We didn't have a darn cent to deposit with him for securing the places for us, so he decided to wait for his money till we had drawn our first week's wages. He said we looked pretty honest and that he would trust us for the four dollars. He further added that we looked more like bronco busters or prize fighters than we did like housemen. He 'phoned to the house on East End Avenue where they wanted the men and told them that we were coming out. From this particular Employment Agency to the house where we were to go it was a distance of eight miles so we had to hoof it out there, for neither of us had carfare.
Well, in short, we arrived there about dusk and were successful in securing the places as housemen for this millionaire. We were to begin work next morning, so we hit toward a restaurant where we got supper for carrying in about a ton of coal from the street to the third story of a cheap tenement house. That night we slept on the benches in Lincoln Park and at six the next morning were at our posts.
"That Night we Slept on the Benches in Lincoln Park."
(Wanderlust.)
The work pleased us all right, for it was light and simply meant beating carpets, scrubbing floors, washing windows, mowing the lawns, polishing the brass on the doors, in fact merely carrying out the duties of an every day houseman.
We were working for the Coleridges. The old gentleman was a wealthy glass manufacturer, and for our services at this particular residence we received ten dollars per, meals included. Oh, we used to have some lively times.
One day, while busily engaged in the reception hall, scrubbing the marble stairway, I cast my peepers on the card tray, and, my curiosity being aroused, I "copped" a couple of invitations the postman had brought that morning. There were five in all, so I thought that two would be enough for Anderson and myself. When I went down in the basement to get some more clean rags from the laundry girl, Anderson was there engaged in sweeping. I gave him the wink and a nod, and when he came out we went back to the furnace room and examined the invitations to a dance which was to be given by Mrs. Ostrand at her residence on Cornell Avenue. We then and there decided to accept.
The time for this affair soon came around and we held our nerve for we were determined to do the Soldier of Fortune act once in our lives. The afternoon before the dance we stopped work about four o'clock and went to our room where there was some tall scrubbing, and much time spent on our rusty hides. This preliminary part of the toilet completed, we took a car downtown and there I made arrangements to rent a pair of pumps, silk hat, white kid gloves, full dress suit, top coat and the other necessary apparel. While I was getting fitted up in this establishment, Anderson busied himself in purchasing a few toilet articles.