Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1914-12-18


little Office in the corner. There was
a long counter, behind which q sleepy
looking bookkeeper was engaged In
adding up figures and within the Office
could see tall, angular man read
ing letters. Timidly knocked at the
door
Come in" said the angular man,
in deep, bass voice.
Tremblingly l approached him. He
looked at me with keen glance and
asked me what wanted.
Il want Job"
What can you do?"
Work around a store"
Then followed a series of questions,
which l answered freely as be-
came more at ease.
Il need good, Woodworking boy"
he said, zone that is honest and re-
liable. Have you any references?"
mo, sir" explained that | had
been refused 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 to any
thing. anyhow Men will give a ref
erence to get rid of fellow. lots of
times. I've done 1t myself. You show
me that you are all right, and we'll
have no bother about the reference.
I'll give you a job. Where are your
things?"
What things?"
why, your trunk or your valise or
your bundle"
1t was with humiliation that con
fessed 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 one jacket pocket. As for linen,
why, had the shirt was wearing and
my celluloid collar had been, so far,
all sufficient, as / could launder 1t in
a minute with basin of water.
He laughed and said, "All right
sonny; start right in and see that you
don't take away from my store any
more than you fetched into It."
l barely existed on the three dollars
a week he paid me, but managed tc
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, "ant
fix everything up in good style. Every
morning you will take the broom ant
sweep out, and IL you find anything oil
the floor, bring 1t to me. It belongs Il
me because this is my store, under
standT
/ nodded assent.
During the day you can help arount
the store, wrapping up bundles, fillint
orders and doing anything that come
handy, but keep busy"
In my after years / realized hov
pitiful, how utterly inadequate, hov
worthless for all practical purpose
was the "junk"-yet. 1t was no bel
ter-that he had in stock. As a buye
have since visited the biggest maj
kets in all Of the principal cities, an
have never seen anything like tn
stun he had piled ON his shelves
There was long table with clothing
made from material known as @shod
dy." When you wore Il out in tn
rain 1t became q pulp and lost an
semblance Of shape. There wer
shoes, made of the cheapest leather
with insoles of paper; there were bal
rels Of brown sugar, coffee A." etc
and a big canister of white" sugal
There was coffee, which mixed wit
roasted beans and corn and ground b
hand In the "mill' screwed to tn
dirty pine counter. There were prunei
raisins. currants. apples. all dried.
The dry goods would now be consiG
cred absolutely worthless Thii
scrawny and shapeless, the stun woul
unroll from the bolts. while the I'll
bons were fiyspecked and dirty. The
there was a stock of notions"
stock OF hardware, more groceries, NJ
forgetting a barrel each of whisl,
rum, moIasses and vinegar. Tier
we're other things, too numerous
mention, but all of the same question
able value.
The store made pretensions to bein
quite an establishment. but wi
state honestly that as remember thu
awful stock of merchandise ! wonl
not offer 500 for the whole outf
were to appraise 1t today.
So / swept out the store morning
tied up bundles and waited on Gu
toners during the day and at night
crawled under the counter. too tire
to dream. and slept amidst the odol
from the barreled and boxed grocerie
He showed me how 10 manipnla
the old-fashioned scales 50 that cou
cheat an old woman out of a pour
or two Of sugar Or -four. Our pin
quart and gallon measures had fali
bottoms. Our peck and bushel mea
ures we're fixed for false measur
and there was ample material for adj
iteration of all commodities. He I
structed me in their use. and one d,
he trounced me without mercy /