Bok, Edward William, 1863-1930; Dutch Americans -- Biography; Ladies' Home Journal; Periodical editors -- United States -- Biography
"Yes, I want to play ball," replied the boy, but he was not reserving
his Saturday afternoons for games, although, boy-like, that might be
his preference.
Edward now took on for each Saturday morning--when, of course, there
was no school--the delivery route of a weekly paper called the _South
Brooklyn Advocate_. He had offered to deliver the entire neighborhood
edition of the paper for one dollar, thus increasing his earning
capacity to two dollars and a half per week.
Transportation, in those days in Brooklyn, was by horse-cars, and the
car-line on Smith Street nearest Edward's home ran to Coney Island.
Just around the corner where Edward lived the cars stopped to water the
horses on their long haul. The boy noticed that the men jumped from
the open cars in summer, ran into the cigar-store before which the
watering-trough was placed, and got a drink of water from the
ice-cooler placed near the door. But that was not so easily possible
for the women and the children, who were forced to take the long ride
without a drink. It was this that he had in mind when he reserved his
Saturday afternoon to "play ball."
Here was an opening, and Edward decided to fill it. He bought a
shining new pail, screwed three hooks on the edge from which he hung
three clean shimmering glasses, and one Saturday afternoon when a car
stopped the boy leaped on, tactfully asked the conductor if he did not
want a drink, and then proceeded to sell his water, cooled with ice, at
a cent a glass to the passengers. A little experience showed that he
exhausted a pail with every two cars, and each pail netted him thirty
cents. Of course Sunday was a most profitable day; and after going to
Sunday-school in the morning, he did a further Sabbath service for the
rest of the day by refreshing tired mothers and thirsty children on the
Coney Island cars--at a penny a glass!
But the profit of six dollars which Edward was now reaping in his newly
found "bonanza" on Saturday and Sunday afternoons became apparent to
other boys, and one Saturday the young ice-water boy found that he had
a competitor; then two and soon three. Edward immediately met the
challenge; he squeezed half a dozen lemons into each pail of water,
added some sugar, tripled his charge, and continued his monopoly by
selling "Lemonade, three cents a glass." Soon more passengers were
asking for lemonade than for plain drinking-water!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account