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Show AN ANIMATED NEWSPAPER. An Old Man Heads the News and Tells It to His Customers. "Speaking of queer occupations," said a Fourth street merchant, "there is an old fellow down town who makes a good living reading the newspapers. Of course everybody reads the evening paper, but in the rush of business the morning papers pa-pers may get lost in the shuffle. The old man gets out of bed at an early hour and gets a copy of each of the morning papers as early as they can be bought. He then reads them exhaustively, and by the time business men get down town he has thoroughly mastered all branches of the news of the day. He is well educated edu-cated and bright and has a keen perception. percep-tion. He then starts out, dropping in on first one and then another of his subscribers, sub-scribers, for he lets his services by the week, just as a newspaper. "He enters a bank where everybody is busy. He knows the likes and dislikes of every one of his customers, and he entertains en-tertains each for a few moments with the news of his choice, and then with a few passing remarks about the general news of the day passes on to the next. You will find him discussing the silver question one moment and race horses the next. He can tell the tips for the day and the prices of silver. He knows the latest in art and literature and is thoroughly posted in politics. He is a walking cyclopedia. He is not only a daily newspaper, but a whole file of newspapers, with a lightning reference index. He tells you the newTs of the day, and if asked will refresh your memory on past events. He is strictly business, and while he answers every question asked by a subscriber freely he absolutely abso-lutely will not talk to the nonsubscriber. "If you want to talk to him about the happenings of the day, you must pay a week's fee in advance. Then he will see you every day for a week. If you are at your office regularly, he will come to you daily, but if you fail to be on hand there that is your loss. One beauty of his system is that he has no bad debts. He has a preferred list of 10, whom he charges $1 a month, and upon whom he waits at any hour they name. Then his common customers pay 10 cents a week, and he agrees to see them all before noon. When a subscriber's time is up, the fact is mentioned, and unless payment pay-ment is made at once you can't get the old fellow to open his mouth. Pay him, and he is at your service. "He is strictly business and does not regard re-gard himself as an excrescence on the face of business, nor is he so regarded by his customers. He is a kindly old fellow who has a smile for everjbody, and for whom everybody has a pleasant word. He does not bear tales, but confines con-fines himself strictly to what is in the papers, pa-pers, and thua avoids the responsibility for tales he might otherwise be able to tell.,"-.Cincinunati Times-Star. . |