Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-12
DAILY STORY
A HUMBLE UNCLE JOSH.

Copyright, 1907, by C. II. Sutcliffe.l
Uncle Josh Williams had lived in and
around Rawsonville for fifteen years
before opening the Williams privat.
bank. Uriah ueep was humble be
cause he was hypocrite and had an
object in view. Uncle Josh was hum
bic by nature. lie was humble and
trusting and honest and sympathetic.
How sucA Il man could get along tinan-
cially was a wonder to everybody, but
somehow he slowly got ahead of the
game and finally announced that he
would open Il bank. There was no
flourish about the announcement. 1t
was in keeping with his record-very
humble He admitted that he knew
nothing whatever about the banking
business, but would open a bank more
for the accommodation of his ueighbOrS
than anything else. 1t was predicted
that he would he made the victim of
all sorts of gum games and that he
would lose his last dollar within year.
Workmcn prepared u building, and
the bank was opened. 1t was presided
over by Uncle Josh.
The first attempt on the bank was
| with Il forged check. Uncle Josh said
| he was sorry-very sorry. He wanted
| to ojIigc. you know-hc'd get up at
| midnight to obliSc-but really, now,
| he couldn't see his way clear in this
| thing. Would the stranger call again?
| n Ini
| ed dinner with him? Would the Stran-
| ger ride out to his farm with him and
| give his opinion on how the grass crop
was coming on?
| Then there came Il man with lot
of mining bonds who wanted to put
them up as collateral for n loan. They
| were quoted at 90 and almost the
same as governments. Uncle Josh
looked them over and. although he had
no daily paper to refer TO, he placed
| the true value at cents a pound and
stuck to it-stuck to it in his humble
| way. He was real sorry-as sorry is
if the stranger had fallen off the roof
Of a barn and broken Il leg. He
thought all mining bonds ought to be
worth at least 10 cents Il pound, but
he couldn't help it il they dropped to /
Would the stranger take half day Il
go huckleberrying with him? Couldnr
they arrange to go fishing together
If the stranger was fond of the an
cient, there was ruined old saw
mill down on the banks of the river
and Uncle Josh would go along ant
point out the moss grown points o
: interest
Then there came q man with Il peck
ct full of snuff. He had piped off tit
bank and discovered that Uncle Josl
; was there alone from II to while TIL
i nephew went TO dinner. He callct
5 to see about a loan. He got Uncl
1 Josh interested. He got close to him
: He out with a handful of snuff t
I throw into the old mans eyes an,
I blind him and then rob the bank, bu
' somehow the snuff went wrong. The
! something hit him, and he lay dowr
Then some one battered his head o.
the floor and rubbed snuff in his eyes
. and all the vaingloriousness was tax
: en- out of him. Uncle Josh refused t
let him be taken to jail He was sorr
for him-truly sorry.
= The people who had taken Uncl
Josh for an easy mark because he wa
humble soon began to realize tina
there was difference. He had show
y that he could take care of any none
L tntrusted to him, and the institutio
began to flourish. 1t got through il
first year without the loss of penn.
and some folks were very much disal
pointed about it. One Of these disaI