The morning times., 1896-09-13

Many a Joke is cracked about the mes
senger boy, but the Washington species Is
not slow and sleepy. A sharper and
schre set OF youngsters would be hard
to find.
There are three companies in this city
who employ these boys to carry messages
and kilograms. The bicycle boy IN one
company receives SIT month and the
walking boy S1I. Another company pays
the messengers 2 cents Il message or Sl6
month, and the third pays the riding
boy SIC, and the walking boy l2 month.
For these amolnts lie works from to
10 hours "A day.
The 2-cent boys are the hustlers of the
company: hustlers for the coin. and there
is a race 10 the office every morning IT,
tween them to catch the first batch OF
kilograms, which runs froIt fifty 10 seventy
five, for the Departments. Some of these
boys get down as early as O'Clock when
their hour OF reporting is The salaried
boys creeps i'll along about O'Clock since
It Is imnaterial to hi n whether he has one
telegram or hundred. 1t means no more
salary for him on the first OF the month.
ARE A TRICKY LOT
They are a tricky lot, too. and many
times will charge you for a telegram when
the charges are already paid, and stuff
the money down i'll their pockets to buy
sweets for the day for the messenger boys
are high flyers and have a sweet tooth. A
trick of the messenger boy during the win
ter is to carry a telegram to a house and
as soon some one comes to receive ii he
starts an imitation cough. He will then
ask the lady to please give him ten cents to
, help purchase a bottle of cough syrup.
The messenger boys story viii generally
go, and with the imitation cough ringing
in her ears the lady OF the house Will go
down in Ter pocket and give the desired
! amount.
As for car tickets. why it would be hard
| to find a member Of the force in the city
| who has not ut least a dozen in his pocket
| always ready to do business with them at
| four cents peace. Whenever they carry
| a mcssag ge, W eel boy or walking boy. they
| will always say.
Mister, Will you please give me car
| ticket, I've worked very hard today ard
| am tired 8.
Nine times out Of ten they receive it and
| trudge on TO their destination, for a mes
scnger boy in a street car is rarity.
Never send message 10y a walking boy,
/ for it will be nece ssary to use the XRays
| to tell when it viii reach its destination.
| He will peer in all the shop window along
| the line discuss the latest make Of bicycle
| with his pal. play a game or so OF marbles
| OF ball, stop al nine or ten candy and fruit
| stands, read ''Deadwooi Dick and reach
his destination about three hours and
| thirty minutes after starting. Wien you
l had
the messenger all week instead of an hour
| or so.
There is as much difference between
| the bicycle and the walking boy as there
is between night and day. Give the rid
| ing boy message and sometimes TIP
and he VIII mount his silent steed and
| go of like the wind Occasionally lie
| will loaf but not near as much as the
.'drillers or walking boys.
| Like a great MANY other people. mes
| senger BOYS are superStitioIs. and when
| a telegram or message is sent to house
| to reach which a cemetery has to be passed,
| il is hard to get boy to carry it. They
| will go willingly in the day time but after
| night fall IL is another question. They
| Will begin to tell stories of spooks when
| such a message is mentioned. and it often
| results in the dismissal of several OF the
| boys. With all this he is kind hearted
i and often has helped the needy with the
few pennies he could spare.
THE HAPPIEST DAY.
The happiest day for messenger boy is
New Years. Then lie receives his greet
ings and distributes one with every MESA &c
or telegram which almost always brings
him something from the receiver.
| The late Senator Leland Stanford would
| always present a So bill to the messenger
boy who first brought him a telegram on
New Years morning. aud TO any other
| messenger who brought him a telegram
during the rest of tie day he would give
fifty cents. The differe foreign Legations
always give money on New Years, and
the whole force usually has indigestion
on Christmas and New Years.
Now and then the boys get what they call
"soakers.'' This is a message TO be de-
livered about five miles from the office,
and with all the wheel boys out, the
walking boy has To foot it. Sometimes lie
| will foot it, sometimes he Will throw up
his job.
| In winter time the night force OF boys
when business is slack, Will use the
"bully,'o fire in the office. and read the
latest editions OF dime novels, such as
Nick Carter ''"Deadwood Dick Harry
Reade'' and Sure Shot Pete You can
often hear them whisper to one another,
Lend me such and such a novel;" or x
will trade YOU All of a sudden there
will be call and boy No. 1 on the bench
will get soaked out in the cold on a
call The rest OF the boys will laugh at
their good luck while No. now on the
bench sits IN fear. for he kuow ws he will be
the next one out aud no smile broadens his
face His may be ''soaker' of couple
of miles Some OF the remainder keep on
reading their novels, some go to sleep.
and Others think of the hour OF quitting, for
if there is anything a messenger boy don't
like it is to work on night with the snow
two feet deep and the wind whistling
around the corner at forty-mile an hour
rate.
So he lives along, but the messenger boy
is not always going to lie the same. He