The Red Cloud chief., 1879-05-22

A romantic story comes from Bata-
via. which Is pretty well au;henilcased.
and has yet, We believe, appeared
in print. A few miles from that lovely
little village there is q place known as
Pine Hill, in Genesee County. Among
the prominent farmers at that place Was
ore named Edward Wilford.
About sye,r ago a remarkably good
looking, well built young man applied
at Mr.. Wilford's farm for \ place IS .
laborer. He was very proposing in aP-
pearance and apparently quite youth
full, his mustache and heard not yet hay
ing appeared. The farmer needed .
good hand or two about that time, and
the young chap vas hired for the sum-
mer. He proved TO be . perfect treas
ure, on account Of his steady habits,
great endurance and remarkable indus
.triousness. In short, 'Jim." ss he was
generally known, could pull beans,pitch
hay, plough and do the hard work Of
fne farm with any Of them, and he
seemed to tire. At the same time there
was none of the coarseness about him
which characterizes some otherwise ex-
cellent farm Iaborers; and he was al
ways modest in his behavior, and very
discreet in all his acton. Though oc-
cupying the san IL, III ard ed With
the other hired man, it vas noticed that
be had little to say OF his previous his
tory, or his relatives, il indeed he had
any. He was esteemed by his employer
as q faithful young man, and liked by
all who worked with him, because Of his
quiet, steady and u~uassuming manners.
One Sunday last summer, "Jim"
was left alone at home, while the rest Of
the family went to church some dis
lance away. His instructions were to
make certain preparations for dinner,
which would be completed on the return
home of the lady folks; but when they
did get back, "Jim" had not only fol-
lowed his instructions to the latter, but
he had prepared the dinner so CON-
pletely and so nicely that no further
preparations were needed, and his ex.
treme hardness was commented IN
considerably, Jim sad that he had
during his previous life been frequently
called on to cook bis own meals, and
with this explanation on his part the
CtCuiASt0uCC ~ AIoil SuV thCA
thought of the family.
One day, some months ago, Jim p"
visited the village of Batavia, and while
there seemed to manifest q lively inter
est in the contents of the stores, espe-
cially the dry-goods stores. The goods
displayed in front of the store especi-
ally attracted his attention, and he exam
ined them with the air of q cOnnoisseur,
and with that thOroughknowledse which
the ladies have of these things. By
and-by, he passed along the street, when
he was suddenly and roughly seized and
o-dered back to the store, the goods in
front of which he had SO closely exam
ined. Going back there he was then
accosted of having stolen certain ar
%ticles; but he denied the stealing with
the utmost vehemence. There a no
doubt, however, that certain articles
had been stolen, and an officer was sent
for. The circumstances were all
against "Jim," the goods had just
been missed, and he had been observed
hanging about the door in a suspicious
manner The officer felt fully justified
in taking poor "Jim" into custody;
and be was therefore relentless
ly dragged off to "durance
vile," or in other words, the Jail.
There the officer insisted that he must
be searched; but this proposition was
met by the greatest opposition by
s'Jim," whose dismay and terror seemed
to be almost boundless. Tears rolled
down his cheeks, and he begged with
almost ~heartrending earnestness to be
excused from the search; but wen the
tears were of no avail until it was dis
covered that "Jim" was a woman. At
her request the matter was husbed up,
and the officer of the law very kindly
permitted her to remain with his family
two or three days until she could be
provided with clothing suitable to her
SIX, which she once more consented to
wear.
Her story, in brief, was a sad one.
She was q married woman, her home
being in Ohio. Her husband had so
abused her that she could not live with
him any longer, and as she knew she
would have great difficulty in obtain
ing a situation as a woman, and that
with her form and figure she could east
" pass herself off as a man, she con
cluded TO try her chances in the latter
role. Her success we have already
told. In conclusion, we need only say
that it was clearly proved that she was
entirely innocent of the crime with
which she had been charged. She was
allowed to depart unmolestsd to Ohio,
and her whereabouts is at present un-
known. It is not a. all unlikely that
she is at present somewhere enactiDg
again successfully the role of hired
man. And who will dare to blame her?
Rochester IN. T. Express.
American Sugar.