The Little River news., 1923-04-18

the sake of getting a ribald laugh from the minimizing" We were two weeks explaining that the error was not the boys fault.
 The summer wore away and the dog days came. The Democratic state campaign was about to open in our town, and orators and statesmen as sembled from all over thu Missouri valley There was lack of flags at the dry goods stores. The Fourth of July celebration had taken all the stock. The only materials available were some red bunting, some white bunting, and some blue bunting with stars upon it. With this bunting the committee on reception covered the speakers stand, wrapping the canopy under which the orators stood In the solid colors and the star-spangled blue. It was beautiful to see, and the pride of the window-dresser of the Olden Eagle Clothing store. But the old sol diers who walked by nudged one an other and smiled.
 About noon of the day of the speak ing the city clerk, who wore the little bronze button of the c. A. R., asked Jimmy if he didn't want someone to take care of the Democratic meeting Jimmy, who hated politics, was run ming his legs off to get the names of the visitors, and was glad to have the help. He turned in the contributed copy without reading 1t, as he had done with the city clerks articles many times before, and this is what greeted his horrifed eyes when he read the paper:
 Under the Stars and Bars Democracy Opens Its State Campaign
 Under the Rebel Emblem Today
 A Fitting Token
 Treasonable Utterances Have Proper
 Setting
 And then followed half a column of most violent abuse of the Democrats who had charge of the affair. Jimmy did not appear on the street that night, but the next morning, when he came down, the office was crowded with indignant Democrats stopping the paper"
 Jimmy had peculiar knack of get ting up little stories of the town-not exactly news stories, but little odd bits that made people smile without rancor when they saw their names in the qIaintly turned items. One day he wrote up story of little boy whose mother asked him where he got dol lar that he was fourishing on his return with his father from visit in Kansas City. The little boys answer was that his father gave it to him for calling him uncle when any ladies were around. It was merrily spun, and knowing that it would not make John Luck, the boys father, mad, we print ed it, and Jimmy put at the head of it d foolish little verse of Kipling's. Miss Larrabee, at the bottom of her society column, announced the engagement of two prominent young people in town. The Saturday paper was un- usually readable But when Jimmy came in after the paper was out he found Miss Larrabee in tears, and the foreman leaning over the counter laugh ing so that fe couldn't speak. It wasn't Jimmy's fault. The foreman had done it-by the mere transpostion of little brass rule separating the society news from Jimmy's story with the Kipling verse at the head of it. The rule tackled the Kipling verse onto Miss Larrabee's article announcing the ;e b.
 "This marriage, which will take place at St. Andrews church, will unite two of the most popular people in town and two of the best-known families in the state.
 And this is the sorrowful story
 Told as the twilight fails,
 While the monkeys are walking to-
 gether,
 Holding each others tails!'
 Now, Jimmy was no more to blame than Miss Larrabee, and many people thought, and think to this day, that Miss Larrabee did it-and did it on purpose. But for all that it cast clouds over the moon of Jimmy's coun- tenance, and it was nearly year be- fore he regained his merry heart.
 But as the months rolled by he be- came calm, and when Governor Antro- bus died, Jimmy got up remarkably good story of his.life and achievements, and though there was no family left to the dear old man to buy extra copies, all the old settlers-who are the hardest people In the world to please--bought extra copies for their scrapbooks. We were proud of Jimmy, and assigned him to write up rhe fu neral. That was to be "diy of tri- umph in Capua." There being no rela- lives to interfere, the lodges of the town-and the. governor was known as 'jiner'-had vied with one another to make the funeral the greatest roOster-feather show ever given in the state. The whole town turned out, and the foreman of our office, and everyone in the back room who could