Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-06-20
FRANKS OF CASH-BoYS
HOW THEY WORRY THE CLERKS N
THE LARGE RETAIL STORES

1 xbANAO VI Of1Ox4 OV "
HOW THEY WORRY THE CLERKS N
THE LARGE RETAIL STORES
R1nning Salesladiss' Dresses and the
Clerks Cost-T.ils to the Cushioned
stools-wrapping Up Old Shoes for Gus.
tomsn-subjsctsd BY Fines
sCash!" cried the olerk in prominent dry
goods store a. he dashed paper between
the leaves Of an account-book and brought
his pencil down on the co6nter several
tmez Il wish the proprietor would dis
charge every mothers rascal Of these little
wretches ont Of this building and get thu
patent railway in their stead. / can't find
. boy whenever he Is needed, but just let Q
pretty girl stand at this counter five min
utes and there are instantly seven cash boys
sweeping about this aisle. f'd hang a boy
quicker than lightning, would. His proper
place is in a tread-mill, anyhow
What are the duties Of a cash boy r
asked the reporter, as be gazed around and
saw several cotton-headed urchins lifting
about hero and there
@He il the rivulet by which the financial
drainage Of the establishment trickles into
exchequer," said the CLERK grandiloquently.
He can be used for Other .rposes than col
lecting cash, and that is h.. only redeeming
feature A railway takes your book, your
cash, and your pencil and sends them whirl
ing mp to the central desk and back while Q
boy is sparring with his fellow behind the
pile Of cioaks It keeps the foor-walkeI
busy watching him from morning till night,
and II it were not that he Is used o., /
alp to carry bundles and remove the -
cloths from goods in the morning, he moaid
be absolutely Of no use
The regulations in force in this houss
have pretty well subdusd him, though
There is q fine attached to almost every thing
he does. II . boy goes mp stairs he is fined
10 cents, and II he Is caught standing on his
head or pommeling another boy away goes
p cents more. That boy with the cropped
hair yonder only drew three cents salary
yesterday. There Is a fine of two cents Inn
posed for every minute boy is late in the
morning, and a fine Of three cents for every
minute he dallies in the cellar after dinner.
II q boy stays in this establishment five
years b will be the property of the boss.
There was a little red-headed fellow here
every Saturday night
TURNING OUT TO be AILLIoNAIRES
~ don't fancy they are sent here by their
parents to make money. II they are no enter
prise was ever more complete a failure Tbs
fines have been taken out would not be
enough to feed and cloth a wooden Indian.
Some parents would even pay salary te
tzu %k,~Ss- hpx-r 80 i, II
an opportunity to learn the business you
know, and there are SO many examples OF
cash-boys turning out to be millionaires,
that parents think it is Just the one great
chance needed In point of fact, the boys
nearly all leave when they get big enough,
ami very few Of them ever become second.
rate clerks
'There il fiction here that boy will be
hanged If he is caught playing on the pave.
ment, but the merciful law keeps its eyes
closed continually or we would have no end
Of executions every day. You can write
laws for criminals or govern grown people
with reason, but you can't control q boy.
When the salesladies were provided with
seats inside the counter some time ago, o
new field Of rascality was opened to the
little imps. Frequently, when tho girl
tried to riss On seeing a customer, theiI
skirts were found to DO pinned round the
head Of the stool 4 girl tore her skirt in
a horrible manner one day, when the pro
prietor stepped across the floor and called
her by name. She got up from the scat
rather suddenly, and the light summer
goods that she had on parted at the waist
The timely arrival OF a sister-saleswoman
only prevented the young lady from faint
ing. As the cash boys were not allowed &c
60 inside the counter, the occurrence placed
tbs clerks there in bad light an investi
cation was had and every cash-boy over
hauled, but without any good effect Not
long after that tall CLERK at the other end Of
the counter yonder rose up from his seat
hurriedly one day and carried away the
cushion on his coat tails The gum arabic
which Is used to put labels on packages at
the central desk, over there, had beeI
all over the scat 1t cost him {:
to have his clothes cleaned and gave him q
name which he will carry to his grave. He
has been known in the store ever since as
Dummy
There Is SO much Of the monkey about
the average small boy that l fear there 1.
no use in attempting to deny our common
origin II he sees anybody do @ thing
which strikes his fancy as being ingeniou.
he will devote ali his powers for tne next
three weeks in trying to accomplish the
same action. We have an expert bundle
wrapper down stairs who has Leen the ad-
of every urchin who has entered
this establishment for years He wraps .
bundle with the dexterity Of lightning and
filings it back Of him to receive the label
showing where it is to be sent The rage
for wrapping caught the urchins some time
ago as they stood around the bundle table
watching the man after dinner. The next
day they devoted the whole dinner hour to
wrapping bundles Old shoes were caught
up from all parts Of the cellar and tied w
in bundles, which only needed the label to
send them on their way. Among the col
lection were q lot of broom-m and old
damaged calicoes that had been flung away
in a corner after fire. As there were .
number OF similar packages going to North
west Baltimore that evening, the Label boy
gathered them all together and stuck the
address on tho whole PACK. Well, sir, tell
you there WINS some fun in the business Office
next morning As soon as seven irate women
could get down on the cars The proprietor
was paraly zed, and ordered an immediate
As it happened to be the
I'd day Of April, tho women swore that they
we're being made the victims OF n practical
joke, and threatened to boycott the store.
Any hoy caught near that bundle table since
has teen fred without notica
Zone morning several years ago, when VIC
had twice as many cash boys a. we have at
present, every body was astonished to see
the ceiling coverei over with paper men
They had little strings tied about their
necks and were fastened to the fresco- WORK
with spit balls All the doors Of tbs house
were open, and as the breeze entered the do
tunct army Of paper men made quite
lively spectacle kicking each other on the
legs l need hardly say that nothing was
over learned regarding how they got there
The janitor and several assistants spent
whole week in getting them down think
the little rascals had stuck the papers up
there during the dining hour, and they had
unnoticed as long as the door was
closed There is much more .igidity hero
Row than there was formerly, and alto
yether We have a pretty gooi crowd Of
Doya Some OF the stores have dispensed
with them altogether, and are now using
he cash cars exclusively. a cash-car
makes q good deal OF noise, it is true, but
here is no danger OF il ever putting pin
IN the seat where yoa sit down to eat Jour
Inner. Herald
The Progress Made In Base Rail-