The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-06-19
WENTWORTH'S CRIME.

sLF William Wentworth, familiarly called
Billy, faithfully following the plow.
He was not in any way conventional
plowman. Neither in the appearance of
= the field, nor of the plOw, nor OF the ami
----'- mails, nor Of Billy himself, was there any
thing to recall Holbein's picture of the
peasant and his misery, that tended
cOncretely to realize the usual vision
brought up by the words "a man following
the plow." In the first place, Billy was
not exactly following the plOw; to speak
with scrupuOus correctness, he riding
-, the plow. The animals that drew both
him and the plow wereneither slow, clumsy
q / oxen, crowding each other beneath heavy
- yoke, nor yet. galled-shouldered,- bony
horses, but two strong, brOad-DreaSted
mules, with great and neat, slim legs.
l.f We hesitate TO mention this fact, but real
ism and truth are the great things, after
... ali, and sentiment and the traditional
plowinan must give way to them.
The plow itself would have puzzled
Be- any or all of the great farmers, from
Cain to the author of The Hundred
Points of Good HuSbandry; and many
an honest of the soil since the days of
II .Tusser would have considered it good for
nothing but old iron and firewOod. 1t was
a complicated affair on wheels, with
variety of contrivances for regulating the
depth to which the ground should be
stirred, for chilling up" and for hosting
the ShOvels entirely out of the ground. In
..,- fact, it was not even called plow; it was
a cultivator and Billy was not plowing
.; ,- preparatory to sowing the seed, but
' cultivating Indian corn.
Still the scene wGS picturesque enough,
for any with eye for color and an
accommodating sense of the general fitness
OF things. The long rows of corn, stretch
ing over the gentle rise of ground and con-
fusedly mixing up their broad, waving
blades at the summit, were a deep green,
= and the broad, rectangular field, separated
from the open prairie surrounding itby no
other boundaries than the sharply marked
lines between the different shades of this
sz--a1 sylvan color, seemed like a dark. square
cornered oasis in desert of coarse grass
. % and gaudy flowers.
When Billy reached the top of the slight
ridge, if he had looked about him over the
Thousand hills of waving corn, he would
have seen, beyond an intervening stretch
of prairie that lay dull and darkened by
the shadow of cloud, a distant field of
... yellow barley fast ripening forthe harvest,
and one of wheat just turning, that flashed
'ff brightly in the flooding light of the evening
,L ... sun. The western sky was fringed with
brilliant-cOlored clouds, decked out III
i'." borrowed fnery to attend the glorious set
' ting of their creditor, and Billy might
have let his eyes wander from earth to sky
and from sky to earth, in an uncertainty
'Hf ' of aesthetic enjoyment; but he merely
.-. glanced at the sun behind the clouds, and
Z - calculated how many rounds the mules
if' could make before quitting time For he
firl was impatient to be at the end of his days
Sea labor; not because he found it hard work
to ride over the rough ground so many
30 hours every day, nor because he was
hungry-thOugh plowing corn is both q
tiresome and hunger-giving occupation
but Billy in love!
..t. .. 1t is quite natural and perfectly possible
fora plOwman to be in love. Did not Cuddie
.'''' Headrigg love and and win pretty
.i,- Jenny Dennison? Was not one of the most
promiscuous, and Yet most faithful lovers
we know of Dlowman: And was not
b But il is unnecessary to quote precedences
Il,., for if Billy had been the first plowman III
the world who had ever loved and been inn
patient TO fly to the presence of his
.bar the fact would have rODlpI
. his ardOr soothed his impatience; and
when he had decided that he could com
'| plete that round and another before taking
out the mules, Billy sent his long whiE
whistling about their great ears, ana
hurried them through the corn if the
co.. in the eastern instead of in the
.i- . western sky, and they were starting fresl
in the morning Instead of reaching the enc
49, of long days work.
The faithful mules, however, knew theil
drivers mood; the habit of weeks haC
taught them TO know that the remainder
of their task for the day was fiXeC
'i"N' amount, and that soon as it was finished
Hf they would be led to the trough of coo
-- water and the manger of bright oats and
fragrant hay. So they responded Willingly
'f' TO Billy'S urging, and soon came out at tn,
,lr edge of the field; and then, beginning oil
n their last rOund-the rows were half mill
iong-fniShed it in twenty minutes by
.l.. Billy's heavy silver watch, very reliab
inf timepiece for any period of time less thar
hour in duration.
w men Billy mad led the mules TO tn
..-.- r.. watering ng-trough, and brought the wind
mill round to the breeze to pump fresl
water from the deep well-''a hundred an
thirteen feet, if it is inch," Farme
Fuller would often declare-he was some
what disappointed and surprised that n
one came to the door TO tell him to hurr,
ID - in, for supper was waiting; or else play
.,9., fully to accuse him of laziness for ''turn
ing out" so early; or to ask him how man
.'5'r. acres he had got over; or, under some pre-
,f..rf text or other. to greet him and let hin
know his comings and goings were matter
of interest to at least one person the world
ri ndoL ''Iwonder where she is. ;" thought Billy
f,.,,,. and imagining that she had perhaps no
heard him talking TO the eager brutes a
f"u lu they made impatiently for the water
=, o. though he had shouted without any init
cation or remorse of voice." he bega
''' whistling loudly for the dog. Tige cam
.tsH.,. running up readily euolgh-in fact, be ha
been almost at Billy'S heels for the last te
minuteS-but no one appeared at the ope
door; and Billy was finally obliged to lea
the mules off to the stable, and give theI
their oats and hay, without getting a sigh
of Eva Fuller'S pretty figure in the dOOI
.1Is, way, or hearing her innocent laugh at hi
,,,.l dust -begrimed face; without an oppol
tunity of showing how well he coul
= take a harmless jest, when it came froI
Va her. r..
IF that young Phillips has been aroun
~ '.s here again, with his buggy and fancy hal
.i- ness" Billy muttered, as he thrust th
ID ~ pitchfork viciously into the manger an
' packed down the hay with a vsheIuencs eI
t.s. tirely nesdless-"why, if he has, there
be trouble on the ranch, that's all"
When he-had washed the streaked lave
'N of soil from his face, and tried in vain fo
I.,ri sometime Tn brush the kirk out of the end
of his black hair-it was always tria
70 Billy that his hair would cu-l-ae eI
i''Hi' tered the house and ate his supper G
. .,-.,. baked potatoes and crisp bacon and fires
eggs alone with Farmer Fuller and hi
.' wife. Eva not there tn laugh an
20 i.,d chatter, and Billy took his glass Of mil
..f from Mrs. Fuller's masculine hand instea
Of Eya's, which was not masculine by an
1870 OBS means. When the fresh plate of snow
...tI biscuit, demanded bv the hearty appetite
OF Billy and Farmer Fuller, was brough
IN from the kitchen. it was that hard-worf
ing woman's tall frame and a1stere visag
that Billy saw in the door. and not Eva
neatly aproned figure and laughing eyes
.I.1 the usual vision that greeted him at thi
9oint in the evening meal.
Billy helped himself TO another biscuit
<Where is Eva?" he asked, at last, of th