The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-03-10

slatana the -saxeat, goois saaturSd.zawls-
ward fellow. Behind al OF "River
JIM rough exterior and uncouth
manners there beat heart rs tender
Is . child's, and capable of an affection
q sincere and honest a. the most re-
fined and polished society man. I,
One of the hotels Or boarding houses
which was the headquarters Of / large
number of the rivermen and loggers.s
when In town, was owned and man.
aged by widow by the name of Mrs
Franklin. This lady had three chill
dren, girl of twenty and two boys
one seventeen and the other nine.
Ever since Jim carae to the place he
had made this his home, when he was
not up in the woods
One day shortly after River Jim"
came to- town. Mrs. Franklin's little
boy Willie, and several other boys Of
his age. were playing on the logs near
the mills when the little fellow slipped
and fell between them, and would have
been drowned had not Jim, who hap
pened to be working near, heard his
companions cries and ran to where he
had fallen in and succeeded in pulling
him out, moro dead than alive.
Tho little fellow was soon around
again. however, and from that day
River Jim" at least had one staunch
friend in Willie Franklin. In fact,
there seemed q strange friendship
growing up between the uncouth, I'M
lettered man and tho little boy, and
almost any fine. day 5one could see
willie running around on the logs try
Ing to assist Jim in his work, and Jim
would say:
II tell ye what. Billy, I'll make er
great log driver out O. ye y!t, If yen
jist tend to yer knittin'."
Say. Jim, 1 do get around over the
logs pretty handy, don't II"
River Jim" never seemed to have
any ambition higher than to he known
as the most fearless driver ON the
river, and he really had IN idea that he
might have promising pupil in Willie
Franklin.
One day when Jim and the little fell
low were together on the drive Willie
said:
Say, Jim. it's pay day tomorrow.
amt it?" !
"Guess tits, Billy. What's Their mat.
ter now? Do ye want me ter git We
some new fummerdiddle?"
I 'Oh. no. Jim; I wasn't thinking of
that. But I heard ma and Jennie
talking this morning about it, and
] Jennie said she wished you wouldn't
get drunk every pay day and spend all
your money, and ma said she didn't
like to have me with you when you
| acted so''
"Now, say, Billy, did yer ma and
sister say thet?"
Honest, they did, Jim, and ma she
said she had notion to speak to you
| about it two or three times, but she
was afraid you'd think it was mono of
her business, and-say, Jim, I wish
you wouldn't, either, cause it makes
me mad to hear the boys make fun of
you and call you nothing but an old
bum.''
Jim didn't answer the boy, and all
the rest of the day he was unusually
| quiet
The next day when he received his
wages and went quietly to the hotel
there was at least one person in town
who was not surprised, although that
person was only small boy.
When Jim reached the hotel he told
Willie that he wanted to see his
mother. The boy went to find her
wondering what Jim could want He
soon returned accompanied by Mrs
| Franklin. -
Ibid you wish to see me, Jim?" in
quired the lady, as she came into the
office.
| Jim, who was standing at the win
dow looking out over the river, turned
around, and awkwardly drawing some
thing from his pocket he held it to-
ward Mrs Franklin, at the same time
stammering out:
! 'Mrs. Franklin, w-wou9d We mind
takin' this and k>.cpin' it f-fer me?'
"Why, Jim said the lady as she
saw it was a small roll of money, do
you really want me to keep this for
you? What's the matter?"
"Well we see," stammered Jim, ''B-
Billy, the little cuss-h-he don't want
me, tier go an git drunk every pay
| day. and IL thought mebbe y.you'd
couldn't have anythin' to make a
fool of myself with. S-say, Yell do
it, w-won't YEP"
With these words he thrust the
| money into her hand and rushed
| from the room, across the street and
was soon seen at work emong his IA
vorite companions-thel logs.
For the remainder of the season,
every pay day Jim would punctually
go to Mrs Franklin and after she had
deducted his board bill he would ask
her to keep the balance for him, so
that when the mills had finally finished
the seasons cut of logs Jim had quite
snug little sum of money in the hands
of his banker.
One night, short time after a ma
jority of the mills had closed for the
! season, the nhabitants of the town
were startled by the shrill blowing of
half dozen whistles at different Mills.
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