Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1902-10-02
JUST ONE BOYS WAY
THE DRAMA THAT WAS ENACTED ON
A STREET CAR.

A Pocket Exploration Tint Held the
Emincntly satisfactory to tke Per-
Hi.tcnt Youngsters
Wien this small boy on the Ninth
street car went into his clothing after
his car fare, the other passengers be-
trayed little or no interest In him. He
was an ordinary, snub noscd, frecklc
pretty safe to assume that lie had the
nickel necessary for ride or he would
not have swung aboard, and SO the
passengers paid little or no attention to
him. The men, as usual, occupied
themselves in pretending that they
weren't looking at all mt the good look
ing women in the opposite Seats aud
the women, also as usual, cndcavorcd
to convey the impression that they
didn't know there was such creature
as IL man within q hundred :niles Of
them.
But when this small r. began I.
have his troubles alFha,eNRot to look
Ing him over. Everylaset,-ft would ap
pear, likes to see u small boy in trouble
anyhow.
The boy plowcl around in the lining
of the right hand pocket of his shabbJ
little overcoat. screwing himself into
many possible attitudes as he stood
and wrlgglcd In the aisle, and finally.
after terrific exertion, he brought fortL
u penny, half buried In lot OF woolly
stuff from the coat. Then lie turned
his attention to the lining of the left
hand pocket of his ovcrcoat. After al
most supcrhumnn difficulties, in the
process of which it looked as II the boy
might get himself wrapped around an
invisible axis several times in such n
manner that he could never get right
again. he produced another penny. also
plcntifully waddcd in woolen lint be
longing to the ovcrcont.
A couple of elderly men who were
reading papers side by side mt the ene
OF the car began to get nervous The.
pushed back their spcctacles and stud
led the boys movements anXiously.
"larc, there, SOM" said the conduct
or.
The boy gazcd rcproachfully Mt tn.
conductor, stuck the two found pennie,
III his mouth and continued his weird
eXcrtions to assemble his fare.
He unbuttoned his ovcrcout by the
simple process of giving it yanll from
bottom TO top, and then he dug int.
the right hand pocket of his jucket
That pocket, too, seemed to be lining
less. aud the boy had to gropc through,
1t like cat clnwing for the exit of !.
bag. At length he got to the end of 1t
and an expression of acute relief cross
cd his freckled features. The hand was
wedgcd in so tightly that he had about
as much trouble in getting it out us liz
had had In getting 1t i'm, but it clutched
another cent when 1t finally made Its
appearance. This went into his mouth
to join the other two. At this point the
two elderly men coughed violently and
scowlcd at the boy MS II to say that
they wished the Internal business were
done with but the others who were
watching the boys moves looked sym
pathetic
The boy next began laborious ex
ploration- of his right hand k,llcker.
booker pocket, from which he pro.
duccd and bestowed in his overcon,
pocket many articles peculiar to boys
marbles, u piece OF wax, rusty look
Ing knife, two or three printed cellu-
iold buttons. and SO on-and ut the
very bottom of this salvage was yet
another penny. All the other passcn
gers except the two elderly men
breathed signs of relief. but they want
ed to read their papers, and yet they
couldn't while this boy was engaged In
his cventful search, with the chances
about even whether he'd win out O,
not.
Fare now there. Kid" said the con.
ductur once more tackling the boy
The boy handed him the four pennies
from his mouth after very politely rub
bins them off on his ovcrcoat sleeve.
and he said. with very boyish grin:
II got the other one somewhercs
Wait IL minute. mister"
Then the 10y gazcd up ut the ceiling
Of the car and studied for moment.
While the other passengers except the
two elderly men. who looked fcrocious,
rooted for him with all their might.
The boy felt tentatively Mt his left
hand knickerbockers pocket, but it was
plain to see that he knew that was no
go. For about half minute he looked
worried, and the sympathetic pusscn.
gers worried along with him, as could
be seen by the tense expression on
their faces as they regarded every
movement Of the boy with strained.
almost feverish attention. Then the
boy reached into back pocket of his
knickcrbockers, brought forth one of
those celluloid travelling soap boxes,
somewhat battered, took Off the lid.
and there, buried III a lot Of Junk. was
the other cent.
The sigh Of relief that ran around
that car was distinctly audible. The
sympathetic passengers, men and wo.
men, settled themselves back in their
seats and smiled at the boy, and two or
three of them looked as IL they wanted
to jump up and suggest cheers. The
two elderly men coughed violently
again, readjusted their spectaeles and
began again on their newspapers.
Then the small boy sat down, took
neat looking change purse from the in
side pocket of his overcoat, dumped
the contents-about 50 In quarters,
hickels and dlmes--into his hands and
began counting It, whereupon the pas
sengers who had been roofing for him
but moment before Instantly frozc
and looked ut him as II they consider