Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-11-10
Old John.
Helen Wilnars.l


honestest man living. He would STEAL and
he once served a term in state prison When
he came out. his queer old face was as inno-
cent as babys, and he had not the least
idea what he had been ''iugged" for.
''Why John" said a neighbor. syou did
take the hog, didn't you."
''Ya-as, I took it, but the wilder and her
children was hungry 1 WIS hungry N.Y.
self, or lowed l would be soon"
But it wasn't yours"
Don't know bout that. The cattle on a
thousand hills is mine, said the Lord, an Pm
one of the Lords children"
This was his constant excuse. Property
rights, AMI the bolstering up of property
rights by law was all a network of subteT-
fuge covering up humanity's rights. Not
that he argued it this way; he hardly had
sense enough to argue atall He was Child
of nature and lived as close to nature as the
herds of the field
He worked when be could get work, and
when be could not, he boarded at the ovid
der'sn
''The wilder was a powerfu weakly
woman" The only thing about her that
seemed up to average was her appetite But
John asserted that somehow her ''wittles
didn't do her no good" Neither did medicine
seem to help her. She tried everything that
ever was advertised if she could raise money
to buy it, or if JOIN could steal it for her.
and yet she was weakly.
The neighbors all knew John would steal
but 1t did no good to accuse him of it. The
accusation always had the effect of shaming
the one who made it, instead of John. No
one coul al him thief and see the honest
surprise (. injured innocence Of his homely
face and EEL rebuked
damn ). >" said neighbor, clustering
because he fel0 self-accused in accusing this
humble, patient and yet manly creature
Damn you, didn't you take q side OF meat
out Of my smoke-house night afore last
''Yaas Eur" John drawled
''What did YOU do it forz'
''The wider was out o grub"
why didn't you come and isl, nio for meat
like Chris.ian"
"a Christian, zurE'
Yes, q Christian"
CANT ye q kind o tangled in yonr idees2
Christians he'd all things in COMMON; widder's
he'd a. much as any"
-isu5 didn't you know that meat was
uiue.'
"Ain't you the Lord'sg'
81 hope 500
and don't he intend for Us all to hev
gr,.5:'
Yes; when we earn it. ="
81 work when I can get work, and the wild
der, SHE'S one Of the Lords helpless ones. Do
you low hen throw off on his helpless anC
his pore!n
"But stin you should have asked me for
the IncatH
Sc here mister, you mought let had
it, and then agin you moughtn't. [ knowed
the Lord he'd it fur me, and l,nowed he
hedn't pnted watchmen to keep it from me.
So Just naturally took it."
TIL man looked into the depths of old
johns clear blue eyes, way down to where a
baby soul faced him in angelic innocence, and
he tunnel upon himself in dumb wrath, hum
bled and worsted by the encounter, and
walked away bordering,
4 few days afterwards John went to him
to borrow his gun. ''He must kill some
gaIne,' he said, cor they would be
out Of meat; side of bacon didn't
last that family long" The man
lent him the gun and horse to ride, and
saw no more Of him until the next evening.
"What luck did you havel" the neighbor
asked.
'Middlen,p said John, "nothin' to brag on,
but got bit O meat such as it was"
The neighbor wondered little why John
had not brought him a piece, Q,nowing that
he was as generous with his own things as
with other people's,) but supposed he had only
killed a fawn and that there We not enough
of it to diviGe But the fact was, John had
got tired OF bearing the continual anxiety
about meat and had determined to give his
mind rest for a few weeks; so he had killed
3-year-old beef belonging to the man of
whom he borrowed the gun and sailed it
away carefully.
1t is st.ange that the sly manner in which
he took the property of others should fail to
put the seal of condemnation on his acts in
his own and his neighbours eyes; but it did
not appear to do So He wanted it; he knew
he would be opposed if he took it openly;
moreover. it seemed beggarly to ask. There
fore lie chose between existing evils and stole
it.
During the last harvest the poor old crea-
tUre ever saw ne worked Ike a sailor and
earned the best wages going. But the wild
d"r and Young ones were out of clothes; and
never O drop of patent medicine had there
been IN the house for months. SO the money
meltc' down fast; but the children were well
PROVIDED for and the ''manycl- tree Shelf was
CrOv.eI with a choice assortment Of bottles
ana b'Zps-Ayer's Sarsaparilla, TUFTS Pills,
Samaritan Nervine, Vinegar Bitters, Lind
sey's Blood Searcher, Catarrh Remedy and
Cough Pastiles. Even Rough on Rats was
there, although invisible; poor old John be-
ing the kind of rat the whole business was
rough on. But John had no idea that this
family imposed on him, or that they were
under any obligations to him. And the family
were equally ignorant of the situation. The
widow heInoaned to her neighbors the natu-
raj generosity that rendered it impossible for
her TO refuse house room 10 the ''shf'less crit
ter, and the elder children were inSoleut to
him and guyed him numerically. All but
Sary Jane,
Saiy Jane was only years old and a
cripple She was the least mite of a child
ever seen for her age, and had never borne
her weight on her dear little pale feet in all
her life. Sary Jane could not have been as
smart rs the others; at all events she had no
more sense than to love old John She would
SIT close 10 his head and keep the flies Off
of him as he took his MONDAY nap, and
would even shake her tiny fist at her biz.
rough brothers when they tormented him in
her presence.
John carried the little one on his shoulder
over the neighborhood, and was delighted
when the kind hearted women gave her half
woru garments and superannuated toys.