The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-17
NUMEROUS OCCUPATIONS.
a Western was outdld All competlto,

A Western Wag outdid All Competitors
and Then Didn't Get Through the List.
A Kansas gentleman sends to The
Companion n report of conversation
recently overheard in u shop where
several western men were comparing
notes on their different kinds of work.
It soon came out that nearly every one
present had been born in the state OF
Vermont and raised on farm. But
after going west they had all engaged
in 4 variety Of occupations.
One man said: II went into real
estate; then sold out and tried clerlking
it on Mississippi steamboat; then went
into the cattle business, and tired of it (;
packed up my goods and settled on a
claim in Nebraska; quit that, and went
to Texas to do business in feed store /;
from there went on the road for n
boot and shoe firm, and just now I'm in
the livery business"
That's nothing, said another. I've
been n school teacher, post master, a
preacher, lawyer, blacksmith, a
notary public, u store keeper, u sheriff,
a county superintendent of schools, a
cigar manufacturer and n farmer. /"
There was silence till another man
remarked that lie had left the printed
list of his accomplishments and occu-
pations mt home, because it was too
bulky to carry around, but if he ro.
membcrcd right the list began with n
college president and ended with mem
Der 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 mp to the door and said in
q lazy tone that he thought his expe-
riencc would beat the lot for variety.
Some one asked him to tell it, and he
said:
Il began life as Il baby. From that
l grew into Il boy While WAS a boy
l went to school, clerked it in u drug
store, work1a on a farm, had my arm
broken in rsao places in n saw mill,
taught the district school one term ana
sung in the village choir.
"When | grew up served rs appren-
tice to tailor in Boston, but at the
end of six months ran away to sea,
and went around the world three times.
at the end of my last voyage l bought
o ticket for Texas, and went onto a
ranch where stayed two years. then
haj! m offer to edit The Weekly Biz
card, e0d held the position just one
week, when 4,e government offered me
a place as Indian agent.
"After serving a year at that l went
into the mining business in Colorado
and made two hundred thousand doh
lars in six months. [ went to San
francisco and invested my fortune in
real estate. Tho Investment was I'M
fortunate, for in less than month ]
lost every cent OF it, and was Obliged TO
seek work as Il day laborer on rail
road.
II worked up from brakeman to en-
gineer, and then in a collision [ broke
my leg and had to go to a hospital
While there | studied medicine, and
when got out took to practicins
and was quite successful until | treated
a smallpox patient for erysipelas. Then
decided to go 10 preaching, and got
on well at it for several months. But
the pay was not very regular, and !
quit to go ntoadcntist's office and"-
1t was very quiet in the store, and
the man WHO had had such Il varied ex-
pcriencc said softly: Good night, gen
tlemen," and went out. IIo was the
wag OF the town, though the strangers
did not know it; but his story was a
good comment on the number of occu-
pations that some western men try
Youths Companion.