Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1895-10-03
THE POPCORN BOY.
A Business Reversal Unheralded
by Dun or Bradstreet.

country Is now emerging has left it's
wrecks in the industrial and CONNER
cial centers. When the stringency was
most severe the daily press reported
how this prominent bank had closed
its doors, that we'll known mercantile
house had gone to pieces and this ex-
tensive mandatory had shut down.
But there were many minor tragedies
in this distressing period-stories of
restitution and dismay-that were full
of desolate significance to individ ual
lives, even though they gave the COM
mercial world no thrill of alarm. This
is the story of one of these unreported
Failures" the details of which ap-
pealed to the writer with pathetic in
terest.
MUM height-his growth seeming to
have been arrested before he attained
his natural stature-with thin and rue
full features, and eyes under project
ing forehead, and the ghost of beard
at the chin. This was "Walter the
popcorn boy" as travellers over the old
road of the Lake Shore have seen him
times without number at the station
in southern Michigan village, search
ing the car windows with wistful
gaze for prospective patrons. So many
years has he been attendant upon the
arrival of the day trains that his queer
and homely figure, one shoulder borne
down below the other by the weight of
the painted box he carried, suspended
by strap and steadied with his long,
restless hands, had become as much Of
fixture as the sign board that swung
under the caves of the little passenger
house. Every arrival of train meant
more or less raising Of windows and
the exchange Of nickels. and pennies
for the plump sacks and the Michigan
fruit. All the trainmen were good
patrons of the faithful vender, but it
is difficult to tell which they sought
the most-the corn and apples they
munched or the privilege of seeing the
happiness their purchases gave Walter,
particularly when the extent of bust
ness made it necessary for him to hur-
ry home and stock up again. 1t was
plain that the vender's soul was in his
humble trade. You could tell that by
the CLEAN of joy that came into the
usually plaintive face when trade was
brisk at the trains or some liberal pas
sengers threw out a nickel or dime for
an apple or bag of corn with the
CHEEKY instructions to ''never mind the
change" .y-s ...s .5~
The big railway corporation. usually
very conservative about granting con-
cessions, allowed Walter to ply his
trade at the trains out of sentiment
of loyalty (also rare trait in railway
corporations to his deceased father
a bright, capable man who worked
himself to death in the employ of the
road. Walter did not inherit his IA
theirs unclouded mentality, but he
recognized the responsibility put upon
his youthful shoulders by the removal
of the breadwinner of the family and
at once took up the line of effort to
which his taste Inclined and which was
happily within the limited range of his
faculties. -
The extraordinary perseverance and
unselishness with which he followed
his humble merchandising from boy
hood up, relinquishing all thoughts of
the thousand and one diversions in
which youth SO much delights, and
foregoing any participa ton beyond
his bare necessities in the results of
his labors, which, though not princely
by any means, went great ways.
toward keeping off the gaunt visitor,
want, from the fatherless circle,
these acts of self-abnegation belong TO,
these annals of silent heroism which
the world never sees or applauds, but.
which are written in the hearts of the.
faithful ones of earth and credited
above.
For nearly twenty-five years he car,
ried on his chosen vocation with a de-,
votion to duty that suggested martyr
dom. To make all the trains (the COM,
ing Of second railroad had enlarged
his operations), to always be punctual,
and to make the most of the remain,
ing hours of the day in his trade aboutt
town was the purpose that SO pos
sessed his nature that hardly half a.
dozen times in the whole period did the
faithful fellow feel disposed to give
himself a holiday, and then his recrea-,
ton was limited to a day only. .
The family by the thriftiness of their
combined efforts had placed themselves
beyond the need of the sons industry,
but his work had so grown into his
life and he invested it with so much
pride and interest that he could not
think of giving it up. No longer a lad,
but nearing forty, he was still the
same persistent, punctual vender; still,
know as Walter the. popcorn boy. It.
was merciful for him but pitiful for
others to think that it never dawned
upon him that the range of his facul-
ties was any narrower than that of
men in other callings; it never oc-
CURED to him that there was anything
insignificant or petty in his poor eff
forts But the crude system of &C
counts which he carried in little
pocket memorandum he was often seen
working upon as he stood with his box
before him on the street corner; the
stress he put upon never missing
train or losing any time in pleasure and
his strict insistence upon the cash basis
--all these indicated that his business
interests were as weighty to him as
the multiplied responsibilities of a
great mercantile house to Stewart or
Mandel; and they were faint evil
dences of what sterile, unfagging
nature, keen business acumen and
genius for conception and execution
had been fated to 20 crippled through
the world.
Even the torments and cruel sport
iveness of the boys who belittled his
trade and made game of his air of au
thority and Importance about the
trains, did not bring to his conscious
ness any hint of his mental infirmity.
And well might the lads who guyed
and derided this silent hero have taken
lesson from his faithfulness, his in
dustry and business system, as well as
from the blameless character of his
life. Evenings found him always at
home, and on Sunday it was his pride |
to have a humble part to perform in
\ II. Il = 80 ia. i