User:Sragan7106/sandbox/A Day in the Life of a Newsboy

A Day in the Life of a Newsboy.

Not again. I overslept today and now all the good selling spots are taken. This is the life I live, standing on the street asking people to buy my newspapers, so I don't starve. Everyday I wake up, normally around sunrise and I go but a stack of 100 papers for 60 cent. My favorite spot to go and sell papers is underground near the subway. There's always people walking in and out willing to buy a paper. But, not today since I slept in I had to stand at a corner that was already crowded with Newsboys fighting to sell papers. Just a couple of months ago this would be a big deal because I wouldn't have been able to sell all my papers and I would lose money. But, recently after the Newsboys of New York went on strike our big time publishers Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer began to buy back the Newspapers that we did not sell. Before this happened we all bought 100 papers for 50 cent and whatever we didn't sell we didn't make the money back. But during the war our papers sold like crazy and the prices were raised and after the war the prices never dropped. That's how the strike began. Now, I am back to making about 30 cent a day.

Standing near all theses other Newsboys makes me nervous they can be competitive. I've seen boys get beat up over "stealing" customers or just standing too close to another boys spot. Across the street I see a newsgirl selling her own papers. I don't see Newsgirls out very often. But, I know they are out here. Girls have to be careful because of all the boys they are at a greater risk of sexual harassment.

But, I am one of luckier boys. I at least have somewhere to stay. I live in an orphanage that provides me with a bed and somewhere to sleep. It's crowded in the orphanage but some boys don't have anywhere to stay and sleep on the streets.