The Sidney herald., 1959-12-02

10 play an 1mpOrtan'
part in the development of the
chain store. And well they might
Tor their father, Daniel c.. Nc.
Donald, was one of the first mer
IN the chain store business. Ir
Hamilton, Mo-, where they NOV.
ed soon after Jim's birth, he op-
Grated the Cash-McDonald Store
n in a chain of approximately 1C
stores in Missouri known as the
Cash-Cowgill Company.
1t was in this store that young
jim got his first taste of the mer-
camille business - and that first
taste came at a tender age. 1t was
his responsibility to do all the odd
jobs around the store - such as
sweeping, busting, washing win
dows, etc. Work shoes came pack
ed by the dozen in a wooden box
in those days, and were kept under
tables stored in the open boxes.
Each week Jim had to take all of
the shoes out of their boxes, rub
the dust off, and replace them.
Jim remembered wildly the leath-
er boots which farmers wore in
the wintertime, as well as the boys
boots with red tops and brass toes,
which he polished weekly.
But even in those days, Jim Nc
Donald wasn't just busting boots.
While his hands were busy, his
eyes and ears were occupied too
observing how the clerks hand
led people and storing up impress
Sions of good merchandising.
The next step was waiting on
customers when the other peo-
pie in the store were busy. While
still too small to see i've the
counter, he managed to wait on
trade by kicking a box around
to stand on. Many a customer,
stopping at an apparently de-
serted counter, was surprised to
find a little red head popping
up in front of him with a plea
SAINT, MAY / help your"
Jim remembered particularly
two women who came into the
Hamilton store one day to buy
q length of calico. He measured
it for them, but was having trou-
BILE in cutting it off. "These scis-
sors are quite dull" he remark
ed, to which one of the women
replied, 81 didn't know whether
it was the scissors or the boy"
Scissors, incidentally, had al
ways been an emblem for ]. M.
Mcdonald. Early in his store days
he began to carry a pair about
with him constantly, and to the
end had never been without them.
You'd never know" he ex-
planned, "when someone would
want 10 buy a piece of yard
goods"
In addition, he found innumer-
able other uses for his scissors
opening boxes, sharpening pen
ellis. Practically everything one
does with a knife, j. M. could do
with his scissors, ever the vest
pocket size pair he always car
ried.
AS he grew older, part-time
work in his fathers store failed
to consume all the energy of
this up-and-coming young lad,
and he looked around for other
ways to spend his time, and aug
ment his income.
In Hamilton, in the 1905, near
Qy every family Kept a cow. One
of Jim's jobs was driving the
cows to pasture each morning and
returning them at night = a mile
and a half away. For this chore
he received so cents per month
from each family.
He was also responsible for
for the team of horses
and COW which belonged to the
president of the bank. His du-
ties included keeping the ami
mails clean, milking the cow twice
a day, exercising the horses,
hitching them to a rig whenever
the bankers wife or sister-in-
law wanted to go any place,
and taking care of the team when
they returned. This added another
so cents per week to his fund.
But one of his easiest and most
lucrative jobs was carrying notes
from young men to their girls,
and returning with an answer.
Hamilton wasn't a big town, so
his meant only short trips -
and a dimes pay for the jour-
icy. j. M. could not help think
ng what a difference telephones
have made in his spending
money.
Never One to Run From Work
Jim McDonald's first "real job"
vas with a feed, coal and dray
yard the summer he was IA. He
vas hired as an office boy at
;7.5O per month. Never one to
un from work, Jim kept in
,reasing his duties until by the
nd of the summer he was driv-
ng a team to deliver coal,
and feed, and helping to
eed and care for horses which
drove to town. This was
very busy summer"
During the next vacation, Jim
ook a job driving a delivery wag-
for a grocery store at $1,000
,er month. Being Jim McDon-
Id, he also did odd jobs around
he store, sweeping out, wash
ne the cuspidors in the alley
very morning, etc. In addition
0 learning more about the work.
ngs of a store, Jim gained that
INNER a liberal education in
ool;po with na0n1e Delivering