Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-09-26

tion.
tured right near this city and re
turned to our homes without shootin
anything that had the attributes O
an Indian. l have been here fire
quently since that time, not, of cours
In search of Indians, but each tri
recalls my early travels with m.
young chum.".
Mr.. Powers was not born to tn
stage" but when he landed h
LANDED" on both feet and has been OF
them ever since. The stage, he de
clares, is the only job from whicl
he has never been discharged.
II began, not life but my business
career, as a messenger boy. L wa
discharged. / was discharged from
every place I've ever been. l nevel
had but one idea-the stage. The da,
my messenger boy career was nippet
in the bud my head was full of Doll,
Adams, the water-queen. ] had jus
been reading about her. She coult
stay under water three minutes.
bet a boy that / could hold my heat
in a basin of water one minute and
a half.
IT held the letter ] had been giver
to deliver behind me and started t
count. I had just gotten past thirty
when / felt a kick that sent my head
down against the basin. 1t was the
manager. He grabbed the letter out
of my hand--it had $1,000 in it-and
with the Kick he said: James, you arr
discharged
MY. mother sent me down to the
Butter and Cheese Exchange. Up
stairs where | was, they kept the
bags OF salt. I tied the bags onto
ropes and used them for punching
bags. Il saw my knuckles grow and
was very prolrd.s I was a regular
Huckleberry Finn, anyway One day
[ was punching at a bag of salt when
the manager came along in the other
direction. He got the bag right be-
tween the eyes. 1t took him five
weeks to come out of II and | was in
formed that when he opened his eyes
t. his first wordsswere. james, you are
discharged
His Third Position.
'Then | was attached to an office in
Brooklyn. l. was given a letter to
take to New York. That was in the
days before the bridge. / passed a
nice wall where ] could practise
standing on my head. a man came
along and said: You'll get hat wall
all dirty with your muddy shoes. /
asked: Where's Peabody & Cluett.'
He said: I'm Mr.. Peabody, and that
is the message that should have
reached my office an hour ago
"'James. you are discharged.
greeted me ON my return.
Il was sent to Mallaby; a printer.
The office was like this: Here was a
glass partition. On the other side was
a chiropodist's room. Before the glass
ran a long table. The stage was the
only thing | ever thought of, and /
saw at once that the table was an
excellent place to practise walking on
my hands. I was trying 1t when the
manager walked In. | got nervous
and my feet went through the glass
partition, right around the neck of an
old lady who was having her corns
treated. The chiropodist cut her corn
and the glass cut her head. While
my legs were still around the dear
old lady's neck my manager leaned
over and said:
"'James, you are discharged.
Every Word of 1t True.
az can make stories up, but | give
you my word these are all facts. My
mother knew the manager of the
Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Com
pany. He had begun as an errand
boy and was now making $4,000 a
year. He said, Send Jimmie down to
me. Perhaps he'll be earning $4,000
some day!' The first day | ate so
much sugar that for three days |
couldn't go down. Then | was sent
downstairs to draw some molasses
from a hogshead. / put the pitcher
under the spout and thought: Here's
4 chance to throw some flip-fops
while I'm waiting ] hit the hogs
head with nv head and became n
conscious. They found me three hours
later with the molasses flowing all
over me. 1t would have been the
sweetest death in the world, but it
was not for me. They sen me home
in an open grocery wagon. 1t took
eight hours to scrape the molasses off
me.
'But they felt sorry for me and
took me back. | was sent to get
some coffee. 1. forgot to put the
box in the mill and the coffee all
ran. into the s~awdust, but ! swept
il up and nobody saw IL. l was
nut behind the counter. A woman
asked for three pounds and a half Of
sugar. She looked very poor and |
gave her four pounds. The manager
came along just then and saw the
counter. He weighed it over. He
turned to me-:
James. you are discharged
In a Hat Factory Next.
"Then / went to work in a hat
factory. l was practising q fip-flop
one day when the hywheeI caught
me. I had time TO let out one yell
then the wheel turned me around and
threw me off with such momentum
That 7 went i'm into A box where