Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-12
SORROWFUL JIMMY,
MOUNTAIN LION
pr The Evening Star by Albert sonniehsen.


Please to keep in good humor,
And never dream of putting up fight:
For he loves you so intensely,
And he likes you immensely,
That he'll tuck you in your hammock safe at
night.
Animals is a good deal like humans
when it comes to hittin' up friendships
said the bearded prospector, stretching out
on his comforter before the fire. Most
men is -ornery cusses, an animals know it.
That's why they generally don't like them.
Now 1 never had no trouble maxim friends
with animals. 'ceptin' bars and snakes,
which. O. course is critters which was Gre
ated by mistake. Whenever I strike pay
dirt an settle down for while. my shack
becomes regular meetin' house fer what
you fellers would call wild critters.
But my special friends was allus noun
tin lions. Mount'in lions is the nat'ral
friends of man. if only man had the sabe
to know it. Accordin' to them scientific
chaps mount'in lions was once common Or
d'nary tom-cats grown big an wild, but
accordin' to my experience, tom-cats amt
got the intelligence of mount'in lions. Now,
you may not believe it, but it's fact,
mountin lions Is heap smarter'n Injuns;
an they're the most grateful critters on
four legs.
Did 1 ever tell you fellers of my pet
lion, SorrowfM Jimmy? No? Wall, he
lived with me six months down at Pine
Flat. l called him Jimmy first, because it
was handy sort O. name; then put Sor-
rowful before 1t, cause he was the most
sorroWful chap you ever see. You feilers
have heard lions cryin' at night? Like
woman with Mysteries, amt it? WALL Sor-
rowful would weep that way for hours
prayers.
He wasn't allus like that When first
knew him, he was real bright an cheerful.
When L first came to Pine Flat, there
wasn't nobody Twin nearer to me than
eleven miles, SO 1 ulster sleep with my cabin
door open. One mornin' l woke up early,
an thar was Sorrowful stretched out be-
lore the fireplace, a-purrin' like my old
coffee mill goes, an a blirflin his eyes at
me. That was how we first got acquainted
-dldn t need no reg lar intrOductions. We
was pals right off. He established himself
In my camp same's though he'd been jest
an ordinary tom-cat.
wall, for some time 1 thought Jimmy
was goln to be more sociable than useful
but don't see how / could a passed the
winter at Pine Flat without him. After
Jimmy came l never had to hunt. He
brought in all the fresh meat we needed
While Id be workin' away on the claim
he d go to market. as it was. Every Sat-
urday evenin reg lar. he'd bring in a wild
goat or young buck. whchd last us till
Monday, cause, We see, Jimmy wouldn't
do no huntin on Sunday. He was mighty
pertickler about that. But then that amt
more n what you'd expect from a mount in
non That had chummed up with a man.
Jimmy was heap smarter than the ordi.
nary mount'in lion even. He had white
mans sabe
Did you fellers ever hear about the
Ash mountin mine, which 1 owned once?
NO! Wall, thought everybody around
here heard about that But 1 amt often
told the full perticklers.
wall, 1 was prospectin' around on Ash
mount in one day, when I made a big
strike So I puts up my claim an goes
down to Dodge City to have my quartz as
sayed. Wall, boys, got on a terrible spree,
which lasted over week, an by that time
1t was all over town how I'd made a strike
on Ash mountain. AT the end of the week
1 got back to my cabin at Pine Flat, an
there was Jimmy-he'd been housekeepin'
all by himself the whole week.
Now, We know the minin' laws of Ne
vada says we've got to do some work on
new claim within ten days, otherwise
the first man that come along can jump
it. So l got my outfit together, intendin'
to go over to Ash mountin to get in few
days work. That was what 1 was pre-
parin to do when the Buckley boys showed
up:
Now. 1 might "a known they was up to
mischief when they hauled out a key O
whisky, but anyhow We got to drinkin
that night, an before mornin' 1 was worse
than the week before. When 1 did come
to, it was near dark the next day, an the
Buckley boys were gone, an l couldn't
find Jimmy nowhere neither Then 1t
struck me sudden-like that I'd have to be
over to Ash mount'in before midnight
cause then the ten days would be up, an
there would be somebody there to jump it.
wall, I set out, but by midnight l was
still good ways off. 1t was near an hour
later when got up in the gulch where my
claim was. By the moonlight could see
dozen fellers standin' below the hill on top
O. which / planted my notice When 1
I cOutd hear in
among themselves. an all was watchin the
top o. the hill Then looked up an was
cussin', too. for l see somebody up on my
claim. There agin the moon-lit sky was a
black figure walkin up and down.
wall, when those fellers saw me they
was all done up.
Who's jumped yer claim? says one
We thought 1t was you,' says another
dunno, says l, but 1 am agoin' up to
find out
"And 1 did. Wall, fellers. it sounds
pretty funny to tell in cold words, but 1t
was true. l couldn't believe it myself till
I'd pinched myself all over. Would We
believe it? 1t was Jimmy. He'd got onto
the game the Buckley boys was playin' on
me. so he sneaks off with one O. my old
jumpers an cuts across country to Ash
mountin. Then. when the fellers turned
up just fore midnight. he gets his fore legs
through my jumper. jambs my ole hat over
his head and walks up an down on his
hind legs. Naturally, the fellers below
thought 1t was me an didn't come up
That shows We what cool, calculatin'
critter Jimmy was. But that wasn't the
most surprisin' thing about him. 1t was
the human feelin' In Jimmy that really
surprised me.
Along about month after Jimmy saved
me my claim / was walked up one night by
hearin most mournful kind o. cryin' out
side In the brush. l jumped up, an saw
That Jimmy was gone, an the door wide
open. 1t didn't take me long to reckernise
ms voice out there a-weepin. WALL / felt
kinder hurt to hear Jimmy carryin' on like
that, as though l wasn't no friend to him.
when We hear mountin Ion meoWin'
out In the night, you chaps as don't know
the natur o the critter might think he
was calm for his mate or We might think
the last goat he eat was ondigestible. but
that amt it, When a mount'in lion cries.
It's cause he amt found no man friend vet
It's cause he's lonesome for human SYM
pathy That's why felt kinder hurt when
l heard Jimmy carryin' on.
'all. l called to him. an pretty soon
he came in from the brush, but couldn't
comfort him nohow. Ee Jest sat I'M ON
his launches in the middle O. the cabin
an cried fit to bust his heart, an I could
almost see the tears rollin down his cheeks.
Finally, trds mornin he laid down an
Dhpd NlSSaJf