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Show I "Weary I Jimmy" i i i By Verda Rossiter s$ (6 (Copyright. 1916. by W. G. Chapman.) He was ragged, hungry, in sore need of a place to sleep, yet Weary Jim took it all philosophically. He had become inured to the law of averages as to the liberal-heartedness of the casual passing crowd. The benevolent-faced old men were the favorite subjects of his mendicancy, but it was late afternoon and that class of leisure leis-ure had long since gone homeward bound. Til wait till dark and tackle the theater crowds," decided Jim, and picking up a flying scrap of newspaper, newspa-per, selected some steps leading to an unused basement and idly ran his eyes over the columns of the torn and creased stray fragment. "Hello!" exclaimed Jim suddenly, and his eyes goggled and his hand shook, and he read again the brief but thrilling advertisement: "Reward: A liberal reward will be paid for information that will lead to the discovery of James Newton, sometimes some-times known as 'Weary Jim,' and formerly for-merly of the Little Jim Fisk restaurant. restau-rant. Apply to Adam Sharp, Attorney, Attor-ney, 12 Court building, or residence, 1194 Berry avenue." "That's me!" gurgled In the throat of Weary Jim. "Wanted Reward! And once I did work at that restaurant restau-rant and disgraced myself with the crowd for it, and drifted into the free-and-easy corps again. Lemme see are there any black marks against me that I'd be wanted for? No, it's not that. I never touched a cent that wasn't my own and never To Do as I Like With?" will. I'll look up this advertisement right away." One hour later. Weary Jim sat in a maze. He had called at the house in Berry avenue, to be rebuffed by the servant, to be bowed and scraped to, almost hugged by Lawyer Adam Sharp. The latter ushered Jim into his elegantly appointed library as though he were some prince. He unfolded un-folded an astonishing story. A distant relative, a half uncle, whom Jim, the last of the family line, had long forgotten, had left to Jim his sntire fortune, viz.: $30,000 in cash, a sumptuous residence, free and clear 3f all incumbrance. "You mean you mean," gasped Jim, "that all that is mine!" "Unqualifiedly," assented the suave attorney. To do as I like with?" "Without bar or hindrance." "Now right now, an advance, a Blight advance," pressed Jim anxiously. anx-iously. "Well, the banks a.e closed," explained ex-plained Sharp, "and you will have to go into court as a formality, but in the meantime, if you will appoint me your permanent legal representative In the matter of the estate, I will advance you whatever you want." 'Then gimme a dollar," said Jim eagerly. "A dollar! My friend, you need a great deal more than that Just to, ah! ehem! rehabilitate yourself. 1 will give you $100," and he produced the crisp inviting bank notes that made Jim's mouth water. "I would suggest a bath, a becoming suit of clothes, a suite at a good hotel and 1 will meet you at my office at ten o'clock tomorrow to-morrow morning, go into court and place the estate cash of thirty thousand thou-sand dollars to your account at the bank. Ah, my dear," he interrupted himselr as an angular, vixen-faced lady entered the room, "let me have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Newton New-ton my daughter, Hyacinth." "Oh, dear," piped the spinster languidly, lan-guidly, "have you found the gentleman gentle-man at last? How sweet! how ron.an-tic!" ron.an-tic!" and she almost caressed this expected ex-pected victim! Weary Jim left the house like one in a dream. One thing his more conspicuous con-spicuous senses aimed for and landed. land-ed. This was at a restaurant. The meal Jim ate astounded the waiter. Its volume so surprised the proprietor that he approached before it was finished fin-ished and intimated the gross amount involved. Unctuous and full-moutted, Jim pulled out a five-dollar bill. "Give the change to the waiter," he directed grandiloquently. One week later, Weary Jim came out of the mansion he had inherited, by way of the rear door and with a scared look on his face. He almost ran until he reached a point some squares distant. "Whew!" he panted, "I'm out of that for good I've escaped!" What Jim had "escaped" from was misery. For him wealth had brought torment A bath had made him tender ten-der and the flannels irritated him. Rich food gave him the toothache, with consequent loss of appetite. He missed the dozy atmosphere of the hayloft and the cheap lodging house, lying in his luxurious feather bed. But the crowning terror of his life had become Hyacinth Hyacinth Sharp, the attorney's daughter. Like a were-wolf she .pursued him. She was bound to marry him or rather his money. At the thought of this tremendous responsibility Jim had resolved re-solved to sacrifice all. He .thought of the happy-go-lucky life of old, and then of her, and shuddered and decamped. de-camped. Jim had his plan. Long and diligently dili-gently he searched for an old partner of the road Crippled Joe. He found his friend in a poor lodging house. He astonished the helpless hobo comrade with a proffer of home, fortune, friends. He took Joe to a lawyer and transferred to him legally all of his uncle's bequest except $10,000 in cash. "Poor fellow! I've put it over on Joe!" murmured Jim, "but maybe he'll escape Hyacinth." Then Weary Jim plunged back Into the old life. For a time, although the frowsiest of them all, he ran a free hotel ho-tel for his compatriots,' and expended $5,000 in that philanthropic venture. The result was a riotous household, increased indolence on the part of bis patrons, and the police closed the place. One day Jim saw Cripple Joe and the peerless Hyacinth flash by in an auto. He knew they were man and wife from the pained, furtive expression expres-sion on the face of Joe. "Sold into slavery!" chuckled Jim, and gloried in his rags and freedom. The remaining $5,000 was a burden to Jim. Its possession hurt his pric'.e as a down-and-outer. One day he took a long tramp. It was to a place he had never forgotten, and the end of his pilgrimage landed him at the door of a quaint, rustic cottage. The place looked poor, and the lovely love-ly young girl who came to the door was neatly but plainly dressed. A young man, her lover, Just leaving her was evidently a workman. "1 wanter to see Doctor Adams," explained ex-plained Jim, and his face fell as he was informed that the physician had been dead for several years, leaving his family very poor. "Such good men do," said Jim sorrowfully, sor-rowfully, and then he told how, 15 years before, the doctor had nursed him through a two weeks' sickness he, a poor, homeless waif and Jim had never forgotten it. He told a great lie as he placed his $5,000 into the hand3 of the young lady. He had made a fortune In a mine and wore poor clothes so he would not be robbed. And then he flitte- away, leaving Rose Adams fairly fair-ly astounded. The time came when Weary Jim felt he was "all in." "His uselessness was over," as he comically put it. He was up one day, down another. Somehow, an indefinable longing sent him tramping tramp-ing it to the cottage home of his dead benefactor s daughter. It was dusk when he approached the open window. Within the room were husband and wife and a sweet little girl in her night robe. She was saying her prayers, and they ended with: "And, dear God, bless Mr. Newton, who brought mamma and papa the blessing of their life." At the sweet cherub in pure white the old tramp gazed, then at his own attire. "I won't spoil the pretty picture," he said, and he went wearily to a sheltered shel-tered corner of the garden and lay down and slept and died. Thus they found him, and tenderly cared for the poor shell of a great soul. And in the quiet village graveyard grave-yard there is a tombstone reading simply: "Weary Jim Tramp, at Rest." |