Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-11-11
zhe Room on the Roof
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INsTALLMENr 1.

INsTALLMENT L.
One day in July. 1918. a Big. trampish man
strudged north across the Wells street bridge.
It was Chicago weather at its worst. par
Y boiled air making existence anywhere in the
sun a sticky misery. The big man was not
4 suitably dressed for tia cloth hat instead
Of straw: coat and trousers too heavy. A
short, ill.trimmed beard. the color Of moldy
straw, covered his face. .e
Three blocks north of the bridge he turned
of Wells street and soon stood before Il door,
way of sooty brick beyond which a flight
Of dirty stairs arose. His destination was
the fifth floor, and there was evidently no
elevator. He cursed q little and toiled up
the stairs.
The door up there was labeled Curtin
Camera Company" Painting, sweat trickling
INTO his beard, he moved the battered hat
to the back of his head and entered n show
room, twenty feet square, where cameras.
lenses, and the like were displayed in glass
cases. Not a penny had been wastef to-
! make the room attractive. and there was
nobody in 1t. A door In the opposite par
titioh, with the sign President "Above it.
stood ajar. The caller stepped over there.
pushed the door open, and announced. I'm
looking for the boss"
A %gangling, red faced man in shirt sleeves
looked up from the desk within and snapped.
like n slap in the face. What do you want?"
You advertised for lens grinders" said
the caller and smiled as he added, " I'm the
best lens grinder you ever had IN your shop
His appearance savored, not only Of the
tramp, but of impudence. There was a cast
in his left eye, giving it a dead look. Some
where behind the beard a griu seemed to
Turk.
Simon Curtin, president of the camera
company, was careless in dress himself; but
he hated dirty people, he hated impudent
people. he hated trafnps. Feasibility was
stamped all over HMM his long. red. leath-
cry face, and smouldery eyes that seemed
to peer angrily out at the world under eye
brows so family marked that the eyes looked
bald. Spare reddish gray hair stood up over
his head. He took no pains to conceal the
disfavor with which he viewed this appli.
cant.
But he did desperately want lens grinders.
War had combed the country OF men, ana
set up an Unsuitable demand for lenses. This
fellow might fill one Of the gaps in his work
shop Temporarily. Grudgingly and grumptly.
he asked him a few questions, and agreed
to give him a trial. The man said his
name was Adolph Krom, and beyond that
Curtin did not care to inquire-lest ne als.
cover that it was his duty to turn the fellow
over to a recruiting officer, instead OF setting
him to work In the. shop.
He presently found, to his surprise, that
Adolph Krom was an exceptionally skil1ul
workman, capable Of making the very fines:
; lenses. Moreover, he did not belong to q
union. Curtin hated unions. Krom stayed
on-soon appearing in decent clothes. beard
and hair presumably trimmed Curtin began
to favor him with a good opinion. The
man was not only skillful at his trade but
intelligent. with many valuable little siR-
gestions.
h camera factory occupied the top floor.
which-behind the showroom and offices In
front-was a dlngy and barnlike loft divided
by a number of plain board partitions that
reachedfonly two-thirds of the way to the
ceiling. From these partitioned spaces one
might catch a smell Of new wood, or of
leather, or of paint and varnish. Krom
WIS in the biggest OF them, occupying an
L of the building, with rear windows over.
looking the alley. But greenish liquid fire
in long glass tubes furnished most of the
light-a light both sharp and CHASTITY. Here
men sat at swiftly revolving discs from
which arose the purr Of diamond dust biting.
with gentle insistence, into glass. -
A den, fifteen feet square, was partitioned
of from one corner of this room, the new
ness of the boards showing that this parti-
ton had been recently erected. The door
to it was often open for ventilation. From
his work bench Krom could look into the
den, which provoked a verify lively curiosity
in his mind.
It was occupied by a dry ,.a.p Of a man.
only five feet tall and weighing hardly a
hundred pounds. His meager face bore a
thin growth Of grizzled whiskers, which he
clawed with bony little hands. But by q
,comical misfit this weazen face was capped
bySa noble brow matched with curly gray
hair. Below the eyebrows the man was q
mere monkey; above the eyebrows he was
a philosopher. Sometimes for hours he bent
over a desk, absently pluckying his beard or
ruf1ing his hair. Sometimes he restlessly
paced his cage.
Krom's fellow worknen had different opin-
ions about the man in the cage. Some said
he was a nut; others said he was an inventor.
Krom proposed to find out for himself. The
little mans name was Steinman.
Various persons-fellow workmen and
others-who formed Krom's acquaintance in
his hours Of leisure, observed that he had
one odd taste in literature. That Is, all news
paper reports Of swindles seemed to have o
peculiar fascination for him. He would read
them with the greatest care, dwelling upon
the details with ar appreciative relish.
After he had been nine months at Cur
Inns, and felt himself well established in
his employers regard, he took 4 week on,
without notice, and went on q spree. In that
state he was loquacious. and freely expound-
ed q cynical philosophy Of life, as follows:
let 'em to thinking there's money in
ii, and they'll believe anything"
]" They're all suckers because they're Al
crooks = 5F4S
. Ask the first man you meet to lend you
a hundred dollars. Tell him you want to
give. II TO q poor widow with seven starving
and he'll tell you to so to hell. But
ten him you're going to paste another cipher
ION the bin and change It at the bank for q
Sthousands dollars, and he'll fall for ~,
4. Cold bricks and green goods are TIN
sasiest things In the world to sell because