Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-02-07
W. JENKS' EXPRESS.
BY THOMAS a. JASvrER.

BOYS went crooked. Most of the fellows
thought very highly of him. I know did.
Ny father told me all about Mr.. jerks
failure, for he knew that | would be IN
terested in it on Billys account. Mr..
jerks had indorsed notes for somebody,
and this other man had failed and had
carried Mr.. jerks down with him. |
couldn't quite understand the whole thing,
but it seemed that if he had tried to, Mr..
jerks might have got ont of paying any
! thing at all; but he didn't try to He was
behaving nobly," my father said; making
ready to tuIn over everything to his credi-
tors and to go and live in little house that
belonged to his wife, over III the shabby
end of the tovn-a house that his wife had
bought Tor her old nurse to live i'll, and that
happened to be empty because the old
nurse had just died.
Ny father and all the rest Of the credi-
tors-eIcept old Mr.. Skimmington-hoped
to arrange matters so that Mr.. jerks would
90 on. He was in an excellent business,
my father said, and if he had an oppor-
tnnity he would be all straight again in nO
time. Mr.. Skimmington was a queer old
fellow; just as cranky and cross grained as
he could possibly be. He was very rich
but he kept ON working as hard as ever;
and that was very hard indeed. Whenever
anybody asked why he did not retire from
business and enjoy himself-and people
that did not know him very well used To
ask him this, now and then-he would
draw himself up and Say, "Enjey MYSELF
l am enjoying myself, sir! began to
work when l was nine years old, sir; and |
have been workingtver since. For more
than sixty years have been n useful citi-
zen; and to be useful is my idea Of enjoy
ment. / hate a drone-and either you are
drone or would be one if you could.
Good day, sir!' And then the old fellow
would stalk away as stiff as poker. |
never met anybody who liked him much.
e nluckily, it was Mr.. Skimmington who
held most of Mr.. jerks notes; and Mr..
SkimmingtOn refused point-blank to join
the other creditors i'll giving Mr.. jerks
more time.
''No sir" he said; lit shall not be done
jerks has been fool enough to put his name
to paper, and he must take the con
sequences 1t will teach him valuable
lesson, sir,-a lesson that will do him good
as long as he lives. 1t did me good, and
know what I'm talking about. | put my
name to paper in '57,-and down | went!
Did anybody give me All extensionf Not
bit of it! had to fight my way up again;
and that fight made a man or me, sir.
jerks is a young fellow still, and this will
be a very useful experience for him. Let
him fight his way up, just as I did. / re
peat, sir, it will do him good. Not another
word! My mind is made up; into bank
ruptcy he gees, just as sure as my name is
Jeremiah Skimmington."
But Mr.. jerks did not 60 into bankrupt
cy-and what kept him out of it was Billy.
Billy told me that when he got home
from school, and found out what mess
things were in, he felt as if he'd like To SIT
down and cry. But it struck him that cry
ing would do no good; 80 he set himself to
thinking about what he could do to help
his father and mother i'll their trouble. He
thought away as hard as ever he could
think for about two days, without hitting
anything-for he was only ten years old,
and little for his age, so that it was not
easy to find a way in which he could be
really useful. They were still living in
their handsome house, and Billy still had
his donkey and donkey cart; and TO help
his thirking-for the donkey cart had no
springs and he believed that jogging might
shake up his ideas-he drove about most of
the time.
on the third day after he got home, he
happened to be driving along by the New
Row. He was very low in his mind, and
was not paying attention to anything in
particular, and it gave him n start when he
found that somebody was calling. He
pulled Jenny up short, and looked around;
and there on the high sidewalk-for the
road had been cut down along the New
Row-hc saw a nice-looking old lady who
wore spectacles, and carried big travel
g-bag by her side, and little bag in her
hand and bundle under her arm. She
looked hot and tired and fustered.
ooh, little boy" the old lady said, 81
have called to you several times. ! haye
such load to carry that l know never
can get to the station i'll time for the
train. viii you please carry my bag down
in your donkey y-cartl II go down by the
short cut and meet you; and I'll gladly
give you a quarter"
OF course Billy said that he would be
very glad indeed to oblige her; and he put
the big bag and the little one, too, i'll the
cart, and chirped up Jenny, and whisked
off to the station in no time.
Presently the old lady came; and then
he hitched Jenny and helped the old lady
to check the big bag and tried to make
things generally comfortable for her. OF
course he wouldn't take the quarter that
she offered him; and when she found that
he was really in earnest, she thanked him
very gratefully and put the money away.
"Tm very much obliged to You, indeed,
my dear" she said, "for if you hadn't help
ed me so kindly, | certainly should have
missed my train" And then she added,
GLOW stupid it is that in n town of this
size there should not be any express; it
would pay an enterprising man well to
start one, Pm sure. And now, here comes
my train. Good bye,-I shall not soon for
get my little expressman, l can tell you!
You certainly are very well behaved boy,
for boy. Goodbye, again" Then the
old lady got into the car and the train
started.
1t was while Billy was driving home that
he suddenly woke up to the fact that the
nice old lady had shown him way in
which he could help his father. He would
be an eXpressman, that is to say, express
boy,-in dead earnest! He had often heard
othor people complain about the difficulty
of getting luggage to and from the station,
right in saying that an express service
would pay. What pleased him most of all
was the thought that here he was, all
ready to 90 into business--for the donkey
cart would make n very good express
wagon to begin with; and both the donkey
cart and the donkey were his own.
But when he went home he found him
self brought up with round tnrn. His