Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1886 — CHARACTER IN AN ELEVATOR. [ARTICLE]

CHARACTER IN AN ELEVATOR.

Telling All About the DlflTerent People Who j Ring the Eleetrie IteU. A visitor was going up ii\ the elevator at the Blank Building, when some one rang the bell. It. was a quick, timid ring, as if the person who called . had just toughed the key with the tips of his fingers, uncertain whether to ring or not. The sound had scarcely ceased when there came a loud, <leeided, das-r. fiant ring, evidently from another floor, one of those rings in which the full [>ower of the battery is invoked, notprolonged, but long enough to show that the ringgr is ex}>ectmg, to be called for in due toe to be carried down. Then came one of those prolonged rings that vex" the ear and make one impatient, as if the person calling thought the elevator was put in for his sole benefit and run for his particular accommodation. “What blank fool is that ?’’ someone remarked. “I know who that is, ".said the elevator man, who is a deep student of passenger nature. “Ho always rings in that way. I’ve got so,” he continued, “that I can always tell who the tenants are when they ring. I can’t always tell anyone else, of course, but I know the ring of each tenant perfectly. There is a similarity in some, but yet all are different. One is a shade' louder, or longer, than another, but by watching closely I’ve got so I can tell them every time. There is a great deal of character in the wAy one rings a bell. I’ve studied into it a good deal, as I have been traveling up and down here for three years, and I fancy I can tell something of the character of each tenant in the building. I make a study of the tenants as they pajks up and down. I notice their nqotionsj the expressions of their faces, their, build, their companions, if they have any, and 11l venture to say that I can tell to a T what sort of a fellow every tenant in the building is, at home for instance, and what he is at home he is everywhere. Does he give, the bell a timid, light, hesitating touch ? Depend upon it, he is that sort of a fellow. You’ll find him to be a timid, noncommittal, hesitating man, unsuccessful in business, perhaps, a modest man who doubts whether he has. any rights at all in this world.' Does he bring out all the power of the battery by aft impressive, commanding ring? That’s he every time. You’ll always know where to find that man. He has business on hand and is ready to attend to it. He is a frank-hearted, generous man of positive convictions. Is he a lawyer ? See him in the courtroom; he has his case thoroughly in hand; he looks the judge squarely in the eye; his argument is clear a,nd convincing. He means what he says. Is he a broker? You’ll find he lives in a square-built, brown-stone house on Madison avenue. .It is paid for, too, every dollar; no mortgage on his property, and ” “Well, what about the man who rings the bell so long?” the visitor inter-.-ruptedL-.-—l__-~ ; “He?” replied the elevator man. “Why, he is selfish, narrow-minded, foppish sort of a chap who had a fortune left him by an aunt, I believe. When he gets into the elevator, it would tickle you to death sometimes to see him. He takes a position squarely in the center of the car and gazes at himself in the mirror. He pulls up his shirt-collar, pulls down his waistcoat, stamps on the floor, gives an extra twist to his feeble mustache, carries a bun--dle of papers in his hand, the same one every time. He claims to be a lawyer, I believe, but he is what I call a consummate—” Just then the bell began to ring and never ceased till the seventh floor was reached, and there stood the “consummate ” —New York Tribune.