Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-09-10
DlRTY-FACED JIM
From the washington Star.

@ $1,000 IN N0h $780,
II isn't a name TO feel proud of. yet
nearly three years. 1t took him just three
days to earn the name, and this is the
way II happened:
When Jimmy Jones was q very small boy
he had to have his face washed and his
hair combed by his mother. He was a
bright little boy, and so much more attrac-
tive when he was cleaned and brushed that
his mother took pleasure in keeping him
neat.
To Jimmy, the process was a thing TO be
dreaded. He often pouted, sometimes cried,
and when he grew to be a good sized boy
he Kicked and screamed.
After q while Mrs. Jones began to dread
the cleaning-up time as much as her boy
did. Once she told him that If he did not
behave himself she would leave him I'M
washed and uncombed.
II wish you would! I only wish you
would!' he replied.
But mothers, of course, know better than
boys do, so for a long time she kept trying
TO have Jimmy look nice. But the older
he grew the harder it seemed for both OF
them.
Again, one day, Jimmy rashly declared
that he wished his mother would leave him
unwashed. And that time his wish came
true. His mother said
You may go; / shall not wash and comb
you again until you ask me-"
With a free heart Jimmy went to his
play. His hair Was tcaS.ed, but what OF
that? BY supper time his face was good
and dirty, but it troubled Jimmy not at
~ IL rynaA 80 hnl ,,nnrnghn1 a,,1 xra q
happy.
By noon the next day he was a sight.
Some Of his playmates had to look the sec
ond time to make sure 1t was really JIM
my Jones. They began to call out ''dirtyA
FACET But Jimmy only grinned. No more
washing for him. No more pulling OF
tangled hair. He wis hardly fit to come
TO table; his mother was ashamed of her
boy, but a promised to give him his way.
By the taird morning the chaps hair
was in q snarl. Some of the dirt had
rubbed off upon the pillow during the night,
but there was plenty of it left. BY noon
he was a fright. The girls poked their
fingers at him. The boys made up a rhyme
which the shouted
"Dirty-faced jim! Dirty-faced Jim!
Everybody come along and look at himl'
So they followed Jimmy around, singing
the rhyme. Jimmy at last lost his tenn
per and would haYe punished the boys, but
there were too many of them. He started
home. The crowd followed, singing DIRTY.
faced JIM"
When he ran into his mother he found
she had company.
This is my boy Jimmy" said Mrs. Jones
politely.
The ladies said "Ahem!" And Judge
Smith, who happened TO be calling, re-
marked that he had noticed James on the
street. The judge stroked his chin, but did
not say whether ne thought James a fine
boy or not.
BY this time Jimmy was uncomfortable.
Being dirty and staying dirty was not as
much fun as he expected. Indeed, he was
tired of 1t. When the company went away
he began to cry, and asked his mother II
she would please wash and comb him for
tea.
Never afterward did Jimmy object to
washing and combing. He is now big
enoegh to take care Of himself, and he is
a neat boy. But whenever the boys wish
to torment him they shout at him Dirty
faced JIM"
So it is easier to get a bad name than
1t is TO get rid of II.