The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-01-15
nlanitomof pilot.
THURSDAY, JANUARY II, 1885.
A Close Call for Baby Jim.

Baby Jim. of the Foundlings' Home
had very narrow escape last week.
He is red-headed and freckled, but he
Is lusty enough for farm hand. When
he was about eight months old a lady
who had no children, took him to
bring him up. There were prettier
babies than Jim, but somehow she took
fancy to him. In spite of his fiery
hair. there was something in his face
that made him handsome Intelligence
was in his eyes and people who looked
at his head said that he would be heard
from in the world. He was heard very
frequently, and that is what came very
near changing the whole course of his
life.
The husband of the lady who took
Jim did not like him. Jim voice was
not musical and his red hair did not
match the furniture in the handsome
home to which he had been taken. The
wife's attention to him may have made
the husband jealous, too. Something
was the matter with Jim all the time,
and the man of the house got tired Of
him, though his wife enjoyed it all.
Whatever Jim did was fun to her. She
rugged him up in new clothes and fash
Toned many pretty garments for him
herself
For time the husband, who had
submitted at first in silence, said little,
but after while it became evident that
trouble was brewing in the family. The
man was ill-natured, and Baby Jim's
illuminated countenance and uproar-
ious voice aggravated him. There were
har hot no nd
and wife, some tears and reproaches,
followed by day Of reflection on the
part of the wife. Towards evening she
made up her mind. Taking Jim in her
arms she summoned her carriage and
drove rapidly to the Home, where,
with many tears and caresses, she left
him, telling the reason, and saying that
she would send his beautiful little ward
robe over in the morning.
That night when she was picking up
the little garments and toys, and pack
ing them carefully in a small trunk
which she had labeled Jim her hus-
band, who had finished his cigar, in
quired:
where's Jim?n
Hes gone" she said.
"Where?"
Il took him back to the Foundlings'
Home, and | am packing his things
now"
She didn't look u. pin fact her head
was bent lower than seemed necessary.
More than one garment had a drop on
it. The husband looked thoughtfully,
turned around on his heel, whistled a
little. and walked into the library. He
began to feel that he had won a great
victory over a baby and a woman, but
he could not extract any comfort from
the reflection. The house seemed quiet
and he half wished he could hear Jim
yell and his wife laugh. Jim was not
SO much of a nuisance after all.
The next morning at breakfast he
told his wife that he had no idea that
she would take Jim back to the Home.
lie may have expressed wish that she
would, and even commanded ii, but he
didn't always mean what he said when
he was annoyed by business cares. If
she set so much store by Jim she had
better 90 and get him. He thought he
could stand it. 1t is very hard for
man to own up.
That breakfast was never finished.
he horses were at the door as quick
as they could be harnessed, and as the
wife left the house she exclaimed:
''Oh, what if he should be gone!
Drive as fast as you can"
mo danger" said the husband, list
ening to the receding wheels. He'll
be there
And so he was. He was in the line
with the others, taking his cruel, aud
yelling, of course. The lady explain
ed her errand, sliced him to her breast
and made him cry still louder. Then
she drove home with him, hugging him
close all the way, and that day when
the trunk was unpacked she sang so
loud that even Jim's war-whoop, occa-
sionally raised in defiance, could not be
heard.
1t was close call for Baby Jin.-~
Chlc10O Herald