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Show VAGABOND JACK. BY MARY E. MANNIX. One summer about five years ago, When the farmers of a certain mountainous moun-tainous district in the Middle West were very short of 'hands, a forlorn-locking forlorn-locking boy, about 14 years of age, made hi a appearance in the neighborhood- The settlement was a mixture of Irish and. Pennsylvania. Germans, or what aro known as such, but they lived together amicably, often intermarrying, inter-marrying, till the young men were in tho habit of declaring- "they were as much Dutch as: Irish, and as much IrisSi as Dutch." They had an Irish paator. whom they all loved, and it waa to him t'hat the forlorn boy before mentioned came first, asking- for work. He waa an orphan, he said: had never known his parents, and his friendless rendition at once appealed to the heart of the good priest. He soon found work fcr the boy, who thereafter did not suffer for lack of employment during the rummer and autumn. And yet. though he did well all that was required of him, never shirking any labor, however arduous, and though he waa of a most obliging and cheerful dispoPiticn. he won grew to have a bad reputation because of the extraordinary liberties he took with some of his neighbors' possessions. No cm could call him a thief, for he always al-ways returned what he boiTowed. That was what he called it, "borrowing." He seemed to be unable to resist appropriating ap-propriating a horse whenever he found it tied seme times in front of a vehicle, though Jack's preference was always for a saddle hcrse when one came ready to his hand and feet. These last were not long out of the stirrups on such occasions, but after a mad ride of three or four hours Jack would return re-turn with the animal, blown and sweating, sweat-ing, in a condition which never failed to excite the anger and bring- down upon the boy's head the unspairing- reproached re-proached r,f it owner. He had been threatened with horsewhipping, and even arrest, but the peculiar childlike manner irs which be would lift his eyes to his accuser's face with a pleading, "I only wanted a ride. Mister, and I fetched him back," always disarmed the fiercest threat. It really seemed as if the boy could not help doing as he ilid. But it was in the matter of bi cycles that he waa the greatest offender. of-fender. He seemed to have been born antrida of one, so firmly dad he sit, so straight did he ride, so swiftly did he fly down the steep but well-kept mountain moun-tain roads, to the imminent danger of life nr,'i limb, -and the terror of the spectators, who never could become accustomed ac-customed to his reckless flights. There were not many bicycles in the vicinity of 1 , but there was a quaint old church and inn near the mountain top, where tourists often, came to spend a day and sometimes a night. It happened more than once that after af-ter a visit to the church some tourist found his bicycle missing:, and after rambling vainly around for half an hour in search of it, he would pee it Hying aJon.? under the control of a small, wiry boy. with athin, pinched face, but a remarkably innocent pair of big blue eyes, which were, as in the case of the farmers, very effectual in disarming his displeasure. These offenses of-fenses soon earned the little fellow the title of "Vagabond Jack" one which did not annoy him in the least. One day Jack was helping the priest's housekeeper to clean the sacristy. She was an old woman and somewhat feeble, and this morning was feeling more unwell than usual. She had sent Jack to the house for a broom? and was sitting on the stone step in front of the sacristy door awaiting his return. re-turn. A gentleman and lady were in the church, their bicycles standing outside the door. Suddenly Jack made his appearance ap-pearance from the house, and ran quickly to the spot where the bicycles were standing. At the same moment the lady 'and gentleman came from the vestibule of the church. Before any one could speak, Jack had mounted one of the bicycles and was down the read at breakneck speed. He was hat-leris. hat-leris. his hair flying in every direction. To the loud calls of the three who witnessed wit-nessed the extraordinary proceeding he seemed utterly deaf. He gave back no answering glance, uttered no sound, and in lesa time than it has taken to describe the scene he was out of sight. "What i3 the meaning of this?" ehouted the gentleman, angrily. "Who is that boy, and why has he hared to take mv bicycle in such an outrageous manner?" " "Tia dreadful, sir; 'tis dreadful!" answered the housekeeper, getting to her feet and advancing towards the couple. "But 'tis a way, he always haa with bicycles; he can't r&sist 'em at all. Whenever he sees one he is off on it for a ride. But rest easy, Pir. he'll be back again shortly. He won't be longer than half an hour, or an hour, at mcst." , "Best eaay!" exclaimed the gentleman, gentle-man, while the lady began to laugh, the "humor of the situation appealing to ber at once. "It's- no laughing matter, Ellen." said her husband "no laughing matter, I assure you. We shall miss our train. That's not a pleasant prospect, is it?" "Of course not," replied the lady. "But the idea of thM boy taking your bicycle off in that way is too funny." The gentleman turned round with a gesture of impatience. "There is a priest here, I suppose," he said, ad dressing the housekeeper. "We may as well call on him " "Yei3, sir, and right welcome ve'll be," said the good woman, leading the way, and talking over her shoulder as she went.a "Yes, himself '11 be very wrothy when he hears how mean an advantage Vagabond Jack is after takin' on ye. A stop must be put to it, so it must. Just step around to the front door, and I'll go in through the kitchen and open it for ye. Ye'll not feel the time pas till the boy is back again with the bicycle." She turned in the direction of the back premises, while the lady and gentleman gen-tleman proceeded leisurely forward to the front. The next moment they were startled by a piercing scream, followed by the hurried reappearance of the housekeeper, exclaiming: "Oh, sir, if ye have a heart in your bosom, come into the house as quick as ye can! Father Barrett is lyin' dead in the dining-room!" They hurried forward, to find the, priest on the floor, unconscious, with' the blood trickling frcari a deep wound in hia forehead. The gentleman went on hia knees beside the priest. "He is not dead," he aaid, quietly, after a moment. "I am a doctor. Fetch me a basin of cold water and a couple of linen cloths." So raying he took off his coat, rolled up his shirt-sleeves and addressed himself to the task of reviving reviv-ing the unconscious priest, while his wife followed the distracted housekeeper house-keeper into the kitchen. . Meanwhile Jack had also come to grief in his wild ride. He had not gone far when the chain of his wheel snapped, and he found himself flying down the hill at a great rate, unable to check himself in his headlong course. The women came out from their cottages cot-tages to look at -him; the men left their work, and a trim washerwoman, rinsing her clothes in the brook on the roadside, road-side, cried out in her quaint Dutch-English: Dutch-English: "Heavens and eaii.'! Dis time Vag'-bond Vag'-bond Jack goes dead!" And still he rushed on down, out of sight, till he reached the foot of tfhe hill, when, with a terrible jolt against the trunk of a fallen tree, the wheel toppled over, and Jack was flung headlong head-long into the road. For a moment he lay aa one senselesa. but soon recovering recover-ing himself, he resumed his journey; this time on foot, though not at a very rapid pace. Try as he would, he could not go any faster, for he had wrenched hiy angle, severely in his fall. It was a Harry-looking Jack, indeed, that halted at last in front of Drfl Nesmith's door. on the outskirts of the village. "And what have you been doin.g now, Jack?" asked the doctor, when he answered an-swered the boy'g loud ring. "Stealing somebody's horse again, and been thrown, I suppose" "No. sir; it was a bicycle this time," replied the boy. with great simplicity. "But I came as- quick as I could to tell you that Father Barrett, had a fit or something. He is all cut, and I'm afraid he's dead." The doctor was in his buggy in a moment, mo-ment, Jack by his side. A crowd of boys- had gathered around the broken bicycle, and the doctor tokl them to take it to the blacksmith, who. would probably be able to mend it. It had, suffered but little injury and was soon repaired. It seemed a long time to Jack until they reached the top of the hill again and were in sight of the priest'3 house, in front of which some persons were standing one of them a gentleman in a bicycle suit, who came forward to greet the doctor. "I am Dr. Jones of Pittsburg," he said, "and on account of what I then thought an unfortunate delay, happened; hap-pened; to be here when I -was needed. The priest has suffered a paralytic stroke, but is now much better." Jack had slipped out of the buggy. The two doctors went into the house, and Jack siat down on the kitchen step without a word. Half an hour later they came out again, smoking. "But how did you hear of it so soon?" inquired the owner of the bicycle. "Vagabond Jack came for me," was the reply. "It appears he took a bicycle bi-cycle which he found ready waiting by the way. it must have been youra He had a peculiar journey down hill, for the chain broke soon after he had started. He waa thrown at last, though without suffering much injury. The bicycle bi-cycle will be all right this afternoon. I sent it to the blacksmith." "Thank you very much," said the other. "My wife and I have concluded to stay all night at the hotel, or tavern. tav-ern. Ah! here ia that bicycle fiend now." Thev oaused in front of Jack, still quietly seated on the kitchen step. He looked up at them with a white face. "Is he going to get well?" he asked of Dr. Nesmith. ) "Oh, yes," was the reply. "Well, this time, Jack, at least, nothing can be i said to you for taking a bicycle trip without leave or license." "How did you discover the priest?" asked Dr. Jones. "I went in for a broom and found him," yaid the boy. "I didn't get the broom; I just ran out as fast as a I could and took that there bicycle. I didn't care whose it was; I only I wanted to pet to Dr. Nesmith's. I knew I could do it quicker'n anyone, and I did make good time, better'n if the chain hadn't broken, almost. But I'm awfully sorry for that, sir." "Well, it's all right now, Jack," said Dr. Jones. "But what's the matter with your arm?" "I doni't know," said Jack. "It pains me awful. I must have fell on it; and my ankle but I thought I wouldn't say nothin' about it, when there's so much trouble in the house already." The doctors leaned over him, felt his shoulder and lifted the arm, which hung limp and helpless by his side. The next moment Jack had fainted hia arm was broken in three places. Everybody was very good- to Jack after that, so good that he put forth, every effort to show himyelf appreciative appreci-ative of the many kindnesses which were heaped upon him. Soon he was called Vagabond Jack no longer; under the kind teaching of Father Barrett, who took him into his household, he became a valued member of the community. com-munity. He is now a prosperous blacksmith, black-smith, with a fine horse of his own, earned by cheerful and honest labor. He is also the pToud possessor of a first-class wheel, which, however, he seldcnn haa time to mount, except on Sundays. But he always manages to 'do some excellent riding at til; Coun.ty Fair. and his bicycle record is unrivaled un-rivaled in all the country around. |
