The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-06
A Policeman S Life
lsNot a HappyOne
By M. QUAD
Copyright. 1916. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate


see patrolman sauntering along the
street and swinging his club you think
to yourself how easy he earns his mon
ey. IL is not so easy when YOU come
to understand everything. 1 may not
make an arrest once in two weeks OF
an offender against the law, but l am
busy all the time. and you shall hear
about IL.
I'm the first place il seems to me that
four out Of five families have a row
three or four times week. In winter
l do not hear so much, but in summer,
when the windows are open, hear
much more than l want to. The dwell.
ing houses on my beat are mostly three
stories and of brick. The first story is
occupied. as rule. by bookkeepers.
statesmen and the like. who can afford
to pay about $50 month. There are
two families above them which belong
to the laboring class.
Il am sauntering along my beat and
the first floor family are at supper
when I hear the husband call out:
Maggie, what in the devil do you
get such meat forT
1T was all could get with the
money you left me-
Then why didn't you run in debt
littley
Because we owe now more than We
can ever pay.
Don't you concern yourself about
what ! can pay or cannot. This meat
isn't ut for dog to eat 1t is all bone
and fat and gristle.'
Well. you must eat 1t the best way
you can ! am always pinched for
money and always have to buy the
cheapest things. We have got TO keep
| you well dressed. YOU know, and the
rest OF us must wear our old clothes
"'Darned II don't wish ! had never
married.
And so do |. for that matter.
And then hear the husband shove
back from the table. and in minute
more he u on the street and walking
away. Half a block below I hear an
/ other row.
! You may say, my son, that these
/ family skeletons do not concern the pa
/ trolman on the beat, but they do lust
the same About three out OF five of
them end in row in which furniture
is smashed ana blows are given and
taken. Then il is his duty to make his
| appearance and take hand in. We
/ try TO be peacemakcrs, hut II often hap
\ pens that we have TO take the whole
family to the station. Wives drink a
well rs husbands. and when IL happens
that both have been drinking they are
+ very hard 10 handle. When they ap
pear In court next morning one or the
other has black eye To be ashamed of
and they are so rcpentant that his hon
or generally let's them go on suspended
sentence. There is another thing, my
son. that may surprise you. Take them
as they run on any patrolman's beat in
this city and not one out of five chill
dren up 10 six years old has learned
the number and street OF his home
As sure as they get three or four blocks
away they are lost They can tell IN,
first name of the father or mother, but
that Is the best they can do. II would
take father or mother about flfteeI
minutes To teach child the street and
number. hut they don't do IT, II would
take about ten minutes 10 write tn,
address down on card and sew this
card to their clothing. hut they never
take this prccaution. When child i
lost the first step Of the mother Is Il
find me. She seems 10 think ] ought
To know every child on my beat.
Il can't leave my beat to go hunting
M lost children. and SO I send her {,
the station Nine times out Of ten
have got to 20 looking around after
my regular hours Of duty Sometime.
find the child not more than tive
blocks away. and sometimes have T.
hunt for two hours. with my feet ach
Ing rs II somebody had dubbed thom
tell you as fact that not one moth
or IN ton can 81 describe lost child
as 10 make easy work Of finding him o.
Hef we VIII NNNlh~f ihhi NHiWi
comes running np to me TO say that her
little girl. Eve wears old is lost Imusi
first calm her for she Is greatly e1clt
ed. aud then the conversation runs
about as follows:
"'Whcn did YOU miss your firlr
"'Ahoni two hours ago
"'whai was the color of her hairy
Brown sir
"'And were her eyes blue or blackr
IL can't he sure which. but think
they We're black
"'What sort ~ q dress did she have
onT
"a brown calico.
"'Did she have shoes onT
81 think not. sir
"'Did she wear any sort OF q hatr
mo. SIR
els she a good sized girl for her
ageT
"'Many people have taken her for
ten years old. sir
ssT taEa an fhfa dawn IN vxrIfIn~ hnf