"DOING" THE GAS COMPANY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6817, 22 September 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

"DOING" THE GAS COMPANY.

Hk n - as trying to sell the stranger his house and lot, and after the prospective purchasers had wandered through the attic, and nosed around the kitchen, and poked into the clostts, and rattled the windows to see if they were tight, and smell d on the cidteruwater to see how much dead cat it would asiay to tha gallon, the owner o! the property toiik him down into the cellar, which he had spent all night iu whitewashing. The meters uhioh waa stu.k up on a shelf iu one corner of the cellar, attracted the stranger's atten'.iou. " How much does your gas co3t you a year?" a'.ked he. .the householder gave a knowing wink, poked the utraug-.r iu the ribs, aud said—" bTou don't lock like a inau who would give the thing away, and seeing aa. you're going to buy tbe house, anyway, 1 don't mind telling yon. It don't cat me a cent." "It don't ?" said tho stranger, with evident surprise. " .No, not a red,"said the other, " and it's all owing to a little observation on my part no to the workings of that meter there. I'll explain. You see when I firet moved into the house I wan doing a good business, aud so I had everything fixed up in tony style, chandeliers in every room in tho ho:ise, kitchen iucludeii, anrt othor luxuries to orrcspond. But after a while my business brgan to run down, aud I had to shut off my expenses. My wife suggested that we economise on the gas bill; so I bought a lot of lamps, and we stopped using the gas burners, except in tlie parlour when we had company. When the man. with the lantern carac around to look afc the met r I fairly kicked myself with joy to think how it would astonish him. Hut it didn't. "The bill for that month was just as big as before, aud when I squealed out, there was the meter to back them up. I couldn't g:t round that. So I put the lamps away in t!ie garret aui used every g.13 burner in the house. ICept two chandeliers in the bedroom day aud night, just for luck. Bill for that month just the same. Then I thought I migiit, as well be fjettiiin all tho good out of that meter that it would tand, FO I told the g>B company that I should like to liavo a couple of chandeliers put in tho stable for tho use of the hired mau They came aud put them in, aud thu very same day, a man came to fix up the meter. S.«id seme of the meters were wearing out ia.side, and had lo haw some of their driving wheels renewed, ur something of that sort. The hiied girl said that he took oat a cogwheel and put in a bigger one, and then vv.'und it up like an eight day clock. Ac the end of the mouth the bill was twic; :i'j bi<{ as before. Aud yet we iisidn't used any more gas, because the hired man ran awny uiili tho horse at the beginning of the month, nnd we hadn't any need to light up tliu stable iike a ball room. Well tliac mouth's bill svttled me, you can juul bet. I tapped a hole in the pipe leading to tho barn, ran another pipe over to our next neighbour, aud let hi mi hr.ve all the g.is he wanted at 10 per cent oli. inside of two months I was suppljing the who'e square, and it diflu't cost m« a cent moie than it did to supply my house and stable. By this little scheme and by strict economy, I l.ave been able to amass a handsome sum of inoucy, and as soon as you take this house off my hands I'm going to move into tho big brick down at the corner. I'll turn this little monopoly over right into your hands. It's a little dangerous ; but if you've got tho nerve, your gas needn't cost you a cent, is I said at first, and—" " My gas isa't likely to cost me anything anyhow," said the interrupting him for the first time. "Why?" "Because," said the stranger solemnly, "I'm the new secretary to the gas company." I