Bully For Jim.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 669, 2 September 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

Bully For Jim.

Thebe were four of them, and they were coming down Elm street. They ranged from four to six years of age. Three of them wore waists and the fourth a jacket. All wore knee pants with dark coloured Btochings, and t«vo of them had copper-toed shoes. They were holding hands, and moving along at n rapid but irregular pace. It was evident that something of important interest was in prospect by the expectant eyes and flushed cheeks of the four The calmest looking boy had some* thing in his mouth, which may have tended to distract his attention from the matter in hand. Whenever he was spoken to, which wan about erery thirty seconds, the line would halt, his right hnnd would b^ loo«ened, and he would Ntrnijjhtway empty into it from hm mouth a ponny. VVliilo this was being done tb/* three other boys would gather in frout of him, and look upon the operation wilh breathless interest. Having decided the point at issue, the coin would be restored with the same ■olemn ceremony, the line would reform and move forward at a lively pace, until another question obtruded itself for immediate consideration. The boy with the coin was the centre of all observation and consideration oi the others. This was plain to be seen. And the number of tree- boxes and posts and people the line fetched up against in the determined but hopeless effect of keeping one eye on him, and the othor on the path ahead at the same time, would seem almost incredible. But what mattered it ? It was better that they should run against everybody else than to lose sight of him for a minute. Ob, the tender solicitude of these hearts for him. To ignore all the wonderfnl sights of the busy street just for the sake of him. It was wonderful. When they came to an obitactiou that could not be butted over, they gave way promptly that he might pans safely. All the dry walks were surrendered to him without equivoca- j tioD, and as for the mud on the crosswalks, they ploughed through it witb a heroism that was delightful so that he might paw try shod. It is altogether > likely they would have formed & bridge with tbeir bodies over th© most repulsive mud had it bean necessary to secure him a safe and pleasant transit, which fortunately it was not. But no object of interest which, happened to catch their gaze did they fail to call his attention, to and with an anxiety that mutt have been very comforting to him. flis name was Jim. What their names were there were no means of finding out, as they were not uttered. It would have sounded like sacrilege without) doubt, to have mentioned, their titles in connection with his. "What a happy group they were! How their little feet pattered and their little egs swung along! How their faces glowed ! How their eyes burned j They were new little boys to the street Perhaps the majority of them had not more than once betore seen those stores, the bright stores with the heap* of treasure glittering through the glass. Perhaps never again would they four share this woiderful, all consuming tcstacy together. Thank Heaven, that they enjoy it so hugely. Jim is down town to spend a penny, a whole penny ill his own, and the senses of

every one of his companion* is ravished as if with the glories of paradise. How their memories are spurred un and refreshed as they c.illop nlon». One Httlo boy remembers that . lie always helped Jim on his lessons. Another has got as clear and distinct a remembrance of the time, two months ago, when he gave rJim ft ~^ _^- ber to chew as if mom J ntoU9 event occurred only day before And v.f6 third has at his tongue's end a perfectly comprehensive account of an occasion when he let Jim look at a boat he was sailing in a tub, although the vent took place in the far distant summer. As for Jim himself, no king with a sceptre, or a god with lightnings in his grasp, for the matter of that, ever experienced such a weight of dignified and solemn grandeur. It seemed as if his very clothes were wrought with diamonds and gold, and as if his spine would never desert its perpendicular. Four little boys, hand in hand, eager, expectant, hopeful, delirious, running at the top of their speed, and happier in the anticipation of t'a » coming joy than if they were lovers prrown, with a dollar jewelry store on every correr. — Dambury News.