SOME FREAK JOBS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 80

SOME FREAK JOBS.

An old set of false teeth auctioned^ 'off* as part of the effects of an eccentric poe6who recently, died on Long Island caused spirited bidding, and finally was. knocked down to a man who gave his -business aa a dealer in second-hand molars and incisors in New York. This started soma of the bystanders discussing queer .vaya of making a living in the metropolis. i A newspaper man in fche group (says &h«i New York Tribune), who had made si. study of the East Side ghetto, said thati^ the queerest way of meeting the re&i ha> had ever run across was the job of turning' out light for orthodox Jews on Fridays • According to the Talmud, no faithful Jewf may either strike a matci* or extinguish! any kind of fire or Vight on- Friday night* Even" the electric incandescent "lamp, mustf not be extinguished. As "a consequence-, the orthodox Jews hire Gentiles to lighif their fires and lamps and to

—Put Them Out at Bedtime. —

There are a number of Gemtile womeii who continue to live aear Hester street! just to make extra money in this way: One woman will have, several families fop. •whom she is official extinguisher, and eacH pays her 10 or 25 cents, or even more, each week, so that they can go «© bed in comfortable darkness. A second man said that the strangest! job he knew of was that of a man whd •was retained by a big contracting company principally because of the beautiful way in which he broke the news of art accident to the widow and then attended to the family— with resultant saving us claims for damages. "Renting a baby to a professional beggaa is to my mind the oddest form of making cash," hazarded a third. "We just looked tip a case where a mother rented a winnings though sickly- looking baby to another woman, who held it on her lap and silently held out a hand for alms. Shei got into trouble, however, for pinching the baby to make it ory when a particularly prosperous-looking pedestrian approached." "How about a singing teacher for canary birds?" asked another. '"There's one int • Brooklyn. Or, for that matter, if your want % queer one, what's wrong with the anaka diet man at the zoo, who has to know just when to give the boa-constrictor a live rabbit or a dozen raw eggs?" "They'll do," was the reply. "But add to the list the man who paints the tall, flagpoles, the chap who keeps the Central Park obelisk from wearing away, the gen* doctor down in Maiden lane who can

—Make a Sick Peail—

oo 1 * ruby as good as new by some sort of hocus-pocus. Yes, and keep a place for. the man who paints black eyes aifo si normal appearance, and the other man who can colour and bandage up a panhandler! until he looks as if he had the most pain* ful diseases."

"And just include the mam over at tlie( hospital who is lucky enough to havor some rare drsease. He charges so .nuchfr an hour for exhibiting himself a-t clinics? ' and medical society meetings," put in alj medical student. . I There is ateo a ohild exterminator foas. hotels and apartments and homes of ttoa rich. He ioesn't bill the children, but* he dioes ke&p them out of the way o£ society-mad mothers for a certain mimbeif of hours each day. He calk himself— ft privately, of course — expert playmate t& poor iiitle millionaire boys. Hp got ihaf idea " that thear© - was aioney in givina the children of tie *ich a chance to be* children instead of \ibtfte draiwing-roonx prigs or

—Governess Tormentors. —

So he went to New York University, which is giving special courses for teacher*

&i managing playgrounds and clubs for •children, and physical training and child hygiene, acd learned the trick of keeping the little ch^ps happy and well by systematic play. In a short time he got all the sons of the rich he could handle. He hired a vacant piece of property, and started in ■to teach them to play ball and to do gymnasium stunts every afternoon instead of loafing about hotel corridors and learning devilry from bellboys. On Saturdays ■he takes the children to the country somewhere, or to the navy yard, or to a public museum. The first ytear h.e cleaned up 3000 dollars, and how women drive up in their carriages and beg him to take their fcoys. In srimmer he runs a high-claee boys.' canig on a lake, charging Saratoga •rates. ,