The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-03-23

poNcTuy, Duu Jnelr wants in the way
Oh garments were promptly attend
Love him! Bless your hearts, there
wasn't man in all the State more
loved than Jim Meadows, and II the
prayers OF the widow, the orphan, the
SICK and unemployed have any weight
IN heaven, there's enough fem up
there to Offset any sins the poor fellow
was ever guilty of.
He used to take the keenest sort of
delight in doinggo on the quiet, and
In unexpected ways. Ever hear of the
way he paid off his old score against
Iom Moody, the foreman down at
GaspersY Well, it was this way. Jim
and Tom were courting the same girl
the one that is Mrs. Moody now.
Tom was of a jealous disposition and
began TO be very bitter against Jim
when he found he was after his
girl. SO he used his mean influence
down at the factory and Jim was
thrown out of work without any rea-
son. Soon after that he had his for
tune left him, and just about that
tlme Gaspers got in difficulties and
| they had to shut down the factory the
very week after Tom had married.
Moody hadn't saved any money for
a rainy day, and as a consequence
he and his new bride were face TO face
with poverty and starvation. Yes
and how dye think Jim Meadows got
in his revenge on Tom for the mean
trick he had played on him? He just
rented cosy little house, put $500
worth of furniture in it, and pre-
sented il with years rent receipt, TO
Mr. and Mrs. Moody as "a gift from
an old friend" That's the sort of man
Jim Meadows was.
He never dressed stylishly or even
extensively himself. The plainest
kind of clothes were good enough for
him. If he was ever told that his
coat looked shabby he would quietly
say, "Well, / can't afford a new one
this month";" but he would very likely
buy new suit that very day for some
poor devil or another who needed
clothing badly. He was frugal in his
eating, but nothing was too good for
any invalid in whom he took an inter-
est.
Jim used to go to the police court
nearly every morning, not out of a
morbid curiosity, but just to see what
good he could do the poor wretches
who often find their way there. Many
a fine he has paid out of his own
pocket to set q prisoner free, but lie
never showed any sympathy for real
criminal unless there seemed to be ev-
idence OF q desire to reform. He had
a kindly word for all, but his was not
mere verbal sympathy, his practical
charity went hand in hand with his
cheering disposition.
"One night he saved a young girl
from suicide. She was one of the
class that so-called honest folks turn
up their noses at, but nobody was too
low for jim to lift up If he could do it.
That girl was tired of her life of
shame and wanted to end it in the
river, and she would have succeeded if
Jim had not happened by at the time
and rescued her. She was brought up
at the police court after leaving the
hospital, but Jim secured her dis
charge and placed her in charge of a
laundry which he had started for just
such poor creatures as she. She has
led a good life ever since and owns
that laundry now herself, but she has
never worn anything except black since
Jim Meadows died, and she says she
never will.
"Once he was told of poor but
proud family, who were living in a
somewhat fashionable locality. They
had suffered severe reverses and, al |
though brought up in luxurious way,
were now living on almost bread
alone The head of the house was
dead; the eldest son had been the sole |
support of his mother and three Sis |
ters since their loss Of property, but |
for the past six weeks he also had been !
incapacitated for work by illness.
desperately poor and on the |
verge of starvation, these people, it |
was known, were too dignitied and |
proud to accept charity, so what does
jim do but take few directories to |
the house and beg the three young Ia
dies TO copy the names and addresses
for him at SO a week each. He
claimed that he was in hurry for the
work, but he kept them at it nearly
six weeks, and it is said that when
their labors were completed Jim just
piled the manuscripts away in an old
tool chest, where they were found
years afterwards all mildewed and
useless. That's the sort of man jim
Meadows was.
"How did he die? Well now, it does
seem u Shame uIldU lellOW Ike jim
ever should die, but the fact is his big
fortune dwindled away by reason Of
his prodigal generosity, and in eight
years every cent was gone. Jim was
no business man. He had been so
much occupied in providing for Others
that he had forgotten to provide for
himself. He never looked after his
financial affairs, but just kept draw
ing money out as he needed it and CIV
ing it away right and left So in the
end of course the crash came, and Jim
was as poor as ever. He went to work
at his old trade, but the thought that
he could no longer benefit his fellow
man as he used to, preyed upon his
mind. He could not bear to look up
on suffering and be unable TO relieve
it, and so, in the course of very few
months, the worry broke down his
health, and after brief spell he died,
and his last act was to will all his lit
tie personal effects to the poor cobbler
who had attended on him in his final
days.
IA funeral Gosh, such one as that