The Wichita daily eagle., 1903-08-30
Jasper Mullins
A Short Character Sketch by
Edgar Watson Howe.


Ed w. Howe, in the Atchison Globe
has the following:
Last Sunday morning, while sitting on
the porch at home, heard a light step
at my side. Turning around. saw a
ragged little boy
rs the woman at home?" he inquired.
What do you want with herr" ] asked.
4 want to see her" the bo yanswered.
Evidently the women had been kinder to
him that the men, but 1 finally learned
that his father and mother and two chill
oren, were out in the street in a movers
wagon and that they were hungry, and
poor.
i told the boy to go through the house
and find the woman" but he said that
his feet were dirty, and he went around
to the kitchen door. While the little boy
waited for a hanaout for his family, /
went out to see his father.
The man said his name was Jasper Null
lins. and that he was moving from near
Des Moines. Iowa. 10 Kansas City. where
his wife's folks lived. His wife's folks.
he said had been through the flood, and
/ couldn't help wondering how they would
like to see Jasper coming.
He had three norses two hitched to an
old covered wagon, and a third tied be-
hind Two of the animals were lame,
and the third had a peculiar deformity:
a hump back. l have seen sway back
horses, but never before saw one like
this one; he seemed to have been pulled
too hard when young, and shortened his
length about a foot.
Jasper had d good dog, but everything
else about the outfit was wretched. He
had a fishing pole tied to the wagon and
said he had spent a day at the loke
back yonder" Gointng toward Doni-
phan) to give the boys a chance to fish,
but they didn't catch anything. This
seemed very much like Jasper Mullins;
camping a day to give his boys a fish.
for he looked to be about the most worth
less man 1 had ever met.
When he left Iowa, he said he had five
dollars and sixty cents in money, but this
was soonexhausted. After his money
ran out, the children asked people for
food and they were seldom refused. He
said that in Iowa, renters were compelled
would keep any man poor.
Jaspers wife was rather good looking,
She was sunburned and poorly dressed.
but seemed neat, and it was plain that
she thought her husband a wonderful fel-
low, although he wasn't worth powder
and lead enough to kill him. He had a
way of calling me .neighbor," and often
used the expression, ''As the feller said
''Neighbor' Jasper would say to me.
'I am pretty low down, as the feller
said
Whereupon his wife would look at him
sympathetically. as if she would say that
Jasper was really a fine man. and that
his poverty was due to no fault of his
own. When the little boy came back with
q paper bag full Of breakfast, the mother
divided it. and the children were very po-
lite and nice. l rightruIy supposed that
Jasper was a smoker. and took him down
handful of cigars, which he turned
over to his wife. TO keep for him. One of
the children picked up a cigar, to look at
it, and the mother said:
BE careful. Freddy; pa wants to
smoke it."
Pa was evidently a great man in that
family. Pa always runs things in poor
family, but let man get ahead little,
and his wife and children soon discover
that he doesn't amount to much. When
he told me how they camped along the
road occasionally seeking shelter in
school houses, as his wife was afraid of
storms, and mother and children looked
up at pa admirngly.
well, neighbor," the man drawled
lazily. finally. Il must be moving on,
as the feller said. and Jasper Mullins
and his poverty stricken outfit moved
slowly out Of my sight. The last 1 saw
of them the thrifty mother was dividing
the breakfast, and Jasper wasn't notic-
ing knowing he would get his share and
more.
Jasper Mullins. although a thorough
L. worthless man. does the best he can.
He is not worth hell room but he can't
help it Jasper Mullins no doubt thinks
that a man who owns a good team of
horses. is thief, for Jasper can't admit
that he is lazy. And, as a matter OF fact,
docs ont a lazy man work as hard as
an Industrious one? sometimes think so.
] would certainly rather do my work
than Jaspers / would rather work pret-
T. hard from s a m. TO p. m. than tray
ei over the country with lame team
and send my children out to beg. Jas
per could live much easier life. if he on
" had sense enough 20 realize that indus
Try is easier than dissipation; that any
good habit is easier than 7nv bad h9tit
Jcsoer Mullins has nice wife. and three
nice children; we wonder that he ism
anxious TO do something for them.
Possibly he Is: possibly he intends to
go something next week. That's the
trouble with so many people; they are
content to be idle and worthless this
week. but next week they intend 20 do
some thing worth while: when they be
gin they viii show the neighb-rs what
success IS.
We know what viii happen when Jasper
Mullins reaches Kansas City; he VIII
.Iook for work" but nobody viii want
q lame team driven hv a lazy man. So
ne viii btcome a food sufferer. and at
tend mass meetings and abuse the re
lief committee.
But Jasper Mullins Noes the best he can.
In certain ways. I do the best 1 can. and
do very ~ orls-. We are al more or less
like Jasper. IN some ways.
TALE OF A HORSE.
There was much talk in Berlin when