Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-11-01
TERMS: $500 PER YEAR
THE MESSENGER BOYS.
How They Manage to Make Money Out
: side Regular Wages.

olher eNnlng.
"Twenhcents, and you know itjust as
well as do\arew =, ! the district mes
senger
"Ain'' you oTNch: ,.ng?" asked 70
Of the party.
No; we never ovecharge regular
toners. They know the rates, and il
did they'd report it TO the company uo
we'd get bounced. Strangers and &C D.
trymen and new'y-married couples E.
always size up and charge double II ,-.
And then, besides, regulars always ,isu
us something One of them gives m i.
cents extra every time another one, ..-,
a gambler on Twenty-eighth street, yas
me according to his luck sometimes as
high as 81.
Then you make money outside ..
your wages"
| "Well, some of the boys do. au.
there's lots of ways ofdoingIt. One way
is commissions. We're sent out regular
for cigars, bouquets. cabs, carriages, ...H
liquor. If we are sent to certain place
we don't get commission usually but
if they just hand us a 81 bill and say,
| Get me five cigars or Get me cab
then we have show. There's loads of
business people who give a percentage.
On cigars we get from 10 cents up; on
flowers great deal more. A swell gets
mashed on girl or an actress and sends
her bouquet. If he gives us V, we
get dollar from the florist.
"Wines are very good, too. There's a
dealer on Sixth avenue who has wine in
plain bottles on ice all the time, and it
costs 81 bottle, and he's got all kinds
of labels. | get an order for "a bottle of
Pommery' and 81. l run around there
and he puts OF 'Pommery' label, and |
make 81. 1t amt safe, though. tried
it once on young fellow, and the next
time ! came there he kicked me down
stairs, and swore poisoned him.
Then the cabbies are quite square, es-
pecially with coIpses?"
"What is a corpse"
"Why, it's a swell that's drunk. He'll
pay the cabby almost anything he's asked.
The ca6by gives us quarter for an or
der, and sometimes whacks up the next
day. But the best blokes are mashes.
Married men and women who get mash
ed never use the pOst-Office, but only us
boys. We know 'em the moment we see
'em. They'll pay almost anything, and
give us an extra besides. Then we make
something on doubling up"
what that?"
lsI n C
twenty minutes. l 60 back to the Office
and report pay for 'shorser.' | get
second call in a short while. When l
come back to the first customer / charge
for the whole time, and also get paid af-
terward by the second. That way /
make the difference between what /
paid for the Shorter and what | get for
the whole thing. Then there's another
kind of double. | get shorter here in
Delmonco's, and then run across into
the Brunswick and the Hoffman. Be-
| tween the two can catch another short
err and do both together. Then, you
see. l can charge full time TO both, and
don't have to put up at the Office"
"A telegraph boy hasn't a very bad
time, then?"
| Yes he does One time l kept going
for thirty hours without stopping An
other time and lots OF times I've had to
go through ram and snow where there
was no horse-car lines until thought
was almost dc ad +; got licked last week.
| had call from a young dude, who
gave me two letters to young ladies.
The envelopes lad the names on, but
no residence. These he gave me sepa-
rate. | got to number one and found
| I'd lest the address of number two. So
asked the lady the address, and showed
her the letter. The next day | met the
dude in front of his place, and he said
he'd teach me Lesson to show his let
ters to different people, and he gave me
an awful licking with his cane. That's
sort of rough on a boy, but now and then
| he has good time. Once a jealous wo-
man hired me to spot her husband for
| three days. He used to ride up and
down from his office in a cab, and the
cabby was commission friend of mine.
So | used to get on the box with hIm
and ride both ways. The old dame paid
me my time. my cab hire for three days
and gave me collar beside. ] guess
their row is over now. because | saw 'em
walking together last Sunday just as
loving as two spoons"
"Itisn't very moral life," observed the
lawyer.
The boy smiled, flushed, it may be, a
little, and said 'How can we help it?
If we're late, or lose time, or take bad
money. OF break a rule, or do anything
at all, we've got to pay FOR it. And then
there are people in the company who
make you divvy with 'em or treat 'em.
And the walters in the restaurants and
the clerks and porters in the hotels want
stake. / mad to pay a waiter in this
place 81 last week for bloke who want
ed bouquet for nis gal. And then you
customers always tell me Pm lynn
and stealin' And ] go to gambling
hells, and ginmills and opium dens and
worse places, and ladies and gentlemen
send messages to their fami-
A., lies, and give me half to say left him
in a club, or a church, or meeting. If
chap gives me big bill to change, or a
check to cash, and is bad, the cop pinch
es me and Pm locked up in Jail. If us
boys are bad you customers make us SO,
and that's all there is to it. But I've got
to skip. Much obliged, gents, for the
note" n. Y. Times.