The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1907-07-19
THE mUSH
FAKER

guess you're not Irish, are you, mum?
Mush faker is Irish for umbrella
mender, r'maybe it's just hobo.
But a mush faker doesn't only re-
pair umbrellas, Oh, my, no! A mush
taKer, mum, will tackle anything you
can think of that needs fixing, but of
course, umbrellas, boilers. and tinware
are the commOnest
This umbrella is in pretty bad
shape, but l can fix it so it will do
1or many a storm yet and I'll only
charge you 80 cents. This other isn't
so bad; that'll be quarter.
AS | was saying, there's nothing
mush faker won't tackle in the line
OF tlnkering and all for a little
change. Tools? Oh, yes, they're all
in that little box l carry with a strap
over my shoulder
well! Well! You'll excuse me
for laughing, mum, but your uues-
ton seems kind of funny to me who
has been at it SO long. No, they don't
sell mush takers outfits anywhere
that l know of. You see there
wouldn't be anybody to buy them. A
real mush faker always makes his
own kit.
i see you're looking at my fur
mace. Looks just like the ones the
plumbers carry to melt their lead
IN, doesn't it? Made that myself,
too. Oh, yes. Surprises you? It's
simple enough.
You see the bottom it stands on?
Just look underneath. See, it's a lit
tie agate saucepan turned upside
down. The body of the furnace was
an old-fashioned oil can, the kind
your mother kept under the big kitch-
en- table handy to fill the lamps from.
THE heavy wire handle came off
paint key. The other trimmings
| fashioned out of bits of tin from
cans and things.
"ResOurceful did you say? Well,
| don't expect ever to discover all the
things | can do with my kit The
times change; there are new things
| coming up all the time l have to fix.
There's automobiles.
Now maybe you don't believe that,
mum. Many's the automobile I've
fixed. You see, mum, | often find them
stalled out on country road a good
many miles from anywhere at ALL If
they can tell me what the trouble is
I'll find a way.
Yes, mum, the, man for an emer-
gency is a mush faker, whether he's
great man or nobody at all.
will you hand me that other one
now, mum? Thank you. This is
fine frame. They don't make EN-
like that any more. No, indeed. Your
grandfather carried it, sure, l knew it,
1T doesn't take much to start man
up in this business. If he has little
piece Of wire and a nail he can make
a living, and l have started on less
myself.
"You see, nine times out of ten
when you are called in to fix an UNI
brella it is simply the little wire hinge
that has become rusted and broken.
The wire fixes this and the nail is
used to twist the wire and break it.
But, as l say, l have started on
less. | was put off freight train
once in a country town when | didn't
even have the nail. But | went by
the houses calling Umbrellas to
mend. | wasn't going to worry about
how to do it until had the job to do.
Nobody seemed to want me,
though. But l knew there must be
some broken umbrellas in that town.
It's a poor home that hasn't got one
at least So I turned about in my
tracks and went right up to the near
est house. To the woman that came
to the door | said:
Haven't you an umbrella with
broken rib? l will fix it for ten cents
Just as though had been sent there
for that purpose.
Sure enough, back she comes with
the familiar dangling joint 1t was an
old fashioned umbrella with wooden
stick. The handle was deeply carved
and of a different kind of wood from
the stick. l knew right away that
they didn't belong to each other.
"'Have you got the old umbrella
that this handle came off OFF, said |.
IF you have can use it to mend this
with
"Well, mum, she hunts up that old
umbrella and in a few minutes walk
away with ten cents capital and a
stock of half a dozen good ribs. After
that | was ready to do any ordinary
job in the town.
Eyes, mum, this gum tissue is won
derful stuff. I can fasten the handle
on that little girls parasol with it.
Let me see it, my little lady. On,
amt you the image of your mother.
though. Anybody with half an eye
could see it.
Eyes, mum, just wind it about, so,
heat it with the candle and press 1t
down hard Now let it rest there for