The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-13
HE PAINTS BLACKBOARDS.
Tho Profitable Occupation ofs Lean, Long
 Lank Man With History. |,

@'" TIE PAINTS BLACKBOARDS. Tho Profitable Occupation of s Lean, Long
 Lank Man With History.
 [From the Cleveland Plain Cealer.t
 Lean, long, lank That partially but not all describes him. He Is a man who has passed the half.mile post in the rRtefBf life and Is sailing along toward the three-quarter. The tinges of white in his hair show that. He Is tall, straight and wiry. The little flesh that there Is on his large bones is as tough as leather. His fist is as hard as a rock. his eye as penetrating as an electric searchlight. his sunken face as brown as an Indians's, and his brain-well, there lies his power, for 1t is clear and acute. In dress he Is not the fanciest person in the world. Just plain and common looking are his gar ments. Ia,
 This man is Ferris Bell. and in his particular line Of work he is perhaps the greatest adept in the country. But in addition he has history that runs along like a roma rce!a a He was always g. "wild devil" .as an Acquaintance put it-in. for any Kind of excitement and venture that presented itself. Of course he ran away from home at an ,early age. All wild devils" do that, whether they do in print; or in real life. The great west hads innurf1erable attrac- .tions,for, him, and he spent years Of his life in hunting and Indian fighting and other trifiing occupations. So thor oughly acquainted did he become with the country andsithe redskins that he was appointed a government scout. He has .photograp phs showing himself bound and pinioned by Indians who had cap- tured him and intended to take his life. But he is alive yet, and anybody who rubs up against him the wrong way will mighty soon become aware Of th&t fact. ~" IT," "
 ,Lateryon he got down south. Orange farms attracted his attention. He in vested his money in them and made them pay. Then he planted a vanilla grove, the only one in the country. He spends his winters on his southern farms. A neighbor to him down there says that he is continually working, never seems to let up; comes more natural to him to work than to do any thing else. h' In summer he comes north and re- sumes his second occupation. one hundred dollars day is not bad Sometimes he makes as high as $126 Tte rate' at which he can repair dis. abled blacKboards Is caution. Just at this time of the year the schoo buildings all need repairing, and Ferris Bell is given the work on blackboards Yesterday morning he went to Broad way school. He took two men along to go ahead to sandpaper and prepart 1.-the board for it's liquid coating. Botf of these men are considered fast work CTS, but they had to hustle to keep ou of the way of the lean, long and lanl man. When he begins he throws of his coat and vest, shoves his hat bacl on his head, lights an old brown pipe which he sticks in the corner of hi mouth and catches between his teeth pulls, hia, suspenderss off his shoulders takes a, hitch in his trousers, hump his shoulders way mp for an instant t loosen his shirt and give him plenty o roor picks up his brush as he woul' a precious instrument, and sails in His arms are long and his legs ar
 long, and he covers more spac
 with one sweep of that brush thai kany man ,who ever tackled the joh The amount of work he does sinpl, astounds the ordinary man. Not for moment does he desist until the whol job has been completed. His brush, 1 as wide as three. common whitewas
 brushes, is made of genuine sable hail and cost him s2o. When he completes job it always gives him entire satis
 faction. He takes the work by tn
 square yard and this accounts for tn
 big wages he makes, He prepares tn
 liquid slating himself As soon as. tn
 work on one building is completed n lrapidly betakes himself to anothe
 building and begins the work with tn
 same wonted vim, never stopping eve
 to converse with visitor.
 There is a pathetic chapter to tf
 story of his life, just as there are to 2
 other lives. He hasa wife. She WI
 his companion once, but not so nov | for tlaisfoftuhe overlook them. I'll
 doctors at the asylum prohoAnce ht
 incurable and she lives there from yes
 to year. Her mind e. . blank. II
 husband must have been most devote
 to her, if his present care for her nieHf anything. When he goes to the tnat tution he usually demands in his srht
 ly pleasant way. ".Well. Doc, ha'
 much do you want thia. time !'' rrfys T 4 roll of bills oonns4 out of his pocks |before' the answsrs sisf made, and ' planks down the amount withottss
 murmur,, seemingly end to pef3SN I this act of kindness foS hiS once FIT ] compA Anions \, ,ss \. ss (,