The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-10-15
THEY ADORED JIMMY
A HERO THAT ALL THE OTHER BOYS
LOOKED UPON WITH AWE.

and a DufFer at Baseball, His One
Piece of Luck Made Him Envied by
All His Companions.
eve must have Jimmy" said the
small boy who was to give the party.
"Who's Jimmy?" asked his mother.
"Why, he's a fellow at school His IA
TIERS janitor over on Forty-seventh
street,
The mother gasped under the cold
douche of democracy, but put Jimmy's
name at the head of the list and wrote
the names of the swell little boys her boy
knew afterward.
When the party came off, she met Jim
my. He had a shrewd, bright little face,
with a snub nose and jolly eyes, and he
seemed well behaved, but judging by
the standards of an Olympian she could
not see anything to account for the defer
entail admiration which all the boys dis
played toward Jimmy.
Where he was there was the crowd
He was not arrogant, but he evidently
accepted the homage as his due, and he
had the air of easy superiority that a
boss politician shows to his faithful
henchman. He patronized the youthful
heir of the millionaire steel man and con-
descended to the cerulean blooded scion
of the ancient Knickerbockers. They
didn't resent it. They were humbly CRATE
full and elated at being noticed at all.
The hostess tried to solve the problem
by sounding little boy whom she cap
tured and held, restless but polite cap
tive.
SIS Jimmy great fghter7" she asked
cannily.
"oh, he's fair! Dick Wilson can lick
fits out of him."
She gasped. Evidently her theory was
wrong.
"Does he play football or baseballP'
"Don't play football, and he's duffer
at baseball"
"Is he very clever in schoolT
"Not much. He's no greasy grind, jim
my amt"
The butler appeared at the door and
looked appealingly at her. She abandon
ed her Sherlock Holmes tactics and went
to decide whether the mountain of cake
was high enough and the sea Of ice cream
broad enough for crowd of boys.
Later she found the clew for which she
had been looking. The boys were tired
and very, very full of good things. Active
exertion was not to be thought of until
digestion had a fair start. The young
host appealed to his mother.
"Tell us an Indian story about when
you lived on a ranch, mamma" Then he
added, with hopeful tone in his voice,
"Maybe if you do Jimmy'll tell US some
fire stories"
"What does Jimmy know about tires?
All the boy faces looked incredulous,
scornful. Surely she couldn't be so igno-
rant as she seemed.
"Know about fires" echoed the chorus.
"Why, he's mascot at the engine house."
Jimmy looked nonchalantly at the
chandelier. He was used to fame. Still
he was not beyond feeling proud when his
glory was sprung upon new admirer.
'1 don't think 1 understand" faltered
the hostess, much impressed. What do
you do, Jimmy?"
"Oh, l just go to all the fires," said
Jimmy in an offhand way.
The crowd of boys drew deep breaths.
They never could get used to Jimmy's
luck.
"You see," he explained, ''I'm at the
engine house most all the time, and
know all the men awful well. I've been
staying over there ever since was little
shaver. 1 always liked fires"
The boys faces said that they all liked
fires, but few were, like Jimmy, favored
of the gods.
''The men kind Of took shine to me,
/ guess. They used to scold about hav-
ing a kid around underfoot at first, but
got so as l didn't get under their feet,
and Billy-that's the bulldog-liked me,
and l was awful good friends with the
horses. Bimeby the men got to jollying
me and asking me to do things for them,
and did any old thing.
"And then they used to tell stories,
and | liked the stories so much that that
sort of tickled them, and l knew lot
about the engines and didn't forget any
thing they told me and went to all the
fires within running distance. Then l
got my bicycle and kept it around at the
engine house. The minute a call came
In I'd jump on my wheel and go lickety
split to the place. Sometimes they let
me 90 on the cart now, and when they're
lust out for exercise ride with the
driver.
Gee, it's great! I'd rather be him
| than most anybody. You'd ought to see
him go through a crowd. He got upset
once. l was racing right along beside
him on my wheel, and l thought every
thing was coming on top of me- but 1t
didn't.
give seen lots of people killed jump
ing out Of windows and such fool things.
You'd ought to see Dan-Dan's my best
friend. He's the fireman that owns the
bulldog. You'd ought to see him going
up the side of building with scaling
ladder and carrying women and kids
down. He don't care what he does with
fire. He says to me:
"'Kid, some day I'll be a fricasseed
Irishman, but Pm going to have hot
time while cam
The boys were all listening breathless-
| ". They had heard it all before, but to
be on familiar conversational terms with
a fireman, to have niche in an engine
house, to ride on hose cart-could life
hold bliss greater than that?
Dick, the fighter, bent his proud head.
Tom Miller, the football captain, took
back seat. They recognized their SUI
perior. By the unwritten laws of the
Kingdom Of boyhood Jimmy was king Of
che gang.-New York Sun.