Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-12-30
FINDING JIM.

The Old Man Who Found Ills Son By
Looking Over Exchanges for Six Months
The search began in May and ended in No
vember 1t was made within the four walls
Of country newspaper Office and through
the medium of its exchanges. No exchange
fiendn has bored me since that search, for l
have always remembered that pei haps there
was even in the person whom l detested a
sorrow or a longing that made his actions
warrantable
first heard OF Jim when one May after
noon, the doors and windows being open and
the copy" rustling in the breeze, bent,
white haired settler entered The Weekly Pal
ladium Office
"You paper fellers git each others papers,
| sposeln he asked timidly.
"Yes, sir; we exchange with one another"
Gould ye let a person see some er yer pa
persf fdpay yer for it, 4" he added, as if afraid
that he was asking too much.
"Oh, that will be all right" replied, as
piled fifty or more exchanges before him.
'Ye see, Tn lookin' fer JIM" my visitor
said. apologetically, as he was adjusting his
steel bowed spectacles. Jim, my son. We
came west two year ago an took up claim.
Twas pretty hard work know an Jim was
high strung. Bein' the baby of tn family he
hard ON him"
did he run awayin queried, wishing to
appear sociable and interested
mo, that's the worst of it; | drove i'm
away. | got mad at i'm one day cause he
wouldn't mind, an told i'm ter clear out
He went an amt seen i'm since. I'm think.
in I'll find somethin' of i'm in the papers
you fellers seem ter write up everythin'.n
With that he began to look through the To-
cal columns of the journals before him II
was an hour before he had finished his task
and laid by the last one with a sigh.
I'm look ag'in next week, he said sadly as
he departed
The next week and the next he was there
each time chatting with me and revealing
more of the longing for chance of repara-
ton for his harshness
All through the hot summer months he was
faithful 10 his task, and l, too, began 10 feel
an interest in the missing boy and look for his
maine in the papers that went through my
hands.
October with its Indian summer had gone
The prairies had taken on their robes of
brown, and nightly the prairie fires CLEANED
In a ragged line at the far horizon. Then
November. On the third Saturday my visitor
came through bitter clustering wind, and
his hands looked white and pinched with cold.
The tears dimmed his glasses as he took up
his task as usual He had gone about half
through the pile of papers when he suddenly
Strengthened up, brushed the page out smooth
and fixed his eyes intently upon it. He
handed the paper TO me and read:
"A stranger giving his name as james
Meserve was found in the depot this morning,
sick. He is scarcely more than boy, but
- III L..
friends In Kansas, but will not give their
names. He was taken to the Merchants no.
tel, where he is being cared for by the city
authorities"
The paper was published in a small city in
Northern Iowa, and was dated three DAYS
previous.
I've found himl" CALCULATED the father
gladly. I'm gon' ter get himl'
That night he left for his sons side, and in
a week the two alighted from the train, the
father joyous and happy, the son pale and
emaciated
As they rode over the prairie towards the
old mans claim, he called back to me: Come
out an see us sometimer
did so shortly afterward; and as we sat
up to the well supplied table, though our
chairs rested on the bare earth and the walls
of a dug out were around u.s. found as hap
by a host rs presided in any palace in the
land.
The old man bent his white head ana in
fervent tones thanked the giver of all good
for the return Of his boy, thanked him in
such words as only the flu heart can prompt.
CHANGING to one side saw tears drop from
Jim's eyes upon his plate
Jim was found in more senses than one
c. NJ. Harger in Detroit Free Press.