The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-04-04
DAREY jim 5 DEVOTION
Friend Little Gerald Lapiner
Found in His Captivity.
JUST AN OLD FIELD HAND
But Wins the ChiId's Heart
and Gains a Home.

Chicago, April 3-"Uncle Jim" Cruxton
has all the old time wit of a typical darby
Of a generation ago. His bright black
eyes shine with the good will and love for
his fellow countrymen that characterize
the colored race the world over, but not
alone Of good viii and love do they speak,
but of hardships, of struggles, of endur-
ance, against which he has bravely fought
and remained loyal TO himself and TO his
Cod.
One of his large eyes is half concealed
! by dropping lid that adds more merry
| expression TO his face, making his eye
/ shine through like a little slit of light
! when he laughs. His broad, squarely built
form is Slightly bent by the cares of fifty
four years, but he steps with an elastic
tread and carries his head proudly, as did
his forefathers in old plantation days, when
their masters were of high and mighty
name. A short full beard adorns his face
and his heavy hair is f1ecked with white.
When he arrived in Chicago last week
from Painsviile, o., ne were a battered
SLOUGH hat with q brim so Timber it fell
Ike a shadow over his face He had put
on his church suit in honor of the trip.
an old thread-bare suit. bleached by ex-
posture on many sunlight days, but worn
as if it were a royal garment His shoes
were stout, but not fashionable BULLDOG
nor yet the pointed toe. And all the lug
gage Uncle" Jim brought with him was
a much used violin and bow, carefully in
cased in a canton flannel sack.
Uncle Jim IS all alone in the world, with
no gentle hand to smooth away the fur
rows of care that gathered all over his face
with years; no kindly loving voice TO add
good cheer to his troubled life, a life such
as an old darby, rich in heart, yet poor
in worldly goods, can know; no laughing |
black face Of a saucy pickaninnie 70 turn |
eagerly to his when he came in from the |
fields at night. making him thrill with a |
fathers love and glad to live that he might |
learn to know his child. No one at all |
to care for Uncle Jim when he must need |
care, now that he has turned the mile
stone Of fifty. The wife of his heart, The
children he loved so well, the friends OF his
childhood, are all dead and Uncle jim
is alone o the chill of human heart!
0, the miser of desolation.
mall wonder the warm bond of friend
ship should spring up between the darby
and his child companion, the abducted
Gerald Lapiner for both were lone ly for
association, for amusement, for hearts
deep love. The man was old, was bent,
was black, The child was just past ?
years. with the white, soft features of his
race. and could scarcely talk or walk.
When Gerald first went to the farm home
Of Mrs Ann Ingersou and John Collins,
Uncle Jim was in Columbus attending to
some duties for the place. For ten years
he had lived in Painsville and known Mrs.
IngersoH, and for seven years had attend
ed to the woman's farm working the land
and caring for the horses and fowls with
the faithfulness. The house was poor and
i'll furnished with a few rooms above and a
few beow, There were no near neighbors,
and no peope OF his color near by, yet
Jim loved the place and loved the little
room given for his USE with it's low roof
and cracked walls. for having no other
home, however poor, is as dear to the
heart of a darby as to his wealthy and
more fortunate white brother.
1t was in June that Unclt Jim and little
Gerald met for the first time. The child
had been absent from his parents for two
weeks. and in that time had lost much of
his dimpled chubbiness, and his frank,
childish manner had given ava to one of
fear and reserve. Entering the kitchen IN
axpectedly Uncle saw Gerry sitting on a
heap Of filthy rags and watching eagerly
the movements of Mrs. IngeTsou as she
prepared for the evening meal.
"Wan 1 declah, eff heah amt chile!'
exclaimed the whole-souled man, stretch
ms out his warm black hands, wrinkled
and hard with rough work. won't you
come an dance To- me?'
But the child drew back in a spasm of
fright and sunk deeper in the rags his lit
lie, weak fists, while his beautiful brown
eyes wandered back and forth from the
lndl face of the honest black man to the
one Of Mrs. IngersoH
Leave him alone. he's sulking," Mrs.
rngersou said. and as John Collins then
entered the room the three began a dis
5uss.on of the business that had taken
Jim TO Columbus.
But Jim did not forget the frightened,
glance of the child, ling immoveabIe on
The heap Of rags with his big eyes fixed
IN the smoke-grimed ceiling. Nor did he
fail 20 observe that the child ate no supper
Having resumed at once his regular duties
Tim returned to the kitchen when they
we're done for the night. Gerry had fallen
asleep on the rags and with his little
lands thrown out Jim had been a child
once himself, had been a slave, was tired.
VAS lonesome. was sorrowful, and-wel.
men sometimes shed tears Of sympathy
or the weak and helpless.
The hour was late and the house was
lu.et and Uncle Jim tenderly raised the G
sleeping fgure of the white child In his
lrms and carefully carried him 10 his own
title room without disturbing his slum- ,
,ers. Then putting some milk and soft !
'-oad on broken chair near the bed he I
waited until the SliId should awake thar ]
le might feed nina his supper.
Ii Was but the beginning OF a close ?