Show IN U T A FOB ff NIGHT A DRUMMER DRUMMERS S experience NCE IN A BLAZING HOTEL hat lie ile had planned to do in just and nhut ant he ile such at ideally 1 ull I 1 AN hen the opportunity offered itself I 1 it s queer not to say a source of chagrin the difference between our in and our performances isu isaa t ten tiona a it I 1 said ft a commercial traveler at one ct cf the hotels the other night I 1 was in the hotel baldwin fire in san san francisco and lost logt everything I 1 had along wa me ilia including a thousand and odd dol lars w orth north of jemel ew elry and all of my simple cases bat but one and I 1 was glad to tt out w m ith my life at that thal it was the farst first hotel fire in which I 1 had figured I 1 had bad often mentally calculated upon what I 1 should do in case cabs a hotel in maichl w aich I 1 wasa was a guest should begin to I 1 NN as going to be the cool eat headed beaded man within a radius of many miles if the fire should break out in the middle of the night while I 1 m was as in tod bed I 1 intended to get up very coolly upon being awakened deliberately slip on enough clothing to keep me out of the hands bands of the police upon making my appearance get my money and then I 1 tick id up my most valuable sample case and the valise in which I 1 had bad packed articles of clothing in current nse use an and d walkout walk out leaving the rest of my gear to take its chance upon the fire being L 1 on my way through the cor riders in cae I 1 met up with any beau bean supplicating maidens or any aged incapable bonien women I 1 had it all pic pie anred how ifould 1 w drop my tw 0 grips and take them down the seething stair case one on each arm presenting a heroic and inq inspiring spectacle as I 1 emerged from the caldron of flame IN well ell what happened T luckily tor for me I 1 had bad a third story front room in the baldwin I 1 ho be fire broke out in the basement along toward 3 0 clock in the morning I 1 snore 1 luxuriously antil about a dozen engines N vi ere throw ing stream 1 on tie tl e lower portion of the structure when I 1 was in the middle of a dream that I 1 was standing in front of a lut lot of big stores on a great tu business siness thoroughfare throwing croquet balla balls through huge plate glass windows it wag was the smashing glass down below that got me into that strain of dream ing I 1 woke up the glare in my room was something luminous did I 1 slowly stretch say to myself here a that ion long 9 waited for fire an ani I 1 it a up to me to be the man of the hour and the real thing 1 nt much did I 1 II 11 I 1 I 1 just hopped up like a man who finda finds a family of centi beds in his bed I 1 grabbed a pair of rubbers that were lying alongside my bed and put them on the wrong feet t giving all the time during the perform ance a realistic exhibition of a man undergoing a swamp chill then I 1 snatched a macl mackintosh intosh that I 1 had thrown over my trunk on coming in the night before and folded it after conid con id aralle difficulty owing to my chill ings over my pajamas pyjamas py jamas then theril I 1 reached for a bat and of course it w was as about my luck to get the arst worst hat I 1 ow ov ned out of halt half a dozen scattered over the room then I 1 made for the door I 1 want you to understand that I 1 made I 1 for or the door in a hurry burry too on my way may to the door I 1 stumbled over one of my sample cases and kicked it over in front of the door I 1 had bad to pick it up in order to open the door and BO so I 1 hung on to it and took it alon along 9 with me I 1 afterward found it to be the least consequential sample case I 1 had bad one chati that I 1 could very easily have bave dispensed with compared with those that I 1 lost jewelry money T duds I 1 want gasn wasn s t thinking any more of them wb when en I 1 frantically unlocked and un barred that door of mine than I 1 was of taking a balloon before breakfast in the morning and starting for the north pole I 1 lust just wanted to get out that sail a all the halls balls were filled with smoke I 1 found but after ten years of stopping annu annual al ly at the bal dal iwin livin generally in the sam a room I 1 knew the stairways and th the 0 route down to the lobby pretty well and I 1 just ast put my free hand band over my mouth and nose and made the rush D ye that if I 1 had met 40 of the most beautiful maidens on the globe supplicating imploring mal maidens dens standing there confuted in that third floor ball ay I 1 d have picked em u up it one in each arm and permitting them to gently nestle up against my ray mackin tosh have carried them triumphantly down the stairs and out into the street and under the broad arch of heaven and all that lo no 10 I 1 wouldn t have it 0 grievous and grew some to have to con fesi fes i it but I 1 d just mgt have yelled at them to follow my acute and then have kept on getting over territory myself I 1 fell down the first flight of stairs from top to bottom then picked myself up with the one idea of getting out scampered to the bead of the second flight of stairs and fell down those I 1 lit on lie the bag flag aing of the lubby lobby and in two more see mai I 1 was in the street when a few minutes later I 1 reflected upon my lues loss and the general hani like character ct of my nay conduct did I 1 want to go b ick an I 1 get my that gg go and do the whole thin thing over again right and in accordance with my preconceived intuitions in case of a hotel fire nope I 1 ft as content to stand there in the estreet and figure I 1 ow I 1 d I 1 the next time I 1 got similarly taught washington star |