The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1914-12-24

little Office In the corner. There was
I long counter. behind which a sleepy
looking ~SJokkeeper was engaged In
adding up figures and within The office
! could see a tall. angular man read
ing letters. Timidly ! knocked at the
door.
Come In" said the angular man
In a deep. bass voice.
T~remblingly I approached him. He
looked at me with a keen glance and
asked me what | wanted.
II want a Job"
what can you do?"
work around q store"
Then followed a series OF questions.
which ] answered freely as | be.
came more at ease.
Il need a good, Woodworking boy
he said. "one that is honest and re.
liable, Have you any references"
NO. sir" ! explained that | had
been refused a reference from my last
employer because he did not wish me
TO quit and he had taken this petty
revenge. Then he asked me a lot
more questions about my work. ETC..
and finally he said:
"A reference doesn't amount 10 any.
thing. anyhow. Men will give a ref.
erence TO get rid OF a fellow. lots OF
times. I've done II myself. You chow
me that you are all right, and Wen
have no bother about the reference.
I'll give you a Job. Where are your
things?"
What thlngs?"
why. your trunk or your valise or
your bundle"
II was with humiliation that I con.
.essed that ! did not have anything
except the clothes | had on. ! did not
confess TO the possession OF a pair
OF neatly darned socks, which ! had
In n jacket pocket. AS for linen,
why, | had the shirt | was wearing and
my celluloid collar had been, so for,
all sufficient, as | could launder II In
q minute with a basin OF water.
He laughed and said. IAN right,
sonny; start right in and see that you
don't take away from my store any
more than you fetched into IT,"
barely existed on the three dollars
a week he paid me, but managed TO
make shift by sleeping on q cot in the
rear OF the store.
"You can go out In the store and
straighten up stock" he said, "and
fix everything up in good style. Every
morning you will take the broom and
sweep out. and II you find anything on
the floor, bring 1t TO me. II belongs to
me because this Is my store. under.
stand?"
nodded assent.
During the Jay you can help around
the store. wrapping up bundles, filling
orders anG doing anything that comes
handy, but keep busy"
In my after years I realized how
pitiful, how utterly inadequate. how
worthless for all practical purposes
was the "junk"-yet, 1t was no bet.
ter-that he had In stock. As buyer
] have since visited the biggest mar.
kets in all of the principal cities, and
] have never seen anything like the
stun he had piled on his shelves.
There was a long table with clothing,
made from material known as "shod.
dy." When you wore II out In the
rain II became a pulp and lost any
semblance OF shape. There were
shoes. made OF the cheapest leather,
with insoles OF paper: there we're bar.
rels OF brown sugar, coffee A." etc,
and a big canister OF white" sugar.
There was coffee. which I mixed with
roasted beans and corn and ground by
hand In the mill" screwed to the
dirty pine counter. There were prunes,
raisins, c%urrants, apples, all dried.
The dry goods would now be consid.
cred absolutely worthless. Thin,
scrawny and shapeless, the stun would
unroll from the bolts, while the rib.
bons were ~fiyspecked and dirty. Then
there was a stock OF motions" a
stock OF hardware. more groceries, not
forgetting a barrel each OF whisky,
rum. molasses and vinegar. There
were other things. too numerous to
mention. but all OF the same question.
able value.
The store made ~pretensions to being
quite an establishment, but will
state honestly that as | remember that
awful stock OF merchandise I would
not offer 800 for the whole OUTFIT,
were ! to appraise II today.
Sc swept out the store mornings,
tied up bundles and waited on Gus.
tomers during the day aud at night