Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-03-01
NO. 80.

locked at the boy who wanted sdvice.
He had fresh, honest face, snG felt
had no hesitation in sstt nS him down as
! good boy who would probably make his
way in the world.
We'll, my boy" l ssid seriously, "shere
Is one thing I'd sdvise You 70 quit. Ii
IVES you I'd stop getting drunk and rails
| ing a racket on the streets st midnight
and getting run in. That's my advice"
Il never touched 8 drop of liquor in
my Gfe," said the boy with so palg ed an
expression that 1 was sorry l had spoken
IL this way to hiC0.
Don't smoke, l supposeT'
"No, sir"
''Cne 7, snuff; anything of that kiudH"
NO, slr."
Read flash novelist"
No, sir"
"SSesrH"
No, SIT"
Fight"
No, sIr."
"Well,' said, chats sll very uufortau-
ate for me. If You hava any vices il
would help me out If you would tell me
what they are. If you committed burg
larry rs q relaxation or ssndbsgged Il
friend occasionally it would make my
task as adviser much easier. AS you don't
do any of these things I'll thiuk over
the matter, and if you come up tomorrow
III perhaps see my way clearer than | do
now"
The boy thanked me, although | knew
did not deserve any thanks. Next daN
he called again. In the interval | had re
membered the incident on Bcooklyn
bridge. Now, the man had said Excuse
me- and had been knockt down. well.
my boy l began, my advice is this:
Never make an excuse. There is prov
erb which says A poor excuse is better
than none That adage is as wrong as most
of thsm are. Even a good excuse is not
Better than none. There are thousands of
people in this world, my boy, who are
magnificent architects of excuses. Some
of them manage TO get along pretty we'll
building up imposing excuses and letting
others do their regular work, but they
never amount to much III the long run.
No one over depends ON a man who is
good at excuses.
~ When l was in Chicago last summer the
CITY editor of one OF the papers there
advantage of not having an txyuse:
Some years ago green looking fellow
appeared in the city editors room from
no one knew where and wanted a Job.
The city editor told him, as hs told hun
dreds of fellows before him, that there
WAS no vacancy at present-that Is the
usual fOrmula-but that if he came across
good bit of news it would be cheerfully
accepted and paid for.
Well the young man brought in whRt
stun he could, and son etimes an item or
two was used; but more often nothing was
available, and the fellow lived as best he
could and slept in sheds or in the park
and never grumt led. The editor began
to get tired OF seeing his want stricken
face, and once or twice advise q him To go
home, but the young man said that per
haps a chance would come along bye
and bye, and anyhow he was there 10 stay.
One night the city editor said to him:
IF you want chance, there's a heauti
full one open for you tonight. The street
car men are having meetings every night,
and we can't fiud ouf what they are up to.
They meet at the corner of - tn street
and - avenue"
"Al right" said the young man
Have you any objection to my saying
I'm reporter of this paper"
None in the least" said the editor with
grin. II may say, though, that Rati-
gan, who tried to get last nights meeting,
is in the hospital to-day"
Seeing how much in earnest the young
man WAS the city editor added:
The meeting is Slsde' 4 regular assign
ment tonight, but | don't think he'll get
much except a broken head perhaps.
Any how if you get anything Mt all i'm
help out. Here's couple of dollars to
meet any expenses you may have"
Shortly after midnight the young man
appeared in the city editors room. He
looked As if he had been principal in a
prize fight.
"WelI2' said the city editor
Il couldn't get in" remarked the young
man. HAS Mr. Slade brought any
IhIngY"
yes, first rate excuse like yours"
81 tried to pass the guards but they
flung me down stairs. That's how got
that's ali right. | didn't expect you'd
get In."
81 bribed fellow for dollar to let me
in the back way. They found me out and
dropped me out of the window. That's
how 1 got this" pointing to his closed
right eye.
We'll, you mustn't feel discouraged"
81 felt q little cast down when they
dropped me cut the VIII dDw."
that's not bad. You ought to apply
for position in the paragraph depart
ment."
"a climbed up to the roof ON the rear
fire escape, got into the top story through
the trap door, went down TO the room
above them by the stair and found that
the stove pipe came up through the
floor"
Yes" said the city editor with increas-
ing intel est.
They were having such a stormy time
below that removed the stoveprpe with O.
out any one hearing and held the lower
pips from falling with my left hand"
Yes
81 could move it aside and see all l
wanted to and hear everything"
Yes"
"Ihey have resolved to go on strike on
all the lInes at 8 Tomorrow morning and
are sworn TO secrecy"
"Great Scotl!" crisd the city editor,
jun ping to his feet. write that up.
give US all you can of it,"
at is written up. You see, the electric
light opposite made the room ligat
enough To write by and had to stay there
and hold the stove pipe till eve one was
gone and then fit it up again 50 they
wouldn't suspect. Good scheme for next
meeting. 80 l wrote it up / lay there"
Great head" said the city editor.
That young man is now managing one
of the biggest papers IN the west and ali
because his rule was: