Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-21


tional daily expense declares that his COM
fort is worth several times the price he
pays FOR It,
Scheme for Breaking In Shoes
Why. one OF our youngsters got the
queer job couple OF months ago OF break
ing In new pair Of shoes for man. Tho
man. who Is we'll known In business circles
In this town. came in here on one of those
humid. gummy forenoons we had In the
early part OF tho unreasonable month or
February as IL was this year
Say, he asked me. have you go. a cub
IN TINS establishment with approximately
NUM- er eight feet?
All sizes, sir. told him.
Good thing, said he and he clapped
on this counter a pasteboard box containing
fine-looking pair of patent leather shoes
I want you to get kid with number eight
feet to traipse around with these shoes on
for tho balance of the day. / had the gosh
blamed things made to measure and
coughed UP $l2 for them. but they're too
Internally tight for me. l wore EN- 70 the
theater last night. and / had the bitterest
argument of our long married life with my
wife on our way home all on account OF
these dash-dinged shoes
Well that was a sure new one. of
course, but We never admit that we haven't
got kids capable of doing any old thing
we're asked to furnish EN- for. / sum-
noRed a udy-looking youngster. one of the
well-grown lads. on whose extremities I
thought the shoes would about at. He put
the shoes on and wore 'em all around
Washington that day. saying that they
felt az bully on him they looked swag-
ger. He delivered the shoes to the owner
of them that evening, and the business
man dropped by the next morning, wearing
a broad grin, and told me that the shoes
had fitted him perfectly after the boys
wearing of them and felt as comfortable on
his feet az pair of old carpet slippers.
he gave the boy n couple of dollars and
said he called the job cheap at that
There are lots Of folks. men and women
both, who send messenger boys to pawn
shops with articles to be pawned. These
are persons who for various reasons don't
want to take a chance on being seen en-
tering or emerging from pawnshop. Dur
Ing the recent Benning meeting racing
man with whom I've been on nodding terms
ever since l was a messenger Kid myself
around Washington came in here, and, pull
ing of a couple OF magnificent. If fashy,
diamond rings, handed them over TO me,
saying;
I want you to chase one of your cubs
over to Soakem' naming a pawnbroker's--
and have him get thousand on these
and he scrubbed a note to the pawnbroker,
identifying himself tho owner OF tho
jewelry. so that the boy would have no
trouble in hooking the stuff.
Saving His Credit.
'Now, 1 thought that Il was rather queer
that this man. an out-and-out deadgame
sport all his life. and, therefore, as a mat
ter Of course, familiar with pawnshops,
should feel reluctant to take these things
to a pawnshop himself I suppose he no.
ticed that looked puzzled over the thing.
You're wondering why I'm not doing
my own knocking, Ell? said he smiling
over my apparent mystification. Well III
let you in, then. to why I'm not doing
that today. I'm making book on the
dead-line out at the Benning track. and
the boys playing EN- from the ground
handed me several very hard wallops yes
terday, making it necessary for me to put
a prop or under my bank-wad Well,
they all know me- and there are more rub
bernecks among the racing gang, as you
may know, than ever attended a dozen
Sunday school nicnics. One OF these rub
berers would be naturally bound TO see
me going into or coming out of the pawn
shop, and then he'd hike the word around
that I must have had heap Of crimp
taken in my roll, seeing that 1 was down
to the hockshop game, If that word got
around I'd lose a lot of good play from
fellows that I'D consider me IN a wobbly
financial state. understand, and my book
would get a whole lot Of the go-by IN the
rush for prices. Seer
THE messenger kid got back with the
thousand and the tickets in a few minutes,
and couple of forenoons later the racing
man came around with the principal and
interest and shot the youngster back to the
pawnshop to redeem the rings.
"a considerable number of bets were
sent out to the race track this spring In
charge of messenger boys. The handbook
men of Washington laying low just
now, and many men whose business didn't
permit them to make the track. and who
had no friends going out to whom they
could intrust their bets on good things
that had been slipped to them, employed
messenger boys to go out and get their
coin down for them. OF course, only the
larger boys, familiar with the game, were
sent on these errands. Every boy thus sent
out made good and got the top price. and
they always brought the top-price money
back. too. One lad was sent out TO get
$50 on Waldeu II. place at the best price
he could find He got the very high limit
price of the ring 10 TO 1 the place and
when Waddell ran second the youngster
collected the $500 and came a-scooting back
to hand the fine winning to the man who
had engaged him. The man gave the mes
senger a pat 800 of the winnings. at that.
Success Lured Him Away.
1--WE lost the services of one dependable
youngster through this sort of employ
ment though. He was sent out to the
tracks seven times all told, with bets, and
every time he went out to Benning ne took
q chance at the game himself, with the
result that, by some unheard Of miracle, he
won several hundred dollars. That made
him too strong to work any longer, OF
course, and when the ponies went away
from Washington he followed them to
New York. I expect he'll be back, 'wagging
his tail behind him. and asking for his job
in q few weeks or so.
Getting back to the queer things the
KIDS are called upon to do, a Washington
sculptor of note dropped in here some time
ago in search of a young boy for a model
for some kind Of q fountain he is engaged
In making. He inspected my bunch of kids
and finally picked one out whom he thought
would do. I sent the boy to his studio the
next morning, and the kid has been posing
In more or less OF the altogether of and
on for this sculptor since.
THE job that some kids like the most
though, Is to be requistioned to go on the
stoige' at local theaters. A lot of plays call
for the appearance OF a messenger boy in
Uniform in one of the scenes, and we fur
nish the youngsters for this sort of work
1t swells the average kid all up to do this
work for E. week, so that a lot of puffy
wuffy Ideas that he's gained by assocla-
ton with the sure-enough actor folks have
got to be drubbed out Of him when he's
through with the weeks stunt But the
youngsters are so crazy for the stage ap-
pearance job that they give one another
bloody noses over II. And there isn't any
thing so peculiar about that either, seeing
that got my own nose smashed in a fight
With another messenger kid about seven