The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1897-09-18
THE GOOD ANGEL.
By OCTAVE THANET.


cago lawyer, he was born a Virginian.
and we recalled many an evening over
a bowl of genuine Virginian eggnog.
A noble fire blazed up Rogers colonial
chimney, as generous, if not SO crooked,
as his ancestors chimneys in Berkeley
Manor, and we could, did we choose,
rest our eyes from its binding splendor
by a search through the dusk and the
moonlit night outside the window panes,
until the vast dark bulk of the lake
shaped itself out of the incessant moan
of it's surf on the beach.
Somehow our talk, which had started
lightly enough amid dead and gone Vir-
ginian revels, sank into a somber mood,
and presently we were discussing, not
an occasional misstep over the bounds
of temperance, but the black problem Of
drunkenness itself.
The judge had a high opinion of the
Kelley cure, but the doctor believed in
legislation backed by a good stiff sen
tence in prison. Roger had listened,
saying nothing, but putting away at
that brier wood pipe Of his that he
smokes whenever he is under the protec-
ton of his own household gods. At last
he removed the pipe and poised it in
air, with the manner of one about to
speak. We all listened, for Roger does
not often discourse out of court, and
when he does he is likely to have
thing to say. Besides, Roger is the best
fellow in the world.
81 have nothing to say against the
Keeley cure" said Roger in his soft,
deliberative tones. mo doubt it helps
some men nightly, and that is not say
ing that the doctor here cannot give as
rs good a hypodermic as they give at
Dwight; there is the contagion Of SYM
pathy and the influence of faith to be
taken into account, you know. There is
sense, too, in what Ben," waving the
pipe at the doctor, 'has to say about
fear AZ u deterrent, and dare say many
fellows have been reformed through
their affections, which is the pleasing
theory of the ladies. My own impress
sion is that each case has a possible
cure. if we could only find it. l know a
man who was scared into reform, and
another man who reformed neither from
fear nor favor, but principally, l think,
because he saw the odiousness Of his
own vice in another mans actions.
That was a queer case.
"You mean Jimmy" said the judge.
''See here, Roger, your wife isn't here,
and we are all in the family; tell us
about Jimmy"
"Patty wouldn't mind, I know. Tell
them, Roger" said his sister. So in
the end Roger did tell us.
He rubbed the shining top Of his
head, from which his brown curls are
receding; his kind. keen eyes contract
cd absently; he sighed and began.
my first acquaintance with jim
N.Y." said Roger, "goes back to a peri
cd that makes me feel my age, for I
was old enough to be i'll Harvard Law
school, and Jimmy was in knickerbock-
ers. I found him in a high seat of a cir
Gus in Chicago, exulting in the dangers
of the trapeze. He had made friends
with a newsboy-even at that tender
age Jimmy's perilous sociability was in
full bloom-and they were exchanging
emotions. My squeals Jimmy, 'ain't
she a daring ladyi Would your mamma
dare do that? Mine Wouldn't
"'Who is your mammal said /. we
being already on terms of camaraderie,
thanks to the balmy influences Of pea
nuts and pink lemonade. Jimmy an
swered frankly, oh, my mamma is
Mrs. James Cunningham, and l amt
got any papa, and we don't live in Chi
cago, but we're visiting my Aunt Sue,
and Ralph wouldn't take me to the cir
Gus, SO l ran away I surmised that his
mother was dragging all the cisterns
and harassing the police about him by
this time, and I wheedled him into Civ
ing me the street number, and the up
shot of the incident was, l returned him
to his mother that afternoon. That is
how I became acquainted with the Gun
ninghams. 1 have felt a sneaking obli-
CATION to Jimmy ever since. There were
only Patty and Jimmy in the family. l
married Patty. MI. Cunningham left
his fortune Internationally to his wife.
There was $500, 000-enough to spoil a
boy, not enough to fill him with the
sense of obligation that sometimes a
great fortune will bring. 1t did spoil
Jimmy. He was at my wedding, the
sweetest little golden haired angel in
blue velvet you aver saw. And after the
wedding breakfast, while Patty was try
ing to console her mother, he tied an old
shoe full of rice to the bridal carriage,
and then confiscated a bottle of cham
payne to cheer some choice friend of his
waiting in the stable and contrived
during the revel to tumble out Of the
second story window and break his col
lar bone, which his mother thought was
punishment enough.
IT didn't, but l was too new to the
family circle to be loud in my opinions.
I q didn't hear very much more of Jimmy
that year, until he got into a mess at
school, and the master being a friend of
mine I had to beg the young rascal out
Of his just deserts. Naturally, after
that, it fell to me to pull Master Jim
out of hot water as a regular job. I
must say it was q pretty steady job too.
He was expelled from two schools,
where he had been 20 popular that he
returned home with . misc ilany of to-
kens Of regret in the shape of broken
pocketknives, old cravats, u revolver
without any cartridges and three trained
mice. 1t was Mrs. Cunningham no.
ton to have a tutor for him. Digby was
an innocent young fellow in training
for a Clergyman. He was SO innocent
that Jim worked his sprees off OH him
az malaria. Like every one else, he