The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-02
HIS NAME WAS "JIM."

IreSillctS ailu uellcatND III "a fltWIy Dlucktu
flower, n the always new odor of hero
ism inseparable from the tale of noble
actions, eve though the hero be but a
tramp. h is the way the general
told il:
ut was the night after the food. and 1
had arrived on the spot only n short time
before, after driving sixty miles over the
mountains. You know what a horrible
thing darkness was in J~ohnstown, any
how, and that was the first night, and the
worst. A few of us were standing on the
bank overlooking the plain and the smoul-
dering debris at the bridge, saying moth
ing and trying not to think. Presently
some m pulled a few pieces of wreck to-
gether and built a fire. We could see
each other then. and one of the toughest
looking men | ever saw i'm my life, and il
took n pretty ragged dirty man to attract
attention at YOUNGSTOWN then, hunted
around until he found a battered old can,
and in il he made a cup of coffee over the
fire and handed it around to us. / said,
when he handed me mine:
az suppose you have lost everything? p
1--WE always made some remark like
that To a stranger then; II seemed about
the only natural thing TO say.
"'No.' said he. didn't lose anything
"'You belong here p SAID l.
mop said he.
Got friends here"
"'Nop.'
"'Look here,' said /. who are you any
how?'
".well,' he sort of muttered, I'm what
''Then he seemed to brighten up and
said:
I'm tell ye; / amt done q stroke o.
work i'm more'n four year, but / just hap
pened TO come along here, an ! tell you
il just knocked me out. ! seen all these
people with nothin' left m nobody TO
help 'em, an l just pitched in fore I
knew il. i amt much good, but / done
all I could, an I'm goin' TO stay here
now rs long as kin be of any help.
~ sort of took an interest in the fellow
at that, and told him who l was, and that
il he'd come around to headquarters next
day I'd give him some work to do. He
was on hand early next morning, n said
he didn't mind what he did, so we tied
a white piece OF cotton about his hat,
marked 'Morgue' on il In big letters, and
told him TO go help handle the dead. You
know what awful work that was, but he
looked like n ghoul anyhow, and didn't
kick at the assignment. After q day or
two we noticed that he was M OF the
best men we had. He was patient in
dustrious and kindly, and as faithful as n
woman. He never skirked a task,
no matter how hideous, and he never
stopped as long as there was work to do,
day or night. When we organized a reg
ular force | wanted to put him on the pay
roll, IN / asked HIM:
whats your name"
".Oh, just put me dow 'Jim," he said
'that'Il do
$50 as Jim he went down on the roll,
and that was the only name we ever
knew him by. We kept him at work
about headquarters most of the time, and
was in Johnstown ! had no more steady,
hard-working, faithful and honest man
among the thousands that were there. He
did everything he was set to do patiently,
i~ntelligently N uncomplainingly. and
we all got to think a good deal of him. He
remained, in appearance, a very tough
looking citizen, but as he worked among
the sick and suffering and miserable, a
good deal of his toughness wore OIL. he
got more refined, somehow, although we
didnt think much about II till afterward.
"One day the last OF the men were paid
oil, and he drew the first money he had
had since he began TO work.
what are you going to do row. i'm
asked him.
"'well, I'll tell you,' he said. You
know / amt always been a tramp; | used
TO have a nice home in Massachusetts and
a wife and children, but five years z
had some trouble with my wife, and ]
went away, and-well, ] amt been good
for nothing much since
"'Now, Jim, look here said 1, what
" al U ~ to IN ~ XVI ikht o1s W &fata'
sachusetts and see IL you wife's alive,
and look up our children and live like a
man again.
"'General,' he said, that's just ]
was comm To. You see. amt been car.
ing much what became OF me since i got
TO trampin' around, but SEEM all
these people so miserable an working,
you know, an helpin' 'em what i could,
II kind OF changed me, somehow, an ]
want TO see IL I can't he somebody myself
So I've got some money, now, an. III go
back an hunt up my folks an know !
can get work, an maybe I'll get along all
right again. =,
'Jim,". you are just right" ! said
How much money have you gotT
"Sixty-eight dollars, general
"'Now, I'll tell you what to do; were
going away in n day or two, you know
partment and tell them TO give you "A sui
Of clothes n fix yourself up some, and
when l go home III take you home with
me and you can stay n day or two with
me, n then &c on to Massachusetts.
seemed very grateful. | asked
him:
"'what will you do when you get
thereT'
".Oh. I'll get work again.
".Well, all right; now you go OIL and
get a new suit and I'll take you home with
me when l CO. / said, and Jim hurried OIL
20 the commissary department.
'Later in the day he came back. You
wouldn't have known him. OF course the
suit wasn't much, but IL was neat and
clean. and he'd got his hair cut and his
beard shaved of, and he had a boiled