The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-30
HARD LUCK AT START
A BATCH OF STORIES TOLD BY
 PEOPLE NOW SUCCESSFUL.
Two Brokers Kept From Starving by Lucky Find-A Merchants Lightning Cleanser-New
 Start for Two Stars.

It was started by a chance remark at the dinner table. Two middle-aged brok. CTS had been joking each other about having been squeezed that day on the market, and he of the iron-gray hair and youthful eyes winked as he said: Never mind, old man; 1t was nothing compared with our first speculation that night in Boston,
 The table awoke on the instant. The moment was ripe for "reminiscences. You see, 1t was this way; Bert ana | I started out in the world together, giv- | ing up small clerkships to make our for | pened to be Boston. But we found that the world wasn't so easy to conquer, | and with no acquaintances In the city we were soon on our uppers. We knew nothing of life in town, ana | were about as green as could be. But we were too proud to go home. Finally there came day when we were desperate. We had slept Tn ware face a dreary rain. Money we had none, and we were afraid that If we applied to the police we'd be booked as 'vags 50 we decided to spend the day In the Common and watch for money or arncies of value that people might drop. It was | forIorn hope. but we followed 1t through puddles and showers, getting fainter each moment for lack of food.
 It wasn't udy TOT uroppihs Naiu ables, and night found us in sad straits still. We were in no mood to tax, put at last, for the sake of saying some thing, l said to Bert:
 Well, l guess it's about time for us to take a dark street, and hold up the first man that comes along.
 Bert took me in earnest, and I'll never forget the expression on his face when he stopped in our dreary perembuiation ana faced me. It was absolutely tragic.
 'Oh not lust vet. Let & wait a little longer
 T doubled up with laughter, and as bent over something shiny on the pave ment caught my eye; 1t was & a dime; ,a wiches. Or two .ups of coffee. Or two small pans of beans. Which should It
 '-Then the spirit of plunging. which has since brought my partner coin of the realm, seized him. He said:
 Let's shake for 1t. If you get 1t, buy the grub. If get 1t, shoot craps with the first fellow l meet
 est lunch joint, where he actually found a man who would gamble on the enorm- ous sum of 10 cents. He doubled our cap- ital and we had the lunch.
 Then what? Well that seems to be the turning point of our careers. The pro- prietor of the joint had spotted us and before we had finished our 20 cent meal we were telling him our story.
 He put us in the way Of work. By and by we came to our senses and let the folks at home know it, and Berts father, tickled with our grit, gave us start"
 Next" said the hostess with laugh.
 The manager of a foupishlnS mcfcan- tile concern leaned forward.
 My good wife, Heaven rest her soul, once helped me out of the ughtest hole we were eyer in," he began. Tt was in a midwest city. then in its youth, that 1 stranded as a life insurance agent.
 How we managed to exist for a few weeks in a so-called furnished room will not attempt to describe, but we fin ally got down to our last i've dollars. My wife while doing our paltry washing, re- marked:
 Just see what a father this soap makes It's the best brand ever used.
 T watched the white foam on her hands. and suddenly the inspiration came.
 Peggy 1 exclaimed, that soap must save us. I'm going to do It up In httle packages and sell 1t on the streets adter dark as a lightning cleanser. Now, now can we turn the trickT
 'The family washing was suspended then and there, and she sat down with ma to figure it out. Before long my iast five dollars and l were on the street. bought three dozen bars of the soap. all know. A roll of tnfoil. some tissue paper and several fine, small sponges. ,
 "Once back in our room my wife and worked hard and fast. for afternoon was at hand. Taking the sponges we wet them thoroughly and rubbed them hard over the soap until they were sat urated with suds them above the stove to dry. Next we carefully scraped off the bars the im- print of the soap maker. washed the sur faces to make them perfectly smooth cut each cake into five small flat ones and wrapped these carefully in tissue and tinfoil. It. corner. the soap in tinfoil piled on one hand and the dry sponges with oasin of water on the other. .. 4,
 "Well I proceeded to demonstrate the .srdsing' quality of that soap until the eyes of the entire crowd seemed to bulge out Of course when the sponges were wet the old father got in It's WorK, ana then when l barely touched IL on the sample cake, there was something doing all over my hands and clear down to the
 "Did I sell the soap? Well. rather. and at 50 cents a cake. And then in the train with the proceeds of the scheme and quietly stole back to the old farm.
 "There Is a reminiscent glow in the eyes of MT. Stevens" said the host. way ing his hand in the direction of we'll known singer who instantly became the center of interest He began:
 I'm from New England, as YOU know, and my family was opposed to my adopt ing the musical profession. So l prompt ly ran away and joined the chorus of second-rate opera company.
 'Of course, the company selected San Francisco, the jumping off place, to get stranded in, and with my utter inexperi- ence I was soon up against 1t in dead earnest One day I got date at a va riety house. though. felt that wouldn't make good. as they say In the profession. If I survived my first appearance as soloist, l would do we'll.
 This thought, with the fact that I'd had nothing to eat for twenty-four hours. plunged me into the depths once more. when I heard a wall in a feminine voice:
 'Oh, dear the stage manager says l can't even rehearse because 1 have no orchestration for my song. What shall
 Hunger Is a marvellous inspiration.