Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-07-02
VERY BUSY Scene.
What One Witnesses in
a News Store.
A STUDY OF CHARACTER.
All Sorts Will Be Found Among the
Sturdy Paper Carriers.


few minutes, a veritabIe bee hive OF In
dustry, he should step inside fair sized
news store at the time the evening papers
are coming In. II he Will stand there for
few minutes, and watch and listen to
the buzzing of the little bees of the estab.
lishment he will find much to am use him,
with probsbiy many an object lesson pre-
viously untaught. There is q hustling
and bustling In the rush to get through
with the work and out on to the streets
with their wares, for with an eye to busi.
ness, they all learn that ait is the early
bird that catches .he worm" What va
riety OF individuality this observer will
see; what an opportunity for character
study. From the little rag-a-muffin of
the street to the more sedate and better
clad High School youth, to whom fair for
tune has evidently been mere generous.
Here each one plays his part and plays lit
certainlyito nature.
Ii was In one Of these stores few days
ago that tho following scene was enacted:
Boys coming In from the trains and
elsewhere on the run, with bundles Of pa.
pers on their shoulders. Then to work
they went, some on all fours, opening and
separating, and folding and counting, then
piling and arranging for sale. One youth,
a little more active than the others, has
bis pile all arranged and is crushing them
into his paper. bag, and In minute will
be out. Among all the proprietor moves,
and like the general that he Is, turns here,
there and everywhere, directing, aiding,
guiding, the little troup about him. II
might be imagined from reading this that
all the foregoing was done In silence and
with mec hanical precision.
IL is not. Newspaper boys, as a class, are
the hustlers OF the community; and he
hustling boy makes the hustling man. In
this group Of ten, where was represented
an equal variety Of natures, there was the
quiet boy and the funny boy, the wit and
student, the pugnacious youth and bully;
also the sly gamin with all the precocious-
ness OF his Americanism and possessing q
keen wit to help him out of difficulties.
There was one who whistled and sang as
he worked; the funny youth delighted to
tell the latest joke and to plague the
k1maller boys. There was another Who ID
q genius for Sinking, and would do any
thing rather than work; yet will make a
most agonizing appeal for "help to fold
his papers" when he sees the other boys
are done and he hardly begun. There also
was the sedate or studiously inclined
inclined youth who, while working,
catches glimpse at the doings of the city
fathers or the condition at Nicaragua, or
probably the aspect of the war clouds over
China. "Music hath its charms for all !"
we aretold, but here the pugnacious youth
tells the musical one to close up, as he is
scanning the head lines Of the sporting
column while he works, which he would
sooner do than to hear all the songs that
Julia Mackey ever sang. While above all
this babble the voice of the proprietor
was frequently heard calling, "Silence!"
and not always In the most approv ved Eng
lish.
First he will stir the slow boy up who
would sooner talk than work. Then an
other in telling his jokes got twisted on
his count and had to be Strengthened out.
Each one requires his attention In one
way or another; both by way of keeping
matters straight and preserving peace in
the establishment. Soon, however, all Is
over. as the boys Lave nearly finished the
work and will soon be lodging among
the people on the street with their "paper
mister?" query, or vending their way
along q regular route. Thus 1t goes on
one day after another with slight varia-
tions, until they enter other walks OF life,
which they will pursue all the more sue.
cessfully, on account of the experience
gained in many things while a newsboy.