Page:In a Steamer Chair and Other Stories.djvu/183

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A LADIES' MAN




Jest w'en we guess we've covered the trail
So's no one can't foller, w'y then we fail.
Wen we feel safe hid, Nemesis, the cuss,
Waltzes up with nary a warnin' nor fuss;
Grins quiet-like, and says, "How d'y do,
So glad we've met, I'm a-lookin' fer you!"


I do not wish to particularize any of the steamers on which the incidents given in this book occurred, so the boat of which I now write I shall call The Tub. This does not sound very flatttering to the steamer, but I must say The Tub was a comfortable old boat, as everybody will testify who has ever taken a voyage in her. I know a very rich man who can well afford to take the best room in the best steamer if he wants to, but his preference always is for a slow boat like The Tub. He says that if you are not in a hurry, a slow boat is preferable to one of the new fast liners, because you have more individuality there, you get more attention, the officers are flattered by your preference for

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