Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1919 — Jones Gets a Raise [ARTICLE]

Jones Gets a Raise

By IMES MACDONALD

(Copyright, I9IS. by McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) Young Mr. Jones mrctrerf ew* ihM riMe hD-mlding nrii-hitw-a fvw mini ■ jj ve j ;l |>s and again lapsed a revertp; —Five years' on' of a college. niHi D;niil K. Jones jiail tittle bl boast of in rhe way of aehievement. He htrtl-be<‘ir nuiliii ions, < 1 lit eager and enthusiastic application to his job for five long years hart failed to lift 'h’jn out of the clerk’s class. When he had taken the Job in answer to an ■■ advert i-emen't TIP had !>• en assured of ?'trapid>«dvanccmeflt and a . future for the right niiin.” 1 *>»< h<- wa t: still doing tin* same work he bad been -■ qfjy 1 * firKt three months wllLl thr company. He had stuck -to one. job with sincere ami industrious purpose without its bringing him my thing in tlie way of advtu ■ ■■ ■ ■' and now That it wns z June again the pros - pect of another long, hot summer in that office galled him. With a thoughtful air he withdrew Hom his wallet a clipping which lie had torn from his newspaper on the way —downtown in -rhe spbwny - that rooming; " 7 ~ “WANTED—Athletic young man as boatman on genthntrnuV -estate. Con necticut shore. Must be expert swimmer—know motorboats, sailboats'and useful and obliging; S(SO monthly and board. . See Mrs. Agnes Turner between 10 and 12 Tuesday. Hotel Arkwright." ,And after he had read the ad Jhrough once more young Mr. Jones arose from his desk and entered the ■private office of his great and exclusive boss, the well-known Mr. Henry I’. Riggs. Mr. Riggs, or “Old H. 1’.." as he was called in the outer office, stared at the impulsive Mr. Jones with surly surprise. The privacy of his domain had never before been so violated. “Well?” he demanded. “I’m Jones,” said Jones; “David R. Jones. I've been with this company five years. I have a fair education, a —certain amount of brains and sonit ability. When I came here 1 was promised rapid advancement and a future. —and before I die of old age at $35. a week I thought Td go into the matter with you.” “Well?” repeated Old H.P. sourly. ■ “I want a man's job and $3,000 u year from today or I'm through." ohl H. I*. glared, ami the baresv crinkle of a sarcastic, smihmpuckered tip one corner of his mouth. “You're through, all right!” he agreed, “and you won't find three-thousand dollar jobs hanging on trees around this town, young man." —— “Anyyv&y,” grinned Jones affably, "1 don't intend to hang on this, tree till I'm rotten. There are plenty of other trees growing in the orchard of Manhattan." “Very- well." growled Old IJ, ; I’.. turning back to his desk. “But if you don't get your fancy job you can have your old one here any time before the first, of September." he filing over his shoulder. “Huh!" he grunted a few days later when the incident recurred, to him. “The young squirt! And 1 was proud of fifteen a week at his age!" But at that very moment Dav id R. Jones, clad in a sleeveless jersey and an old pair of flannel trousers, was tuning up the engine of a high-powered motorboat up on the Connecticut shore. “Hello, boatman I” shouted a voice above fbe din. and Jones packed up to see a smiling face peering at him over the-edge of the doekr She Swung tier legs over the side and turned around with the intention of sliding;-down backwards to- the deck of the beat, some six feet below. Her skirt caught on a boll. ■ but she kept right on sliding till the modest Mr. Jones was compelled to turn his- face away. “Unhook ,iAc." she finally wailed in- ! dignantly. And Jones, wiping his dirty hands on a piece of waste, reached up obediently and unhooked her, setting her safely on her feet with a grin. “My—-my coming was quite a reveTalion,, wasn't ii?” she said demurely...the_ color deepening in her cheeks. BSTbJones "had pretended not to no* ; tice, although the nice men who pretend never to notice are the very ones who never.miss anything. “Who might you be?” he asked pleasantly. “I'm Lotta. the youngest.” she laughed. “Carlotta Higgs, you know. We only got here just a 1 ittlt* while ago - Louise and Nina and Aunt Agnes. Aunty says you impressed her very favorably at your interview in and she thinks you're going to be a verynice boatman. What's your name ?“ And from .that day forth David R. Jones-, was .Lotto's very own. She appropriated him as something sent to her by the gods for her own especial pleasure and amusement. Together they painted the boats —mended the dock —-rebuilt the float. Sturdily she ' worked’wt fits side; and in between rimes they* swam together. If the rest. <if the famtly noticed It at all they . merely passed it off With a shrug—for after ail Lotta was only a kid, but— The day H. P. Riggs wda expected tip to sjHuid a wf»ek with his family’. Lot m and Jones wefit the hay in the tnotopboat to ineet him' and he J»as Jriiroduired to the bare-shouldered, brawny young boatman by Ips daughfirst lie did ;JWt. recognize /ones, bat the way Lotta hovered over

that yffung m'an drew her father 1 * undtvlfled tftt>?ntlon and dlssppfov^l— n nd while he glowen d over his daughter's so apparent affection for his erstwhile clerk. Jci-.o' identity registered itself on his brain. --< —— “Davy finT really a boatman,*” 7 explained Let t a tn her lalher that night at rhe dinneY table, “lie's jtisi a very ni< <■ young man v,ho worked hi- head off live whole P'iirs for a grqmliy old man who. wouldn't give him a cluume, D'avy made up his tniml t«> a nice vacation this-summer and find a , Uetter .lob next fqfi,"l ... .. * Amt ns iisn.-il Lpttii Imriicd through. ;-her dinner nisi slipped down. to the beach oand -1 >avy Jtmes, “ t A\'ky, rhrrn it >rH !" saffll L>ayyk a few mbmti- later. “You shouldn't have' lohj. him licit. Your father u:is the jold •— wfin —WTiti ldrrt~-gbre7a-cimnee !" , And Lotta sat back agaiirsff sin up* ruined boat in umazememr" “Mean old , tLiug!" slm said. ..dmrc.si>e.c..tfull.v, .with 1 visions in her yom'ig mind of putting ■ it o\i r i n hi-r father. . Tlmn*sho iesm■li her jin lepmli m siinst Daw j.wies. with one hand curled behind his neck —and it .voti vt*"'e'vc : r h;td anyone VOfl . ■.. . s a- ■ 1 -o' t a vv a beggFn3 to he kissed, you probably know just vvliat .ba.i- did about it. ‘ “Sitiee tlje very first day, Pavyutear, li’ve been wanting you to kiss me," she was .saying, as the glow of Old H. P.'s cigar Cfime around the .corner of the boat house. For a moment he stoppetl ami watched the two who stood s<> closetogether there,his ila 11.111. r uml—Da.v_y—Jones-xllum—he walked over and faced them .grimly. “I suppose, you'll be 'wanting your old job back’again." saTd H. P? Riggs' to the startled .Mr. Jones. “When a man's' married he rather needs a job,iloesu t he? Itul“tTu>“fvvb“7vf you ctm't live on thirty-five a week.” "Lottti says we can." grinned Jones, hugging that willing young vyoman just a bit closer —and then he bluffed a little. “However, we won’t have to. I'm start with Rogers. Wyman &• Co., the first of September at $3,500 a yea r,” , Whereupon Lotta squeezed his arm and eyed her father hostilely. For a moment H P. Riggs withstood that glance and then he. extended his hand wlth-a-grin, “On the contrary, Dave.” lie said almost genially, “you’re starting with H. P, Riggs & Co. at $5.000 —and eventually a—a part n ers h i p.” And then Lotta graciously transferred one of Davy Jones’ kisses to her father and back again.