The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-11-15
JIMMIE TAXES A CHANCE.

/ Jimmie BidweH, being but u years
/ old, and having lived in the country all
/ of his short life, didn't understand ev-
l erything that went on even in the Sc
questered valley which was his home.
4 But there were a few things that he was
/ beginning to suspect and among them
was the dire poverty OF his parents. He
I was desperately fond Of his mother, but
/ the frequent scraps between her and
dad" made his small heart tired. As he
/ grew in years and perspicacity Jimmie
I learned 70 look for trouble every Sat
1 urday night. He found out that SaIur-
/ day was pay day. and that the peculiar
| odOr issuing from dads garments and
/ breath on such occasions had been ac-
quired at some cost at the tavern in
/ Maine.
| Having no heart 10 witness the parental
wrangles which marked the end OF each
week. and being as yet too frail TO in
! terfere in behalf Of his mother. Jimmie
was fain to sneak of alone 10 the vii
| lage every Saturday evening and return
1 with furtive tears and kisses for mann
my after dad had fallen into state of
! slumberous stupefaction- on the out
/ skirts of Maline lived Judge Mscklin,
wealthy country gentleman, who main
/ tanned a pack of hounds and beagIes. a
/ stable OF steeple chasers and domestic
menagerie that was the model and en-
| Wy of the whole county. Jimmie
! father being master of the hounds, head
/ hostler, chief huntsman and all-round
/ factotum on the Macklin place, was re-
garded by the community, and so re-
garded himself as a true-blue sport,
whatever that means.
To Bidwells somewhat muddled mind.
however, it involved the expenditure Of
most of his wages at the village tavern,
/ where he talked dog" clattered about
! horses, laid wagers that he never paid,
/ and in other ways contFived to impOver-
/ ish his family and make an ass of
/ himself" So far as Jimmie, the boy,
could see the sum and crown of all this
sporting talk was the occasional
meet which assembled at the Macklin
house with bowling dogs, prancing
/ horses, gayly dressed men and women,
and thereafter for the better part Of
| day gallOped madly up and down the
/ banks of Maline Creek, trampling corn
| fields and gardens, shouting, bugling and
! yelping after a fox, which so far as he
knew, had never been caught. Jimmie
didn't know that this frequent scam
! pering of women, men, horses and dogs
was described in the newspapers as a
notable society function, and that it was
followed by dancing, feasting and love-
making on a very grand and aristocratic
scale. All Jimmie knew about il was
that every TIME ii happened dad came
/
nanny how the fox got away. The
drunk part of these occasions didn't in
( terest Jimmie nearly as much as the
manner in which the hunted fox had. for
at least the twentieth time, escaped from
such an army of fast riding hunters and
believing dogs.
In the meanwhile, however the single
old fox which was furnishing the motif
for Judge Macklin's crOSS-country runs
was putting in the intervals of peace and
quiet in an Industrious effort to devour
the whole population of the Macklin poul
! try yards. Thus driven to extremities
and yet painting for accelerated sport,
the judge issued proclamation offering
Sl00 to the huntsman who should bring in
the tail OF the fox. Being a true sports
man, Judge Macklin made some neces-
sary restrictions as to the time and
manner in which the fox should be kill
ed, and these required that the winner
must use neither gun nor trap; that
death must be administered by the hanus
or rather by the jaws of a dog or dogs,
and that the deed must be done on one
of the judges regular meet days.
On one of his Saturday night journeys
to Maline Jimmie found Judge Macklins
window. and about it a crowd of idle
villagers discussing the proposition.
1T don't bar nobody" said Hank
| LOOMS, the town marshal, "and Z 7 kin
borry a good horse I'll go in for a little
! high society myself. Swan Z 1 don't"
Jimmie, with his hands in his pock-
cts, for it was a raw November even
ing, skunk around the margin OF the
crowd till he had absorbed the meaning
of their gossip. Then he drifted over to
the railroad depot and waited till the
agent put him out of the warm waiting
room. BY that time the villagers had left
the street, and Jimmie had no trouble in
reaching Judge Macklins handful. He
pulled il down, thrust it into his pocket
and made for his home three miles
away, as fast as his legs could carry
him. Dad was deep in a drunkard s
sleep when the boy sneaked into the
/ kitchen and found his mother, ragged
and thin, bent ever the washtub in the
steaming kitchen.
Nanny" said the boy. pulling out
the paper, kin YOU read this here?"
She got her spectacles down from be-
hind the clock and read the handbill
/ aloud.
What about it. JIM" she asked: ITS
| Just one O. them fool tricks of old
/ Macklin. He knows DANCED well they
amt never goin to ketch that Of fox
/ so he offers a hundred dollars for its
/ tail. All 1 kin see 10 it is a spendin
/ of a lot O. money down TO Maine. a
! power o. wastin' and drunkenness and
/ tom-foolery. That's ALL
! IF the Bidweu family was rich in any
/ thing. it was In dogs. Like most coun-
/ try sports" dad had dozens of them
/ tagging around his squald cabin. Most
/ of them were presents. some were being
/ trained for fox-hunting. and some were
boarding" OF the whole pack there
was but one that didn't participate IN
/ the. judges fox hunts. and that was
! greyhound. which, to use old Bidwelrs
words. couldn't hunt polecat without
/ a-seein' Of it" Jimmie didn't share this
! contempt for the fieet-f9oted hound. and
was well content to call IL his dog
and have it left at home when the fox
hounds and beagIes went yelping away
after the fox which they never caught.
The next time old Bidwell wound his
merry hunting horn and called away the
I pack Jimmie. in obedience to the Gus
] tomary order. took his greyhound into
! the parlor and tied il 10 the bed-post
where it whined and worried till dad and
\ the other dogs were ont Of sight jim
mics mother didn't see him going out
| the back way to school with his keen.
I tawny Pet in leash. She didn't know till
/ afterward that her boy played truant
! that day.
II was nearly noon when Judge Mack
! Inns hunting party, in fun CRY after the
1 cid fox and the Sl0o. swept down the
valley Of Maine Creek toward the Bid
well shanty Mrs. BidWell heard their
/ far cries. and much as she had come 10
! hate the whole affair, with its aftermath
/ Of misery for her. she could not resist
/ the temptation 10 run 10 her front gate
! 10 watch the merry cavaicsde sweeping
! BIZ as il had done so often before. Opuo-
site her a fal,0w field extended 70 the
! margin Of d grove that vas fringed with