The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-11-02
The tory, Of
Jim and John

Two old men leave a Broadway sky
pscraper every afternoon together. One
Aa1ooks Ikea patrician;; the other like
VA laborer IN his Sunday clothes. As
SSthey walk along Broadway hundreds of
men salute the fine-looking man as
Judge for once upon a time he sat
one gives YES more than sG eetins sn glance at
his companion. The judge always looks
as if he had just stepped out of a
bandbox; nothing could make his COM
panlon look trim and, neat.
The Judge clings to only one fashion
of former days, and that is in regard
to the carrying of his law books. They
rest in green bag, and his companion
has the bag swung over his shoulder,
for the Judge usually takes halt. "a dozen
volumes home at night. % 4 r. H. h
Every evening the; Judge goes to one
of the great hotels in Fifth avenue and
there meets some convivial spirits. He
likes his toddy when his days work is
done. AS he sits and drinks and chats
with his cronies the old fellow who acts
as his companion occupies seat forty
or fifty feet away with the green baize
bag still over his arm. From his seat he
commands a view of the great clock at
the end of the corridor. -
Promptly at clock he arises
crosses over to where the judge and his
friends are, seated and by an inclina-
tion Of his head signals the judge to-
join him. Nearly every nj CHIT the judge
tries to extend the session with his
friends for another few minutes but:
the big, numbering man scowls. a..
Times up" he says peremptorily.
The great lawyer who, when on the
bench, was the terror OF eVildOers, and
. who, even now, when he appears in
court dominates all about him by rea-
son of his personality, meekly rises and
hotel with his companion.
Behind this every evening comedy
there is romance romance of two
lives. 1t reaches back more than half
a century to time when two boys, jim
and John, played together, fshed to-
gether, quarreled together. Jim was
the brighter of the two, but was frail.
John was marvel Of physical strength
Jim loved books; John hated them. In
their early manhood the chums separ
ated, Jim going to the city to become
a law student; John stayed at home
and became day laborer. In course
of time stories came to the little vii
lage of the brilliant success Jim was
making at the bar, but later came tales
Of dissipation and disaster. One day
Jim came home wrecked-wrecked in
health, in reputation and in finances.
No one was. glad to see him except
John. Somehow nothing could break
their friendship, no matter how low
Jim sank. For year or two Jim was
practically pensioner on the bounty
of John. Then a strange thing hap
pened. Jim and John left the old town
together and were not heard Of for
nearly five years.
Then the story came of some ore
meeting them in Broadway, walking
side by side, Jim spic and span and John
the same numbering fellow he always
had been. Fifteen years later Jim was
a supreme court justice. John accom-
panied him to court and accompanied
him from it. Day and night he was the
companion of the jurist. And so it has
gone all these years. The brilliant
lawyer has never been able to conquer
his appetite for liquor, but in all the
years he has been in the metropolis no
one has seen him under the influence oe
strong drink. He never married. The
two old men live together and perhaps
hope to die together. In the dull, heavy
brain of John there is the one controll
ing idea-the protection of Jim. In
the heart of Jim there is love for
John deeper than that most brothers
feel. Jim is rich and John could have
anything money can buy, but John
wants nothing except to know that Jim
is safe.-New York Press.