n
Our Globe-Circling
JGATSp9.pGrbOyS Next Saturday is National Newspaperboy Day, and
here's a story about two carrier boys who extended their routes from neighborhood to the world
By DAVID McKAY, Currier boy for the Sacramento Union
RICKY hidlebaugh, carrier boy for
the Davenport (Iowa) Times
Democrat, and I were the top-prize
winners at America's First National
Newspaperboy Convention sponsored
by family weekly last spring at Cali
fornia's Disneyland.
Our prizes trips around the world via Qantas
Airways.
We started in Vancouver, British Columbia,
where Patrick Dooley, carrier boy for the Van
couver Sunday News, taught us a new "twist"
way to roll newspapers. If we can remember the
knack of smacking the open end of the papers to
tighten the fold, we can almost guarantee our
customers that they'll have a neat bundle of news
on their porches each day.
Next came Hawaii and carriers Peter Brown
and Robert Morganstein. Robert told us he has
three routes and must rise at 2:30 a.m. Well, any
way he doesn't have to contend with winter snows
as Ricky does while delivering the Times-Democrat
nor the sleet and winds in my home town.
For sheer fun, I guess Ricky and I would vote
for the afternoons we spent riding on the Waikiki
surf or under it, since it fooled us a lot.
It was winter in Sydney, Australia, and every
body was bundled up except Rick and me. We
WW
Dnvid and Rick learn Australian boomerang toss.
Carrier boy in Thailand delivers to river boats.
thought it was brisk but no more. We found we
had some talent in boomerang throwing. The car
rier boys in Australia even throw their news
papers with a boomerang motion so it just sidles
up on the front porch. Must try that. They also
jump on buses and, sell a few papers before the
conductor can collect a fare. That's a dying skill,
though, because, as carrier Jeff Lee told us:
"Either conductors are getting faster or we're
slowing down."
In Singapore and Bangkok, we were really in a
foreign world. Bangkok boys deliver papers to
homes and shops floating in the canals, and in
Singapore they use motorcycles and motor bikes
to hot-rod it through the crowded streets as if
they were carrying blood plasma to an emergency
operation.
WE noticed that the carriers usually came
from large families and were quite poor. In
one city we heard them described as a "bunch of
ragamuffins." We didn't think of them that way,
though, maybe because Ricky and I also come
from large families. I'm one of six children, and
my father is a factory inspector; Ricky is one of
seven children, and his father is a truck driver.
While we're certainly not poor, we have to work
for any extra spending money.
The most exciting city we visited was Bang
kok. We were fascinated by Thai boxing matches
with the contestants using feet as well as fists,
and we found ourselves yelling with excitement.
It is also a very religious country and one of the
happiest we visited; I think religion and happi
ness go together.
In Egypt and Rome we visited the places we'd
read about in history classes. The Pyramids and
Sphinx, the Colosseum and the Trevi fountain.
What impressed us most? A camel ride! No
amusement-park ride is as dizzying as that!
We wished we had more time in England, but
we did see Eton (and wore those top hats), a play
at the Old Vic, and Buckingham Palace. We could
have come back day after day to watch the chang
ing of the guard.
Newspaperboys in London have real headaches.
They must peddle 10 or 15 different papers at the
same time. I tried selling them on a street corner,
but you have to shuffle the papers like playing
cards, and I'm afraid my customers got a bit im
patient with my slowness.
By the time you read this, Ricky and I prob
ably will be back on our old routes same houses,
same streets, same daily rush. Our routes aren't
as exotic as those in Bangkok or Singapore, but
we learned some things are the same in London
and Sydney as in Davenport and Sacramento:
first, newspapers are the most wanted commodity
in the world and, second, the boys who deliver
them may be "ragamuffins," but they aren't the
kind who will stay that way not if hard work
and determination count for anything.
David peddles British papers on London corner.
K33!
COVER:
Familiar red- and amber-hued leaves dot
this autumn scene and fashion a comfort
able nestling place for this lorely couple
and their baby. Photo by Virienne Lapham.
WisaJcIy
October 14, mi
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