Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-07-30
ame?' he asked looking rather dream

we thought ne Went west because OF
her yoings~on.'
Miss Julia was false to him tben?'
he asked 4ss
"'Oh, don't know said |. Most
pretty girls nave more than one beau
hanging about them, and Julia was
al uncommonly pretty girl! At all
events, she'd have done better if she'd
marrled Jim. But, no! off she went
to Springfield and fell in love with
some scamp, who married and desert
ed her and his child. After that she
lived with her grandmother The old
lady wasn't easy to get on with, and
she seemed to wait, hoping that her
husband would turn up. | don't mind
telling you that we all hoped that he
was dead, for she was a pretty creature
still, and, though the women didn't
think SO, we thought it uncommonly
hard that d young thing like that
should be working day in and day
out. At last, one day, when she had
been for weeks as pale as a ghost, our
own river cast her poor, almost de.
faced body up. I've hated the water
since
Mr.. Ray never put in an appear
ance, SUPPOSE said he smiling.
st made me mad to see him sitting
grinning there over what had been SO
serious. and / answered pretty sharp
ly: No, he didn't, and it was as well
for him, as there wasn't man la the
town who would not have kicked him
out of it,
What, because of the chiid?' ask
ed he. ..
"WelI, when the grandmother
died old Miss Low took the boy. She's
older than Jim and well-to.do.
He gives her a good bit. He
liked the boy almost as his
sister did, sent him through col
lege, and, he's never married, guess
he'll leave him something. I've known
of Jim dolnga good many kind things
like that, and it makes me hope that
like someone else, he isn't SO black as
he's painted; but my wife says there's
who goes west.
"Well, sir, that fellow took out his
watch, said ne had train to catch,
and that's the last / saw of him
About week after who should come
into my office but Miss Low? II saw
by her face something was wrong.
She came up to my desk and said:
Here, read that, and very much good
may it do your With that she flung
down a newspaper. I was annihlated
and dumfounded. 'Oh, you needn't
look SO surprised, she went on. I've
heard from my brother, and he says
I'm to express his surprise that you
should have allowed party feeling to
carry you away to the extent of NAL
igning him. I'm not surprised moth
ing ever can surprise rae! But where
your cruelty has been so inhuman is
your having dragged in the name of
that poor dead girl and her orphaned
child, who had been a son to me-
Here Miss Low paused for want of
breath.
"'But, Miss Low ] began. Il
t
$50 yes, deacon-a pretty deacon,
indeed?-we all know how Jealous
you've been of Jim. If you don't re-
tract your heartless calumny I'll
know the reason why. My brother
Gun deal with the scurrilous paper
which has given publicity to your
base insinuations; but I've to do with
you, and let the people of this town
know what your friendship is worth
Then she began to cry, as women
always do when they've been in pas
sion, and rushed out Of the room be-
fore I could stop her. She'd only
gone when III came my wife.
!" Mercy, Joseph said she, what
have you been saying to Miss Low?
She passed me at the door without
answering my How dye do?" and I
think she was crying
You'd better ask what she's been
saying to me. [ don't know what the
woman means more than the dead
cried |, for was naad. and great
deal madden when my wife picked
up that newspaper and read this
article" AS we spoke the old man
drew from his we'll worn pocket book
newspaper cutting, which, like it's
receptacle, was the worse for wear.
This is what read:
Is Jim Low the right mana
In common with al respectable peo-
pie, the correspondent had qualms on
the subject of electing such a man as
Jim Low to fill high position, and
this induced him to make it point
of duty to inquire into his former
record Ia his native place; sweet, al
most sylvan, spot where it is hard to
believe such pollution could have
come into being. There the writer
was fortunate enough to converse for
more than an hour with one of this
would>be governors boyhood friends
his friend no longer. mention no
names for obvious reasons. Suffice it
to say that the gentleman in question
is highly respectable citizen, dea~
con of the church, and that his years
are as full of honor as those of his
quondam friend are full of infany.
Though evidently unwilling to crin>
mate his former schoolsfellow, he
gave me such information as to con-
firm my greatest appropriations on the
subject of the man whom his country
delights to honor. Jim Low, it seems,