| Show 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 00 0 u cs the lub sacrifice of little jack jaack sometimes I 1 imagine that heaven must be ba a place of surprises wo we will go there if we are fortunate enough to go at all with many preconceived notions cOncer concerning riling what we shall seo see and experience and just as likely as not the decided majority of them will be shattered crowne browne of our set certainly must be here we will say for he was such a good and proper man in life then we ive will look about us and will bo be greatly grbatz astonished to find no browne muggins of no sot set in particular cannot be ba hero we again will ro ra mark to ourselves for lie he was so coar coarse seand and crude or even worse then we will wh seo sea the obnoxious us muggins Idu AgIns a sitting pretty well forward tit in P a rather nice pew and again we win will IQ be astonished occasionally I 1 oven tear fear that the society in heaven may be some what mixed and common but of course I 1 trust and believe that this Is a quite unnecessary necessary fear on my part however these thesa reflections are arc quite apai apart t from the story etory and it really 13 time that it were ware begun at tile the time of which I 1 write tho city of Sod town as tho the advertis advertisements cements of enthusiastic real es tato late promoters termed it was wild an anil d western andoor tile the frontier on oil tho the whole wo we juveniles partook largely of at tile the character of our sur wo were as uncultured as wo we were good hearted and as rough lough as wo we acro care carefree arec this statement applies 1 to 0 o all of us its but it if you had set carefully to work to select the wildest young cub human you ou understand un ersland among us all you ion certainly would have bave selected little jack without a moments hesitation probably little jack had another name amo arguing from the analogies of lae case I 1 consider it likely that ho he hall had but if so nobody in had heard it or knew what it was ills his mother had died long before the child could remember anti and his father was known merely as big jack a gentleman who followed tho the more mord or loss less lucrative profess profession ton of cowboy so little jack grew without any hampering circumstances worthy of mention what would you ou e expect hect of oe A child of such euch lineage and environments but what you would expect really does doe snot not matter greatly As a matter of fact tile tho experiment of raising figs from fram th whistles thistles es never has been much of a success and equally as a matter of fact little jack jach early developed a moral toughness that was phenomenal even in Sod toun at 11 or 12 years of or ago age he fought swore lied and stole I 1 was going to ray eay but the fact had not been absolutely proved and perhaps it Is more justice to give him the benefit of any possible doubt withal little jack was a small ath lete acte and so we w boys treated him with the respect reaped that is due to physical a ft A I 1 51 i 1 M youse fellers stan ready to put pull ma out he wald said strength and prowess we know knew that ho he would fight though his opponent were telco his size and go ao wo we did not cross hla his path except we vory very strongly feu felt that the god of battles and justice was on 0 our ur stile side the snow lay loop deep on an the ground till late in the spring of 1881 as residents of dakota nt at that time will remember then the suns stills rays which so long had seemed to lack vigor at 0 a sudden became potent patent and the snow moved off in ta raging ing hoods floods of water tho the jim river ardin ordinarily airily little more than ft a creek became it a resistless torrent in some places three or four miles wide and the cabin homes of the settlers scattered along the valley generally were wept away to walk along its banks then aien ang wa 19 q upa upon a gray desolation of wawa only anly bw bravi on n hero or thero by floating c wnm or aarns arns or the ahl to glitter ii ot ai cakes of ice some of us boys were so BO wal walking 11 ng afternoon attorn con v when a floated coated rast X ast us tossed roar ad hero nna anil there thera by the bo hood flood acrond round among ice flosa nand lid reaton reat cn by trees treca set afloat ly by tile wat vat era 3 it ft was t rt a quntion ot of but sl short ort tf 0 o 1 until it must nii st go to fellers suddenly shouted ore of tho the boys aint dat n kid ryn we ii stanca a moment it then over that thai waste of waters heated floated a little n g voice that camo came from the floating flon ting cabin we looked into ono one an others ecos while tile tho tiny voice olce v still walled and I 1 hope that god will preserve ire ice froni from a over ver again hearing a sound so pitiful what should tie be done what could coul a bo be done I 1 think the answer of my despairing desp iring heart he I 1 rt to the latter question was the answer of every boy there nothing of every boy save one while we still stood in awful silence a silence on which that thin cry yot yet beat little jack spoke a tellers fellers ho be said stan ready to pull me in evenmo ven rao an de kid hid gits lack back and before yo wo fully realized what ho he was vaa about to do his coat and shoes wore were off anil and ho he flaa was battling with the cold cruel waters we watched the little black head as t kf y 4 7 q 1111 1 1 I 1 1 is de kid safe it made its devious way onward here dodging a cake of ice there skirting a fload floating aig tree sit at last hurrah iro ire had gained the shanty A moment ho he di appeared from view then he appeared appear pd pil at a window with a wee brown bundle in ills aims de ole folks is both drowned 11 we nye heard him shout as we ran along the shore by the side odthe of tho whirl hig cabin then he an again in was in the water and we hardly brer breathed thed as lie he battled shoreward it was vaa a life or death struggle for every avery foot or of advancement but his life had given him film hardihood it if nothing else and slowly ch so slowly ho he made his way with the burden whence came no cry now As all he neared the shore we joined hands bands mak making ng a lifeline life line liae to draw him from the water thank god he Is 13 almost to us bowl now ho Is safe at no yes A great cake of ice striking an obstruction whirled as it were on a pivot and almost caught hm him but wo we snatched him away anti and now at last ho he was safe not quito quite oh ch little jack rot not quite safe are unless indeed there ho be perfect safety on a bosom of infinite love and comprehension after the heroic heart has ceased to beat and the eyes are closed in the long sleep the great calco cake ot of ice whirling by him had touched little jack and its touch was death even een as we lifted him from the water some of its cold noss had entered the bravo brave little heart and on his head was a great jagged cruel wound whence the stream of life flowed unceasingly we held him and knew not what to do one ot of us sobbed brokenly but tho the rest were very silent then jack opened his eyes and feebly whispered ija is de ida safe yes oh all yes yea little jack we told you that you had saved the babo babe and our whisper was v aa almost is as low as yours as wo we assured you that this was so the lutle black head sank down then very slowly the eyes again opened and in a faint whisper was heard im damn glad then chile the iha nood flood flowed on the neglected soul of little jack went out on a t deeper aper and darker flood which no more leat beat earthward for him anti and this la Is why I 1 say that I 1 sometimes think heaven must bo be a place of surprises eur prines but greatest of all its surprises to mo me if ever I 1 should reach the tha beautiful city of love would bo be to had find no little jack there a in such a wonderful school as his life noyer never knew alfred J waterhouse in new york times |
