The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-11
INDUSTRY AND
DRAW POKER.
Qualities That Made Bill Watefmaa
a Substantial Citizen OF
Arkansas City.

There amt hardly no limit to what q
man ON do II he on'y hangs onto what ne
got, an don't throw away his opportunities
an keeps peggin' away said old man
Greenhut, as he stood in the doorway OF
his saloon, looking up the street. Pears
like It were q provision O. natur' that apples
uh'd crow when q man that's hell bent on
apples ON al'ays find 'em an apays shake
'em down, IL 30 he's willin' to do the work.
90 course, there Is them that does toPable
we'll standin' round, an waitin' fr some
body else to do the shakin', an just pickin'
,,p what rolls toward EN-. But they amt
10 be reckoned in the same class with
the feller that's al'ays hustlin', an arrays
a-watchin', what he hustles fer an takin'
care Of 1t.
sNow there's that Bill Waterman that
Just drove up the road on that old suiky O.
hisn. reckon you cd buy sulky IKE II
for maybe four dollars, but the boss net
driyin' is worth four thousand II he's worth
a cent. An Bill Is got mchey in the bank
an owns right smart o. land back In the
country.
when he como to Arkansas City first
OF. he rid a mule, an he hadn't but one
gallus. Likely he mought ha' had coat
onoet but he didn't have 1t no longer, al
his pants was Just what was left.
AN t he owned in the world was the
mule, 90 he told me afterward, an aPays
had a notion It he'd on'y owned him I'm
The time he'd found him loose on the road
somewhercs. There amt no evidence on
that pint. though.
where Bill come from ! never knowed,
nor WHY he come to Arkansas City. de
didn't bring nothin' with him but the mule,
an II didn't look much like he was goin'
10 be no great addition to the population.
There was some on US that seen him come
that kind O. thought 1t mought be up to
tls to keep him travellin', not havin' no
great notion O. swellin' the census with
that kind,
But 'twa'nt long afore / seen there was
chance Z he might be better'n he looked.
First thing he did was to 60 lookin' round
town f'r somebody 7 wanted to hire
mule.
Ia cd ha' sold the critter easy enough,
but he wouldn't. Well, Sam Galloway
made dioker with him toward shutdown,
10 give him a dollar day f'r the mules
hire, an throw in the critters feed.
Now, a dollar day don't look like much
7 the 1OunQatlon Oh ioTVune, ohu olh
much. but heap depends on who has
the dollar a day. An when 1t come to put
tin money to a good use, Bill Waterman
sure did show talent.
'You might ha' thought t he'd ha' started
IN to buy fine clo'es, or red liquor, or pomps
an vanities SIGH as a good many men will
when they begin to handle money a'tsl
bein' without 1t. but Bill didn't. He knowsd
The value O. good money.
There was penny ante game goin
on down on the levee. them days. can't
say where the rousters got the pennies,
nor where they learned what they was
for there want no pennies used along
The river them days.
The smallest there was a nickel, an
nobody had much use for nickels. We had
quarters an picayunes an the dime was q
abort bit, like they called 1t out West. an
there want nothin' smaller reckoned
worth countin'. But somehow the rousterf
had learned about pennies. an was ustn'