The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-17
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.

'42), when indianapolis was mere handful
of souls that two little boys sat upon a
stile, fashioned out of the solid trunks of
two immense oak trees, and gazed intently
up the road at a cloud of dust which was
gradually evolving itself into the figures
of a horse and rider.
YES sir, she's a-comin', Billie" said the
elder of the two boys in an undertone, as
he punched the curly-headed youngster
who sat beside him.
Billie was six and Basso was eight; both
had curly yellow hair peeping from under
their straw hats, and both wore jeans
trousers pulled high up over their little
white cotton shirts, while the general re-
semblance of their round, freckled faces
proclaimed them brothers. Either of the
little fellows would have laughed had any
one told them that ''back East where
their fathers people lived, boys of their
ages wore tin the cities) shoes in summer.
Billie and Basso went barefoot from April
to October. 1t was sometimes pretty cold
on frosty mornings when they drove the
cattle to pasture before daylight, but then
they could warm their little feet in the
moist, steaming cow tracks where the
animals had lain all night, and this was
mere trife--far preferable to wear
ing the stiff shoes in which they tramped
around the rest of the year. Besides, as it
was the CUSTOM which guided boys quite as
much in AZ as it does now, they would have
scorned to do anything more "sissy-like
than the other boys did. Once year their
father sent a hide to Yandes & Wilkins's
tan yard. There his initials were marked
on it; it was tanned and hung on the wall
till the proper time for returning it to its
owner. After it was sent home an old shoe
maker came to the house, measured the feet
of all members of the family and made for
each the yearly pair of Shoes But it was
not yet time for annual pride of possession
and stiffness of leather to sieze both soul
and sole, so Billie and Basso kicked their
toes in freedom against the clumsy, hard
oak steps, sun and dust quite forgotten in
the attraction of the approaching horse and
rider The latter woman in long, flop
ping robe, the former a flea-bitten gray.
Suddenly the figures were swallowed up by
the earth. The boys held their breath.
There was quite a sudden and uncanny
appearance, and then the two little fellows
emitted a long sigh of happiness. The per-
Torrance so eagerly awaited had been wit
messed before, and the mystery of that first
time (when it had been almost unrecov-
cradle shock) long ago dispelled, but the
fascination remained, and the enjoyment of
that long breath drawn at the end of each
succeeding performance was indescribably
delicious.
In AZ there existed a stream called the
Virginia river taking it's name from the
avenue through which it ran for a short
distance in it's lower course. But in it's up
per windings, at Noble street it merely
crossed the avenue and there the valley
made deep dip in the otherwise level sur
face of the Shelbyville road, furnishing,
at a certain distance. an optical illusion,
one of those delightful pretenses of mys-
terry which all imaginative children love.
The rider was Mother Skanny," who
lived with her son and daughter in COM
parative seclusion on the banks of Pleas
ant run. She went to town only at stated
intervals to attend to business or the
meetings of the new sect OF Millerites 1t
was whispered that she had supernatural
power, and many man sought her advice
when his cattle strayed away or some sim
liar streak of bad luck overlook him.
That she could direct them to the neigh
borhood of the lost animals increased be-
lief in her sorcery. her good sense, knowl-
edge of human nature and the habits of
dumb beasts counting for little, and since
her accession to the ranks of the Millerites
the glamor of mystery hanging over her
was deepened. No one could gainsay that
she might be a witch or a prophecies any
more than they knew whether she wore her
ascension robe every minute. But certain
it was that she donned either white or a
black one before setting out for town, and
that it Topped with every movement of
the flea-bitten gray. The uncertainty as to
which robe she would wear furnished each
time one OF the most pleasing and exciting
features of the performance viewed by the
watchers on the stile
''They say" said Basso, after the passing
of Mother Skanny and her rag. that the
worlds comm to an end. and she's a-goin'
to heaven in that dress but II rather have
wings"
1t was that very evening that one of the
farm hands brought home a copy of
the Midnight Cry dhe organ of the Mil
lerites, published in New York;, and the
vivid account it contained of a prophetic
vision very rashly INDUCED in by one of the
faithful soon reached the ears of Billie
and Basso Billie was almost too young
TO be troubled, but Basso's imagination
needed little TO infiame it. and many and
many a night he dreamed of the three
white angels who carried trumpets and
cried Woe. Woe. Woe!" There were
many superstltions rife in AZ, and believers
in them tried TO I'LL Bassos mind with the