Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-02-07

blill tAoAghl lHdt Mr.. kuggles must be
poking fun at him.-though that wasn't in
MIR. EugFlc's line exactly,-but he pulled
Jenny up. and then went back with Mr.
Rugeles 10 the station. Mr.. Buggles gave
him a sheet of paper with more than TWEEN
ly orders on it. and while he was looking
at the list aud wondering if it could he real
the telephone bell rang and still another
order was added
They been coming IN like that for
the last hour. | guess your special part
ner must be drumming up work for you, y
said Mr.. Ruggles with a dry chuckle. He
went on, " ou've got your hands full for
this afternoon, Billy; and as some of the
things To be moved is too heavy for You to
tackle, you'd better hire Black Jake, here.
to help you. He will work all the afternoon
for fifty cents. Get up there out of the
sun, you lazy critter. Go help Billy jerks
and earn some money, for once, outside of
chicken stealin'."
So Black Jake got mp. grinninF; and Bill
ly all in amaze, hired him for fifty cents
long list ot orders. lie could not under
stand it at all
But If he had known how all the town
had been talking about him, aud his Ex
press, and his Special Partner, that morn
ing he wonld not have been so much sur
prised by the sudden start his business had
taken. Many of his orders We're sent by
people who expected to joke with Mr.. Wilk-
inson about having patronized his express;
many more by people who We're pleased
with Billy's pluck and wished to help him;
and still others came from people who really
wanted To send things about the town, and
We're glad of this way to do it. Jenny
she had to eat her dinner in half an hour;
Billy was so excited that he bolted his in
ten minutes-began to think in her don
key mind that the dismal days of her
youth, when she had drawn huckster's
cart and lived mainly on beatings were
come again.
BY little after six O'Clock, Billy got his
last load on board-a part of a broken bed
stead and three broken chairs to be taken
to the cabinet maker's-and the old lady
who sent the load kept him waiting so long
and gave him so many directions, that he
found he would not have time to get to
station to meet the $50 train. He was
sorry To miss that train, for more people
come in on it than on all Others put togeth-
er, and it was by that train that his father
was coming-and he did very much wish
his father to see him right i'll the thick of
his work. But there was no use in worry
ing over what couldn't be helped; so he
drove along slowly, with Black Jake
walking beside the cart, ready To lend a
hand in unloading, and reached the head
of Prince street just rs all the people were
coming up from the station, in crowd
Among the very first, he saw his father,
and his mother, too; for, as it turned out,
there was nothing serious the matter with
her brother John, after all, and so his
mother had not stayed to look after him, as
she had expected to do when she went
away.
mother, and his first thought was to jump
off the cart and go and kiss them. But
his second thought was that he ought to
show them that he really was business
first and his pleasure afterward, in other
words that he couldn't 90 kissing mem
bers of his family while he had IA load Ia
deliver So he chirped Jenny into fast
trot, and only gave his father and mother
a nod and IA langh as he whisked past
them. They saw the cart and the queer
sign on it, they caught glimpse of the
queer load, and on the train Mr.. jerks
had bought copy of the Gazette, and
had read Billy's advertisement with amaze
ment.
Had Billy gone crazy while they were
away, or what had happenedl
They were SO puzzled that they just
stood still and looked at each other
while W. jerks Express went flying
down the street, with Black ack on Il full
run to keep beside it, and with the old
chairs dancing around the cart i'll a way
that, had she seen it, would have made
every hair in her false front stand up on
end and every one of her false teeth chat
teri Mr.. jerks gave long whistle-he
had a way of giving whistles when any
thing surprised him very much-and then
he and Mrs. jerks went home. They We're
about the most astoniahed people in that
town
Billy reached home nearly as soon as his
father and mother, and ran into the house
to give them the kisses which he had wish
ed to give them down town.
Now, William jerks" said his father
when the kissing was over, what does all
this mean7"
1t gave Billy something of n start tn be
called William jerks in that way; for his
father never dreamed of calling him any
thing but Billy unless there was storm
brewing But, as Billy was sure that there
was nothing to raise storm about in what
he had been doing since his father went
away, he did not mind very much; and with
what he felt to be a very justifable pride
he went ahead and told all about his start
ing in the express business and what a cap
ital start he had made of it.
'"Then that was why you did not wish
Jenny to be soldi' his mother asked
when he told about his consultation with
Mr.. Wilkinson in regard to the donkey's
ownership.
''Why, of course it was, Billy answered;
as though his desire to use Jennie rs an
express-donkey could be the only possible
reason why he should be unwilling to part
with her for good and all-and he never
quite understood what it was that made
his mother get up just then, give him
great hug and kiss, and say to his father in
triumphant sort of way, 81 told you so!'
Nor did he understand why it was that his
father and mother laughed so when he
told them about the special partnership he
had formed with Mr.. Wilkinson; nor what
made his father look so oddly when he
told about his long talk with the queer old
gentleman who come ON the train.
However, there was no mistaking the
way in which they both hugged him when
he come 10 the end Of his story and gave
his father the six dollars and seventy five
cents he had earned that day-and explain
ed that there would have been half dol
lar more if only he had been A little