Amador ledger., 1909-05-07
Fiction
USELESS JIM"
BY WILLIAM J. HAMPTON.

and thrifty parents, but he was no ex
emplar Of the doctrine of heredity. As
n boy he had gone to school because
IL he had not gone there the truant
officer would have made existence else
where uncomfortable for him, and Jim
dearly loved to be comfortable. At
school 1t was easier to remain at the
foot of his class than higher up, so he
philosophically chose the easy thing
and stuck to It. Jim was not mis-
chievous boy or bad one in any
sense, because those attributes require
effort to maintain them. AS somebody
had to be Mt the foot of the class and
there were those who were discomfort
ed there the teacher accepted Jim as
a special providence and made the
most Of him.
"It's beyond me about Jimmie his
mother was wont to say. "He amt
bad boy nor up to no mischief, and
you'd think when he went to school
he'd learn his lessons just because he
didn't want to learn nothin' else, but
he won't learn n single thing good or
bad. He just seems to be everlastin'
do less-settin' around and settin'
around and settin' around. And I'm
sure he don't get it from the Ander-
son side Of the house neither"
Mrs. Doty was an Anderson, and
this conclusion Of hers was an unsup-
| ported animadversion upon Mr.. Doty
because that worthy man not only
made very comfortable living, but
owned small farm and had money
laid away for rainy day.
When Jim was old enough to go to
work his father secured place for
| him to learn the carpenter trade, which
was rather a surprising selection, as
success in that depended upon skill
| which did not appear to be one Of the
characteristics of the young appren-
| tice.
81 put him at that" Mr.. Doty eX-
planned to an inquiring friend, "be
cause I've seen that boy set on soap
box in the shade and whittle fer six
hours hand runnin'. OF course he
never whittles nothin' out of the wood
be he would learn to if put him at
carpenterin'."
Time, and not very long time Ell
| ther, proved the speciousness Of Mr..
| Doty's logic, and Jim was no longer
seen about the shop where he had es-
sayed to handle the drawknife and
| the saw.
ftnts 10 of tnf f1lTNt IN mo 20 n c nd
| laborer Of his son Mr.. Doty thought
possibly there might be an undevelop-
| ed instinct for agriculture In the
youth, and Jim was sent to a farm
not far from the village. His useful
ness in that field was manifested with
in three days by his return to the
parental roof.
whats the matter now?" inquired
his father when Jim walked into the
house at supper time and calmly took
his accustomed place at the table as If
he had not missed a meal.
Dunno" replied Jim unconcerned-
| ly. "Old man Sparks said he reck-
oned the mortgage on the place was
about all the load it could carry at
present, and he told me could 60"
Mr.. Doty smiled. He couldn't be
very harsh with his only soll, because
while he did nothing to add to the
| glory and honor and wealth of the
name of Doty he did as little to bring
shame or sorrow upon it. Mr.. Doty
recognized in Jim a negative blessing,
and many fathers would be only too
glad if they had such sons.
BY the time Jim had reached his
twenty-ffth year he had tried his
hand at every kind of work the viii
lage and vicinity had to offer, and he
had acquired nothing except the title
of useless jim" But Jim did not
worry. He was philosopher, and his
good nature was imperturbable.
"Why the dickens don't you go to
work, jim" said Hanks, the grocery
man, one day as Jim sat on salt bar
rel in the shade chipping away at the
chine with his knife.
scot a job you'd like to give me"
responded Jim in a willing tone, and
the groceryman disappeared He might
be anxious enough to see jim have a
job, but he did not care to assume the
relationship of employer.
AS nothing else Of a permanent char
acter offered itself, Jim concluded, en-
tirely on his own volltion, to fall in
love- They say an idle brain is the
devils workshop, and surely he found
a fine place for his business in Jim.
Why Jim ever fell in love nobody could
say, and he did not know himself, nor
did he think 1t worth the effort to dis
cover. 1t was enough for him that he
was in love, and he was serious about
it, too-so serious, indeed, that he
wanted to marry the object Of his