Charlevoix county herald., 1914-11-21
Continued from last week

sheeplshly slipped his own little
rough paw into it.
1t was a night of dreams. When
the moon came out, the little jets of
steam from the big warehouse next
door looked like vanishing angels,
and the stair of the fire-escape going
up and up was Jacobs ladder lead
ing to heaven. The heat of the street
was far below; indeed, the earth
seemed to have dropped away, and
the sky was very close.
At ten o'clock next morning big
Pat Donlon, seeing Jimmy at his old
post by the market-house, sauntered
over to him.
Look here, young man." he said,
not unkindly, "you got to cut out
that slcepin' on the fire-escape."
"1t's our fre-escape," Jimmy re-
piled doggedly. at don't hurt no
body, me mother slecpin' there"
The policeman moved on few steps
"Cut it out" he said impressively.
"It's again the law, and if there was
fire there'd be trouble"
Jimmy's passions were elemental
his revolt against authority cyclonic.
Hops heavy wooden box went flying
through the air; it struck little low
and caught Mr.. Donlon at the back
of the knees. He doubled up with
amazing swiftness, and in that in
slant Of collapse Jimmy disappeared.
In the constant warfare of the street
boys against authority, for once the
law was laid low. Nobody had seen
Jimmy; no one knew even the direc-
tion his flight had taken. Decidedly.
the sentiment of the quarter was in
his favor. Was not mans fire
escape his castle, his veranda, or his
refrigerator, as he chose?
At the end Of fifteen minutes jim
my crawled from under a delicates-
sen-stand and put a new resolve into
action. His rights as an American
citizen being impugned, he would ap-
peal TO the law. He went down to
Alderman O'Toole's and stumped in.
Donlon was there, talking across the
desk with Mr.. O'Toole and straight
ening his denied helmet.
"There's the little divil now" he
said, as much surprised as Jimmy.
Don't we touch mev Jimmy
yelled, but he did not retreat. In
stead, he came directly to the desk.
"Well?" said O'Toole severely.
with a twinkle in his eye.
Its like this" Jimmy began, bold
in his confidence that justice would
be done. "Me mother-she amt been
very we'll; she's had cough, and she
didn't eat. Yesterday / heard of a
cure-how sleepin' out on a fire.
escaped make her better. Las night
she slep' out, and today this here guy
says it's agi the law. That's why
I slammed him."
Constructing ire-escapes,' quot
ed the alderman Better have her
sleep inside, Jimmy. There's entirely
too much use made of those fire.
scapes, anyhow. If fire ever gets
any Roadway there, there'll be some
thing doing. Next casew
ly. at was the air." he tried to eX-
plain "She's got to have air. What
kind Of place is it where you can't
even have air."
A litter went around the room, and
the alderman, who was popular in
the ward, and with reason, reached
over and patted the boys shoulder.
"You keep your mother in out of
the night air, my lad, if you want
her to get better" he said, land
here's dollar for some cough-medi-
cine"
Officer Donlon was apopletic with
rage as Jimmy went out. AS for
the boy, lis soul was chaos. With
his instinct for getting to the bottom
of things, he went directly to the
market-house, and up the stairs. The
hall was almost empty. He looked
at the picture Of the woman in bed
on the fire-escape. Yes, there she
was, cozy and smiling, with an UNI
brella over her head and a flower-pot
on the window-sill.
The nurse recognized him and
came up.
well" she queried, did you try
the fre-escape ?"
Jimmy searched the woman's face
with suspicious eyes.
"Say"-he waved hand vaguely
around the hall-"put me on, won't
YOU? Is it bluff ?"
For a moment the nurse was stag
gered. Then she took the boy by the
arm and led him to a small private
office, where sat young man with a
cigarette, which the nurse pretended
not to sec.
"Now, you tell him the whole
thing" she said; and being a wise
woman, she left them to talk, man to
man.
When the early spring vegetables
in the market had given way to
heaps of fragrant green corn, and
that in its turn to baskets of cool,
dusky grapes, Jimmy came back to
his old stand at the corner. He came
slowly, but his old shutting gait was
gone forever The market people
stared, for Jimmy's legs were
straight. Straight And the fami.
liar crooked smile spread over a face
rotund and sunbunt as the ward had
never seen 1T.
"Me mother?" he said, in response
to Mrs. Simmons's hesitatinC inquiry.
"Say, you oughter see her. Dustin
out of her clothes she is, and they're
that stuck on her at the home they
want her to stay and help to run it.
Me? came down to the city to go
TO nipht-scho0l. I'm goin' back every