Show a 00 oo 00 40 old did J jim a i ni oe there was a cry outride outside the floor door jim flung it open roughly and listened a stick concealed in the hand behind his back no step on the rickety tenement stairs no derisive laughter greeted his ear what was ita he peered into the semi twilight from under his shaggy gray eyebrows again a shrill cry this time from the corner of the dandil A kitten in a bundle of rags he ile stooped to pick it up two little hands flew up and a baby cooed in bis his face old jim derisively known as the old crank had once been and even good looking but an acci dent in the foundry had settled all that and the death of his mother had left him alone to grow hard and sus niclous and often irascible from an aching spine hence his one little room toom at the top of the third long flight of stairs became his en an from which he emerged to growl under provocation or without at the numer ous children who swarmed the stairs in III fact he had more than once been heard to say that it if more kittens were kept and more children were we drowned the world would be better off whereby he earned the enmity of the mothers in the tenement it was the very irony of fate that brought the helpless baby to his door the innocent babe delighted to be held smiled and cooed and waved its aimless hands old jim poking it cautiously to see it a note of tion was attached for he had heard of such things was astonished to have his finger grasped firmly in the tiny wandering baby fingers lingers so lit it tie ile so soft and yet so strong the clasp ran up the old man mans s arm and settled around his heart the baby gurgled softly that was enough the old man looked cautiously down the hall to be sure hat no one was grin ning at him stepped back into his room and closed the door mrs flaherty on he floor below had five small children and a large motherly heart and it was to her that jim went that night after the children ildren sh were all out playing on the sidewalk to ask advice on the food for the baby and it if she would sell him some clothes sell ye some clothes 7 9 faith I 1 id d give em am to ye gladly it if it wasn gasn t that dicks dick s out of work again but you don t mean to kape the poor lit tie tle thing do ye yea you bein away so all day how can I 1 tell about that mrs airs ria herty all I 1 want to know now Is whether to give it anything but milk and how to put its clothes on ah ali ye helpless man come up right aa away ay as soon as I 1 do me dishes and the next day she confided to her neighbor mrs schlitz ye ought to of seen that room neat as wax me dear to be sure there was noth ing much in it the crusty bent double over the little baby a changie its clothes as handy as any woman and the little white baby a choln away up into his black wrinkled face like as it if he was its guardian angel and he the cross 0 old id a es as actually what was it itt a nyby it tuk me abak aba k so I 1 offe offered red to kape it next day with me little dan 1 I d just as soon have two babies rollin under me feet as one you vas ein goot neighbor mrs ria herty said mrs schlitz I 1 dink oink loi lo i forget he promised to break your little tommy s neck if he came aop those stairs again I 1 ve done the same manny a the time said mrs flaherty tom my s a torment and a arile even to me me heart hearts s broke wid him and the poor sinner Is kaping the babe from coln to a home I 1 d hate to have one ot of me own go to a home I 1 can tell you that mrs schlitz strange to say the child lived and fattened under the care ot of the old man day times he rolled roiled on the dirty floor of mrs flaherty s kitchen with little dan and q a mangy dog that belonged to the children at night he returned to the one spotless room where he cuddled and cooed in the old mans man s arms and brought his la in ir aa keep back you old cooil cantile graces to cheer a hitherto barren life files flies in a bottle amused him by the hour or he played in the last sunbeams trying to fasten them down with his little hands he ile knew no fear and all the world was hia his friend his sunshine filled the life of the old man and overflowed into all the homes in the tenement thus it was that his digestion was nearly ruined by surreptitious sticks of dirty candy from the corner grocery while 1 t lovely dic disposition caused him to be surfeited by caresses from all the na that dwelt together with mote more or less harmony under the same mol old jim lied ad him his ills I 1 een eyes softened when he looked at him his gruff voice took on a new now tone and mrs airs schlitz said he ile vaa quite agree agreeable aple since dot baby came but one night as jim neared home returning from the foundry he saw an engine at the hydrant belching smoke and steam A vague fear filled him he hurried on as faa fag as hia his withered old legs could carry him other engines puffed along the street water ran in big streams through the gutter A hook and ladder truck dashed round the corner clanging tu fu piously jim pushed his way through the crowd it was the tenement that was burning keep back you old fool you ve got to get out of the fire lines I 1 roared a fireman jim glared at him and ran on the stairs were filled with firemen pipes and running wat er smoke was driving them back jim pushed on do you know it if they got out my baby he croaked I 1 dunno I 1 guess so which floor do you live ona answered the halt half choked fireman but jim was gone just then there came a crash the root roof fell in and mrs flaherty walled from the opposite pavement ah ali what 11 1 I do jim comes home and I 1 have to tell him the fire men brought out the baby smothered but old jim had gone home new lork ork times |