The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-03

...st NJ ~ sui ]rHutir,la Nv Nv b,tsHras w
up Ufus tssamrNt rsHfiT store ~ ~ tass
.i4 Hfast WithptH ttH duaf tnip ths'
s,Il ~ impUaslhis o. ga lHfitUateiI IN
Its arg fie aiheF ~ IN ~ paragraph
snrs how NE sosnaH nd hsen ~sufusaouesl
ID, fhe HfYNs goit'e rouft bscu'iss 50 hsd
si fsd hss he lleeHaHi
ttr fntl me aselstssea tht, shH isdn't
s,I money enough ~ fay us lU~nas fNr,
yUiid sttend Nv u avn ahn tiso az
s,se,l thtt Nv, va d"tf and b.
..tri IN The Ing Nv en,ns Nv lef IN tha
sfishrn Nv notify iraf fhtt tlsar" sts . ctiaa
i,saet yti,ine IN m" font store After
r i'iof4 Fetr explained MAGISTRATES CofneU
r,ue Nra moeh two Ncehs IN which 10 -,
Tho ,so ipilsrs for Niegrr'a iicenss
M ruufar thr doa dtd his share ~ earn
.Ua money. hectuar Without hHr four legAeh
r..rynlker Nirs Blu1k simply could not
.arp .torc In th~ front room and cook And
,ni and wash and iron aud 10 a few
.NsIa,nd morc things for hor husband,
three rh,ldrrn and hcraslf and tho dog In
lUr $50 back rooms In Witch tho family
woe
Rut THE IL no suuniid tenement houSs
warn There's nothing untidy or unclean
about the Block h2,lnehold, and tho threc
srall chips are wathed and scrubbed Just
a- hard and NJ frequently a. any Of tho other
Youngsters who 20 10 tho public school
across the street from the candy store,
And Niger would have had his license long
ago II James Block. the head Of the family,
had not lost his job a. a porter In a jewelry
-'uro lust because he stayed at home one
DAY, partly because he had a cold, but prin-
orally because he wanted 10 hel y his wife
teach Niger TO tend store.
The dog was "A newcomer In the house,
hold then and the candy venture was new,
too The Blocks had saved enough to lay
in n modest stock of gundrops, stick per-
rermint and peanut brittle and one case OF
soft drinks. Then they converted the sit
ting roEn into a store and began business.
The husband was making about nine dollars
a week. The wife thought that she could
ma ke almost as much out Of the store after
II had got under way. This rent was twenty
dollars "A month. SO the Blocks multiplied
their expected income a week by hfty-two
weeks in the year, subtracted what they
knew they could live on and rejoiced over
the balance, as it appeared on paper.
They even picked out the savings bank
with which they would do business and
calculated that by the time Mortimer,
now aged 5, was grown up, they would be
able to turn over to him and the OF her
children about the biggest store in The
Bronx. Mrs. Block worked in a depart
ment store before she was married and
wants to have one of her own some time.
Thin gs didn't happen as they had been
Mrs. Block had not realized how deaf she
really was and it had net occurred to her
that she couldn't do her housework in the
back room and hear the bell they had rugged
up on the store door. Another difficulty
was in hearing what he customers, mostly
children, had to say. That was unforeseen,
too. She could understand adults by watch
ing their mout his and her own children had
learned how to make her underst and, but
when the rest of the neighborhood began to
flock in II was different.
A child in a candy store first CLUES his
nose to the glass top of the show cases and
then mumbles, which is n waytodo business
with a deaf storekeeper. Mrs, Block
couldn't crawl into the showcase and look
up to see if the lip movement looked like
gum or taffy. And, of course. the rush
hours of her trade were after school when
she had to be in the kitchen getting things
ready for her own family.
Most any kind of a meal would burn to a
cinder while one deaf woman was trying TO
make out what five or six children with a
penny apiece want to buy, especially when
the purchasers don't know themselves till
they nave compared notes and critically
eyed he stock from one end OF the showcase
to the other and back again. =,
Mortimer could help some, but he a
never really lived in a candy store before,
and to turn him loose behind the counter
vast to have the days profit eaten up between
school hours with the added expense OF q
dose OF Jamaica ginger.
So Mrs. Block didn't match Mr.. Blocks
income as a porter and the pair began to
lose faith in the long rows OF hgures they
had put down on paper in the beginning
Then the family next door moved out OF,
s snS ne,g~ bs;psd b1s,o tea mo5gr n1n Mortimer
insisted on adopting the animal and the
rest of the family consented. The dog ate
up any profits that might have been lett
after the boy had made his daily raids on
liking to Niger and for his sake wouldn't
scrape the soup bones quite as clean as had
been thought necessary before.
1t was Mr.. Block that thought OF training
Niger to be useful and he was 80 enthu-
siastic over the scheme that the next day
he stayed a home to get the storekeeping
and housekeeping combination on a better
basis. 1t was Saturday, so the children
were there to help train the dog,
Mrs. Block went into the kitchen, Niger
was left in the store and the rest OF the
family went out on the sidewalk The
father came in first, pretending that he was
a customer. Niger simply wagged his
tail and paved around Blocks knees, which
was friendly out not practical. His master,
cufed him and pointed TO the kitchen and
Niger ran out. Mrs. Black came in, went
behind the counter with a great deal OF
unusual hustle and circumstance to impress
Niger, and gave an imaginary, stick OF
candy to her husband, who handed her, a
penny that was just as imaginary as the
candy Or that savings bank balance whlch
the Blocks had dreamed about. -,
Mrs. Block returned to the kitchen and her
husband to the sidewalk, e aving Niger
alone until Mortimer came in and went
through the same performance. Then
the other children had their turn and then
the father began it all over again. They
kept that up all day Saturday, with Niger
showing some sign Of improving. The
training was continued on Sunday, and
when Block left home for work on Monday
morning Niger had begun to know his
business. .
IL was that morning that Block lost
his Job, and then the estimates OF, what
they would do in a year certainly did go TO
smash. That was three weeks ago. The
husband has been walking around town
ever since looking for a job, his wife said
yesterday. But Niger improved every
day, Mortimer got a little tired OF gum
drops and the store end of the Block enter
prise was improving every day, when the
agent of the s. p. G. A. discovered Niger
Lost T,,osJox uithout n license number