Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-07-16
Maiden dear and free,
JIM REEDS PRIZE.

OlM lOlLllD - < lOlZI.
Never heard tell of Jim Reed and the
time he had with that postage stamp girl
from North Carolinap Why, | thought ev-
erybody knew about that. Well, the way
it happened was this: Jim was in charge
of a coal mine down near Trinidad, Colo.
The mine really belonged to Uncle Sam,
but there were two or three different sets
of people who were trying to prove up on
1t, and Jim was sent down by the richest Of
the lot to sort of hold the fort, being that
possession Is nine points Of the law, as the
saying goes, and rather more when 1t
comes to a land case.
Well, at first Jim thought he had a soft
snap. There wasn't much work to do ex-
cept to cook his own meals and look after
the little log cabin and the little 80 a day
coming in as regularly as the clock licked,
but 1t didn't take him long to find out that
the hardest kind of a job a man can tackle
is one where he doesn't have anything to
do, and that's exactly what was the matter
with Jim, and that's where the trouble
began.
Now, I never knew exactly whether 1t
was because of the ordinary way that satan
fixes up mischief for people III of work
or whether it's sort Of human nature for a
man to go and get married when he hasn't
anything else to do, but at any rate Jim
seemed to get mighty fond of the postof-
fee all Of a sudden, and then he began to
let on that there was a girl back east that
he had known for a long time that was
likely to come out and help hold down
that coal claim. Some of the neighbors
%suspicioned that she was a postage stamp
girl, but Jim said no; she was an old
schoolmate of his that he had known when
he was a kid, and that the two of them
had always been kind of sweet on each 9th
or and only waiting until they could see
their way clear to getting married.
And then, after awhile, Jim went up to
the hotel at Trinidad and gave it out that
he was going to meet his bride, and she
was to be there on a certain day, and he
was to be back at the station on another
day with his wife-they were to be mar
ried at the hotel - and the %neighbors
thought 1t wouldn't be any more than po-
lite to meet the newly married couple at
the station and give them a pleasant well
come to their western home. But, in spite
Of the folks at the depot to meet them,
Jim didn't come, and he didn't come the
next day, and the next day he did come,
but he came alone, and he explained to the
folks that after he had been at the hotel a
couple of days be got q letter from Minnie
saying that she couldn't come at the time
she said she would.
So that made more talk than ever, and
some Of the ',oys wanted to bet that she
wouldn't ccrne at all. But about o couple
Of months after Jim got another letter,
and it said this time she was coming sure,
and Jim went to Trinidad again, though
this time he didn't tell anybody he was
going on account of the way he had been
joshed before. But when he got to the
hotel he found that the people there seemed
to know his affairs pretty well, either on
account Of what he'd told them the other
time or else because the whole county by
that time knew pretty we'll about Jim and
his postage stamp girl, not having much
else to talk about, as you might guess.
So the clerk said real polite like, well,
Mr.. Reed, when do you expect Mrs. Reed?"
And there was nothing for Jim to do but
redden up like a Ben Davis apple and tell
him. And, of course, the whole town was
on the lookout for Minnie, from the kid
who sold apples at the depot to Judge
Coombs, who used to leave his seat in the
courtroom and walk over to the window
when the train came in, for they looked
for her more than one day land poor Jim
said he didn't know whether he was q
widow or an orphan, because he didn't get
any letter and didn't know what to ex-
poet. So he waited around for pretty near
~ a week, eating his head off at the hotel
and nothing to show for 1t, and finally he
made up his mind that he'd have to go
back to the cabin again all by his lone.
some. =
But the very night that Jim made up
his mind that he'd have to go back the
| next day something did happen. The
train was late that night, and Jim had got
10 discouraged waiting that he didn't
think there was any use Of sitting up, SO
he went off to bed early. When the bus
tame up to the hotel from the depot, some.
body Eays to the night clerk, "She's come.
And sure enough she had, and nobody had
any doubts about who "she" was.
She wasn't more than 30 years old, kind
Of chunky and not 80 very bad looking for
the kind, as the fellow said. But the worst
thing about her wal her complexion, which
was coffee color, and If a fellow had that
color Of coffee he wouldn't kick ON there
being too much water In 1t either. Then
she had pretty thick lips, and her hair was
black and shiny like q piece Of wet coal.
NEGRO, by jiihinyl" says the night
clerk, but she wasn't. At least the straight
hair didn't look that way, and there's q
whole lot Of Indian blood among some Of
those North Carolina folks, 10 I've heard.
Well, there she was, anyway. and some
IT the folks who had seen q photograph Of
Minnie that Jim used to carry around said
she didn't look any more like that picture
than the least little bit in the world.
II believe she Is a postage stamp girl"
said the night clerk, and everybody around
agreed that they thought SO too. What's .
postage stamp grip No, 1t isn't q young
lady that sells stamps In a postofflce. A
postage stamp girl Is . girl that answer
advertisements in q newspaper. Wanted
"A young woman Of not much sense and
considerable money" and get married
through the postctice.
So lust to make sure about 1t, the clerk
put up q job on Jim, and besides, he want
ed to punish him for the yarns he'd been
telling about the little sweetheart Of his