Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 176, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1910 — Day of the Hall Boy [ARTICLE]

Day of the Hall Boy

In this day of complaint against incompetent servants of all sorts it is rather remarkable to study the general utility of’the apart-ment-house hallboy. The resourceful New York woman finds many uses for the liveried lad and where he has been tested and found thoroughly reliable he is often trusted with responsible duties. At one df the West side apartment hotels two extresSely bright young colored men have been employed for four years and the commissions with which they are trusted are worth studying. One of them was seen at a neighboring hank the other morning depositing money for three guests at the hotel. Several other colored boys in uniform were performing a similar service. The receiving teller at the bank explained that many of his women depositors intrusted this work, especially on stormy days, to hall boys and elevator boys and that there has not been a single case of dishonesty or misunderstanding in the matter. In some houses elevator and hall boys are not permitted to run errands, the New York World says. In others, where two or three lads arc on duty, rules are relaxed and superintendents are glad to let the boys serve the tenants. Naturally the boys like to do the errands, because there is corresponding increase in their incomes.

Elevator and hall boys are also intrusted with all sorts of repairs, sponging, pressing, dyeing, etc. You will see them hurrying toward the uptown shops, their arms laden with all sorts of wearing apparel, from silk hats that need ironing to shoes that need halfsoling. For such work the boy generally gets two bits of money, one from the'tenant for performing the errand and another from the tradesman to whom he throws the work. A busy time for many of the boys is Sunday afternoons and evenings, after the delicatessen shops open. Then housewives upon whom unexpected company has descended whistle for the hall boy, who makes an emergency run to the nearest purveyor of ready-cooked food. On Sunday mornings you will find quite a line of colored boys in uniform lined up at the branch postoffices in the residence districts. These represent various apartment houses and apartment hotels whose tenants want their mail on Sunday mornings and who club together to give the colored Attendants a fee for making the trip to the branch postoffice during the hour at which mail is distributed every Sunday. A very common source of revenue for hall boys is the care of baby buggies. Very few apartments offer room for such vehicles and it is not always safe to leave them in the basement, A bright hall boy will take care of the carriage, keeping it cleaned and repaired, locking it with a chain or padlock to soma dean, safe place it the basement and having

it ready for use at a signal from the mother or nurse. Landlords may object to dogs,- but bs'l boys—never. "A valuable dog is pretty sure to mean a weekly stipend to an obliging colored attendant. Here again the iron fence ot bar becomes useful as an anchorage for the pet in his care and many an uptown hall boy spends his noon hour giving a pedigreed dog its outing. An upper West side boy whose Rooseveltian teeth are the hallmark of good nature said when interviewed on the subject: “Yessir—we all can do most anything. Missus Powers, she has me open all her ’cause her bands is shaky, an’ I hooks her dresses when Mr. Powers he ain't home. 1 kin market fur her es she’s feelin* poorly, an* I alius meets her mother at the Subway station an' takes her back again. I take keer of her cat when she’s away and I feed Missus Brown’s bird when she goes. Most all the ladles they give me their keys if they’re ’spectin’ some one to cotne„while they're out, an’ I ain’t never made no mistake,’*