The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-03
THE ELEVATOR BOY.
Some Personal Adventures As Relat-
ed by Himself.

Yesterday Mr.. Rasher, the agent OF
the skyscraper, called me down to his
Office and said:
"Sammis, you have no father. and
you are the sole support of a widowed
mother, who has a gigantic mortgage
on her home. l do not want to take
your Job away from you and reduce
you from affiuence to poverty, but you
must stop falling in love with every
good looking girl around the building.
You have lad five or six love affairs
within a year, and even now you are
threatening suicide because the red
headed typewriter on the sixth floor has
given you the shake"
Overcome by emotion. I leande -
against the wall and wept, and he looked
at me in plying way and continued
Let EN- alone, Sammis; let 'em alone.
They will break your trusting heart and
desOlate your young life. You may now
go down to the basement and weep for
half an hour and call uD new reSOlu-
tions. AT the end of that time tackle
your elevator again, and if the thought
of precipitating yourself from the roof
of the building occurs to you drive 1t
away at once Three different times
love of women, and l have lived on to
discover that 7 made a fool of myself
in every case. Take this nickel and buy
ginger ale and brace up"
! l went away and sought to mend my
broken heart. There is still a lingering
affection for the girl who wrapped her
self around my soul, but I believe that
within a week 7 can elevate her from
the ground floor without lump gather
! ing in my throat.
The red-headed girl came to our sky
Scraper three weeks ago. She is small
and blue-eyed and saucy The first dav
she went up in my elevator she smiled
I at me. On her second trip she winked
and on the third she laid her hand at
fectionately on my shoulder and said:
They tell me your name is SammIs.
a q no n
! Aaron or Moses. l wouldst that 1 was
loved by some one like you. Wilt be
my chevalier2"
| I said 1 would. 1 didn't know wheth-
er chevalier touted for poolroom or
steered strangers from Kalamazoo up
| against bunkO games, but / wasn't 60
| ing to be left. l presented her with a
| bag of fresh roasted peanuts on the
spot and followed them up with a box
of candy and a bouquet When 1 left
| for home that night I realized that
was in love. / had had limitations be-
| fore. l had even limited at matrimony
with blue and black eyed girls. but there
was no such nzZlng and bubbling in my
! heart. 1 could not eat my mutton chop
! for supper I could not fall asleep and
| snore when I went to bed. The night
| seemed never ending, and 1 was half an
| hour ahead of time next morning. The
smile l got was sufficient reward.
The days passed, and I loved on. Her
name was Ethel and | broke my young
back looking Tor money TO keep her IN
| flowers and peanuts and to take her out
to lunch. She gave me her confidence
from the start. That is, she said a bald
| headed old villain on the tenth floor had
asked her to go to supper and the
! theater, but she had repulSed him with
scOrn She was not ambitious to marry
a millionaire and have a cottage at
Newport. She was not mercenary or
| avaricious. If she loved youth getting
Sc per week. she would marry him and
live on a roof garden all winter to prove
her love and help him to save money to
bet on baseball in the spring. 1 was
captivated and enthralled. Not a day
passed that did not send her some re-
minder of my love, and not a day pass
! ed that she did not smile on me and
sweetly say: