Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-10-25
4 MICROPHON[C EAR

The trip was getting pretty dull
Ishe Northland was q very slow steamer
We had been eight days out from Am
sterdam, and there was every prospect
of eight more. We sat listlesslv on the
starboafd deck in our sea chairs, a
rather GUM looking set, talking at in
tervals III lazy, desultory way OF any
trihing subject that came up. We
spoke of the fog, which had kept us
back the previous night A small,
s!iarp-faced man OF about As, who
fsually kept very quiet. and from whom
40 one had succeeded in obtaining any
bits OF autobiography to amount to any
ching, suddenly spoke up, as If new
and remarkable idea had just popped
into his mead:
BY the great Harry, couldn't jim
8udgelow have taken in the shekels as
special fog Waterman"
We all started up interestedIy at this
exclamation. There was silence for a
moment. Each one waited for some
one else to inquire into the special
qualifications OF Jim Bl,dgelow for the
position of special fog lookout Finally
an o-E-hand cid gentleman from Illinois
said:
Perhaps you wouldn't mind telling
us something about MIR. Budgelow, now
you've got our curiosity stirred up?'
NO! | don't know that there's any
harm in giving few facts about JIM
said the little, sharp-faced man. He
was queer little fellow, Jim was" he
went on slowly, with an air which
showed that he was going over specific
examples of 5im's peculiarities in his
his own mind, though his statement
was general.
81 first met him good many years
ago out at Pixies Peak. Hornetsville
was the name Of the camp; gone now,
not g board left, though there must have
been a thousand people there then. We
called him Jim, the man with the mi
crophonic ear Jonny Whittle, who
hadn't been out of college long. crooked
up that name. You see, Jim:s right
ear was remarkable organ. It was
like microscope which YVES fitted for
hearing instead Of seeing. See? That
man could hear bat wink in the day.
time. When Jim Budgelow took a
room at the hotel he could soon tell
whether he was the only occupant OF
the bed. All he had to do was to give
Che thing a kick and put his ear to the
headboard, and if there was any inhab-
itants present he could hear them
crawl.
This faculty of Jim's was in some re-
spects very amusing one, so usually
he wore g plug in that ear to soften
things down. But the boys never knew
definitely when the plug was in. and
for this reason, presume, Jim Bulge
lows character was the only one in
Hornetsville that hadn't been thor
oughly dissected. Nobody dared speak
disrespectfully of Jim. for fear he had
q bead on 'em with his right ear.
Gone time Jim did me mig I'd
turn, and if it hadn't been for {
ear ! wouldn't be here now. IL. -,
Off prospecting up among the mountains,
Tor couple of days with my partner.
Jack Grodale. We thought we'd struck
something; signs were good, at least.
But the thing never PANIED out much,
though that's neither here nor there.
AS l was saying, We thought we could
make it pay. SO left Jack and went
back to Hornetsvillo for provisions.
had turned out of the branch gully. in
which we'd been prospecting, and was
scrambling along the sides of big sort
of caynon cut that lead down to the
valley in which tho camp was situated.
The Slppo was rrnttv ctoap op1 c1;rL4lx =,