People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1895 — It Was a Hit. [ARTICLE]

It Was a Hit.

A boy sat on one of the window seats in the post office corridor reading a novel, while his boot-blacking outfit furnished a rest for his feet. By and by a severe-looking man who was strolling about noticed him and halted to ask: “Boy, are you reading a novel?” “Yes, sir.” “I thought sol Getting yourseli ready to enter a career of crime?” “No, sir.” “But that will be the inevitable result. It’s an Indian story, I suppose?” “No. sir.” “Some trashy detective yarn, then?” “No, sir.” “Then there’s a boy in it who runs away from home and performs heroio and unheard-of deeds?” “No, sir. It’s about a bootblack right in this town. He got his first start in life by a gentleman coming up to him in this very place and giving him fifty cents to black his shoesl” “Ah —uml Man was a fool!” growled the philanthropist, as he trotted along and left the lad to take the broad path to the gallows.—Detroit Free Press.