanging a red-a dark red-curtaiE
in front of the bed 1t would make an
ideal bed sitting room.
Also I liked the red and gold paper
ON the walls. The original wall pa
per, / learned afterward. was like the
pattern on a servant girls print dress,
but a former tenant, with fine sense
OF the artistic, had caused the walls
to be repapered. So, when Mrs. Mar
boy, withdrawing one of her hands |
from the folds OF her apron and wav-
ing it around the room In Snowman |
like fashion, said the charge was $1.5O |
a week, without electric light,
closed with her, and the room was
mine.
You climbed up three flights Of
stairs, each flight narrower and less
carpeted than che other (the last
fight sunk to the depths of oilclothl.
and then you fell against the door OF
the room. When you knew the geo.
graphy of the staircase, however, you
steadied yourself on the top stair, and
stretched out your hand. BY long
practice the door handle met your
hand. But even then the room resent
ed your Intrusion.
The door handle battles many Wis
itors. It is by this time aware of my
touch, for it always yields without
murmur to the known pressure of
my hand. With the stranger or the
casual caller it is different. hear the
step outside, and then ! see the handle
gravely nodding it's head, and saying
at the same time, in determined
squeak, mo, you don't!"
In such cases / remove my feet
from the bureau and take my pipe
| from my mouth, and call out, Pull
| the door toward yourself gently and
turn the handle suddenly" I have
| several times thought of avoiding this
trouble by pinning the formula on the
1 door. But there are objections to
/ that think it would be unfair to the
door handle, and even If did pin the
| notice there, 1t is so dark that nobody
would be able to read it.
Also there are occasionally people
who try the door, and when repulsed
BY the invincible handle conclude that
have gone out and locked the room
Then / hear their steps go carefully
| down the narrow staircase, echoing
fainter and fainter, and If am In the
middle of Omar Khayyam smile
gratefully at the door handle Oh! We
are old friends.
The love that bear to my little ret
room is .pity-born. If you are de
formed man, or a one-legged beggar
you are moved to translate your com
passion into copper or silver, accord
ing to your purse or your pity. But
| deformed room! How better shoE
your sympathy than by ignoring It
deformities and living in 1t regardless
of It's defects, and treating 1t as II
were a normal room? When Mrs.
Marboy first showed me the room
| seemed so empty and sad that too
pity on 1t. 1t seemed to be yearnin
for an inhabitant (the widow locke
yacantIy at me and said sol, and VIII
, am I that | should Withstand tn
! human appeal of a room In nous
!. | in WaverIy place-Waverly place, on
! of the old-time fashionable sections {
the city?
= I pretend not to notice the terrib
q deformity of my room; nevertheless
II when | bump my head inadvertent
g against the ceiling. which slopes t
ward the window. | am forcfbly r
II minded that my room is not as oth'
rooms Three walls of it are tall ar
a upright. as walls should be, but Il
n fourth wall-the one which Is grace
II by window-was dwarfed In
k. youth and stands sadly SMALL qui
N four feet shorter than its brother
10 When / am sitting here late 1t seen
II to me that the little wall looks wi:
fully up to it's bigger brothers. VIC
" dering why 1t was born so small. al
IL dreaming. perhaps, of taller da
IN when 1t shall push the slanting &c
,,t ing into a horizontal position and
ar more worthy of the name of wall.
az The ceiling of my room Is lin
with age. When ! stare up at II frc
my bed 1t reminds me of the maps
school. | can see big rivers, wi
~ their little tributaries branching
90 from either side. Some people mig
ov object to the cracks in the ceiling, /
re 1t keeps my geography from getti
&c rusty. The rugged crack stretchi
1rs | from the door to the washstand ha
av named the river Amazon, and the {
as aware reaches from the window to
nv | back of the bureau. Now and ag;
ha a new crack appears on the ceili
far and / feel like Columbus. For ev'
an new crack I discover new river
use