Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-12-14
JlAI.

We belonged to tho surplus popu-
iatiOn, Jim ard i. but we did not
know il. The big world into which
we came was crowded TO orcIflowing
with just such puny, unwashcd III
FED liItl.' wretches as we were; but
we didn't know it. and so we came.
unconscious into the sunless, tecn-
ing alley. where countless others like
ourselves berde,i. We didn't know
We were n problem. Jim and /; We
'iidi't know that we and our kind
were lHIffiing the wisdom OF states
men, Jim and ]: but il w. had known
all about 1t, donbf if we could have
occupied the situation more philO-
>orhicaiIy. We slept as quietly In
rh. underground cellar. down whose
oozy sters the lain and ruin Of years
made slippery passa es. or bestowed
ourselves as naturally. il need be-, un-
der some standing waysile cart, IA
If it We're precisely the thing heaven
had adapted us for from the be-
ginning.
Jim was older and bigger than I;
a tall, likely lad. Fifteen OF those har-
dening and toughening years had
made him as keen and sharp as ter
rier, and just the lad to look after a
forlorn waif OF little girl like N.Y.
self. And Jim, after he had BACKED
boots all day. or sold newspapers OF
an afternoon, was sure TO look after
me. and we took supper together out
OF the same bowl OF porfidge.
Jim WASN'T my brother, oh no! ]
used TO wish he was my brother,
though. sometimes, just because j
was so proud of him.
The old man that kept the cellar
you see. had picked Jim up some
where when his folks died, and picked
me up somew here when my felix
lied. anil so We had somehow fallen
together I'LL along.
Just down beyond the Jog OF oul
alley, where i, turned sort OF gray
corner, and was darker aud Hitler
than ever-jnst there stood an old
gray church with a clock in the tower
I'm old. old messy church, and an
'ild, old clock that passed its wiihered
hands over its wizened face, and
looked sleepily through them down
into our alley at one side, and into ~
busy. noisy thoroughfnre on the other
This old clock had duzed there till
its head was all on one side. and you
cDiil,ln't be- sure whether il told the
right time or not; but OF summer
afternoon, when it was getting quite
dusk down into our alley. n red ray
from the setting sun used to settle
for minute right down on the sleepy
oil clock; then it would seem to
rouse up out OF "a pleasant dream. and
strike the hour as sharp ms need be-,
and then knew it was time to look
out for Jim. I'll see him turn the
corner. with his old straw hat on, and
hi- patched shoes. or barrfeet maybe,
Tor that matter, aEd we'd Get off for
"A stroll togetber-a stroll TO the
wharves.
We generally haunted the wharves
Jim and / when We went a-pleasur-
ing. They were so grand, the
wharves; go busy, the wharves; so
altogether differenr from our alley,
with the ships crowded around them,
and the fluttering flags here and
there on the masts, and the busy
sailors getting In freights. Some
times Jim would get job for half an
hour, and leave me lurking among
the cotton bales. or sitting soIitar.
i'm some safe corner till he came back.
He always came back. And theI,
sometimes we would Iinger about
there till nighifaIl Then the wharf
was solemn and silent, and you could
hear the water rushing against the
great beams underneath, and se'.
here AMI there light cleaning from
some lone lantern among the sIroud-,
ani the gray water stretching be-
yond, we knew not whittier; and II
Jim and had owned it all, we could
not have loved it better.
But one day Jim got n job that
lasted longer than usual, ard I grew
scared and uneasy as night came on
and he didn't ome back. Wander
ing from the place where he had set
me, shy and fearsome as water rat
but as determined. looked for him
everywhere, but In vain; then went
back to my post, for hadn't he said