Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1899-06-07
M.QUA:|ID D FUN
Understanding a People.
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said the Colonel in answer to certain
inquiries, "but I think the sole reason
was that they did not understand the
people. I didn't do anything for the
first six months I was there but study
the natives, and when went into busl-
ness had no trouble"
do they seem to need special study"
was asked.
"They do, sir. They have got their
little idioms and characteristics, and
if you try to break over them things are
sure to go wrong. Let me instance
the case of the machinery we landed in
the bay of Honduras. There was 40
horsepower boiler which had to be
conveyed inland for distance of three
miles, and the whole road was over hills
and of the toughest sort. I figured out
that the only way was to use about 200
natives with ropes and pulleys and lev
ers, and that if we covered the distance
in a month we'd be lucky. I had a
talk with native boss and he wanted
$500 for moving the boiler alone. There
was an engine beside, together with
1900 bricks, and a big fy-wheel and a
lot of other stuff. His figures on NOV
ing the whole outfit were close to $1,000,
and he wanted 60 full days to do the
work."
"And that was where your study of
the people came in," was laughingly
observed.
''The laugh doesn't come in yet" re-
piled the Colonel. IF I hadn't studied
the native I should have had to pay
out that thousand dollars. AS it was, 1
went off fishing for a week. I had All
American in charge of my stuff on the
wharf, and gave him vacation ALSO -
''And what happened?"
''Just what I had planned for. One
of the idioms of the Guatemalean is
never to work where he can steal. He'd
much sooner steal quarter from you
than to have you present him with so
cents. There was only one way to get
that boiler and machinery back into
the country, and that was up the road
leading to the mill. They wanted 90
days to move it for pay, but figured
that it wouldn't take over seven if they
stole the outfit. was correct
do you mean that they stole you1
outft?"
''That's what I mean, sir. AS soon
as our backs were turned, about SOC
natives gathered and began to hump
themselves. They worked day and
night, and on the morning of the eighth
day, when I returned, boiler, engine
and all were within five rods of where
1 wanted 'em. I went up to the boss
who had figured on thousand dollars
and complimented him on his work
and felt so good over it that offered
him 5000 in cash. He wouldn't look al
it. He just called off his crowd and
marched away, and though they must
have been disappointed lot didn't
even hear crossword. I got a new
gang and paid 'em $25 to put the outfit
where wanted it. If I'd only been an
hour later in my return wouldn't have
had to pay out dollar"
"Perhaps you don't have to pay
wages to your mill hands over there p
was asked, after long silence.
''Well, not regularly" cheerfully re
piled the Colonel. ION Saturday after
Moons, if I happen to think of it, leave
bag with four or five silver dollars ir
it lying around loose, and the crowc
prefers to steal it and divide up thu
plumber rather than to be paid twice
or three times as much by the cashier
He Made a Discovery.
Il hear a good deal about luck" sale
the oculist as he polished away at {
pair of eyeglasses and smiled in sor
rowful way, "but I don't believe in it
The man who has luck is the man who
don't make fool of himself, as I die
year or two ago. If I'd had two
grains of sense in my head on an oc
casion 20 months ago I'd have been en-
joying soft snap to-day.
mo, it wasn't a ground-f1oor specu
lation," he continued, after breathing
on the glasses and holding them up t.
the light. 81 got a letter from tn.
president of one of the biggest rail
roads in the country, asking me to cal
at his Office. When called I discov
cred that he wanted to pay me 5000
per year to test the employees of the
road for color blindness. Iclosed will
the offer as quick as I could get my
breath, and a day was named for MT
to bring up my samples and show tn
old gent the modus operandi of tn,
| thing. I was on hand when the houl
arrived. I had all the colors ever uset
about railroad, and after looking
them over the president sagaciousl,
observed:
""This green doesn't seem to me t.
be quite as deep as our signals, bu
perhaps it will answer we'll enough
II turned to him, and hope to drol
dead in my tracks if he wasn't looking
at the brightest kind of red-the danger
signal, you know!
"'You mean this said as I pointed
to the deep green.
"'No, sir, mean this he replied, al
he put his finger on the red.
"Ah, mel" sighed the oculist, "bu
what a fool I made of myself! I'll,
president of that big railroad couldn'
tell red from green, nor blue from
white, and I was ass enough to give i
away that he was color blind. 1t wa
only between us two, but he flew mac
and called me an impostor and an idiot
and I was virtually kicked out of hi
Office"
"You ought to have lied about it,
was remarked.
II ought to have kept my mouth shu
and never said word. It was moth
ing to me whether he could tell tn,
l o01o1. Of his hat ~. MT hut - .x-oe