The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-08-16
Uncle Joe's Telescope

rryuLIs WHITE has an uncle Of whom he II, very,
M proud, q very fine old fellow, true Ameri-
w can modest, retiring and very old-fashioned
Modern society means nothing Willis UNCLE and tho
rfashionables hold little interest for him farm,
some fne cattle, an abundance for all needs, few
good books and an outdoor Is the simple
fe for him. For these traits he is loved and respected
the more. H., s&:t~-
Uncle Joe says little about it, but he has war
record He takes an interest in Grand Army AFFAIRS
and so when the heavy trains began to pull in and
discharge their human freight the Whites looked for
Uncle Joe who had never been in Minneapolis, to
show up. .- . - :"
He got off the train at st. Paul where he knew the
ground having been there twenty years before
The whites met him and looked after him. But Uncle
Joe is no globe roter and the profession Of the bag
gage-smasher is mystery to him, and SO in the man
agement of the trip his telescope grip billed thru
to Minneapolis. Uncle Joe is no modern suitcase dude
with foreign labels his leather. lie Is plain
American with telescope. w..
Over to Minneapolis came the White auto with the
family and Uncle Joe to find that telescope. It was
tremendous undertaking. People were everyWhereI
all kinds of people, There were trunks and grips and
bundles and parcels-mions OF them, Uncle Joe
though-and men with big muscles pulled and pushed
and lifted and worked like mad, and there heat
and perspiration and nervous women and angry men,
and-tho it all systematized and working well
possible under the avalanche of stuff looked like
pandemonium. It the unavoidable confusion Incl
dent to the dumping Of 100000 people into the city in
forty eight hours. .'.'
Uncle Joe was very There good
in haste, MI White had said; 1t would come to the
Uncle Joe grew serious He could not stand still
and there look of abstraction in his eyes,
There was rush Of and broadside, the thun-
derng crash Of the Saratoga mingng with the sharp
quick report Of the falling steamer trunk, the rafting
voey Of the grips and sutcases and then the dropping
fire Of the smaller parcels. There flash Of dull
gray canvas shapeess something In the crush Uncle
Joe sat down and mopped his brow.
''My telescope" he murmured. .-.
White dove into the confusion and lost. He
emerged carrying shapeless mass, marveng much at
tho unressting softness thereof and still at his
uncle Is soGcitude decrepi object Surely,
he thought, Uncle Joe carried this thru the war; .
He Drought it forward. Uncle Joe looked at it and
said family: 'tMy telescope.'
"Why, Uncle Joe,'' said White, edo not worry
about it, It cannot be Of much value.''
my telescope" said Uncle Joe.
They have probably handled 1t little roughly,''
said White he held 1t out. It neither round,
square, oblong, nor yet parallelogram. It was as
like sailor bundle could be. It might have been
thrown out Of balloon, run by automobile and
then stepped by elephant, to judge by it's ap-
pearance Only the lines running around it told that
It had once had definite shape T.: ~:
my telescope" murmured Uncle Joe. 49,:
1T does not really matter If they have smashed
IT. said Whitey "it is not worth making any trouble
about, and besides you can get another here.''
"W1lls,' said Uncle Joe, "you do not understand.
When came away thong int I would like to bring
something nice to Mary, SO went out and gathered
two dozen nice fresh eggs and put 'em I put 'eu,
Willis in that telescope