Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-11-03
The Daily
Short Story
A G00D-HEARTED MAN.
BY Alan Hinsdale.

My brother Jim and | inherited
enough money from father. to go into
business and we set up a hardware
store Not having any custom to star,
on. went out beating up trade. leay.
ing jim in the store TO do the inside
work. was a pretty good salesman
lii | say it myself, but Jim made
mess OF his part of the business. He
did not keep at the financial part Of
lit at all He would trust any one, and
the consequence was that we were
soon loaded down with bad debts.
One evening after business hour,
We figured up and found that VIZ
couldn't go on. Jim had advanced
money TO certain parties who had
played upon his feelings. He agreed
to go out of the concern, assumin.
those debts and leave me to try to
wind UP the concern. He took him.
self of TO a neighboring town and
went To work trying to get in the bad
debts he had made
There were so many of them. large
and small, that it would take me &
lifetime to run them all down. So
hired a collector paid him a hun.
dred dollars a month and at the END
Of the first month he turned in s75
This was not paying. so ! dismissed
him and hired another collector He
tmade Worse failure than the other
man | hired five men in succession
then switched of, and a woman hay
ing applied for the position, I engag
ed her
Since Miss Julia Sparks had win.
some way with her, / believed sht
ed And she did. The first month
she worked for me she got IN $3.50, the
second month $1,000 and the third
$1,000 She continued her work tit
she got in every outstanding debt
Jim's assuming the loans he had
made didn't help me at all. He could
neither collect them nor pay them
himself / was sued as his partner on
one of them and the case went against
me. So was liable for them all.
Il wonder" said Miss Sparks one
>lday, "if / couldn't collect those debts
: for your brother, so as to enable hin
D TO pay them to you"
/. "If you can and will" / replied. -
): will grant you any favor you ask"
al We'll, III try" she said. Gan you
h, give me a list Of them ,"
a. I gave her the list and she started
+. out TO see what she could do She
R. found it very hard work. The debtors
Il. we're mostly dead beats" who hal
S; imposed on Jim's good nature, sld
II, some Of them had no money to pay
n with. Those who had the money were
skindints, who never paid until they
were compelled to at the end Of E
:. lawsuit
= Miss Sparks started out on her work
=. - The first day she succeeded In getting
ba three dollars that Jim had loaned q
81 young sport who got rid Of it the samr
= day at pool I think he must havt
al gone sweet on the collector. OF h
- never would have paid the loan in tn
90 world Miss Sparks averred that h
nd had won some money at poker tn
~ night before and she caught him il
or the nick OF time. Three days later sh
or got in two amounts totaling eight dol
he lars The amounts she collected wer
n sometimes paid to her, but these yer
IN small ones. All the large ones wer
eh paid to jim.
he AT the end of three months hart
in work Miss Sparks told me that sh
had got in 80 per cent of the amount
% per cent having been paid diFeetl
= to jim The remaining % per cen
al was uncollectable, either because tn
ne debtors were without any mean
ast whatever or could not be found Til
toi amount Miss Sparks had collected
en- sixteen hundred dolIars-she turne
W into me She asked me. should Jir
sat turn in the amounts paid to him woul
snt /. upon his promise to turn deaf ca
Ny 10 applicants for loans and sell onl
. ,ns good buyers, take him back into tn
'ou firm. After refusing for some time
en' at last gave in. was puzzled TO un
10 derstand why She was interested 1
. "a Jim's reinstatement
~ She came into the store the nsE
lea afternoon with pair of red eye
en- showing that she had been weepinE
L. When 7 asked her what was the trou
~. g BILE she told me that she had gone
~" Jim for the amounts paid him an
80 found that he had loaned or give
20 away every cent that had been pal
~ him.
49, Her interest in Jim and her conne'
ton with this matter remained to
cleared up. She and Jim were old 81
lquaintances. He had loaned her none
cen so that she was one Of the debtor
rye She had fallen in love with him, an
his knowing of his difficulties resolved
ev- get him ont OF them She had co
rks lected all the slow debts he had MAD
Z. for the firm, and then had to get
and work on the amounts he had loane
ath. She was much crestfallen at the r
IN suit.
vas "If you hadn't got stuck on jim"
9e3 said, II would ask You TO marry n
was You've not married Jim, have you"
Yes, have" was the reply.
lied We'll, you and Jim come in heI
lths Jim can be salesman under YOU, "
eet, to decide whom to trust. I'll be gu
oek. side man How does that suit you
She threw her arms about my ne
and cried some more. The firm W
cite reorganized and turned out gre
for success.
any, ==z- ==----------==