WHAT JIM FOUND

New Zealand Tablet, 30 November 1911, Page 2445

WHAT JIM FOUND

‘ You’re not going to throw them away !’ The white-capped maid paused in astonishment to look at the shabby boy who addressed her so earnestly. His face was flushed and his eyes bright with eagerness, as he pointed to the broken rocking-horses in her arms, which she was about to throw into the ash-barrel. Why not?’ she asked curiously. ‘ Oh, may I have them for my little brother, if you’re going to throw them away?’ ‘lf you want them. I guess you might as well have them as the ash man. Master Clarence doesn’t want them. Take them if they’ll do you any good,’ she added patronizingly, and then she hurried up the steps of the handsome brownstone house and disappeared within the door. Jim lifted the rocking-horses in his arms and carried them happily down the street. . Won’t Robbie be pleased ?’ he said aloud to himself in delight. ‘He never expected a birthday present now, when father’s been out of work so long. Oh, I’m glad I saw her bring them out, and asked her! Won’t he be surprised?’ Jim hurried along with his burden, stopping once or twice to examine them happily. The horses were decidedly dilapidated. One had his nose broken off, the other was minus a hind leg, the cushioned seat was worn in places, and the basket back party broken, but that did not matter to Jim. The rockers were all right and Robbie could sit in them and rock and play, even if they were a little broken. He turned into the narrow little street where he lived, entered the door of a shabby tenement house, climbed the dingy stairs to the top floor, and burst into the room noisily. ‘Rob! Look here!’ he shouted. There was the sound of a crunch on the floor, and a boy, younger than Jim, with a thin, white face, and a poor little shrivelled limb, limped quickly toward him. Jim set the horses down and surveyed them with satisfaction as he told the story of his good fortune. ‘They’re a birthday present for you, Rob'’ he added. • ‘Help me into them right away. Give me a good ride!’ exclaimed the little fellow. ■. Jim took the cripple in his strong young arms and placed him in the seat, then he stood back, smiling as he watched his little brother rock to and fro and shout ‘ Hurrah ! Hurrah ! ’ ’ ‘What’s all this noise about?’ asked their mother coming to the door. ’ .". . ■ V'.. : • * ■

See what Jim got for me !’ cried Robbie in delight. At this their father came into the room—a hag-gard-looking man, whose face lighted up a little when he saw the happiness of his little crippled boy. Jim again told the story of how he had found he horses, and they both joined in the boys’ rejoicing over Rob’s birthday present. & ‘Gome to dinner now,’ said the mother, after they had duly admired the horses. ' , ‘Dinner!’ echoed the father gloomily. ‘lf things don t take a turn soon you won’t be calling us to dinner much longer.’ Well, at least we have something for ..to-day, so let us be thankful for that—and we will trust God for the future.’ dry bread Sat d ° Wn to tlieir scant y meal of potatoes and ( m, 1 can ’t stand this much longer,’ said the man. three months to-day since I had any work, and I’ve walked the shoes off my feet trying to get it.’ ( , , 7 know, responded his wife sympathetically, but it surely must come some time, and we should be papers that Jim is able to earn something selling papers. ° 8 If I could only work, too!’ murmured little .Dob, sadly. Tears came into his mother’s eyes, but she cheerfully turned the conversation back to the rockinghorses and Robbie’s birthday, and they finished their meal more happily. When dinner was over, Rob said: e ‘Now for another ride. Help me in, Jim.’ bure, responded his big brother. • . He lifted the cripple tenderly and put him safely . thing he kle. AS toU ° led Sid he heard some - What’s that?’ he cried, as he drew out a bit of crumpled paper which had been stuffed down between the seat and the basket back. He held it up in breathless astonishment. 1 . A ten-dollar bill ! ? ho cried. ‘Oh, Jim!’ gasped Rob. ‘Ten dollars!’ m, , a ie , r and mot, i ier ca ™e running -into the room. rl i? l?7°w d . at the blll in amazed silence. Ten dollars. What it would mean to them But it was a temporary thought. ‘You must return it, son,’ said the father slowly. Yes, you must take it back,’ echoed his mother, fullv 1 . I ?,T, < TV er , tlie I llo y se ’’ said the boy thoughttoo r b " k; but ’ ah ’ hW 1 wish i 4 Innerq ISn t ‘ g( i there by mistake and it belongs to those people. You must take it back right away,’ said his father decidedly. g the j 7 IT! on his shabby ca and started off with the bill clutched tightly in his hand. There was no other course open but to return it, he thought, but, oil, how they needed it. . The people in the big house might not miss it, and they would never know who the ™7nZ a i S took the rocking-horses, or even that the money had been found in them; but it belonged to them and he must return it. 6 ror, He hurried to the house, ascended the stem and rang the bell. A white-capped maid opened the door, one frowned severely. w him hat ‘W T 1 Wan? . sh snapped, not recognisiig him. We have nothing for beggars. What do you mean by ringing the front-door bell and making me come to the door? Be off ydth you.’ g I m not a beggar,’ replied Jim earnestly. ‘I So a "„f S"e do e „ y - iml)ortont,,to teil yoa - Please ‘ What is it. ?’ she asked, eyeing him suspiciously. if bank f °r n thlS f th ® rocbin g'horses and I brought it them ’ I thought you could not have known it was m ‘Wei t , he^ l towa rd her as he spoke Well I declare ! That’s the bill Mrs. Burns was hunting all over for. She said she left it on herbureT That s the baby s work—the rogue ! She’s alwavs hiding things. , She must have found it and stuffed Ht m the rocking-horses. Well, well!' and she took the bill in her hand and laughed. ‘ What is it, Mary?’ asked a portly, pleasant f ar .*A gentleman, who came up the steps at that moment!^

‘ It’s the ten-dollar bill Mrs. Burns lost. The baby must have stuffed it into the rocking-horses, and this little boy found it and brought it back.' ‘This boy? How? I don’t understand.’ The master of the house looked questioningly at the shabby boy ’with the flushed, eager,face and the honest brown eyes. 1 V, 4 . ‘I was going to throw the old rocking-horses away and he came up, and asked if he could have them for his brother, and 1 told him —Master Clarence doesn't want them any more, and they’re all broken —’ began the maid. '‘l took them home, sir, to my little brother, and we found the bill stuffed in the seat,’ said Jim simply. * Well, you’re an honest boy. You must have a reward.’ The man put his hand down into his pocket, eyeing the boy keenly as he did so, and taking quick note of the shabby but neat clothes. ‘lf there’s one thing in this world I’m a crank about, it’s honesty, and I always like to see it rewarded. Who are you, and where do you live?’ Little by little the kindly man drew from the boy the story of his crippled brother, of his father who had been out of work for so long,, of their poverty, and of his trying to earn a little money by selling papers. When he had finished, Mr. Burns said: ‘ Well, Jim Higgins, I like you! I like your honesty in bringing back the bill, and I like your straightforward way of telling a story. You must have a good father and mother or they would not have brought you up to be what you are. I am going to give you this now <js a reward for your honesty.’ He placed a crisp two-dollar bill in Jim’s hand as he spoke. ‘ And tell your father,’ he added, ‘ to come around to my factory in the morning—at seven o’clock sharp No. 15 Reed street. I need a man, and I want a good, honest one, one that I can rely on. If he’s satisfactory, I can give him a steady job. And I’ll see you again, my boy. I like you, and I’ll see your little crippled brother. Mary—’ he turned to the maid, ‘ see if you can’t find some goodies to send the little boy—it’s his birthdaysome fruit or cake, or something.’ The maid disappeared, and the kind man turned again to the boy : ‘ You wait here, son. MaryTl bring you something to take to your little brother. I must go in now. Good-night.’ v He beamed on Jim and then hurried into the house, from which Jim could hear merry, childish voices raised in welcome. Mary reappeared with a big bag filled with fruit cake and a glass of delicious jelly. She handed it to him smilingly, and he thanked her and ran down the steps. He could hardly get home fast enough. He was so anxious to show his present, the bag of goodies for Rob, and to tell the good news to his father. How astonished his father and mother and little brother were when he appeared and told them everything! He was the happiest boy in the world. ‘Didn’t I tell you it would surely come?’ asked Mrs. Higgins, beaming on her husband. " And little Rob, sitting on his rocking-horses, his pale face transfigured with happiness, rocked back and forth, and shouted, ‘Hurrah!’