Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-07-17
Numerous Occupations.


A Kansas gentleman sends to The
Companion a report of q CONVERSE
ton recently overhead in a shop
where number of Western men were
comparing notes on their different
kinds of work. 1t soon came out
that nearly everyone present had
been born in the State of Vermont
and 'raised" on q farm. But after
going West they had all engaged in
a variety of occupations.
One man said: 81 went into real es.
tate; then sold out and tried clerking
it on Mississippi steamboat; then
went into the cattle business, and
tired of it; packed up my goods and
settled on claim in Nebraska; quit
that, and went to Texas to do bust
ness in a feed store; from there l went
on to the road for a boot and shoe
firm, and just now l am in the livery
business"
chats nothing" said another.
''Ive been a school teacher, post
master, preacher, n lawyer, u black
smith, u notary public, a store keep
err, n sheriff, acounty superintendent
OF schools, a cigar manufacturer,
and n farmer"
There was silence till another man
remarked that he had left the printed
list Of his accomplishments and &C.
equations at home, because it was
too bulky to carry around. but if he
remembered right the list began with
college president and ended with
member of the Legislature.
At this point two or three men re-
marked that it was getting rather
close in the store; they guessed they
would go home, and they went out.
Another man edged up to the door
and said in a lazy tone that he
thought his experience would beat
the lot for variety. Some one asked
him to tell it, and he said
Il began life as n baby. From that
l grew into Il boy. While was Il
boy went to school, clerked it in a
drug store. worked on a farm. had
my arm broken in two places in a
saw mill, taught the district school
one term, and sung in the village
choir.
"When I grew up l served as ap-
prentice to tailor in Boston, but at
the end Of six months l ran away to
sea, and went round the world three
times. At the end of my last voy-
age, l bought a ticket for Texas, and
went onto a ranch where l stayed
two years. i then had an offer to
edit the Weekly Blizzard, and held
that position just one week. when the
government offered me a place as In
dian agent.
"Atter serving a year at that l
went into the mining business in Col.
orado, and made two hundred thou
sand dollars in six months. l went
to San Francisco and invested my
fortune in real estate. The invest
ment was unfortunate, for in less
than n month / lost every cent of it,
and was obliged to seek work as O
day laborer on a railroad.
II worked up from brakeman to
engineer, and then in a collision l
broke my leg and had to go to a
hospital. While there l studied med
icine, and when got out took to
pracricing. and was quite successful
until l treated n smallpox patient
for erysipelas. Then decided to go
to preaching, and got on well ut it for
several months. But the pay was
not very regular, and ] quit to go
into a dentists Office, and"
1t was very quiet in the store, and
the man who had had such a varied
experience said softly, "Good night,
gentlemen" and went out. He was
the wag of the town, though the
strangers did not know it; but his
story was a good comment on the
number of occupations that some
Western men try.-Youth's Compan-
ION.
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