The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-03-27
WHEN He COT
HIS FIRST "RA|SE''
Being Story of a Boy and Hi'
Pay Envelope
HAD ALMOST DESPAIRED
Tired of Drawing the Same Old
Amount So Long and
Changed II
Kansas City Star.

From the Kansas CITY star
The cashier didn't pay off until 1
0 clock Saturday mornings but, as usual
Harvey Irwin arrived at her window Il
minutes ahead of time and, as he gazeo
at the two young women sorting anc
filling some hundreds of envelopes in
roomy drawer to prepare for the earl!
rush, he philosophical after the manner
of boy of 20 on the untoward course OF
human events Events, he reflected, were
especially untoward SO far as his direc
ton was concerned.
He noticed one envelope in particular
la complacent envelope with well-fec
air-and envied with an acrid heart the
| person in whose pockets the contents OF
that envelope We're fated to rest.
Guess that's Buffers he said &c
himself, as he watched the yellow pa
per and the bills within it disappear
Into the drawer. They say he gets an
awful big salary I don't think he does
bit better work than ] do. It's just
because he's got drag with Mr.. Martin,
| | suppose, and goes into his private OIL
flee and talks and jokes with him after
business hours" -f~
One of the young wonderland par
ticularly attractive young woman-at q
counter near the cashierss smiled ana
nodded to the boy. On any other day
he would have devoted some Of his pre-
oious lunch hour to holding pleasant
converse with her. but on this saturday
he confined his attentions to a grim nod
and looked away. For, in his immature
mind her hand. too. was. against him.
These girls at the desks downstairs were
a gabby lot, anyway, and he supposed
that they all knew the exact amount
contained in his pay envelope and Writ
Item in damning figures on the outside,
/ and that they compared it in most dis
paraging forms with the envelopes of
others in his department ,
| But now a happy thought came to- his
mind Suppose the manager had at last
realized his true merit and raised his
| pay to such an extent that it was the
gossip of the downstairs office Suppose
the girl wasn't laughing at him at all,
but was endeavoring to show the others
how she stood with, the bright youns
Mr. Irwnl He liked that girl very well,
anyhow, and he intended to show her
| Just what he thought of her on that
very night, and take her to the theater,
and to supper afterward, If only
! But 1t Was the Same
But the cashier had pulled up the small
glass partition which separated her from
| the money hungry crowd outside 1t ana
vas now ready to pay off Harvey was
| the first of the line, and he put fortl
| his hand with his usual sensations-h'
was positive that he wouldn't get raise
and hoped that being positive that Ia
wouldn't get one he would get one. H'
had that feeling every Saturday with TIL
| same result-he didn't get one. And thi
| Saturday was no exception to the rule.
| Without a smile the envelope which con
| tanned the reward for one week of TIN
boys efforts in a business way was sllt
| To him, face downward. Was the cash
| ler's smile one of approval at the rae
that ne had been raised, or was SHE, Tx
| all the rest, laughing at him because n
hadn't been? Tie little envelope woul'
| tell him. He turned it over looked a
the figures upon the outside, and slun2
out of the ROOM out of the building, and
overooatless, into the cold air of th'
street
He walked past a bank. IT was just be
| fore closing time and the tellers and then
assistants were sorting money Sorting
| rloney-piles of it. bales of it-and OFT
| bill of not large denomination rep
resented his mental sweat for one week
seven days-5e hours For few moments
he watched the rasty- faced young mei
carelessly handle the bills, tossing bundle:
of money into safes as If it were Sc
| much waste paIer.
| For few moments it made him angry
| tc see money so careleSSiy ui'ed. Blu
| III a short time his anger changed to tina
unpleasant situation where one is tired
utterly tired CT cne's self. Most OF tn
| fellows there in that bank, he supposed
| weren't getting a bit more than he. /
was thas all the world was out of joint
| that the affairs of this bit of matte
floating through infinity'' were all wrong
| There was no one in particular to blam'
about it.
| Some Tarnished Dreams
| When he had, against the advice O
| his father and his professors, forsakeI
| an almost completed race toward col
| lege degree, he had thought that nee
amount to something within a year. III
remembered how he had laughed at thu
| ..grinds'' whom he had left behind ane
| tried to console ardent spirits like his Owl
who also wished to try their wings in The
great world outside. They had TO stay
IN the village and go to school like TO-
year-old boys while he? Why, he was
going TO go and within a few months as
tonish the world do things which would
cause the girls who used to like him tc
remember him and say Il told you SO.
He was going to create such sensation
that all the girls who Used to snub him
-
doing it. And then, some day, he would
80 back. Just for a day or so-for, you
know. business wouldn't permit him a
longer absence, he had so many things
TO attend to in the city-and how everyone
would look around when he went to the
"spring party of his fraternity wearing
evening clothes, which were considered
the --latest thing even in the city!
But those dreams were all ended now.
nd lnnl ms or
straightain the face He, Harvey Irwin,
was a complete, absolute, total failure
as business man and he might better
realize it,now and try to make the best
of it, A faiure-no good at anything
and at POI. What could he do? He had
proven that he was worthless at anything
which depended upon mental effort. He
had always exhibited an extreme dislike
for great physical action-espe if it
involved cutting the grass or shovelins
off the snow--but he must try it, He
would ship out rs a hand on a section
gang and forget everyone--even that pref
" yoilng woman in the desk next TO
the cashiers and let everyone forget him.
But he wondered il she really would for
get all about hii
On almost every pay day this hyper
sensitive young man followed GER
tain set method of 15roced,,re He paid
the lew dOllArs WHICH nc nau DOITONcu
from his Office mates the week before.
rioted in all the delights a barber shop
afforded. and at night he joined another
young innbecile or two in an expensive
dinner downtown and in a trip to some
theatre afterward. But today. he told
himself. he could not do these things with
a sufficiently light heart. Nothing could
please him now for he was failure at %
and worst of all. he knew it.
His active and intense imagination
worked upon his sensitive mind until