The Holbrook news., 1910-05-27
TIE UPROOTING OF JIM
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. down into confirmed old bachelorhood
 It was pity. but he had played the
 part of father and mother both to his
 orphan brothers and sisters, six of
 them, all told-and played it so well
 that from their very childhood they
 had felt no sense of loss. To him they
 had turned in all their joys and sor-
 rows. and he had never failed them.
 To outsiders his life had always seem
 ed a singularly, noble and self-denying
 one. To him his course of action had
 seemed the only one which could be
 followed.
 Now his children" had stretched their wings, and the quaint old house in Danechester High street knew them no more. The three stalwart lads, Roy, Leslie and Maurice, were making their way rapidly in Canada. The girls had married wisely and happily.
 Jim had only recently parted with
 the youngest, Dorothy, his pet and darling. and perhaps it had cost him more to let her go than any of the others. She was so full of life and vivacity that he seemed to find in her bright youth the youth which had passed him by. For he had been so intensely occupied with family cares from his boyhood that he often felt he had never been young at all. The small income left by his parents had been miserably inadequate to supply Jim had "toiled terribly" to supple ment it.
 He could have told, had he been so minded, sad stories of those early years, when there were so many hun gry mouths at home It was so easy for him to live hard and work hard, he told himself. The Spartan-like sim plicity of the regime. fortunately, did not affect his constitution. F4ea had never been absent from his daily work by reason of illness He could have told also of garments bought ready made. on account of cheapness. which his soul secretly loathed; Of thread bare greatcoats worn through bitter winters, and of sundry other econo- mics, cheerfully undergone for the sake of This children" as he called them; but these things were hidden in his heart. Jim Lesterton would have scorned himself had he spoken of them, and if he sometimes felt little sad and over-anxious during those long years in which the young ones were growing up, it was never suspected by them. He was an arch-dissembler in his way. this big-hearted. lovable Jim, but the dissembling was such as angels smile over. always for the cheer and welI-being of others.
 God makes His heroes out of such stuff, and, quite unconsciousiy. they are as the shadow of great rock in a weary land to those around them. There are more of them amongst us. than we know, for often in our own wor!dliness and self-seei;.ag our eyes are holden.
 But the years which the locusts had eaten" lay behind the man now. He had risen to trusted and prosper oGs position, one which far exceeded his early ambitions, and was free from ail anxiety concerning these dear to him. Yet he was possessed at times with a rather painful sense that his present comfortable life was not actu- ally as full and happy as the old toil- ing meager existence had been. His days seemed empty and gray. and he was settling down to feel as he looked -1 dull old bachelor.
 The great crisis of our lives often come to us in a most homely and fashion. Jim Lasterton, sitting at his breakfast one morning, and enjoying morning paper sup ported by rather battered tea-cosy, which he would not have replaced be- cause his pet sister had made it for ltm. suddenly caught sight Of his own name in the Agony" column.
 If James Lesterton. eldest son of he late Marcus Lesterton, Of Felver- lea. Derefordshire, will communicate with the Messrs. Lawson. 6. Chancery- ane. London. E. C.. he will hear of something to his advantage"
 Jim gave a violent start. thereby the keen resentment of Persian cat, which had Derched herself on his shoulder with an eye to stray tit-bits. She sprang to the ground, and esconced herself in an easy chair opposite. keeping. however. ] watchful eye on her master.
 "Gloriana, my dear. beg your lady, ships pardon" Jim said gravely. and with a slight inclination of his head n the Persian's direction. But when ! fellow hears quite sudden like that ! fellow has only got to show himself to hear something to that fellows ad- vantage. why it's enough to make his nanner lack We're de We're repose."
 He read the advertisement through | carefully once more. There was pos sibility. of course. that some mistake | had hean mada in raDard t0 mama