The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1888-06-16

J0E'S STORY.

sbSO ~ buUuEDS OF 1lt1As
outg' one evening, after several weeks
spent upon the water, when q rough voice
nailed me from the river bank, REQUESTING
that 1 should paddle over on that side q,
She river in order that the owner OF the
voice might examine my little craft.
xound the man upon the bank to be thu
foreman In one OF the immense boundaries
neal by. de became 80 interested in the
subject oil my trip and craft that he in.
Stated upon my spending the night at his
aouse- 1t was a neat little white. painted
cottage, cosy and omfortable. That
evening while sitting before the BLAZING
wood lire in the crate. which was rendered
necessary on account OF a slight chilliness
an the outdoor atmoshere, he related to
5Riie the following story, which | have trans
scribed from memory for the readers OF the
Telegraph:
we were boys togsther. Jim and I, and
4Fnauy a time we tried each others strength
IN a friendly bout at wrestling. So evenly
were we matched that it never was really
-set'led as to which OF us was ampi nj
bhe school we attended. Jim's folks and
shine were next door neighbors in the man.
SiacturIns town OF s., in England. and
We TWO boys were always together, hunting
oiras nests, going swimming or skating.
-a'id sometimes, | am sorry TO saw. com.
uniting depredations on the n~eiphborinp
orchards. When Jim and | quit work we
we're both sent to the same iron mill. We
acre each given the task of tending a big
ZIP hammer, our work bringing us side by
s'de Al DAY. Jim sprung up into man
MOOD u little hea vier and stronger than
Tor had a hard spell of the fever lust aft
"er setting to work in the mill. He grew
dp'o Il manly man whom it did a person
1rood TO see, and his heart was as big as
MS BODY. But he was that bashiul and
awkward when women folks were about
that he would often leave the house when
IL girl would happen to visit their home
APO would hide away until she was gone.
A"G get ne was as tender hearted as q
0aoy, and big, hard sted strong-minded
man that be was. l nave seen him brush
bfie tears from his eyes when some bare.
19oted brat would come begging through
'NHe mn with a pitiful story of hunger and
want upon her lips. And then he would
reach into his pockets and give the little
wan every cent he had kept over from his
week S wages And we would all give
something to the little beggar, although
Ne needed the money at home; for you
may imagine that with our small paw none
OF us were any too f~orehanded in money
matters.
Ii rich people only knew how much the
poor help the poor out of their little earn
Ings / think they would treat them differ
entity and respect them a little more than
tiey do. l snail never forget how faithful.
ly Jim helped my folks nurse me through
my lever, setting up with me of nights and
CARING Tor me as tenderlv as a woman
could have done. And after l had got well !
'epoiSh to work again he would ALWAYS
: delp ne with my task, sometimes working
after Epurs SO that | might catch up what
1!oSI cog being weak-like from my sickness.
we never had n secret from each other.
Jim told nae OF all his longings and homes
OF success in life, and | was alwaysa as omen.
minded with him.
Ine mill, with its dirt and noise and
sieavy work, always seemed kind of gloomy
10 both OF us. and we had talked of going
out TO America and settling on govern.
itlent iand and farming together, and be-
coming independent, and perhaps winning
a nome oil our own sometime-for the mill
dida't pay any zoo good wages then. We
mad Il hard time to get along, for Jim's
Iather and mine both died near the same
time, about a year after we went into the
mill. leaving us each Il large family to sup
port. Perhaps it was our hard struggle
with poverty that made us dislike the old
,IniE somewhat, but there were other things
too Jim always had a wish 30 make
something out OF himself and to become
independent OF bosses and the like; and
the work we lid, forever the same, and
among such rough hands as were employ
sd in the mill. made it worse. Our men
Anerally hadn't any higher aim than to
money enough ahead to get drunk on
ltuCGay night OF each week. Jim's ma.
lure was finer than theirs, and he felt his
ssUperiority, modest as he was. The
more we talked of going to America
the more we wished to go; and as L
thought OF getting wa from the terrible
grind OF the mill work and the grimy
manufacturing town where we lived, out
into the clear, bright. atmosphere OF the
country, where we could work for our
SCI es, the old mill grew more and more
g. esful to me every day. The noise of its
tanners and rolling wheels seemed ever
SO Ue grinding into my soul, and at night
when L went to my work across the mead.
ows-for we had to work extra hours in
Tire busy season-the light shining out in
50 . as darkness from its great engines and
sof ses and windows made it seem as
.ci,aueh it YVES some horrible demon, such
a, : bad read in goblin tales. until I.grew
III re we'll nigh afraid of it sometimes, in
-g.y imagination, and to wonder whether
~ So ight not come out OF its way to swal.
inw me up in one of its angry spells. :
somehow Jim dreaded the mill, and had !
some sort of a superstitious feeling about z
= same as /. and we used to wonder to-
- ther whether we would ever get free from !
We had managed to save nearly enough :
money to take US to America, when one I
jav something came into our lives that !
soon changed our plans. L was walking :
across the meadows to work one morning, |
when l found a little glove lying in the :
oath Just before me-. 1t was a dainty |
love, such as would fit the hand of a fairy
@ an angel. l thought. as l picked it up :
ad drew its soft slender fingers through !
Inc. / know that it couldn't belong to !
ny of the women folks in the town, for l
ere were none about the n~eighborhood :
70 could have put it on. l was looking |
the delicate little thing, and wondering !
~ it came to be there, when q soft, L
west voice startled me, it was SO near by: /
IF you please, sir, that is my glove" | !
ooked up. and there standing by me, was !
a beautiful stranger girl, her roguish blue !
eyes looking through me it seemed, and
Iust such a smile on her rosebud mouth -"
as would show that she was amused '
at my studying so deeply over her glove. ,
SMary" was her name, and she was the :
daughter OF our new engineer, who had p,
lust moved into the place. In going =
TO the mill with her father she had .
dropped the glove where | found it, and .
had returned to look for it. These facts :
she told me on our way to the mill, as :
she tripped along by my side, seeming !
scarcely TO bend the blades OF grass upon !
which she stepped. =
/ had felt a sort of shock when L first :
saw her standing in the path before me, !
and by the time We got to the mill L would =
have died for that girl. didn't know :
what it was then, but / knew a~fterward. .
comes kind OF sudden sometimes, :
and sometimes again it comes slow; but it /;
comes to stay, just the same, ii it Is true I.
love. which ever way it may come. L saw 6
often in the next few weeks, !
and / grew deeper in love with her every +!