Show t i 4 ue S tv 7 U SERVICE 6 Iff T THE E STORY STOnY 1 THUS US FAR Amos Croy fettled on a farm In Missouri where ho married and a son Homer was born sunday meant church company for din din- I Iner ner Der and steer weight guessing Dehorning Dehorn Dehorn- tag ing of the calves sausage making and I helping Newt break the mules were all aU part put of his work lie e won a prize for his most unusual dream The Cross attended the Omaha Exposition where Homer saw his first horseless car car- hula dancers and first motion picture Homer Domer asked to go to high school No Croy ever had Ills father rave lave cave Homer Domer his own pants and drove him him In for the first day and waited and brought him home at night It was all Bew ae to Homer Domer CHAPTER XIV YIV With the secrecy of youth I said nothing to anyone Even when Ma asked me how I liked the city boys and fod nd girls I said All right I had no friends yet I liked people and yearned desperately to make friends f Ml I wore shoes except in stormy weather when I wore boots as I did didon didon fETn on the farm One morning as I Itaas Iwas iwas was saddling Dave he bumped my foot ot That day at school my foot 1 was as sore and I quietly slipped off Colonel Cox who sat fey m mY boot b Behind hind me saw that I had it off and got it away from me In a afew afew afew few minutes the teacher told me to come me to the board and explain some- some thing Ming ing I said I didn't know how but she told me to come and try I limped up one boot on one boot off off ff a humiliating moment People were fascinating to me But I had seen very few only our sud-denly sud Relatives and neighbors now suddenly sud sud- denly there was a whole new world l listened I to the students recite intrigued intrigued in- in far more by them than by what they were saying I would i discover some item of interest about one one ne of the students the next day I would discover something else Every Every Ev- Ev ery w ery ry day I a added to my collection of facts facts about each student No longer were were they a formless horde all aU lined each an individual indi- indi up p against me was vidual each had traits and characteristics characteristics charac charac- t a good deal like my Knabb neighbors The discovery just about lI floored ored me jl 11 I began to feel a bit more at home mid d made a few shy advances so stimulating were people to me Little Little Lit- Lit I tle by little I accumulated a few friends lends like a tree making rings I pulled pulle up uP out of the areaway and began taking my lunch to the schoolyard schoolyard school school- yard rd and eating it on a bench Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- times es some of the very boys I had slid down the areaway to avoid would rush through their lunch at dome to come and sit on the bench foith ith me IA A change had taken place But I Idid did not know why II pi I became acquainted with a farm girl from another part of the county at It seemed to me she was wonderful Jand tand I began to go with her I Ik k knew her father owned more land than mine but I didn't realize how important this was going to be I r One day when I happened to mention that my father owned a Quarter section she said I know that that Ml I was surprised as I knew I hadn't I mentioned it before So So I asked her herlow herow low ow w she knew it I looked it up in the plat book I III My ardor fell off and a young an whose father owned far more morel moreland land l nd than mine succeeded later in winning winning her Another example of the aristocracy of land As I plowed and harrowed and flayed hayed I thought how wonderful it would be to go to St. St Joseph and get job as a reporter The same feeling of doubt and lack of self self- confidence laid hold of me that I had h-ad had when I had first decided to togo toto go to high school What if I should ail ill Yet I did want desperately to work Work prk on a city paper I II had graduated from high school b but t the world I knew was the Croy f farm arm rm and our town But how thoroughly thor thor- I knew then our neighbors and d the people I came in contact ith I had been out of the county but t once and that was when I had tone fione one to the Omaha Exposition But thought nothing of that None of oftIe the tIe other boys or gir girls s had been any farther One day one of the boys gold me he was going to Oregon on visit j l I thought of it all the way back n Dave When I told Ma about it itan an awed tone she laughed and aid id He means Oregon Missouri And d that was what he had meant a atance atance tance of about thirty miles It hurt m my y father when I told him I wanted to go to St. St Joseph and andry try ry to get a job Why did I want to toi 0 off and leave our good farm i It lt pained me to insist but there thereas Jf as that inner urge to do the kind king of work ork I wanted to do And Pa was r too Never Neva r had a Croy or a Jewell Sewell well for that matter wanted to 9 Weave eave the land But finally he said saide ge ave i-ave e would not hold out EWhen When we went to get the family f f telescope there was a hole in the j corner orner A telex telescope cope I must explain a i was fas made of two pieces The top dr f one ne fitted over the other like a aa a Pillbox lid 1 Around the middle w was wasa as a a single leather strap and there was wasa a JI handl handle handle- handles e. e s Some me way or or other a l use ouse had been trapped and had hadi gnawed d its way to freedom I Iou I wish yoU ou didn't have to go off off to the i t ii I city with a hole in your telescope Ma said But I was not thinking of the hole I would make good I would get that job Pa and Ma and I got in the hack and started to town along the road I had traveled four years on old Dave As we drove along Pa told me how I must guard myself in the city St. St Joe was full of men who would steal every penny they could see Everybody Everybody Every Every- body would try to take advantage of me But he never mentioned wom wom- en And Ma did only once and that was when we were alone for a moment moment moment mo mo- ment on the depot platform Homer Homer Ho mer I am going to pray you wont won't have anything to do with bad girls Pa stood holding the telescope and Ma stood with her arm around me The train thundered in Ma kissed me and whispered Dont forget what I said Pa handed up the telescope Write H whenever you can Homer I leaned over and looked back and there they stood as far as I could see My problem began as soon as I arrived What was I going to do with my telescope while I went to look for a job There must have been a checkroom but I did not know what it was for I solved this problem which had suddenly jumped up before me by looking around for fora a grocery store for a grocery store was a sort of club for farmers where they met and visited and left their packages and parcels and chil chil- dren I found one and asked a aman aman aman man who seemed to be the owner if I could leave my telescope He study stud- stud y t I Ia a 1 1 1 II J JW W T Ia I- I a X r t nr I What that is it you want wani he asked when I finished led me a moment then said I could if I wanted to I marched to the rear as we always did in our own grocery store and left it among the boxes and barrels Then I started up the street to get my job I had never read a Horatio Alger Jr story and so far as I know I had never heard the name so I had no false ideas of what a young man must face All I knew what that I was going to get a job and nothing was going to keep me from it I asked the direction of the newspaper newspaper newspaper news news- paper offices and started north up the street I saw a streetcar but I wasn't surprised Hadn't I seen one in Omaha I found the office of the paper which is now the St. St Joseph News- News Press and walked boldly in for I had that all studied out and asked very businesslike where I could find the city editor Pretty soon I found myself standing by the desk of a aman aman aman man wearing a green eyeshade It seemed to me that every man in the theoffice theoffice theoffice office was staring at me and burning with curiosity Not very far from the truth as I can now believe for I Iwas Iwas Iwas was tall and lanky and thin as a arail rail six rail six feet two inches with inches with an upper jaw and a large nose and I was painfully ill at ease I edged closer for I didn't want all the staring people to hear and told the man with the green eyeshade that I wanted a job What is it you want he asked when I finished I again imparted the confidential information Then he cupped his hand behind his ear car and I realized he was hard of hearing So I had to shout at the top of my voice He took his hand down Dont need anybody Got too many now I could hardly believe my ears But I had come for that job lob and I Iwas Iwas Iwas was going to have it So I started all over again telling him how good I was He took his hand down again and calmly started to read copy Pretty soon I was out on the street shocked and unbelieving that it could have happened to me There was another paper there the St. St Joseph Gazette The paper I Eugene Eugen Field had worked on on and Henry M. M Stanley and Walter Hines i Page It was not as good a paper and I knew little about it But it was a newspaper I inquired where its office was and started determinedly down the street streel I would show Old Green Eyeshade Eyeshade Eyeshade Eye- Eye shade I wasn't licked Not only that but I would scoop his paper A man was sorting letters and shoving them into boxes My first glimpse of want-ad want answers Where H will I find the city editor editor edi edi- editor tor tor I asked professionally II The IThe city editor he repeated The liThe city editor I said firmly His office is upstairs I stared in astonishment when I got there for there were only two persons in the office No green eye- eye shade But I didn't know whether I wanted to work on such a small paper or not for the other office had been humming with activity I want to speak to the tile city edi edi- tor A man stopped running his typewriter typewriter typewriter type type- I I writer and looked at me curiously Do liDo you want a job Yes sir Come back at one I crept down the stairs beginning I Ito to get the hang of the thing I I had known there were evening papers papers papers pa pa- pai i pers and morning papers but only vaguely I wandered around the streets feeling lonely but confident No one I spoke to anyone else Hardly any I horses on the street At thirty one-thirty I climbed the stairs again The place seemed alive with people The man an who had been run run- running ning ring the typewriter silently pointed I a finger forger at a man sitting at a desk and land I marched over and told him I wanted to go to work for him Thank God he could hear Finally when I was through he said How much money do you want I 1 said Ill leave that to you In Maryville that would have been a challenge for the man to be gener gener- ous But I 1 was to find city ways were different I III can pay you 9 a week I told him I would take it When can you go to work As liAs soon as I can get a place to live I found a rooming house and got goton goton goton on a streetcar and started for my grocery store The telescope was there I hadn't been in the city long enough to realize Pa knew what he was talking about I was given a run of the undertakers undertakers undertakers under under- takers and the YMCA which was the first I knew about that tion A place for young men But they were playing pool I was beginning beginning beginning be be- ginning to see Pa was right Ma wrote twice a week Was VS I sleeping well Was I getting plenty plenty plenty plen plen- I ty of good wholesome food What I kind of bed did I have Was I being a good boy Then she would tell I the family news The price of eggs I who was sick Uncle Will Vill Sewell had come up in the cart because the roads were were muddy The Kennedys had hog cholera Ma hoped it wouldn't get 1 t down our way They 0 Mas Ma's letters letters always always ended the same way Your father sends regards One day after I had been working working working work work- ing about a month I came to my desk and there on my Oliver typewriter typewriter typewriter type type- writer was an envelope with my name written in heavy pencil Inside Inside Inside In In- side was a sheet of copy paper typewritten typewritten typewritten type type- written with this sentence on it II As As of Thursday the Gazette will have to dispense with your ices The bitterness was almost over over- whelming I went out on the street to be alone When I came back I went to the city editor and asked why I found then that it had not been my work after all The star reporter had had hada a better offer and to hold him they would have to pay him more money money money mon mon- ey and cut down elsewhere I was the elsewhere I went to the Press now the St. St Joseph Press News-Press and succeeded in getting a job I wrote home that I was now working on another paper and received a letter from Ma which said Pa says he is glad you could better yourself One day I brought in a copy of Puck with a piece of mine in it and proudly showed it to the city editor He read it and said II Well I must get around to writing one of those I looked at the girls tripping along and wished I knew one Sometimes I tried to strike up acquaintance but I was so shy I was usually put off at the first rebuff At last the lonesome summer was over and I got on the train Faithful Faithful Faithful Faith Faith- ful Pa was at the depot shook hands with me and said Ill carry your grip and picked up the telescope with the mouse hole in the corner As we jogged home I told him about my work now and then he hinted was hinted was I satisfied with that way of earning a living He had turned the hogs he said and told how much he had got There had been plenty of rain farming conditions were good But things hadn't gone so sowell sowell sowell well with Mr Knabb He had hoof hoof- rot It was all interesting to me every detail Ma came out to meet us looking frailer than when I had seen her last one ana shoulder blade turned out TO aE 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