The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-03-16

Darrow's Is Different

Sneet or copy-paper and distributed
free on Saturday to the staff at OAR
rows New and Secondhand Book
shop, we should never have begun
Monday morning in the state of ten
sion which was so approprite a COM
mencement for that portentous day.
nor should we have ended the whole
affair of the Colfax bOOkplate In such
a blaze OF glory. But Mr.. Roberts. our
canny statistical Caledonian manager.
had noted that on each morning of
the preceding week an average of nine
members of the staff had punched the
time-clock between FIVE and sixteen
minutes past nine, and he had conclud
ed that the reason could not always
have been the Difference in Clocks"
the Subway Block" or the alarm
That Never Went OF at AlI"-impor-
tant features as these all are of mod
ern commercial civilization. Conse-
Quently, at noon on Saturday he had
broadcast general storm-warning In
the language of diplomacy, or, to he
more plaiH-spoken, on yellow notes en-
closed in our pay-envelopes. j tran
scribe my copy:
tTypewritten)
Miss Constance Fuller:
mine O'Clock Monday please!
Thomas Alexander Roberts"
l believe that every morning when
] enter the silent shop l must uncon-
sciously breathe prayer of thanks
giving that, although life is by no
means always May, at least | belong
in Darrow's. started selling books
before it got to be New Career for
Women" with courses on how to do it,
and then obtained, through the college
employment bureau, position in Oar.
rows. A bright young woman was
wanted, ito assist" And at what,
pray, could one assist in bookshop
except at selling books? At least, so
j reasoned. The idea of doing so
struck me with great force, though IL
struck me alone. On bearing that OAR
rows had hired me, my mother ex.
claimed: Dear child, I'm so happy
for you'll | always wanted to work in
a store; but had breathed the fact at
your age, I'd have been put out In the
snow a la Way Down East" My
brother said: How much are you GO
ing to get? Strike for raise" And
my dear father. on learning that de-
clined to hang around his neck like q
beautiful womanly milestone, was
nOblest of all, for he merely remarked.
swell, Darrow's is different.
1t is, indeed. None but that over
worked adjective describes it. There
are many bOOkshOps, but there is no
other quite like Darrow's. II is an
oasis In the desert of rushing, pro-
sale business neighbOrhood, unaffect.
eddy picturesque. Sixty years ago. the
building was a vast. comfortable cor.
ner dwelling, with a stable, doubtless
full of fat horses. down the side street.
Now that stable is the shipping room;
and where the grOund-fOor dining
room used Hospitality to receive
dozen guests an evening In addition to
the 1S60size family. Darrow's book.
shop today receives its customers. The
shop also extends over the site of the
old kitchen, pantry, and store rooms.
and the upper reaches of its lofty
parlOr.
Every new customer coming In past
my desk beside the front door gasps
at the noble spread of the bOok-shelves
from floor to ceiling on the long north
and south walls, with a gallery run.
ming around them at half their height.
He will find fiction on the tables,
standard works on the walls, classified
subject-collections In the alcoves. He
may view at leisure the fine cOlIec.
lions of old prints and engravings
which ornament the gallery ratings,
and in which we do considerable
business. And he will certainly adj
mire his own reflection In the bright
brass cage of our little elevator at the
rear of the central aisle, which II Is.
the chief 10y of Ulysses S. G. jackson.
our elderly coIOred janitor, to polish.
If necessary, to the neglect of his 9th
er duties.
II was with Ulysses, as usual, that
l exchanged my first greeting on arriv-
day. For thirty years DarrOw's and
every individual and circumstance con-
nected with II had constituted Ulysses
life. His chief passion. besides brass
polishing, was that thrilling daily
magazine entitled DAILY Snapshots"
which, as everybody knows. consists
of three-quarters pictures and one
quarter 14-point type, and which fea-
lures with double spreads such i'm
portanf news items as Right Arm OF
Statesman's Divorced Wife Found in
Well" He now folded up his last
dust. cloth and approached me solemn
ly, drawing a copy of this Journal
from beneath his sweater.
you've been out early for the pa
per. Ulysses"
"Yas'm. Does you want to see ftp
'Yes, what's the news this morn
ingY For twenty-fOur hours the coun-
try must have been inconveniently
free from crimes of extraordinary VIC
ience; the editors of "SnapshOts' had
been reduced to using for front-pa2e
sensation scientific observations OF
latest visiting foreign headliner, which
were summed up in the caption:
Psychic Expert Delineates Next
World" Ks H ~
"Cain't be no worse'n this one" re-
marked Ulysses.
''What's the matter, Ulysses? Have
you got rheumatism"
.No'm. ] amt got no rheumatism.
happen"