The Mercur miner. [volume] (Mercur, Utah) 1895-1913, 1905-11-01
AON

MAnOney looked at the
pinched, old-fashloned .ace
WOW OF the applicant and decid-
ed that this hoy. at least.
would not skylark, AMI be saw n
chance OF clearing good three dollars
on the weekly payroll. So he offered
Corny half a dollar a day, and the tat.
ter took the place of the "dollar.n. day
man." who drank too much to hold his
Job, and accepted the cfer and .Ee
red flag with an cagernes, that almost
made Mahoney wish he had knocked
OF an additional half dol ar.
Corny's place was at the narr, W
crossing at Blank street, where a plat
form of heavy plauks had been bu.lt
over the deep ditch Of the subway
works. AT one end Of the excavation
was the hosting engine house, and
overhead the heavy wire cables carried
the trolley car" of earth or broken
stone from the further end of the ditch
to the dumping platform near the en-
CINE.
Beside the engineer was n window.
and through this aperture he could
zee the boy with the flag at the cross.
ing, n long block away. lie governed
the speed and the raising and lowering
OF the car according TO the signal Of
that flag.
Corny received his signals from the
man who stood directly above the spot
where the men were cxcavatlng and
who guided the swinging box among
the great pipes and drains ana conduits
which seemed TO hang in perfect
network above the heads Of the labor
ers below.
Besides keeping sharp eye on the
man, Corny was expected TO be on the
lookout for vehicles that wished TO
cross the ditch and to allow none to
cross while the loaded trolley was run
ningi overhead. A bit OF rock might
fall drom the ear. or horse might
become frightened By the rattle of the
trolley.
The flagboy certainly earned his half
dollar There was no time for sky
larklng, even had Corny been so in
cllned. But Mahoney had been quite
correct in his Judgment OF Corny's
face; life was altogether too serious
to him for the fIaghoy TO enjoy him
self as did other boys
When. n person of fifteen feels the
responsibility Of forty five resting ON
his shoulders skyarking is n long way
from his thoughts. The ptlable three
dollars n week Mahoney allowed him
was expected. with what Johnny could
al gtn
keepers and Ben could rake selling
papers to clothe. feed ANA house seven
ravenously hungry, active growing
boys and girls.
Ii had not always been so. Six
months Of trial and privation had made
very "old-fashoned" boy indeed Of
{ nelius Harvey.
'he Harneys had only lived year
ana half in the city before the father
died They had come from "tne old
country" and after "hcr man" was
taken. the mother pinned more and more
for the old English village where she
had been born. She Could do but little
20 help support the family, and soon
the orphaned children saw her laid
away also.
Cornelius was the oldest boy. Mary,
who was two years his senior, Fcpt
house for them and tried to keep the
garments Of The younger children de-
Gently patched Nobody seemed To
want boy Of Cornelius agc until he
had drawn the attention Of Boss Ma
honey at the underground works
Those three dollars looked big indeed
10 Corny until he began TO try TO mp.
portion them out-so much toward the
rent so much for food, and such o
very little for clothinG ana nothing
at all for extras. JOhhuy's ana Ben s
incomes were not 10 b. depended upon
for they varied according to the mum.
Der Of errauds johnny could run and
the number Of papers Ben sold
And TO make sure OF those three go!
lars Corney had to be up at every
morning, rain or shine, warm or cold
ana he did not get back until q ri
night. There certainly was no thoUchi
OF play In the flagboys mind. The re
sponslblitles resting on his you. 3
shoulders spurned Corny 10 do his best
He quickly learned the signals 10y
which the engine was governed and
he was never inattentlye when III,
trolley was In motion. Mahoney I'D
mitted that "the kid" was good IN,
for him; but he stlll appropriated IN,
other three dollars in Corny's envegp,
on pay day.
The timekeepcr, who came up from
the contractors office every Afternoon
TO get the details Of the days worl
from Mahoney gave poor Corny srri
Gus fright the very first day.
"Where's McAdo" asked the tine
keeper, br.skly. lie was lively youni