Men of Good Will

As the chill of dusk settled over 2nd and Spring streets Newsboy Bill Franklin noticed his helper, Juan Jiminez, 10, was shivering. Juan sells papers for him after school.

"You’ll freeze in that T-shirt," Bill said. "Why didn’t you bring a sweater or jacket?"

Juan said he didn’t have one.

As
if a good fairy had been listening, one of Bill’s customers, a real
estate appraiser in the Wilcox Building named Sparks, a few minutes
later handed him a $5 bill as a belated Christmas gift.  "Sorry I
didn’t get it to you sooner," he apologized.

BILL WENT to
the Bargain Store at 210 S. Hill St., a little place, and asked for a
jacket that would fit a 10-year-old boy — cheap. The owner, who
handles mostly used adult stuff, managed to find one. When Bill
explained the circumstances he refused to take any money.

As Bill passed the Civic Cleaning shop at 318 W. 2nd
St., Milt, the owner said, "Let me have it; and I’ll make it look like
new." He cleaned and blocked it and put it on a hanger. No charge.

Things get a little sordid sometimes around 2nd and Spring but Bill and Juan think people are pretty wonderful.

* *

A COPY OF Think,
the IBM magazine, has come my way and I’ve been reading it with
interest. So far I have detected no noticeable result. To put it
another way, it is too soon to decide whether it’s true that you can
lead a man to a magazine but you cannot make him think. But watch out!
I’ve got a year’s subscription.

* *

HANDYMAN
Nothing can fill the bill
For a typical Jill
When her car’s out of whack
Like a typical jack
— Joseph P. Krengel

"One
of my big resolves for the new year," a man named Everett writes, "is
to make better use of my time and get some reading done. This means
throwing off the hypnotic spell of the cyclops in the living room, no
easy task. Nevertheless, I can report progress. The first night I was
able by sheer grim will power to deny myself the late late show, which,
by pure chance, I’d already seen.

"My hopes are high."

Strictly from Pixieville, that Everett.

* *

IT ISN’T
generally known that Joe Hernandez, who has called every race at Santa
Anita — more than 8,700 — since the track opened in 1934, also owns
some horses.

They race in his name and their silks are scarlet
and silver, his old junior high school’s colors. One is named Lock Out,
another Lahore, which Joe pronounces La-hor-ray.

Joe never falters at a pronunciation. However, there’s a horse named Damat on the grounds and the betting is that when it runs Joe will accent the second syllable.

* *

A BEVERLY GLEN
resident asks a typographical posy in behalf of himself and his
evacuated neighbors for the unknown firemen who saved their homes. "It
was like a dream to come back the next morning and find it still
there," he said. He was particularly touched to discover that a fireman
had helped himself to a can of beer, nothing else, from his
refrigerator — and left a quarter.