Worked To The Limit

1895

How the Boys Got Ahead of One Man on a 10 Cent Find.

A man walking along Wrightwood avenue saw a bright dime lying on the sidewalk. He picked it up. Only a short distance ahead of him were two boys. He called to them, "Boys, did you lose anything?"

They turned around, and after looking at each other and then at the friendly man they shook their heads.

"Have you any money?" he asked them.

"I've got 65 cents," said one of them. "What kind of money is it?"

"I got a half dollar and three nicks." "No dimes, eh?"

"No, sir."

"I just picked up a dime back there, and I thought perhaps one of you might have dropped it."

He walked on to the corner. As he stood there waiting for a car he felt a pull at his coattail, and a small boy, with a streaked face, said, "Mister, did you find a 10 cent piece?"

"Yes, I found one."

"Well, I lost it, honest. Ma sent me for bread, and now she'll lick me."

"Well, here's your dime."

The boy grabbed it and ran.

That evening, when the man alighted from the car at the same corner, a boy, with a derby hat too large for him, halted him and asked: "Say, mister, did you find a dime? 'Cause I lost one on the way to the butcher's, and I'll catch it when the old man hears about it."

"Look here, I gave that dime to another boy. He said he was going to buy bread with it."

"He was stringin' you."

"I don't know what that means, but maybe the money belonged to you. Here's 10 cents."

Next morning another boy, with the proud evidence of a hole in his pocket to back up his claim, met the honest man at the front gate and asked for the dime. The man knew that some one must have lost the money, and as he didn't want to overlook the right boy he gave up another dime. That evening two more were lying in wait. He handed them 10 cents apiece on condition that they should notify all the boys in the neighborhood that he had been "worked" to the limit. — Chicago Record.