Among the great number of boys who called at the office, none cast such
a ray of sunshine about him as a little seller known as Sunny Willie,
on account of the smile he always seemed to have. But with all his good
nature and kindness of heart, he, at times, became very serious.
One evening after the boys had sold their papers and were enroute to
their homes, Sunny Willie, as was often his habit, called upon the
president to say good night. Just as he was leaving the office, two
boys walked in and the loud talking between them indicated trouble.
Willie concluded to remain. Leaning against the desk he became a very
attentive listener. The smile had left him. He looked thoughtful.
“I know you’re wrong,” said one of the boys, “you’re talking to hear
yourself talk. You are looking fur trouble. That’s what you are. I ken
prove it. I ken show you I wasn’t on the corner fur a week.” “That’s
right,” replied the other boy, “why wasn’t you there fur a week,
because you stole the papers from the poor old woman and was ashamed
to sell ’round the corner. Now, come off, you took de papers.”
At the corner of the post-office is a small stand kept by a woman, who
has been engaged in selling papers for a number of years. One morning,
some papers were missing from a bundle lying upon the sidewalk. The boy
accused usually sold papers on the corner and his absence for several
mornings gave rise to the suspicion that he either took the papers or
knew something about them.
“As I said before,” continued the accused boy, “I did not steal the
papers, an’ you got no proof to show I did.”
There was silence for some moments when Sunny Willie, said, in a
whisper, to the president:
“I saw de kid take the papers. Shall I butt in?”
“Yes, you arbitrate the case—settle it,” replied the president.
The usual smile was still missing when Willie said, quietly:
“Sand the track, you’re slipping.”
“What do you mean?” asked the boy, his face becoming very red.
“You know the rule of the association is to warn a boy when he’s
slipping; when he’s doin’ something wrong. When I say, sand the track,
I mean you can’t go forward, you go backward, and some one must help
you or you slide back, see? I’m the fellow who’s ready to stop you from
sliding. I saw you take the papers.”
The accused was surprised. He could not talk. Sunny Willie again came
to his rescue.
“I’ll give you these pennies,” he said, and the smile returned to his
pretty face. In his little hand he held ten new pennies.
“Now, didn’t you take the papers?”
“Yes, but I intended to return the money for them, or make it all right
with the old woman.”
“Come,” he continued addressing Willie, “I’ll go with you and we’ll
make it all right.”
Out the three boys went and they were soon talking with the old woman.
Shortly, Sunny Willie returned to the office.
“If I hadn’t a put sand on his track he would have slipped way back,”
he said to the president, “Everything’s all right. He will never steal
papers again.”
Another little seller, a favorite on the street among business men, one
of whom the president often purchases a paper to please the newsboy,
came running into the office one evening and throwing his bundle upon
the lap of the president said:
“Here, pres., hold these papers until I go into the hotel to get a
drink of water.”
The act was done so quickly the president found the big bundle on
his lap before he really understood the wishes of the newsie, but he
quickly returned, took the papers, and said, as he hastened out:
“Thank you, Mr. President.”
The confidence this boy had in the president was appreciated, not only
by him but by those who witnessed the act.
It has always been a source of great pleasure, to the president and
his associates, to see how deeply interested the officers of the
association become, as the following will show.
Three officers were walking on one of the principal streets casually
looking in the show-windows when they heard music; looking ahead they
saw a newsboy, a seller, walking along, playing a mouth-organ. Coming
to him, it was noticed the instrument was an unusually fine one, and a
new one.
“That mouth-organ is too expensive for that boy, there’s something
wrong,” said one of the officers.
[Illustration: DIVIDING THE PAPERS.]
“Where did you get that organ,” was asked the newsie.
“I buyed it at Smith’s store, down yonder,” was the reply.
“Well, I guess, not. You never had so much money. Come on with us and
show us where you bought it.”
They walked to the corner when the boy said:
“I didn’t buy it there, I bought it down on Monroe street,” giving the
correct name of a store on that street.
“All, right, come along, we’ll go down there.”
Around the corner they started and when within a block of the street
the boy again changed the place of purchase.
“I buyed it of Mr. Jones, way out on this street.”
That was five blocks away.
“Now this is the last time,” said one of the officers, “if you change
the place again, look out.”
But when they had walked four squares the boy again made an effort to
change.
“No, you don’t my chappy,” said one of the officers, “We know you stole
it. We knew it from the first. Now you own to the truth or we will
take you to the president, and then what?”
The boy squirmed considerable, but every movement gave evidence that he
stole it.
“Now, where did you get it?” was bluntly asked, as the boy was backed
up against a building.
This was too much for him. He owned he “hooked it.” Naming a prominent
department store as the place he took it.
“You must go with us, hand it to the proprietor and beg his pardon,”
said the officers.
This at first seemed a most difficult task, but when they promised to
accompany him to the store he agreed.
When at the door of the great store he asked the officers to step aside.
“If I do this you will not tell the president, will you?”
“Of course not, he shall never know anything about it.”
He walked in, took an elevator and soon stood before the manager of the
store.
He told how he saw it on the counter and “hooked it when the girls were
not looking, but I will never do anything like this again.”
The manager thanked the boy for his determination to do better and
told him he would forgive him for the theft, and promised to give him
a position in the store if the officers of the association would bring
him there when he was through school.
The president learned of this incident a month later but never knew the
name of the newsboy.