Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1898 — THEY HELPED JIM. [ARTICLE]

THEY HELPED JIM.

He Was Only a Little Bootblack and Had Been 111. The rich men who build hospitals are , not the only benevolent ones. The shoeblack of whom Dr. Talmage tells this story showed a spirit of sweet unselfishness: I “A reporter sat down on one of the city hall benches and whistled to one of the shiners. The boy came up to his work provokingly slow, and had just begun, when a larger boy shoved him aside and began the work, and the reporter reproved him as being a bully, and the boy replied: ‘Oh, that's all right. lam going to do it lor *im. You see, he’s been sick in the hospital more’n a month; so us boys turn in and give ’im ' a lift.’ ' ! “ ‘Do all the boys help him?’ asked the reporter. “ ‘Yes, sir; when they ain’t got no job themselves and Jim gets one, they . turn in and help ’im; for he ain’t strong yet, you see.’ “ ‘How much percentage does he give . you?’ asked the reporter. “The boy replied: ‘I don’t keep none j of it. I ain’t no such sneak as that. All the boys give up what they get on his job. I’d like to catch any feller sneaking on a sick boy, I would.’ “The reporter gave him a 25-cerit piece, and said: ‘You keep ten cents for yourself, and give the rest to Jim.’ “ ‘Can’t do it, Sir; it’s his customer. Here, Jim.’ ”