The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-23
AUToCRAT OF THE ELEVATOR,
Commonly Known the elevator
Boy Is Capable Of Many Franks.

Louisville Courier-Journal.
1t does the elevator boy an injustice
when you think he has something against
you. He has not. That is, not against you
in particular. It's against all humanity who
ride in elevators against whom his scorn is
directed If yoH happen pen to belong o to that at
blame for that.
He is essentially suspicious. He thinks the
whole world is in a conspiracy against him.
This is illustrated by story told of a
characteristically morose elevator boy in
one of the big downtown buildings. He
eyed every man who got on his machine as
If to say: "WhO told you you could ride on
this elevator?'' One of the officeholders of
the building, who had been using the ma
chine for a year or more, with constantly
increasing trepidation, finally concluded he
would get an expression from the elevator
boy, even if he were thrown down the SHAFT
for his temerity. One day he said: viii,
what would you do to man if he would
tell you his honest. candid opinion of your
Without the least hesitation in the world
the elevator boy said: I'D smash him in
the mouth There isn't another man in the
building who dares to address the ear of
the lifting machine.
1t will be noticed that the class of man
ayers of the lifting machines are called
elevator boys This is a misnomer. The
geniuses who originally presided over the
machines were boys but so many accidents
happened when the affairs were first put
into use that the boys were replaced by
men, who were still, out of courtesy, called
boys.
1t is more the exception than the rule to
of elevators. When you find one, you find
him subject to two evils he is disposed to
stop on intermediate floors to play pass
ball or delay the machine for from five
to fifteen minutes to talk to a pretty girl
1t is seldom that passenger has the cour-
age to upbraid the boy; he is too much like
a locomotive engineer and must be cOddled
He is jealous Of the elevator bell and the
man who dares to ring the bell once too
often a second too long pays for the dis
courtesy by standing and fretting at the
bottom of the steps until the genius of the
lift has satisfied his spleen. The look the
discourteous passenger gets when the ma
chine does finally reach the floor is a COM
posite of all murderous weapons
AS rule the elevator boy has an eye for
the aesthetic as we'll as the beautiful. He
is a gallant too A Christmas season never
passes that he does not decorate his ma
what he means by devoting so much time
to embellishing his lift with the evergreen
he simply remarks It's the beginning of
the holiday season and I'd like TO call at
tention to the fact. He is beginning to
thaw out for the regular annual Christmas
and New Years tips
II was during the Hallowe en- season that
an amusing incident happened in one of
the big buildings in the business end of the
town. The elevator boy was one of those
fellows who paid as much attention TO his
hair and neckties as club man. There
was not single young woman in the build
ing that he wasn't familiar enough with to
address by her first name.
The lower floor on this occasion was
crowded with anxious men who were
frowning and swearing because the eleva-
ttor would not come down The upper floor
was likewise crowded with men who were
also breaking one of the commandments
because the machine would not move up.
The machine was suspended in midair. The
electric bells were playing a sulphurous
tune both above and below and dire threats
were made against the elevator boy. After
an interval of perhaps fifteen minutes, the
machine glided swiftly down the chute and
came to gentle halt The door was
thrown back by the elevator boy and his
face was cut by a grin which extended
from ear to ear. A pretty little miss stepped
out her face covered with bushes, and her
hat very much askew.
1t was like oil on troubled waters.
Would | were an elevator boy" quoth
the maddest of the former anxious passen-
gers as he stepped respectfully into the ma
chine