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"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, and if there
be any praise, think on these things."
OFF'N THE SLACK PILE.
Standing hard to starboard on the "Island
Queen" Assistant General Manager of Sales
W. A. Marsh of Pittsburghcoal was explaining
to Mayor James Blaney of Sharpsville how
to run this municipality when the prized Panama
of the mayor, brought home by him from Cuba,
was brushed into "Muddy Waters" by one of the
attending gesticulations of Mr. Marsh. The
mayor told of his chagrin in his countenance for
only a moment and then declared, "Pshaw, I'm
glad the bloomin' thing is gone at last. Every
bellhop and waiter that I ever met sized up the
lid as good for a four-time tip and the retail coal
business can't stand that." Mr. Marsh in his
characteristic suave manner was not satisfied
and assured 'is-honor that he had a red-devil just
like Clay Frick's waiting at the Pittsburgh wharf
and he would make amends. In Pittsburgh that
night a half score of haberdashery doors withstood
the knocks and pounds to which they were
subjected and there were strenuous doings before
the mayor of Sharpsville was decked in a new
chapeau-Panama, almost as good as the one from
Cuba.
Vice-President W. R. Woodford of Pittsburghcoal
wished, the party bon voyage on the river as he
stepped ashore whilst Jim Walsh breathlessly
swung aboard, the former with the assurance that
after the directors' meeting of the company that
day he would catch the steamer on the down trip.
He meant it but his reward was to see the deserted
hull moored at Pittsburgh wharf after
learning at Charleroi that she had never reached
there; same word at lock No. 3; recently passed
at lock No. 2, and just gone through at No. 1. It's
a good thing that no such hoodoo hovers over the
vice-president at his desk.
When the advance guard of the party which had
visited the Homestead mills reached the boat on
the return trip, the band, at the instigation of
Mine Manager George W. Schluederberg, struck up
the "Rogue's march;" the air was continued until
the pilgrims were seated at luncheon but beyond a
grin, here and there, the joke fell flat, the delegates
being too much under the impression of
what they had seen and too much interested in
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 35
the enticing viands before them to appreciate
musical comedy.
D. L. Tuttle, sales agent of the Philadelphia &
Reading Coal & Iron Co.. was a most welcome
honor guest. His fund of rare good stories never
run out and most everybody along remembered
with glee the handsome treatment his company
gave the association last year when it acted as
host of the excursions incident to the convention.
The only protest was from a big man from
Buffalo who fussed because a fat copper would
WALTER J. PHILLIPS,
President Federal Supply Co., one of tiie most active
and amiable of tho Entertainment Committee.
not let him sing "Old Kentucky Home" in sonorous
discord in front of the Hotel Henry after low
12. There was a lapse of loyalty on the part of
the bobby, of course, but he probably never heard
of Steve Foster, Mr. Buffalo.
*
Somebody put out a bulletin that Chairman
Robbins and Solicitor Rodgers and others of
the absent big fellows of the company were to
join the boat on the down-trip. Hackneyed expressions
of regret such as at a pink tea were lost