St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-29


would have been praiseworthy in one much
older, he saved enough to buy a blacking out
fit, and when this came into his possession
he felt himself to be as rich as any capitalist
in the city.
Bright-eyed, CHEEKY and alert was Foxev
de Kid, despite all his disadvantages, and at
midday, when the demand for the morning
papers was gone and the afternoon papers
were not yet out, he flew back and forth
through the City Hall park, scanning the
feet rather than the faces of the men he met,
and shouting: "ShiLe? shine, sir? Only
nickel!"
One day Foxey de Kid thus saluted a tall
man with heavy mustache and bronzed
face, who halted and looked down on the
child, as Gulliver did on the Lilliputians
then he exclaimed:
BLESS my soul, child who are your
The reply was:
- am Foxey de Kid, sir. Shine? Only five
cents.''
And thereupon he unslung his kit, and tax
ing the good-natured expression of the man
for consent, he began to black his already
well-polished boots.
'fAIl right, young one; this is the third
time to-day that my boots have been BACKED:
but go ahead.' And the man laughed and
lit a cigar.
After the task was completed the stranger
drew the child to one side, and handing him
dime instead of the proposed nickel he
learned from him the little he knew about
himself Among the things told by the child
was the name and residence of Mrs. Roberts.
"If you meet me here tomorrow my lad,
at this hour, will give you another JOB on
my boots at the same price, said the man,
to which agreement the boy readily assented.
On the following day, true to his promise,
the tall man appeared in the same place at
the same hour, and addressed the boy, not as
Foxey de Kid, but as "James Lester
whereat the youngster was much surprised.
L.
tall man reached down, and taking the child's
hand, led him to one of the neighboring
benches and made him sit down beside him,
while he spoke as follows:
''My boy, live away out in the far west, in
place called Dakota, of which 1 am sure you
and compressed his lips, to indicate his entire
ignorance, and the man continued: 81 am
not poor, and people call me rich. Two years
ago I had q little boy who died: but his
image has been always in my heart, and when
[ saw you here yesterday you reminded me
so much of the dead child that my heart rose
to my mouth. Now, I shall not call you
Foxey de Kid for your true name, learn, is
James Lester, and strangely enough, nv
boys name was james, too; James Godfrey,
but we always called him Jimmy, and that
is what shall call you
''An right, boss" said Foxey de Kid. who
had no objection to the name he was called,
SO that he found it profitable.
The tall man placed his arm about the
childs neck, spoke Of his western home and
asked if he would be willing to go with him
there, where he would have good home.
plenty of food and pony to ride, and more
than all, love. OF love the child knew moth
ing, but he had a very clear idea of the other
Inducements and so readily consented
Within two days James Lester, entirely
disguised by a thorough washing and a COM
pete suit OF well-fitting clothes, was whirling
westward on the cars with the tall stranger
Every Christmas after this old Mrs. Rob-
erts received as Il present check from the
west, signed by James Godfrey, and a letter
accompanying it, "from your friend James
Godfrey, alias 'Foxey de Kid"
And, in his Dakota home, "FoXey de KIDD
has grown into a splendid young man, tall
as his foster father, and honored and loved
by all who know him. And all this came
about through a ''Chance Acquaintance.
NELSON THORPE.
E Daughter-sMamma, are divorces very e1-
pensive?"
Mother-"Why do you ask, Susan?"
Daughter-'tI am thinking about accepting
Mr.. Footlight."
One hundred years ago the fashion for
women was to wear transparent textiles, and
to such an extreme was this carried that
for indecent exposure. In some instances
the covering was but a pretext, and hardly as
practical as the wardrobe of the lady who
loosely declared she wore nothing in Florida
but barrel-hoopS and mosquito-bar.
Love is a well-defned and ravaging disease,
but, like other maladies, it has its antidotes.
The old school remedies of reason and force
are no longer regarded as eff1cacious, but an
allopathic dose OF familiarity is considered
good curative. This, however, is usually
taken after the patients demise-i. e., after
marriage.
1t is to be presumed that the fashion artist
never studied any other anatomy than that
of the hour-glass or the wasp. How all the
essential viscera are comprised by such
waists is a marvel to the Psychologist and
actually painful to contemplate.
Smith falls from the seventh floor to the
ground. Jones, looking over his shaving
glass; recognizes his ncghbor. ssHello,
Smith, is that you?" Such little social amen
tiles have their compensations.
The magnitude OF this country is not ade-
quately appreciated by great percentage of
Europeans Especially has this been true in
the past An English novel of a few years ago
described the glories of the Rockies as seen
from New Orleans. 81 met German in
Brussels" said an acquaintance of the writer,
''who became much interested in me when he
learned that 1 was an American, and all on
account of friend he had in the United
States. DO you know himF he asked, his
name is Henry Walter The name is not as
common as John Smith, and did know
a Henry Walter Where does your friend
live?' I asked. 4 Pittsburg, he replied. The
Walter CHANGED to be the same. But what
remarkable occurrence! That German must
have remained with very insular ideas of the
area of this country. He probably regards it
as about the size of Staten Island, or possibly,
Hohenzollern.