The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1886-09-04
FRANKS OF CASH-B0YS.
HOW THEY WORRY THE CLERKS IN
THE LARGE RETAIL STORES.

stoois-wrapping Up old shoes for Gus
toiners--subjected by Fines.
"Cashln cried the clerk in prominent dry
goods store as he dashed paper between
the lea1 IS OF an &c odnt book ard brought
his pencil down on the counte. 50 oral
times Il wish the proprietor would dis
charge every mothers rascal of these little
wretches cut of this building and get the
patent railway in their stead. 4 can't find
boy wi,nev I he is needed, but Just Let
pretty gifl stand at this counter five min
utes and tdere are instantly seven cash boys
sweeping about this aisle. ia hang n 10y
quicker than lightning, / would. His proper
place is in tread mill any how
What are the duties of cash-boy"
asked tue reporter, as he gazed around and
saw several cotton headed urchins fitting
about here and there
ale l. the rivuet by which the finan,ia
drainage of the establishment lrickles into
exchequer,n said the clerk grandiloquently.
"He can be used for other purposes than col
lecting cash. and that is his only redeeming
feature A railway takes your hook, your
cash, and your pencil aud sends them whirl-
ing mp TO the central desk and back white
boy Is sparring with his fellow behind the
pile Of coaks 1t keeps the floor walker
busy watching him from morning till night,
and IL ii were not that he is used occasion
alp to carry bundles and remove the dust
cloths from goods in the morning, he would
be absolutely of no use
"The regulations in force in this house
have pretty well subdued him, though
There is n fine attached to almost every thing
he does If boy goes up stairs he is lined
10 cents, and If 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 fine of two cents inn
posed for every minute boy is late in the
morning, and fine of three cents for every
minute be dallies in the cellar after dinner
If boy stays in this establishment five
years he viii be the property of the boss
There was a little red-headed fellow here
three years ago who used to owe the firm So
every Saturday night
TURNING OUT TO BE MILLIoNAIREs
81 don't fancy they are sent here by their
parents tomake money. If they are no enter
prise was ever more complete failure. The
combined wages of all these kids after the
zines have been taken out would not be
enough to feed and cloth wooden Indian.
Some parents would even pay a salary to
have their boys in store There is such
an opportunity to learn the business you
know, and there are so many examples of
cash-boys turning out to be millionaifes,
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,
and very few Of them ever become second
rate clerks.
"There is 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 boy
when the salesladies were provided with
seats inside the counter some time ago
new field of ras atty was opened to the
little imps. Frequently, when the girls
tried to rise on seeing a customer, their
skirts were found to be pinned round the
head Of the stool A 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 seat
rather suddenly, and the light summer
goods that she had ON Parted at the waist
The timely arrival of a sister saleswomau
only prevented the young lady from faint
ing. As the cash. boys were not allowed to
go inside the counter, the occurrence plac d
the clerks there in bad light An investi-
CATION was had and every cash-boy over
hauled, but without any good erect 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 tho
cushion on bis coat tails The gum arabic
which is used to put labels ON packages at
the central desk, over there, bad Teen
smeared all over the seat II cost hia So
to have his clothes cleaned and gave him
name which he win carry to his grave He
has been known in the store ever since as
'Gummy.'
There is SO much of the monkey about
the average small boy that l fear there is |
no use in attempting to deny our common
origin II he sees anybody do thing
which strikes his fancy as being ingeiicu,
he will devote all his powers for tAe ne {
three weeks in trying to accomplish the
same action. We have an expert bundle.
wrapper down stairs who has been the nd
miration of every urchin who has entered
this establishment for years He wraps
bundle with the deXterity of lightning AM
filings 1t back of him TO receive tho label
showing where il is to DO 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 tho whole thinner hour to
wrapping bundles Old Shoes We're caught
up from all ports Of the cellar and tied up
in bundles, which only needed the label TO
send them ON their way. Among the col
lection were a lot OF broom-mats and old
damaged calicoes that had been flung away
In a corner after a fire as there We're a
number OF similar pa kages going to North
west Baltimore that evening, the label boy
gathered them all together and stuck the
address ON the whole pack. Well sir, ! tell
you there was some fun in the business Office
next morning as soon as seven irate women
could get down on The cars The proprietor
was paralyzed, and ordered sn Immediate
investigation. As 1t happened TO DO the
I'D day of April, the women swore that they
were being made the victims OF a prastical
joke, and threatened to 10Y ott the store
Any boy caught near that bundle tabla sine
has been fred without notice
"One morning several years ago, when ws
had twice as many cash boys as re have at
present, everybody was astonlshed 10 see
the ceiling covered over with pape men
They had little strings tied about their
necks and were fastened TO the fresco- work
with spit-balls All the doors Of the house
were open, and as the breeze entered the do