The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-10-18
The Elevator Boy
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1915, by tine Mcclure
Newspaper syndicate.
By M. QUAD


, ran the first elevator ever made and
to make record of holding position
for twenty-eight years without the loss
of day, feel that have n right to
talk plainly to the boys who have just
entered upon the noble work of ele
waiting elevators.
/ If you have been selected to conduct
4 wire cage up and down. no matter
whether IN skyscraper or an apart
ment house, the first thing to be done
Is to ask yourself these questions:
Am l a modest, unassuming boy?''
rs my position going to make me
conceited young jackassT
"Will keep my mouth shut and let
others do the talking?"
Have l the proper respect for old
age?"
Having answered these questions sat
isfactorily TO yourself, you can begin
your duties. II you have any doubts OF
yourself take up some other profession,
| for you will be failure In this. l have
watched the career Of scores of eleya'
tor boys and lamented the failure Of a
| good share of them. There was Johnny
Beers He was q red headed boy with
turned up nose and ears that started
out to be palm leaf fans, but stopped
halfway His mother wanted him to
be a lawyer and his father wanted him
to be a doctor, bat he thought that ele-
waiting an elevator was the only thing
for him.
Within three months he fell in love
six or seven times, and 1t was his
proposal of matrimony to widow
forty years old that finally sent him
out OF the building with the agents
boot behind him.
And when Mike Salters was offered
a place 10 conduct a gilded cage in a
twelve story palace OF an apartment
house he came TO me to get pointers.
1t was grand opening. The house
was occupied by aristocrats. Success
would be his If he only struck the
right road l warned him of the pit
falls, and with tears in his eyes he
solemnly promised to avoid them.
Maybe 1t was his mothers fault that
he failed TO do so, for she was a ro-
mantle lady. and the first thing she did
was to have him change his name to
Claude La Sale. He was told 70 ad-
dress every man as monsieur and ev-
cry woman as madame and to lift his
cap and smile a smile as he addressed
them. He was told that in case be
carried a lone lady up or down he
r. IN
the weather and be as entertaining as
he could.
The tenants were amused for awhile
and then began TO make complaints,
and one day after he had advised O
broker to quit that trade and open a
sawmill somewhere he vanished from |
the building and never came back.
My heart saddens as l think OF the |
case of Jim Clark He came TO me |
as others had done, and, though he |
had once licked me when had sore
finger and could not use my right hand,
sat down and had a fatherly talk
with him He agreed 70 do as | told
him. and If he had kept to his prom
Use he might now have been the owner
of the geological gardens in the
Bronx, to say nothing OF being the hus-
band of widow worth 100000.
Jimmy restrained himself for a cou-
Pile of weeks and then broke out. He
felt that his passengers expected to
be surprised. and he went ut 1t to
surprise them. He jounced and
bounced that elevator until women
screamed and men swore, and one
day when he got stuck between the
nineteenth and twentieth floors and
every passenger was half scared TO
death Jimmy held up his hands and
shouted
"All of you shut up! what's all this
row about. anyhow? Let me explain
10 you that this cage got tired and is
only restin'. There Is no danger
whatever 1t will start up agin when
t feels like it. / am here to save you"
When the elevator at last reached
he first floor Jimmy was the first one
,ut. He went out az II kicked from
behind, and he kept on down the cor
'idor and out of the front door and
tut on the sidewalk. Jimmy Is now the
river of motor truck. and though he
'uns over three or four people a day II
IN the street. he has no future before
lin. To be success as an elevator
10Y is as easy as to be failure. One II
iced not be siavish. but he must be
modest and respectful. He may be
heerful, but not enthusiastic He II
nay be dignifed but not surly. II H
travelling drummer takes his cage II
or the twelfth floor and slaps him II
n the back and calls him cold man" II
e may smile In reply t. show that he
humor, bat he should not
% further than that Il
The car starter In a skyscraner Is
ways 4 Young msn OF great dignity II
Then on dGty The elevator bog must II
aspect thst dignity lie Is expected
D divide his tips with the starter,
nd If caught holding OUT on him
here is sure ia be a row.
The engineer of a skyscraper expects
le elevstor boy to keep him in Gig
rettes. This sometimes comes hard
pom the boys purse. but 1t is only a
lilepost on the road TO success. II
lie cigarettes come promptly and
-ithout kick the boy can take his
,venge in later years. He can save