Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1901 — LITTLE JIM’S FRIEND. [ARTICLE]

LITTLE JIM’S FRIEND.

BOY'S FATHER WOULD NOT PART WITH MOLLY. ThoaKh Only a Cow the Hod a Heart Capable of Feeling Grief for an Absent Companion and Friend—A Pa* tbetic Friendship. “No, sir! Molly ain’t ‘Just one o’ the cows.’ She’s our friend, Is Molly, an’ I’ve reason to say it, I have. “Tell you, sir? Why o’ course, if ye care to hear. When Molly was a bit of a calf, hardly a year old, my little Jim was 3, an’ afraid o’ nothing, big or little. Toddlin’ after me all day long, he’d go about the house an’ our little bit of a garden an’ the pastur’ behind, an’ never tiring of it; an’ when I mowed or raked the grass or hoed the garden he was aiwus a-helpinU But above ail he loved to be held up to ‘see Molly’ or tp ‘pet Molly.’ “I used to hold her soft nose down for him when he kissed her ‘good night,’ an’ the firs’ thing in the momin’, before he was downstairs, when I’d let the cows out to the pastur’, his curly head was half out o’ the winder an’ he a-callln’, ‘Good mornln’, Molly.’ “He was hardly 5 years old—no, he wasn't 6 —when he used to try an’ milk her; an’ the cretur’d stand as gentle an’ still as if she knew the little feller’d be easy hurt, with her head turned half sideways, a-seemln’ to say, “AH right, young ’un, as long as it amuses you!’ I had to finish the milkin’, the little hands got so tired; yet he hated to give in. You wouldn’t ’a’ believe it, sir, to see the spunky way that little chap o’ 5 years would stick to it—a-milkin' that cow! “Daytimes, when sue was in the pastur’, he was aiwus a-ruunin’ down to the gate to ask her how she was gettin’ on to-day, or did she think it was goin’ to rain? an’ things like that—makin’ a reg’lar playmate out o’ her; 'cause he was our only child ait’ I s’pose sometimes he was lonely like. An’ to see him take out a drink o’ water to Molly in his little tin dipper! I used to ’most bust a-laughiin’ to see her big red tongue a-lappin’ out the few drops he’d gen’ly have left, as if it was just wbat she wanted!

• “Well, Jim was only 0 year ©ld when he was took sick, suddent. Lord knows what it was! We don’t, an’ the doctor never did, ’though aiwus a-lookin’ wise an’ a-sayin’ he’d be out ’rouu’ in a few days. But Jim, lyin’ there bumin’ with fever, would hear the low ‘Moo-oo!’ an’ his eyes would open an’ look bright as he’d smile an’ say, ‘Good-night, Molly! I’ll see you in the morning’.’ “But that Molly! The first night he was sick she kep’ lookin' ’roun’ when i was a-milkin’ her, as If to see where lie was—yes, she did, sir!—an’ was that oneasy I could scarce milk her at all. Then the nex’ night she was nervous an’ shiverj’ an’ gave hardly any milk; an’ her lowin’ was awful frequent through the day, but at night, when she was in the iwra, it was terrible! an’ so sad it would make you ‘creepy’ to hear her; an’ the milk scarcer every day till the cretur’ was right sick, too. "Well, there came one night—one night when there was nothin’ to do for my little Jim but to stand beside him, when we didn’t need no doctor to tell us our little lad would never be out ‘roun’ again; an’ in the quiet o’ the middle o’ the night the tickin’ of th« clock an’ his mother’s sobbln’ sounded fearful loud. His little hand lay In mine, so cold and still now, when It had been so res'less an’ hot for more'n a week. Suddenly It moved a little, as In the stillness outside we heard Molly’s ‘Moo-oo!’—Just like a call to the boy, right under his winder. “I’d forgot to milk her or go for her, an’ somehow or other she’d got out o' the pastur’ herself. ‘Moo-oo!’ she called again, so pitiful an’ humanlike the tears come Into my eyes, though they had been hot an’ dry all night. Then wbat she called the third time K seemed to reach even to little Jim. Too weak to open his eyes, he said, Just whisperin’: “Good-night, Molly!—In the mornln’!’ an’ smiled. “Hard as It was to leave him then, I laid his little hand down an’ went out to Molly. “ ‘Die!’ Not a bit of it. sir!—That’s him, that little chap a-comin’ thro’ the gate; an’ that’s Molly a-fol!erin’ him.— 'A meracle,’ the doctor says. I don’t know; I ain't up on meracles: but Come here, Jim! That’s right; take off your cap to the gentleman an’ shake hands. Now go ’long an’ put Molly In. He’s a dandy, sir, my Jim! “What! ‘Sell Molly?’ Sell her, sir? No, sir! No, air! Not for all her weight In solid gold’d I sell my little Jim’s friend.”—The Housewife.