The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-26
Vagabond
from
Indiana
ERNIE PYLE

CHARLESTON. S. c., Feb. 26.-
~ It's funny how little things
sometimes change the whole course
of history.
Take Charleston and me, for in
stance. I had been in Charleston
before, and always liked the looks
Of the place, and liked to stand
down at the Battery and look out
over the bay where the first shot Of
the Civil War was fired, and loved
to walk around the narrow winding
streets that so much resemble New
Orleans, and was. always intrigued
by the old Negroes, white-haired
and carrying baskets on their
heads, just ambling along as if there
wasn't any such thing as time.
Charleston is historic, and it is
lovely, and it's very proud. thought
now we'd stay here two or three
days this time, and I'd sing a few
poems about Charleston, and pen
an epic or two, something really
great to go down in the halls of
| literature. There might have been
some dispute about the latter, but
there won't be any now, for the
whole thing blew up, and I'm not
going to pen any epic about
Charleston Some of those little
things happened.
TN the first place. we picked out
Il of the travel literature a hotel
you simply couldn't go wrong on.
We have got pretty good at picking
hotels, but we slipped on this one.
Before we could even get it, We
had to tip doorman and two bell
boys. When two boys at once
bounced on our bags it seemed a
little sSuperfluous to me, since any
able-bodied child of IA could carry
them under one arm.
We took a 81 room. In one cor
ner was a 1905 model chiffonier.
reaching nearly to the ceiling. 1t
made you feel as if you had on a
celluloid collar and peg-topped pants.
The room was SO small you couldn't
get out of bed on one side without
butting your head on the chinonier,
or on the other side without fall
ing out the window. You could get
around the end of the bed all right
by walking edgeWise.
The wall paper around the radi-
ator had turned white and had
mostly fallen off. In the far cor
ner, where the steam pipe went up,
the plaster had given way, and on
the so-called carpet was a big pool
of gritty powder.
THEY had cut square hole in
- the wall to insert a light plug,
and had just left it that way. You
could see through the cracks in the
faded window shade.
The telephone was the old
fashioned wall kind. 1t took the
operator ages to answer, and the
wall paper around the phone was
all scrubbed up with numbers and
various absent minded pencil
marks.
The bath was dim and crowded,
and water squirted out the side of
the faucet handles, and bounced
off the wall down onto your shoes.
Now all this may be all right for
atmosphere" in a historic old no.
tel in an old place, but this wasn't
any historic hotel. This was a
modern" hotel.
The adjoining room was sample
room, occupied by shoe salesman.
He had dozens of pairs of shoes out
on tables, and the buyers in
Charleston must all be deaf, the
way that guy was yelling at them.
All this for $4 Now some peo-
pie might say you can't expect
much for 81, but I know, from much
trial and error, that if you hit
decent place you can get a grand
room for 81. I don't mind paying
81 for a 81 room, or Sc for Sc
room, but it burns me up to pay 81
4or So room.
I
VXTELL," I said, well just move
w to another hotel in the morn
ing, and see what we see. Let's go
out and eat"
So we walked and walked, and al
most froze to death, and finally got
to quaint little inn. There we had
the extreme pleasure of being per-
mitted to pay a dollar and half
for 75-cent dinner, cooked South
ern style, la Greenwich Village.
BY this time was really getting
the strong odor of commercialism
about Charleston; and although it's
the same odor the world over, it
seems to smell worse here than it
does, for instance, in Miami, where
you expect it.
Lets not go to another hotel in
the morning" said. Lets get out
of here. Let's go to Savannah. I
always liked Savannah better any
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