The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1913-03-08
HEART or A MAN
He Understood and Saved a Girl
in a Most Trying
Situation.
BY CARL JENKINS.

-A 81 Wei A1hSt tuHt LIE Idu DGSN
placed on both tickets for election, II
list of the things the Rocklanders
might be proud of had been made out
1t would have been long one.
one evening, while the seriff-elect
waited to be sworn IN, and the new
Jail waited its first tenant, Ezra Jones
said to the dozen men gathered at the
postofice.
Bad news, boys-bad news about
Uncle Joe Hart
Barn burn DOWN. was asked.
"A heap worse than that. That mort
gage on his little farm has been fore
closed and he's got to get OUT
Why, he's sixty-three years old and
always lived there!''
But the mortgage sharks don't
care"
He's got too old to take another
farm, and what's he going to do?"
We've got to help Uncle Joe out
and do it in a way not to hurt his
feelings or humiliate his gall
"But how?''
Well, I've been thinking. We've
got new Jail, haven't we?"
And new sheriff."
Hurrah for Tom Blainet''
And Tom will appoint a new TALLER,
won't he?"
Bound to-
And what's the matter with his ap-
pointing Uncle Joe?"
It'll be bully!"
Yes, Uncle Joe Hart had been
brought low after lifetime Of toll and
many misfortunes. He was q good
man, but that hadn't saved him. His
last bad stroke of luck was the long
illness and final death of the wife who
had been true helpmate to him.
Yes, there was a gaia daughter
eighteen years old named Annie. Liv-
Ing three miles from the town and
school. and having plenty 70 do on the
farm, both inside and outside of the
house. she had had no chance. There
was a love match between her and
Henry Shields, the son of neighbor-
Ing farmer, but marriage might be two
years away. She was just girl-just
@ good girl-just one of the thousands
Of farmer girls shut out from the
world and having to suppress all long
ings for it.
The good-hearted men of Rockland
went to Tom Blaine with the utmost
confidence and said:
Yes, Tom, YOU must appoint Uncle
Joe as iai1er. lis gal viii do the
Homework, and It viii be snap for
the old man Not much to do but
smoke his pipe and draw his pay
The good man opened his lips to tell
them what a responsible position it
Was-a place to be filled by younger.
stronger man-one to watch and deal
with desperate prisoners, but he re-
nembered that he had been elected by
popular vote and was under obliga-
lions to repay.
Eyes, I'll appoint him. he replied,
and the committee went away saying
what big heart Tom Blaine had in
his BOSOM
or two, glad enough to be on their
good behavior for the food and shelter
furnished, when one of q trio of yegg-
men or postoffice robbers was caught
red-handed. He was young and good
looking and mi1d-mannered, but the
desperate man to be a partner of the
others. He was arraigned and held to
the higher court, and that meant fifty
or sixty days In jail before his trial
would come off.
It was strong Jail, but the sheriff
cautioned Uncle Joe about taking no
chances with the prisoner. For two
weeks he was closely watched, but
then, as he seemed so quiet, the watch
began to relax. He had told of being
forced to join the gang, and that he
had never broken the law before, and
he carried off the role of innocent and
penitent SO well that the old man
said to his daughter:
Say, I believe they are doing that
young man great wrong. I can't be-
lieye he was into that scrape of his
own free WILL
5 11e 0Cu lOok " l0S liko u guilty
man." replied Annie, looking as wise
as a girl that had seen dozens of
guilty men in her day.
II kinder hope he'll get clear when
his trial comes off,
1t was for the jailer to feed his pris-
oner three times a day, and at all
times to see that he was secure. It !
came to be left to the daughter It
was without the sheriffs knowledge, /
and it filled the heart Of the prisoner
with hope. He had been a hero in the
girls eyes from the first. and then her
father had spoken of him as martyr.
The young yeggman laid himself out
to capture her.
Heroism-injured nnocence-injus- |
.ice-no friends-even tears! She t
was his champion within a week, and /
luarreled with her farmer lover about
ain Within another week she had
ost her heart to a new lover While
aer father smoked his pipe in the jail
,ffice and drowsed, che sat on a stool