The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-11
GERMAN CoBBLER.
People Take Him Into Their
Confidence.

p F YOU vhas a blacksmith you vhas
too noisy; if you Vhas an under /
al1er you Was too solemn; If you
vhas der ice man you vhas too
e. coldhearted; if you vhas der coal
man you vhas in der combine. 1t
vhas When you vhas a cobbler und all
alone in your shop dot peoples come IN
und gff YOU DER confidence und Vhant
some sympathy. I keep in my window
all der time a sign reading:
Here vhas some sympathy und con
fidence for ALL Come in und tell der
cobbler all about it..
Und peoples come in almost every
hour und everybody brings some shoes
to mend. I just get my shop open der
odder morning when a woman comes IN
nit shoes in her hand und tears in her
eyes. She vhas short ind fat und
motherly, und she had been weeping
Hans. talk to me in confidence,
she says, as she hands me der shoes.
What Vhas der trubbles ?" I says
..Shust der same ash for five years
past My husband says Vhas too
short und too fat. He makes fun of
me und calls me names. Dis morning
he says I better go NIT some sldeShOW
ash der Fat Womans. He says I don't
have some soul in me. He says L can
tell der difference between a glorious
sunset ind a hog in pen. If 1 shake
der house When I walk he calls me an
earthquake Hans my heart vhas
broke ind I don't know What to do.
let her cry for Ave minutes und den
I says:
tings I hat seen your husband, und !
know he vhas a Funt of man who
don't weigh a hundred pounds. He vhas
shealous of YOU
..Rut am l not too fat?v she asks.
You Wasn't fat enough. Venus
weighed ten pounds more than you DC.
| When she gets into a street car dot END
! of it sinks down. She has an arm like
/ a hitching post, und It WAS so Tar
! around her dot a child gets tired of
/ walking. Shakespeare says. 'Gif me a
/ fat woman und I will gif you an angel.
Was dot husband Of yours bigger
man dan Shakespeare
But don't have some souls and SEN
timent2''
an. Your soul vhas ash big as whole
calfskin, und I bet you don't go down
+ to Coney Island und see der waves
break on der beach nitout you make
'oop some poetry.
Yes. dot vhas so. Last week when
vhas down dere come home und
write:
81 stood upon the sandy shore
The tide was full and high;
And my enraptured gaze beheld
A dead horse floating by.
Il read dot to my husband, und he
says it vhas no poetry nothing spiritu-
ellie about it,
dot Vhas shealOusy some more. He
| can't write poetry himself, und so he
don't vhant you to. A dead horse vhas
spirituelle if he vhas of de right color
Go home young womans-go home und
know you vhas all right. Why, if some
one comes here ind says to me vhas
dere some womans around here to be
an angel in a procession mention your
name first of all. Yes, sir, you bet; und
del. newspapers fall over each odder tc
get your picture.
Hans. you vhas der best man living
Nh -F,.1
out she vhas smiling and making some
dimples in her fat cheeks.
Dot same day an old man comes in t.
| have a cement patch on his shoe fo
fifteen cents. He sits down NIT a grun
und don't say nottings for ten minutes
Den he speaks oop:
; ''Cobbler, I vhas counting a widow
womans. I belief I spend one hoonert
dollars in one year buying her presents
She says she Will marry me, but vhel
she finds I don't own some brewery sh
throws me down. When talk back t
her she calls me an old fossil und say