Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-06-24
Wicked Jack" No Longer.

Wicked Jack" No Longer.
YOU have met him, doubtless. He is
that newsboy with the bad eye and the
general wicked iook-the boy who isn't
afraid 10 chin" the most dignified man
| who ever walked the streets of Detroit.
Wicked Jacki Why, bless you, he has
carried Free Presses and sold papers here
| in Detroit ever since he was old enough
to find his way to the Office. 1t is safe
! to say that he has had his ears cuffed 200
times per year for ten years past for
sassing" the public. and that he has
licked" more bootblacks, apple-ped-
dlers and newsboys than can be piled
| into the corridors of the City Hall. All
the philosophers who have been attached
| to the Free Press since that boy came
upon the stage of active life have had a
struggle with him. They have coaxed,
entreated, argued, bribed and even sought
| to brighten him. but Jack was ironcIad.
| He knew that there was need OF mission
airy work, but it was SO much easier to
4 be wicked than il was to be good that he
continued to be wicked
| The public might have done better by
| the boy 1t is not known that any hui
| man being, outside of three or four news
paper philosophers, ever asked him to De
good Ne other efforts were ever made
/ TO get him into school--to Keep him
clean--to repress his oaths-to calm
| down his too-ready muscle. The news
1 paper men might have succeeded had
they had more time, or had they been
backed up by outsiders. 1t doesn't do
boy bit of good to pat him on the
head and tell him Of heaven and then
let him walk out among crowd OF
young rascals who have collected TO
make an assault upon him and give him
wholesome mauling, and Wicked Jack
discovered that his fists and feet made
| better road through life than kind words
and square dealing.
Where has he lived? And how? All!
| We all ought to feel ashamed! For four
or five years he slept in barns, in boxes,
on the wharf-anywhere where night
overlook him None of US ever asked
| him home or gave him money to secure
| better lodgings, and what else could the
| boy dor A year ago he got the privilege
| of sleeping on hay.mow in livery
stable, but he mad to help about the barn
| to pay for it. His meals were made up
| of crackers and cheese, fruit, or what
ever his profits would buy, and his
clothing was handed out by some aid
society or picked up in the alleys.
That's the way Wicked Jack lived, and
yet our churches are sending money to
heathens over the sea! Money has gone
to the heathens in Africa while Jack, the
newsboy, has been allowed to come up
with the vile and wicked, knowing all
about misunderstanding nothing of
heaven! Those who know the boy best
did not believe that anything could touch
sI 81 l. 20
thing did. He entered and left the barn
as he pleased. They knew Jack to be
wicked, but they also knew that he was
honest. The other day one of the men
about the stable heard groans, as of some
one in pain, but they could not be located
or traced The next evening the groans
were heard again, and there was some
thing suspicious in Jacks actions as he
skulked into the barn and climbed to
the hay.loft. One of the stable men fol-
lowed, creeping carefully and quietly.
The boy had his home in an old wagon
box under the caves of the roof, and the
man was finally near enough to hear
talking There was strange voice and
there was Jacks voice, and pretty soon
Jacks voice was heard reading Crouched
down on the hay, the listener caught the
| words
"Oh, remember not against us former
iniquities; let Thy tender mercies speed
| lily prevent US, for we are brought very
low"
Going a little remembering over
| into Wicked Jake's home--the man saw
-whatY The boy leaning back to let
the last rays of daylight filter through
| between the boards on to the sheet-worn
page of Bible that he had picked up,
\ MO rau6ipn a1nrd himonlfS No
Ito an old man-an old man lying on
Jacks blanket
| 1t was strange, but stranger still when
they learned that Wicked Jack had
found the poor old man wandering
through the streets, i'll, hungry, no home,
no friends, and had taken him and cared
for him two long weeksl And that boy
had used his money to buy medicine and
to get little delicacies for his patient,
sometimes going hungry himself, and not
a man around the barn or boy on the
street had been allowed to share his Sc
cretI
They lifted the old man down and sent
him to the hospital. He would have
been dead but for that boys kindness.
Wicked Jack has found new friends--he
will enter new path soon. His name
has been abbreviated 1t uas Wicked
JACK. Can you call him that nows
Isn't he entitled to all the respect you
| could show the son of king--a king
aimself?-Detr0it Free Press
| A FRENCH chemist has succeeded in
preparing mineral compound or paste,
which is said to be superior to hydraulic
lime for uniting stone and resisting the
action of water. Ii becomes as hard as
stone, is Interchangeable by the air, and is
proof against the action of acids. 1t is
made by mixing together nineteen
pounds of sulphur and forty-two pounds
OF pulverized stoneware and glass; this
mixture is exposed to gentle heat,
which melts the sulphur, and then the
mass is stirred until it becomes thor
oughly homogeneous, when it is run
into molds and allowed to cool. 1t melts
at about 100 degrees, Cent, and may be
re-employed without loss of any of its
qualities whenever it is desirable to
change the form of an apparatus, by