Evening star., 1936-10-31
:THE PRESIDENTS WAITER
On Southern Trips John Brooks of Washington Fills the Job and
He Is Proud of MIR. Roosevelts Kindly Friendship
and Pleased With His Generous Tips.

yeSSlr, mes pretty cn0oSy ABOUT Ills
food, but he never makes no fuss
about nothing at all. Sometimes ne
wants something particular and he
says, John, how about fixing that up
for me?' An say, 'Yessir, Mr.. Presi-
dent. right away, sir and We get 1t
ready just like he asks.
II got two letters from the White
House. Once. when I got kind OF
tired of waiting on table for % years.
going on the road every other day and
all, I wrote a letter to Mr.. Roosevelt
because I remembered he said any
thing he could do for me, to write
and let him know. And I got an
answer back saying if could locate
any other Job I would like, or had
any in mind, to let him know and he
would see that got that job. That
sure was mighty nice, because when
I wrote that letter 1 didn't hardly
expect Mr.. Roosevelt would find time
to answer me-" Naively he added, Il
know how busy he is all the time"
IN ANOTHER moment he was smil-
ing at fresh remembrance. Il
declare, Mr. Roosevelt used to sit right
down in that drawing room and talk
to you, just as If you were good as
anybody" The kindly face took on a
ruminative light and Brooks gave ex-
preston to a bit of philosophy: you
know, the longer 60 out on the road
hio ranYlln uyhnco
names are known everywhere, the
more find that the bigger they are
the more they're like Mr.. Roosevelt" )"
Brooks went on to speak Of Senator
Carter Glass.
i've waited on Senator Glass. too.
grouchy. But it's not that he's really
grouchy . it's just his way. You
have to understand him. Sometimes
he speaks up awful sharp, but he's
always kindly again, and he tips most
generous"
Brooks Is known to his colleagues
of car No. 1851 as the baby waiter"
THAT" he explains, "is because the
steward always seems to give me ladies
travelling with babies. I like to wait
on them and take as good care Of
them as I can Once there was lady
travelling to Cleveland and she had
four or five children with her. took
care of all of them at the table and
after she got back to Cleveland she
wrote me and said any time I got tired
of the road 1 could come and work for
her. A man who lives in Philadelphia
offered me a job, too. He said, John,
any day you want to come to Phila-
delphia, there's job waiting for you
But, even though I appreciate such
kindness, have to explain that I
got my home in Washington and my
family lives here, and of course
don't want to leave them"
Brooks has four children and his
wife living In the little house on M
street.
at IL noon Of one day and returns
the next night at 7:25. The next
day is a "lay-off." and the day fol-
lowing that he resumes his schedule.
He Is paid twice a month and de-
pends mostly upon his tips for the
major part of his earnings, although
the railroad company has doubled
his income since he went to work for
them % years ago
On September Is of this year, while
in the yards at Spartanburg, the
car on which he was working was
cut of. In the middle Of the night
he and his crew, asleep In their
compartment, were awakened by a
switchman who said: Boys, you bet
ter get up and dress. The cars rum
ming wild. The brakes won't hold
and we can't stop her."
"I asked him." said Brooks, what
must we do? And he said we might
all have to Jump If the car continued
to pick up speed because anything
was likely to happen at the other
switch.
1--WE. dressed and went out to the
rear of the car. The car had been
left on an incline in the yards and
the brakes wouldn't hold on the
grade. We didn't have any engine,
Continued on Page B-2.)