Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1914-06-16
AIGY THE MARTYR
Only an Office Boy, but Love
Transformed Him Into
Real Hero.

IL any member Of the office fore
we're asked his opinion of the new
Office boy he would invariably reply
"Well, he's an internally polit'
kid"
That described Algy in a nutshell
There may have been other qualities
in the boy, but the obstacle which
blocked all further investigation and
hit you full in the eye was his abb
normal Difference and painfully
"apres vous, monsieur" manner
Algy was slight and fair, wore huge
spectacles and was much addicted
to Buster Brown collars, 80 what
else could you expectH
When Mcdowell rang for him
on the first morning Of his arrival,
and Algy knocked discreetly on the
door three times before turning the
knob, and then thrust in his head to
say, pardon me, Mr.. Mcdowell,
but did you ringp" the whole Office
gasped.
"Well, I'll be durned," exploded
the head bookkeeper, ignoring the
"no profanity" sign, "we've picked
up a second edition of Little Lord
Fauntleroy."
Algy went to Sunday school regu-
larly, belonged to the Christian En-
deavor and the Y. M. G. A., and
took his wages home to his mother
every Saturday night, so he told the
office, but we had all heard that
story so many times before. Any
way, he was pious in the extreme
and always fastened from the room
when Mcdowell swore at the Office
cat.
In a firm like ours the family in
terest never wanes. Each fellows
personal affairs have always been our
affairs whether it was McDowelPs
divorce suit or the sartorial crea-
lions of the blonde stenographer.
And we added new interest when we
discovered that along with a near
Poiret blouse and Rue de Rivoli
hat made in New Jersey, Miss
Hughes had annexed the puppy-like
devotion of Alg.
But our attention was speedily d.
verified from the novelty Of this situ-
alton by deficit in the money re-
turns through the mail. The firm
dealt TO some extent with out-of-
town customers, and small amounts
of cash came in frequently through
the post office, sometimes in stamps,
more often in special cards provided
by the firm and fitted for the inser-
ton of small coins to save the
trouble and expense of postal orders
for amounts under one dollar.
Suddenly we were deluged with
complaints. Customers swore they
had sent orders which the firm had
never received. We we're accused
of swindles and get-rich-quick
schemes of robbing the public. The
correspondence department was in
chaos and the mail-order profits be-
came seriously affected. Finally Nc
Dowell sent for Detective Farland.
"How do you get your mail here ?"
was the first question the detective
asked.
Through the post Office a block
down the street. We have a strong
box there. Only one key"
"Who has the key?"
II do. At mail time the stenog.
rapher takes the key and gives it to
the office boy, who gets the mail and
turns it over to her. She sorts it
and returns the key to me along with
the firms mail, which I open myself.
So you see"
"How about the Office boy? Think
he needs watching%
Hardly" laughed Mcdowell.
ever see him? Well, you'd as soon
watch a deacon in the church when
he was taking up the collection"
"rBut see here, Mcdowell" said
Farland. "Its ten TO one that rob