The St. Paul echo. [volume] (St. Paul ;) 1925-1927, 1926-01-09
HAS APARTMENTS
TO SUIT MOODS
Kept in New York of Neces
sity, Man Finds One
Home Bore.

New YOrk.-There Is at least one
man In New York city to whom the
saying variety is the spice of life," Is
more than mere phrase. Further
more, he obtains all Of his variety
within the confines Of the city. For
present purposes it serves to dub him
Mr.. Trotter.
After youth of roaming from one
corner Of the world to another, circum-
stances compelled Mr.. Trotter to stay
constantly in New York. Such a re-
striction on born roamer naturally
proved irksome. In his own words,
Mr.. Trotter was "about to bust" when
an inspiration came to him that solved
his problem.
Mr.. Trotter, It should be explained
at the outset, is Of a whimsical in
quiring nature and his wanderings
were marked more by amused curl
osity than high adventuring in the
manner of soldiers of fortune. He
sauntered rather than strobe during
his travels and in his quiet way man.
aged to penetrate the local life
wherever he went-ignoring and show
ing his disgust Of the alien colonies of
his countrymen.
With such background Of activity,
he naturally began to chafe when he
was confined to single place-even
when it is as big as New York. Life
ordered itself into an memorable rou-
tine and sameness; there was plenty
to do but it was essentially alike no
matter how much the scene might
change from day to day.
Twitted by Friends.
II was fast becoming boor," ex-
planned Mr.. Trotter the other day,
my friends twitted me about being a
rolling stone who would eventually
find settling down superior to wander
ing about. And they always wound
up sooner or later with that bromide
that, after all, variety Is the spice of
life. Right now I am glad they did
because it finally led to my inspira-
ton.
II am not q man of great means but
I am fixed so that I needn't worry. I
had been living in comfortable hotel,
where there was nothing to be desired
from the point Of view Of service or
surroundings. But it took me just
about a month to exhaust all Of the
observations that there were to be
made about the place. I penetrated
all of the surface life there and a
great many of undercurrents, at least
all that were interesting to me. 1t was
like reading one book repeatedly and
not a very exciting or deep book.
zone night friend called on me to
chide me for not going about more
with the gang. Gadding, he called 1t.
told this friend in as kindly a man.
ner as possible that the activities that
were offered thus bored me. He final
" said that I was incorrigible and
then ended up with the same old bro
mide-well, after all, variety is the
spice of life.
"After he had gone I got my hat and
stick and went for walk. Tramping
the streets at night soon filled me
with what the French call the home
sickness for elsewhere. felt nos
talgia for my hotel. I didn't want to
90 back to it that night but tried to
persuade myself that I should recon
Gle myself to my fate. I wandered
farther than thought and suddenly
found myself very tired. My hotel ia
in the Seventies and I was away be-
low Fourteenth street. There was no
taxi in sight or l would probably have
gone home. Instead 1 espied faint
sign in the deserted street which said
Hotel. remembered that this par
ticular house had been quite famous
in its. day before New York moved up
town. I knew also that it chung to
its traditions and that it was perfect
ly clean. On the spur of the moment
went in, paid for my room and spent
the night there.
Idea IL Born.
1.-THE next morning when l woke up
was bewildered about my surround
ings, but at the same time it spurred
my old inclination for inquiry. I was
curious about everything; the people
in the lobby were different from my
daily associates. I tried to figure them
out. Thus the idea was born.
"Purposely prowling about for va.
riety Is not my way. 1t smacks too
much of the tourist and superficial
My solution was simply this: hunt.
ed up residences in various parts OF
the city in which I could crafty my
moods and my curiosity about the
lives and ways Of places and people.
The very rich have homes in town, on
Long island, in the Far West, in Palm
Beach and elsewhere. Why not apply
the same principle to New York city,
have, and l have found it one of the
most interesting adventures Of my
long career. I needed my hotel ad-
dross for husineSs and social reasons