I would never have guessed how tired she was when I reached her. The light was behind her by that time, so I couldnât see her face, but her voice sounded all full of smiles. âWhy, thereâs nothing in the world the matter, Son,â she told me. âJust the opposite, and I think your âGood luckâ this morning helped me more than anything else. I was fortunate in getting just the job I wanted, and though Iâm desperately slow at it, I think theyâre going to keep me on. I had a nice talk with the foreman before coming away. Now tell me how things went for you at school and in the store today.â
The rest of the way to Uncle Frankâs house I told her about the hogshead of molasses that got away from the boy at the store, but I donât think I told her the boyâs name.
6
âPop Goes the Weaselâ
I THINK my idea about washing the ceiling at the store was one of the best I ever had. We had a heavy, wet snow the day after I started it, then a cold snap, and there was hardly an hour for the rest of the week when the temperature went above zero.
Whenever there was a cold snap like that we always had lots of coal orders at the store, and that week we were flooded with them. With the streets and sidewalks in frozen ridges I couldnât push the cart, and when I tried to deliver coal on a sled it tipped over so often that I spent most of my time reloading it. Besides that, my hands got so cold I couldnât hold onto the bags, and I thought my feet would freeze right off me. I didnât say anything about it at the store, but I guess Mr. Durant noticed how cold I was when I came back from my second delivery, that first morning after the freeze-up. He never talked very much, and the most heâd ever said to me was where to deliver orders, but he came over when I was trying to get my mittens off, and said, âYouâd better stay here in the store with Gus, and you might work on that ceiling some more when you get a chance; itâs needed it for a long time and youâre doing a good job on it. Till we get a thaw, the deliveries will have to be a shoulder job, and Iâll take care of it.â
For a small man, and one who must have been well past fifty, Mr. Durant was the hardest worker Iâd ever known. He was all business, and didnât smoke, or chew, or ever say a bad word. That week he carried out more than a hundred bags of coal, along with the grocery orders, and his hands and feet must have got just as cold as mine did, but he never stopped to warm them. Heâd come in from a delivery with his face brick-red and stiff-looking from the cold, put two bags of coal on his shoulder, pick up a big basket of groceries, and go right out again. When he wasnât out collecting orders or delivering them he was busy putting them up in the store. He always moved quickly, and he was careful in everything he did. Heâd never cheat a customer out of a single bean, but if he put in one too many and the beam of the scale tipped a bit above level heâd take it out.
Mr. Haushalter was just the opposite. He never hurried, he liked to talk and laugh, and tell stories, and he never took out any beans unless the scale bumped down good and hard. There was only one thing he did that might seem like cheating a customer, and he explained to me about that.
When some men chew tobacco itâs a dirty habit; theyâre always spitting, or talking as if they had a mouthful of marbles, and some of them leak juice at the corners of their lips. Mr. Haushalter chewed all the time, but I donât believe anybody but Mr. Durant and I knew it. No one could ever have told by his talking, and he never spit when there was a customer in the store. Really, he didnât spit at all; heâd pinch his lips together and fire a squirt of brown juice as if it were a dart, and he always hit Matildaâs sand box with itâsometimes from ten feet away.
Right at the
The rest of the way to Uncle Frankâs house I told her about the hogshead of molasses that got away from the boy at the store, but I donât think I told her the boyâs name.
6
âPop Goes the Weaselâ
I THINK my idea about washing the ceiling at the store was one of the best I ever had. We had a heavy, wet snow the day after I started it, then a cold snap, and there was hardly an hour for the rest of the week when the temperature went above zero.
Whenever there was a cold snap like that we always had lots of coal orders at the store, and that week we were flooded with them. With the streets and sidewalks in frozen ridges I couldnât push the cart, and when I tried to deliver coal on a sled it tipped over so often that I spent most of my time reloading it. Besides that, my hands got so cold I couldnât hold onto the bags, and I thought my feet would freeze right off me. I didnât say anything about it at the store, but I guess Mr. Durant noticed how cold I was when I came back from my second delivery, that first morning after the freeze-up. He never talked very much, and the most heâd ever said to me was where to deliver orders, but he came over when I was trying to get my mittens off, and said, âYouâd better stay here in the store with Gus, and you might work on that ceiling some more when you get a chance; itâs needed it for a long time and youâre doing a good job on it. Till we get a thaw, the deliveries will have to be a shoulder job, and Iâll take care of it.â
For a small man, and one who must have been well past fifty, Mr. Durant was the hardest worker Iâd ever known. He was all business, and didnât smoke, or chew, or ever say a bad word. That week he carried out more than a hundred bags of coal, along with the grocery orders, and his hands and feet must have got just as cold as mine did, but he never stopped to warm them. Heâd come in from a delivery with his face brick-red and stiff-looking from the cold, put two bags of coal on his shoulder, pick up a big basket of groceries, and go right out again. When he wasnât out collecting orders or delivering them he was busy putting them up in the store. He always moved quickly, and he was careful in everything he did. Heâd never cheat a customer out of a single bean, but if he put in one too many and the beam of the scale tipped a bit above level heâd take it out.
Mr. Haushalter was just the opposite. He never hurried, he liked to talk and laugh, and tell stories, and he never took out any beans unless the scale bumped down good and hard. There was only one thing he did that might seem like cheating a customer, and he explained to me about that.
When some men chew tobacco itâs a dirty habit; theyâre always spitting, or talking as if they had a mouthful of marbles, and some of them leak juice at the corners of their lips. Mr. Haushalter chewed all the time, but I donât believe anybody but Mr. Durant and I knew it. No one could ever have told by his talking, and he never spit when there was a customer in the store. Really, he didnât spit at all; heâd pinch his lips together and fire a squirt of brown juice as if it were a dart, and he always hit Matildaâs sand box with itâsometimes from ten feet away.
Right at the
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