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Show ' r r vl ' THE HOTEL MAN KNEW. -f fl The late Mrs. Blaine was not popular in Wash- "! lngton owing to her autocratic air which she had M acquired in her early school teaching days, and" M was never able to shake off. I remember hearing M a story about her told by a visitor to Washing- H ton. The latter was a .stranger in Washington H and happened to be staying at the same hotel M where Secretary of State .Blaine resided. Slip had never seen Mrs. Blaine. , One day the visiting B lady stepped into the elevator and said to; 'the M "Down!" H "Up!" said a second woman, following the V first one into the lift. M The stranger's face grow red, but she stood her ground, and repeated, "Down!" ! M "Up!" said the other, a severe-looking elderly fl woman'who overtopped the stranger by some M inches. H "Down!" H "Up!" H The elevator boy was badly rattled, but "catch- H ing sight of the clerk he called to him. The H clerk, looking from the tall woman's pale face H to the flushed one of the other, blandly inquired H the matter. H "I stepped into the elevator and ordered the,; H boy to gp down," explained the visiting lady, "unci H this woman followed and ordered him to go up." H ,vThe clerk knew his business. He turned to H the boy'and remarked severely: ' H ."Take Mrs. Blaine 'up at once, and hereafter H never hesitate in obeying her order." I t H Against her will the stranger made a trip H to the upper floor, and,, coldly triumphant, Mrs. Blaine made her point. Towja. Talk. H |