Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, December 17, 1912, Page 11

I 10BO JIM (Continued from page 5) [tion to run you in again upon suspi- jelon. Get out of here, thief.” . “But I dldn't steal that bird—" fwhined the caller. Then he paused juddenly, for once more he was staring to the mouth of that same unpleas« t looking revolver. “Oh, I'll go all ht,” he added hastily. TUp the road he went hurrying, ane BTy, disappointed, hungrier and cold- r than ever. In the bottom of a pocks ot where he had plunged a hand for warmth his big, old-fashioned watch Slid the Watch Into the Stocking. Jay ticking and his finzers closed mbout it fondly. It was his only pos- pession of slightest value. Twenty Yyears ago It had been given to him fipou & Christmas eve—twenty years 2go in the days of his boyhood, and be had carried it with him incessantly p:mughout all his wanderings. “I sup- pose I could get the price of a meal Bnd a bed from that old ticker,” he mused, then his jaw set. “But I wouldn't part with it for its weight in greenbacks. It is the last thing she ever gave me, and I'll hang on to it if T hang for doing it. T’ll beg, starve —7¥es, or help myself when nobody is Jooking before I'll part with it.” He ghoved it deeper into its place and bent forward against the wind. Five minutes later he again paused suddenly. By the wayside another light was shining, and with a quick glance up and down the road he stood listening., Nothing came to his ears but the low growl of the wind and he hesitated no longer. Sneaking into the yard with feet that fell as softly as the snowflakes themselves he once more peered through a window. There was no laden table here, but instead he saw a bed upon which lay a white faced boy with a woman close beside him. He put his ear to the pane and listened. It was not long before he learned that the two were alone in the house, and at that good news Hobo Jim smiled approvingly. He passed quickly to the kitchen door and tried the latch. The door was not locked and he entered with the stealth of a panther. A spare bed room with door ajar was adjoining, and forming his plans as he sneaked along Jim crept within. Here, in the darkness, he would hide beneath the bed, wait until all was still, and then In the early morning hours fill his stomach and pockets from the pantry and silently steal away. Instinct told him that the woman would sleep be- side the sick boy and he had little fear of being discovered. And what if he was—with a lone woman and =a helpless kid as his only bar to escape! Noiselessly he crept beneath his shelter and lay listening. Through the stillness their voices came to him in murmurs. It had been & bad year for the two in the mnext room, a year of privation and want, and the morrow would be the hollow- est mockery of any Christmas that had ever come to them; a day when a skeleton would preside at their board and hunger be an unwilled guest. Patiently the woman was ex- plaining to the sufferer, telling him that she feared that this year Santa Claus would pass him by without stopping. But the boy was unbeliev- ing. “Santa Claus does not forget. Hang up my stocking, please,” he told her, and Jim heard her sigh as she crossed the room to obey him. Then as the warmth of the house came stealing softly over him Jim's eyelids fluttered and closed, the last thing he remembered hearing being the woman’s voice as it began read- ing to the sick ome. “More blessed to give than to re- celve—" But Hobo Jim was now sleeping. He was awakened and raised his head a triffle as he listened. There bhad been an accident in the room, a serious accldent as he soon gathered, for through some misfortune the clock had been knocked from the mantle and now lay a ruin upon the fioor. It was the only timepiece they had, and the woman was worrying over it considerably, for she no long- er had the means of telling when it was time to give the boy his medi- cine, and the proper administration of the medicine was a very important matter to the sick one. “That's kind of tough on the kid,” thought the! hobo from his hiding place. But it was no fault of his and anyway he| had troubles enough of his own. Midnight came, and for the last bour all had been still as a cavern. Cautiously, silently, Jim backed out of | is lair and rising to his feet stood} tlert. By the dim light from the oth- ' er room he could see the pantry. hen he gave a snort of disappoint- the barren shelves to fill one corner of his hollow stomach, and here were & woman and a sick boy to feed off of It.” It was disgusting. Slipping mere- ly a crust of bread into his pocket he crept out again. From where he stood he could see the interior of the dimly lighted room beyond, and curiosity arose within him. With the tread of a prowling fox he stepped to the threshold and peered around the corner. The boy was sleeping now, while beside the bed the woman was sitting with head drooped forward as worn out from her long vigil she had fallen asleep in the midst of her watching. And aa he gazed at their tired faces there | came to Jim a picture of many long years before, a picture of when he had been a boy and sick as this one now was, when a woman had sat be side him the long nights through giv- ing him his medicine and ministering to him as she read—what was it she had read? Yes, he remembered now. “More blessed to give than to re- ceive.” That was it. He had never had a great deal of confidence in these words and had never tried them jout, still he had sometimes thought | that one day he would put them to the test. But he had never had enough | for himself, let alone others, while now—his eyes fell upon the stocking | hanging from the mantle and a queer look came creeping over his face,| They cert‘ inly were in tough Iluck,| fougher Iuck than he was in himself, and the smashing of the clock had been bad business. For a full min. ute he stood blinking at them, then for the second time that night he chuckled as his hand wandered into his one good pocket. Then he with- drew it, and stretching forth a long arm slid the big silver watch intg the hanging stocking. Along the black road Jim went hurrying, hunger gnawing at his stom. ach, the teeth of the wind sharper than ever. In one hand he held the crust of bread and now and then he bit at it savagely. “More blessed to give than to receive.” He laughed as he buttoned his coat around his throat and bent further forward against the gale. “I dunno—I dunno, but anyway I've tried it out at last. Only thing I'm sorry for is that I won’t see that sick kid’s face when he finds that old | ticker in the morning.” A Des Moines man had an attack of muscular rheumatism in his shoul- {aen A friend advised him to go to [Hot Springs. That meant an expense of $150.00 or more. He sought for a quicker and cheaper way to cure |it and found it in Chamberlain’s Lin- ;lment Three days after the first ap- [pl cation of this liniment he was well. For sale by Barker's drug B store.—Adv. Suggesions for Your Christmas Buying Lahr’s Furniture Store A Large Assortment to Select From FOR THE BABY FOR THE CHILDREN FOR THE DAUGHTER Cutter Crib Sleds Folding Beds | Piano Sewing Table Fur Robe Chair Blackboards Writing Desks Pictures Sewing Rockers High Chair Rocker Rockers Youth’s Diners | Dressing Table Dresser PORTHE SON | g B Cebinct | Repal pury maoe Chiffoner Library Table i M ol Magazine Rack Book Case Buck’s Steel Range Smoking Table Standard Sewing Machine | Humidor 5 Rugs, Pictures, Rockers, Brass Bed, Dining Table, China Closet, FOR THE HOME Buffet, Sofa Bed, Reading Lamp, Pedestal, Carpet Sweeper. Turkish Rocker. | Hard ware Suggestio’ns for | Christmas Gifts 26-inch Hand 20-inch Hand Atkins Hand Saws 26-inch Rex Hand saws .. 26-inch No. 70 Hand Saws .. 26-inch No. 29 Hand Saws .. Fire Fly Flier Sleds Fire Fly Flier Sleds. . Flexible Fliers No. 1 Flexible Fliers No. 2 Kettles --82.25 | T'lexible Fliers No. 3 Perfection Saws $2.00 Skates Perfection Saws $1.50 women .. women .. --$1.25 Maydale Carpenter’s Hammers Crown Hammers ............ Cast Hammers and .... Sets made up at all prices. Trwin ans ................ 25¢ to 65¢. ----- $2.50 Block Planes 7-inch Planes 8-inch Planes 9-inch Planes . 10-inch Planes .... 14-inch Planes 18-inch Planes . 22-inch Planes . 24-inch Planes . Carpenter’s Planes --$1.00 $2.25 rocker Skates ........ $2.25 Yankee Ratchets with 8 points Yankee Screwdrivers with 3 Bitts. .. 5 No. 400 Men’s and Boys' Rocker Skates $1.50 Nickeled .. ........... $1.65 | No 30 Men’s and Boys’ Rocker Skates Carpenter’s Chisles .......... Put up in sets. polished ............ . 35¢ to 75e --8L.75 | No. 760 Hockey Skates for men or SRR don G ReEe 5 $3.00 Nn. 960 Men’s and Ladies, Key Hockey SRALEE ..o wioin sysie s v wssis miwisisie s § $3.00 -$1.50 | No. 43 Girl's and Ladies’ Nickeled -$1.75 rocker Skates .. ....... -$2.00 | No. 40 Girl’'s and Ladies’ polished -$2.50 -$2.80 $5.00 | Tea Kettles No. 6 Nickel Plated on Copper Tea 26 oz. Copper Tea Kettel, nickeled, G s 36 foH e 8275 -------- $1.25 | eied. OTPERE 5% 25 et Sieh winis ssmpmieiimmie mieid $1.50 """" $1.35 R o1 P R ) B {1 4 PIBt ...t .$2.00 Coflee Percolators, heavy Copper, nick- eled or Copper finish ............ $3.25 Tou Balls, heavy Copper nickled, 4 -------- $1.75 CUPE .......iiiiiin anenn.....8175 B cuDp® i suis s s e s e i $2.00 Price ;¢ oo cvimii { Bicycle Brand Clothes ingers, 3 “Jear guarantee 1 year guarantee ... --$1.00 | 3 year guaranteed Wringer on stand $7,00 & 8150 | Bjz 3 Washing Machines They wash clean in from 3 to 5 minutes. 1 Plunger Washers 2 Plunger Washers .... s v o $3.75 E) 2 No. 45 Stanley Plow Planes . .. Reed Roasters, No. 0 . ReeC Roasters No. 1 Reed Roasters, No. 2 . Reced Roasters, No. 3 . 5 foot Pine Skies """ $7.50 | ¢ toot Pine Skeis 7-foot Pine Skeis . 4-foot Pine Skies ........ cartridges .. 22 Calibre Winchester Repeating Rifle shoots shorts, long and long rifle S5 ShRaRER F9E Toe $8.50 7-foot Mahogany Skeis ............ $3.00 8-foot Ash Skeis ............ ... .$4.50 Rifles 500-shot Daisy Air Rifle .......... $1.50 1000-shot Safety Air Rifle ........ $2.00 22 Calibre Hamilton Single-shot rifle """"""""" 1.75 -and $2.00 | Heavy Copper Boilers . .. Heavy Copper Boiler, nickel plated. . $5.00 Tin Boilers with Copper bottoms at Perfection Oil Heaters will warm up an extra room, keep frost from the cellar, etc. Bieck finish ....... Blue emameled -$3.50 and $4.00 5 Universa] Bread Maker, 4-loaf $2.25 and $2.50 | Uriversal Bread Maker, 8-loaf. (YOUR MONEY BACK IF YOU WANT IT) l GIVEN HARDWARE CO. MINNESOTA AVE. BEMIDJI, MINN. J -