The Washington herald., 1907-01-20


easy to make money as in the United I
States, and this is the most prosperous /
time the people OF our nation have ever
known. There is positively no excuse Tor /
any one with his wits about him failing !
TO earn a livelihood in this unequaied era !
of plenty That there are many ways OF
making a living besides being trust
magnate. a life insurance president a
prize fighter, or Il hOd carrier. Is shown
by the following collection Of unusual
occupations.
OF all unique callings none is more
peculiar than the business Of Doctor
Cockroach." Of Louisville. For a stipu-
lated annual consideration the Doctor
contracts TO keep ones premises rio Of
cockroaches. He does not whistle them
away like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. but
at regular intervals he comes around
with queer-Iooking tools and mysterious
powders. by means of which he persuades
the cockroaches to 'skidoo."
Bird Doctor and Specialist is the sign
on the shingle which hangs in front of
novel establishment on Broadway in New
York. The proprietor is a young woman
who takes mammals pet canary TO board
while the family Is away AT the seashore,
or absent from home at other times. She
also has a hospital for sick birds, and
teaches backward sougsters their mission
IN the world. While it might seem that
this young woman is making small use Of
her time, she really knows all about
birds and their troubles, and is able to
make a competence from her work
An Englishman possessed of small
annuity and who was in bad health. went
10 FL PasO. Tex. for the good the
climate would do him. The expenses Of
living were so great in the Southwestern
city that he soon found his income in
adequate for his needs. He invested all
the ready money he had in eight gilt-and-
gaudy popcorn stands, with little engines
TO run the peppers. The idea worked
and before long he branched out to San
Antonio. He soon worked up a baby
trust which brought him in an income of
$500 a year.
a woman in Boston makes a business
of taking inventories Of houses which
are rented furnished She comes to the
cate Of every article, with a description
Of its condition. When the house is given
up she comes again and checks over the
household goods ana appraises the loss
or damage. She has been so successful
in this kind Of work that her services are
much in demand
An Italian in New York takes over the
rubbish from the garbage collections Of
the great Eastern metropolis at a stated
annual price. and makes from $4,000 TO
$4,000 a year from the business He en-
plOys hundreds of soTteTs and pickers,
who go over the rubbish To get out ole
bottles rags, rubber. leather. and other
junk. It is said that he realizes from
5000 to 5000 a year on old rubber shoes
alone.
A Memphis newspaper woman boldly
advertised in the newspapers that for a
consideration she would prepare papers /
to be read at women's clubs. write
speeches for banquets. or trace pediglee /
back of forgotten grandmothers 20 the
colonial danes. Her advertising was per
sistent until commissions began to come
in, and many a woman leader of club life
in this or that particular town has shone
Southern girls hard-working genius.
Several years ago a shoe buyer for one
of the Chicago department stores con
ceived the idea Of buying up slightly
damaged or blemished shoes from the
manufacturers and retailing the same at
a sacrifice price. He opened up with one
clerk in a single room near the roof Of
good pair Of IS shoes. with nothing more
than a little scratch on them, for s., was
such a bargain that customers came fast
The business increased so rapidly that the
oiginal store has been enlarged 90 fifteen
rooms, and forty clerks are now employed
instead OF one. The capital earned from
the original store has been reinvested
until now the concern owns eight large
stores in other places.
a New Jersey girl. broken down by
teaching and office work, was ordered by
her doctor TO get some occupation which
would keep her out Of doors. She fol-
lowed the physicians advice by acquir-
ing a boggy farm in New Jersey. where
she began the culture Of buil-frogs. Per
sons who heard Of the new venture
smiled, until they learned that she was
legs at big prices TO New York hotels
and restaurants In order to- get the
fresh air, she does her own killing. At
tired in rubber boots, she tramps about
the marshes and shoots the frogs with
a small rifle
An enterprising New Yorker makes a
business of matching buttons But this
man is no relation to the famous "Bim.
the Button Man" who makes campaign
buttons and badges "Bim'' makes a
speciality of forecasting the action of
political conventions, and Is always
there first with buttons bearing the faces
of new standard bearers. Time and again
this enterprising peddler has successfully /
defed all the political prophets. In 1900
he Staked his reputation on the belief
that Roosevelt would he nominated for
Vice President. and made big cleanup
from the sale of buttons at the doors of
the convention hall. His only fall down
was in 1896, for when Mr.. Bryan was
nominated for President in Chicago.
BIN" was there with some hundreds of
thousands Of entirely useless buttons
bearing the face Of Bland, the Missouri
champion Of silver.
The United States consumes millions
of olives every year, but they are near
ly all unripe About eight years ago a
California woman. while travelling
abroad learned the secret Of picking q
ripe olive in a peculiar fashion The
year after she came home she marketed
twenty gallons of ripe olives. Three years
later she could not begin 10 6lI the or