The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-05-04

The Result Of Consulting the Exchange
kditor.

The Result Of Consulting the Exchange
Aditor.
Detroit Free Press.
The search began in May and ended in
November. IL was made within the four
walls Of country newspaper Office and
through the medium Of its exchanges. No
exchange fiend" has bored me since that
search. for have always remembered that
perhaps there was, even In the person
whom detested. . sorrow or . longing
that made his actions warrantable.
I first heard of Jim when one May after
noon, the doors and windows being open
and the copy" rustling In the breeze,
bent, haired settler entered the
Weekly Palladium Office.
"You paper fellers git each Others pa
pers. s'pose?" he asked tmidly.
Yes, sir; We exchange with one an
other"
'coald We let person see some or Yer
paper 4 pay y-v fer 1t, he added, -
4 afraid that he was asklns TOO much.
tOk. that viii be all rieh1 / replied, Is
Lsf1ed A{x.or more exchan<oG befoxe him.
"ys -. I'm looking for lin gisa-
tor said. alphabetically, q - - r. ust-
ing his steel-bowed specta0tDs. 1l1n my
son. We came West tive years go an
took up claim. Twas pretty hard work,
1 know, an Jim was high-strung. Bein'
the baby Of the family he he'd been pctteda
good deal, an workin' came hard on him.
ibid he run away r. queried, wishing
to appear sociable and interested.
"No, that's the worst of IL; drove i'm
away. got mad 1t i'm one day cause he
wouldn't mind an told i'm to clear out
He went, an amt seen inn since. I'm
thinkin' I'll find somethin' of i'm in the
papers--you fellers seem ter write up
eyerythin'."
With that he began to look through the
local columns Of the journals before him.
IL was an hour before he had finished his
task and laid BY the last one with . sigh.
IN 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 reparation for his harshness.
All through the hot summer months he
was faithful TO his task, and /. too, began
to take an interest in the missing boy and
look for his name in the papers that went
through my hands.
October, with its Indian simmer. had
gone. The prairies had taken on their
robes OF brown, and nightly the prairie
fires cleaned in = 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
IN 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 II. lie handed the paper to me and
read.
"A stranger. giving his name rs James
Meserve, was found In the depot this morn
Ing sick. lie Is scarcely more than boy.
| but seems 10 have had hard lines. He says
he has friends in Kansas. bat viii not give
their names. He Was taken TO the Mer-
chants hotel. 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.
s'I've found himf'' calculated the father
/ gladly. I'm goin' ter get him."
That night he lett fog his sons side. and