The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-03-18
CLEVER KITTY.
She Opened Her Uncle's Eyes and
Saved Herself.

In the struggling, fOrlorn, unhealthfu
NOIthumbrian village of BlackfOrd there
was half a century ago, only one comfort
Anticipating building. 1t was none of the
dwellings of the coal and lime carriers, the
hedgers and ditcherS, or the drainerS, who
formed the bulk of the population, for theiI
low, dropping roofs, mended here and there
with tarpauln, spoke too eloquently OF
damp, draught and over-pressure; it was
not the red-tiled croft-house inhabited by
Willie Allan, the clever, lazy, kindly, cock
fighting dog -fancying, boxing, wrestling,
swimming, Bookkeeping tenant of the little
farm. for bachelordom and neglect had
combined with Willie's devotion to hobbies
of one kind and another to create of it and
its surroundings an embodiment of pictur-
esque disorder; it was not the great austere-
looking, square-built Presbyterian meeting
house, with its prison-like walls and narrow
windows; far less was it the slated. shabby
genteel manse, for in cold weather the
effect of the whitewash upon it was to
threaten the spectator with fit of the
ague. No: on any gusty day in November,
when the trees on the hilltops seemed to
have turned their shivering backs to the
breeze that whistled through their branches
and whirled away their red-tinted leaves
in a madcap dance, and the diminutive
cot-houSes looked almost as though crouch
ing to escape the blast, which the gaunt
old manse faced in haggard despair, the
1.-The Lion inn alone, with its comfortable
overcoat os impervious thatch. retained
its aspect of quiet comfort, and
toward evening the ruddy glare of its
kitchen fire pressingly invited the tOil-worn
cOttarS to fOrsake their scolding wives and
brawling children, their scanty fires and
draughty houses. and enjoy its comfortable
warmth. And often at the same time there
would be a light at one of the two attic
windows that peered out from the roof like
pair of open gray eyes from under lids of
thatch. For one of these rooms was the
favorite resort of Adam Black, the thriving
publican of Blackford Hither at night did
he often resort if business was dull down
below to smoke his pipe, to think over his
plans, and to calculate his ingoingS and
OutgoingS; for, as he would sometimes re-
mark: 1T took deal of worry for a man
as could neither read nor write to keen a
true reckoning" and Adams natural abili-
ties had not been frightened up by educa-
tion.
That did not hinder him from being
greatly liked and respected in Blackford.
The worst that could be said about him was
that he was rather hard, and as matter of
fact there was little SOftneSS in his nature,
though he never failed to greet his custom
ers with a smile and jest, and if the smile
was little mechanical and the Jest the
worse for wear, it mattered little to the
quiet country folk, who We're not ashamed
to laugh at the twentieth repetition of a
witticism. And it was everywhere agreed
that he kept model public hOuse-never,
for instance, allowing any fighting to go on
in conspicuous place, but forcing the COM
batants to have it out, if they really meant
business, III secluded back yard, where
they could black each others eyes with the
most perfect safety and comfort ANY man
might go to the Red Lion" with the as
surance that he would not be made fool
of. Adam knew the drinking capacity of
every full-grown male in the neighborhood
of BlackfOrd. and would let none trans
gress his limit or, if an accident did hap
pen, managed TO avoid anything in the
nature of public exhibition. And besides,
the villagers all knew him to be, in their
own language, as game as bantam. At
times Adam might, in bargain-making,
show himself not over-scrupulously above
board, and, generally speaking. what he
could get he took; but, nevertheless, he
Steered notably clear of paltry meannesS,
and he was known to be Stubbornly faith
full to all his friends-a man, on the whole,
with a conscience not too troublesome, but
far from dead.
He ruled his son Aleck, his red-headed
servant Bet, and even his niece Kitty with
a rod of iron. Prompt obedience was the
unwritten law of the household. Only
Kitty, besides being the smarteSt. prettiest
and cleverest girl in Blackford, was so
wayward and spirited that not even her
uncle, who liked her better than he liked
anybody else in the world, was able to keep
her entirely under control
1t was q great grief to Adam when he
found out that Kitty was in q mood to
throw herself away upon Willie Allan. Not
that he dis1iked Willie-nobody could do
that-but he thought him unlikely to be a
good husband, that is a thriving one, able
to keep his family comfortable, for he new
er gave his mind to his business. but wasted
his time over what Adam sometimes called
his menagerie, for the croft-house was al
most Noah's ark in its way. The chance
visitor was certain to find at every season
of the year litter of pups before the kitch-
en- fire, and an old owl and still more
ancient magpie carried on an unceasing
struggle for the favorite perch above the
kitchen clock. What had once been the
best bedroom was converted into a flight
for canaries, and there were always hang
ing about cages containing finches, linnets,
thrushes, blackbirds and even sparrows,
for Willie was a noted experimentalist in
the art of crossing, and could show an as
sortment of the most strangely marked
hybrids. The garden was stocked with
bees and the barn with Russian rabbits.
Twenty different kinds of fancy poultry
were allowed to spoil the crops and the
dovecote was inhabited by as many varie-
ties of pigeons. IN the pigsty he had a
tame badger, and there wasa litter of foxes
in one clubhouse and an otter in another
Whatever had life had a deep interest foI
Willie as it had deep interest for his
father before him, for, as well may be i'm
agined, these tastes were inherited. But
he gratified them at the expense of agri.
culture. Everybody said the croft would
pay splendidly to a man who knew how to
work it, but the Allans were not likely to
make fortune there or anywhere else.
Ii was, therefore. not without reason that
Adam was set against his niece taking W